The idea of retirement is rapidly changing. When you speak to millennials and Gen Xers, they aren’t motivated by retirement. They think of retirement is a “deferred life plan” – why wait until you’re age 65 to start living the life you always dreamed of? The “9 to 5, work-until-you’re-65” path is not desirable anymore.[…]
How Marriage Affects Your Student Loans
Marriage is an incredibly exciting time in your life – you are embarking on a new journey with your spouse at your side. What used to be “mine” is now “ours” and for better or for worse – this includes student loans. Finances, but more specifically student loans, can be very difficult to talk about[…]
The Tool You Need To Talk Openly About Money With Your Partner
Talking about money is like when your parents first talked to you about sex – you probably wanted to throw yourself out of a moving car! Money is the #1 taboo topic in America – it’s something that we knew was private growing up and we were taught never to talk about it. This is[…]
3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Saving For Your Children’s Education
College is expensive – everyone knows this. According to a 2019 study from Sallie Mae, the national average cost of public school is about $20,000/year and the national average cost of private school is about $48,000/year. Here in the Northeast – those costs are much higher. UMASS Amherst (a public school) currently costs $29,000/year for[…]
How To Make Travel An Everyday Part Of Your Financial Life
If you are like me, you probably have a list of 10+ places to travel to. You’ve seen these places on Instagram, you’ve heard stories from your friends, or you’ve read about them on a blog. More and more, people value using their money on experiences, as opposed to material goods. This is a big[…]
Renting Is Not Throwing Money Away
I bet you $100 that you’ve been trained to think that renting is throwing away money. Why pay rent when you could take out a mortgage with monthly payments equal to your rent and build equity in your home? Historically, buying a home is the thing to do – everyone has one and it is[…]
Why A Mini-Retirement Is The Perfect Way To Celebrate Your Student Loans Being Forgiven
Mini-retirements (or sabbaticals) are becoming much more popular as people continue to challenge the idea of retirement. Essentially, a mini-retirement is an extended period of time away from work where you earn no income and spend your time in a way that is most meaningful to you – travel, spend more time with kids, volunteer,[…]
3 Major Money Decisions That Change When You Never Retire
We live in very different times than our parents. The economy is so interconnected and technology provides the opportunity for us to work when we want, where we want and how we want – as long as we have enough money to support our living expenses. While we should respect the journey our parents went[…]
Tracking Your Spending Is Not As Bad As You Think
Carl Richards has a great analogy about tracking your spending – it is very similar to flossing. We understand how important it is to floss, but it’s not something we like to think about, let alone do. So, we lie about how often we floss to the dentist and then promise to be better. This[…]