BLOG
Making Sense of Your Paycheck
Have you ever gotten a new job or a raise only to realize that when payday rolls around you’re taking home a whole lot less than you were expecting? Have you ever thought, “why is my paycheck so small?” While we all expect to pay taxes on our wages, most people couldn’t tell you what all of the line items on their paystub are. Here we cover some of the most common items affecting your take-home pay.
How to Reframe Your Money Mindset
There’s a lot of emotions that go along with money. So many of our highs and lows can be connected to our finances. Today, there is starting to be a greater focus on financial wellness, and one element of this is your money mindset. How do you think about money and how could reframing your thoughts help you live a happier and more financially sound life?
Why I Assume My Identity Has Been Stolen: And What I Do About It
Between the Equifax and Target data breaches, whether you’re making a purchase online or in person, your information is at risk. As a result, I’ve taken the stance that I will always assume that my information is out there on the dark web for anyone to use, and here’s what I do about it.
Zero-Sum Budgeting: How to Make It Work for You
For most people budgeting is not a fun exercise, but not all budgets are created equal. Today we spend some time talking about the zero-sum budget, how it works, and why it may help bring you closer to your goals
Making the Most Out of Your Mid-Month Budget
You started the month with the best intentions, you put together a realistic budget, spent the first week packing your lunches, and were feeling good about things. Then life happened. Here are a few things you can do to get through the mid-month budget fatigue and salvage what’s left of your month.
Four Reasons Your Budget Fails
If you’ve ever made a budget, you know just how hard it is to stick with it. You may fail month after month to meet your monthly goals, and you’re definitely not alone in that camp. Life will always throw a wrench into your plans no matter how good your intentions may be, but there are some reasons your budget might be failing time and time again. Below we highlight four of the most common reasons and how to troubleshoot them.
Four Ways to Save Money Without Impacting Your Lifestyle
Saving money is always a good goal, yet often we’d rather focus on our immediate needs and wants rather than our long-term financial picture. But saving money and enjoying your current lifestyle don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Here are four ways to save that won’t impact your enjoyment of your everyday life.
The Hidden Cost of Pets
It’s time for a confession: I am an animal hoarder. After decades of pet ownership, I am now extremely qualified to share with you just how expensive these companions can be and how you can factor that into your decision making process on whether you are ready for the responsibility on a financial level.
The Surprising Cost of Lunch
Depending on your situation, you may be scraping by on raman everyday or you may have an opportunity to take yourself out for a decent lunch during the workday.Lunch is an opportunity to save money. Let’s look at just what that workday lunch might be costing you and how you can curb your lunch spending.
Why I Don’t Have an “Extreme Money Story”
In the age of blogging, it seems that the most outrageous or awe-inspiring stories often make their way to the top of the news, and for good reason. We want to feel inspired to do better. The problem comes when trying to live your life as others do if it’s not what fits you or your lifestyle best.
Four Reasons the Cost of Your Mortgage May Change
Whether you own a home already or are planning to purchase one in the future, there are a few things you should know about your monthly mortgage payment and its potential to fluctuate.
How to Turn Your Financial Goals into To Dos
If you’ve already spent the time to sit down and write out your financial goals for the near-term and long-term you’re already ahead of most people. But, once you’ve developed those goals, how do you move forward? How do you take those goals and break them down into a manageable “To Do” list?
How To Recover From a Money Blunder
We don’t always make “the right” decisions with our money. Whether your blunder took the form of debt or you just generally didn’t get the value out of a purchase, here are some steps you can take to recover from these mistakes so they don’t follow you into the next phase of your financial life.
Fighting The Impulse to Keep Up With the Joneses
"Keeping up with the Joneses" can be an expensive and never-ending pursuit, so how do you fight this impulse to allow yourself to spend money on the things that will make you happiest instead of just competing with your friends and neighbors?
Making Money Mantras Work for Your Finances
You may already use mantras in other aspects of your life, but have you ever incorporated them into your financial life? Here are some steps you can take to find the right mantra.