It’s pretty incredible to me to see how far I’ve come on my own personal finance journey. I started as a penny-pincher who tried to squeeze every ounce of work out of my dollars. Little things like leaving the lights on in an empty room used to irritate me. Truthfully, it still kind of does, […]

I think I always intuitively understood this, but it became clear enough for me to articulate recently. I have my clients to thank for this epiphany. The field of personal finance drew me in the moment I realized it applied to me. I, like many of you, came from a middle-class family whose financial know-how

Why am I writing and why are you reading about New Year’s resolutions about a month before it’s supposed to get started? Because New Year’s resolutions are really dumb.  Most of them fail because people think that once the calendar reads 2026 instead of 2025, their entire lifestyle and the way they make daily decisions

For those who have known me from about 2014 to the present, you might not know that I used to struggle with my weight. Honestly, I still do to a certain extent, but that’s a separate discussion. When I was young, somewhere around 8 to 10 years old, I was overweight. Not sure by how

My default setting around money is “cheapskate.” For over two years, I tracked every cent of my spending and income. I even brought my fiance in on it as we were starting to combine our total finances (though, in fairness, we were looking to purchase a home.) I even once considered buying and returning anything

We can go about this whole personal finance thing in two different ways: either with a positive or a negative mindset. I think that the way we decide to go about it will make all the difference in the world. Let’s start with the negative mindset: I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place;

So often when people are having money problems, their answer is the magical budget. “If I budgeted, I’d probably know where all my money is going.” “If I budgeted, I would stop overspending.” “I should make a budget. I’ve tried it before, but I kind of just forgot about it after a couple weeks.” Whatever

In a nutshell, this is the argument between the inner and outer world: Which is our reality? Is it who we are or where we are when we’re born that leads us to where we’ll eventually go? This question is essentially unanswerable, especially if trying to do so in a way that explains how everyone

As of writing this, I’m rereading what I believe is my favorite book, “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom.  Quick summary: The author, Mitch, finds out his old college professor, Morrie, is slowly dying from ALS, and they decide to meet every Tuesday to discuss life’s bigger themes and how dying has impacted Morrie’s reflection

Dumbledore was probably the first to open my eyes to a different way of approaching my greatest fear. Initially, I titled this issue Albus Dumbledore, the Greatest Financial Coach There Ever Was, but it felt like a bit of a stretch. While seemingly omniscient, I don’t remember Dumbledore doing much teaching as it pertains to