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Economy and Politics Talking Points FEATURED

Economy and Politics: 10+ Talking Points Neither Party Will Give You

With the 2020 Presidential election looming just weeks away, it has become increasingly difficult to get straight and direct answers from either candidate or party. Instead, we get spin and the pros of every policy, as they dodge the question or change the subject entirely when it comes to talking about the downsides or risks…

10 Revealing MLM Statistics No One Ever Tells You

You just got a DM from a friend from high school you literally haven’t seen or spoken to in a decade… and before they’ve even finished their schpiel, you’re wondering, “Is this an MLM?” MLMs, short for multi-level marketing businesses, also known as network marketing or direct sales, and sometimes less favorably (and inaccurately) referred…

Key from the house in a female hand. Isolated on white background.

How to Calculate How Much House I Can Actually Afford

First time homebuyers, and even experienced homebuyers who may be buying in a new area or buying into a higher price point, often ask me how much house they can really afford or how much of their income their mortgage should be. The key to answering these questions is understanding that the total cost of…

What Does the Average Family Budget Look Like?

When it comes to an example of a family budget, there is no one size fits all answer. I frequently get asked “What are the average monthly expenses for a family of 4?” or “What does the average family spend on groceries every month?” And that is the data I went searching to find and…

10 Best Things to Buy At Costco

When it comes to saving money on groceries, I swear by two things: meal planning and Costco! For families, you can save tremendously on your grocery budget by buying right and buying in bulk… and there’s no better place to do it than Costco. Just before the holidays, I asked my Instagram followers what the…

Why the National Debt Matters: Understand Your Family’s Risk

Learn why the national debt matters and how it directly impacts your family now, and going forward We all have our biased lens through which we look at the world. As a former financial analyst, my lens is biased towards the numbers: dollars, cents and statistics. While today there are many points of highly publicized political debate,…

What Happens In a Recession: A History of 5 Major Economic Recessions of the Last Century

At the start of 2020, I was getting an increasing number of inquiries about whether we were approaching a recession. I put together a series of posts on major macroeconomic indicators that both predict (leading) and confirm (lagging) when the business cycle turns. Very soon thereafter, came widespread Covid-19 quarantines and their rapid impact on…

What Happens During a Recession

The last recession began more than 12 years ago. So for many young families, you may have never experienced an economic downturn as an adult. And to be clear, we haven’t officially been declared in a recession… yet. But as recessions are typically well underway before being declared, and given current leading economic indicators, I…

Busy Moms Budgeting Tips

How to Calculate How Much House I Can Actually Afford

Your Top 10 Income Tax Questions and Answers

This time of year, most families’ biggest financial concern is filing income taxes. In 2018, a brand new tax bill took effect and brought in sweeping changes to many family’s personal income taxes and lots of questions with it. A year later, I’m still getting lots of inquiries about it, so this week, I’ve put…

Your Average Family Budget Breakdown FAQs

When I first published the example of a family budget based on the Consumer Expenditure Survey data, I knew there would be questions, requests to dig into various parts of the data more, and the need for clarifications. Here are the questions I’ve been asked most often about the average family budget breakdown, and the…

Save More Money

10 Best Things to Buy At Costco

Where Should You Keep An Emergency Fund?

The first major step on the Family Finance Road Map to free yourself from credit cards and adding to your debt is to build an Emergency Fund. But where to keep that emergency fund is this week’s follower Ask Me Anything topic. Every day, I get lots of great questions from followers across social media,…

How to Save Money At the Grocery Store

When it comes to budgeting, many families struggle with sticking to their food budget every month. There are lots of ways to lower your monthly grocery spend: you can save money on groceries by meal planning, eating in instead of eating out, but you can also learn how to save money at the grocery store…

Investing for the Future

Is This A Good Time to Buy a House?

One of the best things to come out of hosting a daily LIVE Q&A for all of you on Instagram is the insights I get into your most pressing questions. And right now, lots of you want to know is this a good time to buy a house? Many of your concerns are colored by…

Where To Invest Money: ETFs vs. Mutual Funds vs. Index Funds

In our current crazy, economic environment, I’ve been hosting a daily LIVE Q&A on Instagram every weekday at 10AM ET. One question I’ve been asked over and over and over again goes something like this: “Should I invest in an Index Fund or a mutual fund?” or “ETF or Index Funds – which is better?”…

How to Become a Millionaire

The most commonly searched terms around this concept are all about “how to become a millionaire fast” or “how to become a millionaire overnight” or even “how to become a millionaire in 5 years.” Everyone wants to get rich quick… but what Chris Hogan found after interviewing thousands of millionaires in America for his latest…

Teaching Kids About Money

My 10 Favorite Money Books for Kids

After sharing my 20+ Favorite Finance Books for YOU… I got lots of requests to share a similar list of money books for kids. So I teamed up with my friend Lauren at Happily Ever Elephants to share just that! As the child of a kindergarten teacher, I grew up in a house full of…

4 Simple Money Lessons All Kids Should Know

This is a sponsored post on behalf of BusyKid.com. As always, opinions remain 100% my own. Read on to learn how these basic money lessons are the perfect introduction to finance for kids at any age, and how the BusyKid app can help you successfully implement them all! Birthdays. Christmas. Back to School. Weekly errands.…

How to Teach Your Preschooler About Money

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not). As always, opinions remain 100% my own. While I may have ended up as a hedge fund analyst, I did not grow up in a financially savvy household. We didn’t talk about money as a family,…

Chaos is Costly: Family Organization

Budgeting Your Time to Maximize Your Mom Schedule

If you’re a busy mom who feels like your days are passing in a blur, while your to-do list grows faster than you can ever seem to keep up with, this one’s for you. While it may seem as a stay at home mom in particular, you should have all the time in the world,…

How to Protect Your Children: 10 Things to Know About Will vs Estate Planning

No one likes to think about their own mortality. However, once you have children who depend on you, it becomes essential. If something happens to you, what will happen to them? How do you make sure they are protected and financially provided for? I was recently asked about wills during a weekly Ask Me Anything…

The Ultimate Guide to Finance for Baby’s First Year

Congratulations, your precious baby is finally here. Now the real fun begins! While you may have purchased everything on your baby registry list, there are many family legal and financial tasks you cannot actually begin until your baby arrives, and some come with significant time sensitivity. So even if you’ve been preparing for a baby financially…