budgeting


Financial Literacy for Young Adults

{I recently had the opportunity to meet with some people in their late teens to answer their questions. This is the letter I wrote them afterward.} The thing with being an adult is that you generally have to hear the same information from a couple of different directions before it starts to gel. So the stuff I talked with you about last night is once, and this email can be a second, and then when […]


College Savings Plans

Strange Change, Rainy Days and Big Emergencies

You know you need emergency money, right? But what does that actually mean? Here are the three kinds of “emergency” money I counsel my people to have. One is what I call “strange change”. You should have some cash in the house that you can use if you need to Get Out Of Dodge right this minute: no standing in line at the (probably empty) ATM, just get in your car and drive. For this, […]


Financial Literacy for Young Adults, with book reviews!

A client asked me if I had any financial literacy suggestions for teenagers. It kicked off a reading festival! Here are my notes. Years ago I read Suze Orman’s Young Fabulous and Broke and I was underwhelmed. She seems to think that everyone is as clueless as she was and needs to have a come-to-Jesus moment and she’ll tell you how. Most people I know just want to know some facts and they’ll integrate them into their […]

Insurance for Workers

Spotlight on budgeting

People are calling up to ask for help. “We’re making a lot of money but can’t make ends meet. Help!” I tell them to grab as many statements as they can from every bill they’ve got and every account they’ve got and bring the whole pile to me. Here’s what I know about people’s expenses: the overwhelming majority have expenses that nearly exactly match their income, except, perhaps, they spend about $50/month more than they […]