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Bankrate: What was your first taste of fame?
Sara Evans: I had fame on a small scale while in Missouri my whole life. Everybody knew who Sara Evans was because I was a local celebrity. From the time I was a little girl, I sold records at my concerts and signed autographs. Probably my first real taste of fame was when I was 9 and went to Fan Fair. I had my own booth and a little record that I made. I had my own manager and I signed autographs at Fan Fair.
Bankrate: After achieving fame, what was your first big splurge?
Sara Evans: I went out and bought a brand-new Mercury Mountaineer for around $30,000. That was in 1998. It was brand-new with leather seats and red exterior. It was totally beautiful and an SUV, for crying out loud, which was something nobody could afford at the time. And I paid cash for it.
Bankrate: What was the first financial lesson that you learned the hard way?
Sara Evans: That when you start making a lot of money, you pay a ton of taxes. That was just something that was hard for me to swallow and made me want to cry. Then I just realized, oh well, there is nothing I can do about it. This was around 1999 when I had my first No. 1 record, money started coming in, and we started getting paid more for our shows. I was like, "Holy Cow!" It was really upsetting.
Bankrate: When did it dawn on you that you should be thinking about saving money for your children and for yourself?
Sara Evans: As soon as I had Avery, who is 8 now. I have an incredible business manager and he and his assistant came out to the house and said OK, now that you have a son this is what you need to do. You need to have a living will, you need to set up this and this and save for college ... you all need to have insurance. Before Avery, it wasn't important because it was just me and Craig. Having children really makes you look at things a lot differently because I want them to be taken care of.
Bankrate: You start thinking about your own longevity when you have children, I think.
Sara Evans: Oh absolutely. Goodness, when I brought Avery home from the hospital, I went into this massive panic for two days, worrying that something would happen to me and how would he be taken care of. I especially think about what would happen to my children if I wasn't around right now. So you do look at your own longevity a little differently after having kids.
Bankrate: Now that you have some financial security, do you spend a lot on clothes and accessories?
Sara Evans: Not really. I have two pairs of Free People sweatpants that are to-die for. They were $140 each and I love them. One has holes in them, but I won't throw them out because they're so comfortable and cute. I don't spend a lot of money on lip glosses. I always like having one with me to keep my lips hydrated but I can buy Burt's Bees at the drugstore and it serves its purpose. And I'll never spend a lot on sunglasses. I always buy cheap ones in Target or someplace like that because I lose them, and having three kids means a lot of them get broken. So I don't buy expensive sunglasses. I've learned by my mistakes.
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