I’m currently taking a class on college planning, so this topic is top of mind. Additionally, the fall is the time high school seniors apply for colleges and financial aid. As such, it seems a good time to remind people of the various types of deadlines to stay on top of this time of year. Read more
It is our responsibility as parents to teach our kids the life skills they’ll need to thrive as adults. Some of the most important skills we can teach them relate to making smart money decisions. One topic that often provokes strong opinions relates to allowance: how much to give, whether to tie it to chores and what it should cover. Read more
In light of yet another data breach this week (of CapitalOne in case you missed it), it seems a good time to review cyber safety. A client recently brought to my attention a type of identity theft that I had not heard of before. It involves a thief stealing your cell phone number and porting it over to a new phone. They then use the dual authentication via text code to hack into your financial accounts to steal money. Given how pervasive dual authentication is for everything these days, I decided to learn a bit more about this particular type of scam. Read more
I recently saw James Clear, the best-selling author of Atomic Habits, speak at a conference. The premise of his talk and book is that by making small incremental improvements, we can make big changes in our lives. He offers a well-structured system for getting 1% better every day by improving our daily habits. It occurred to me that his system would work well for creating better financial habits as well. There are four steps to building a successful habit (or ending a bad one): Read more
As the mother of two middle schoolers, at this time of year my thoughts turn to how to keep them busy over the summer. While we have a family vacation planned and they’ll go to a few camps, I also like them to learn something new over the summer. Given my job as a financial planner, that typically involves learning a life skill or two related to money. Here are a few ideas I am considering for this summer. Read more
With summer just around the corner, many people are in the midst of booking their summer travel plans. If your plans will take you overseas this summer, consider these tips to reduce the financial cost of the trip.
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Going to college is a rite of passage for many Americans. For many young adults, it’s the first time they live away from their families and take responsibility for their lives. Due to years of above-average price inflation, college has gotten to the point of being unaffordable for many or at least a significant financial commitment. And now we’ve learned that the admissions process at many elite universities has been gamed by wealthy families, further exacerbating the inequality involved in getting a college education.
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Mindfulness is all the rage in corporate America these days. It is estimated that almost 30% of Fortune 500 companies have a mindfulness program at work. The practice of mindfulness also has implications for your financial life.
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I’ve recently attended a couple of events and read Being Mortal by Atul Gawande on the topic of death and dying. Morbid, I know. Interestingly the biggest take away from these events was that death can actually teach us a fair amount about living. However, before I share what death can teach you about living, here are some of the interesting things I learned about the end-of-life phase. Read more
If you are like the 44% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions in January, you might want to rethink how you develop your goals so that you are more likely to achieve them. I use a structured goal-setting process (licensed from Money Quotient) with my financial planning clients to help them live a more meaningful life. Some of the tenets might be useful to you as you set New Year’s resolutions. Read more