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What’s Up with the Labor Market?

Thank you for sharing! 746 shares Share Tweet Pin LinkedIn Reddit Email Print Mix The April Employment Situation released on Friday left a lot of people scratching their heads. From businesses who are struggling to hire despite millions on unemployment to economists who expected 4x as many jobs to be added by employers, how can…

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…

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 are…

Women & Money: 10 Facts We All Should Know

While there’s endless discussion today of the gender wage gap, the reality is women’s financial gains over the last 100 years have been astronomical. There is no doubt there are still gaps to close – but the area where women fall behind the most? It isn’t in earnings as much as it is knowledge, literacy…

The Economic Recovery: 5 Data Points to Watch This Fall

This summer, the National Bureau of Economic Research declared the recession officially ended in April 2020. The global pandemic and resulting US lockdowns caused a massive, but short-lived, economic contraction lasting just two months… however, by many measures, our economy has yet to fully recover. Where are we currently in the economic recovery? Read on…

3 Reasons You Need an LLC to Protect Your Family

This is a Sponsored campaign with LegalZoom. All opinions are my own. One of the most surprising and positive economic data points to emerge in recent years is the number of small businesses. There were 31.7 million small businesses in the United States in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Maybe you are one…

What’s Up with the Labor Market?

The April Employment Situation released on Friday left a lot of people scratching their heads. From businesses who are struggling to hire despite millions on unemployment to economists who expected 4x as many jobs to be added by employers, how can all be true at the same time? Many business leaders were quick to call…

Busy Moms Budgeting Tips

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…

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

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 Shop at Aldi

Learn the ins and outs of how to shop at ALDI, the international discount grocery chain, to save money on your family’s grocery bill. When it comes to budgeting, many families single biggest struggle is grocery spending. You try to save money by meal planning, you make lists, you try to eat in instead of…

Once your budget is under control, the next most common question I get is 'How much should I save for retirement?' If you can answer when you want to retire, and how much you plan to spend each year, you can use the FREE downloadable Retirement Calculator to tell you how much you need to save in total, and each year until you retire to get there. #retirement #personalfinance #retirementplanning #financialplanning

How Much Money Should I Save for Retirement

Once your budget is under control, the next most common question I get is “How much should I save for retirement?” Our retirement plan is likely to look a lot different than it did for our grandparents, and even our parents… and most of us aren’t saving nearly enough!

Investing for the Future

Weekly Market Summary 5-3-2021

Last week saw the peak of earnings season, a plethora of economic data releases, a speech by the President to a joint session of Congress with more spending plans… all leading to a second consecutive flat week for the market. So what are we hearing from executives this earnings season, what is the economic data…

Market Weekly Update 4-26-2021

It’s been a busy April for the markets and economy… Earnings season continues, with more companies beating earnings by more than ever before. The housing market continues to roar full speed ahead. And the only thing that caused the market to pump the breaks last week? The threat of higher taxes from President Biden’s latest…

This Week’s Stock Market News 4-19-2021

Welcome to earnings season… if the first two weeks of April were relatively quiet, last week was anything but as Q1 2021 earnings season got underway with more than 100 companies reporting results. Mostly solid earnings reports, as well as a little more softening of interest rates led a widespread, market rally. On the not…

Teaching Kids About Money

How To Get Personal Finance Classes in Every High School

There are two things I hear consistently from Family Finance Moms on a daily basis: I wish I had learned this when I was in school. How do I make sure my kids learn what I didn’t about finance? The way to address both of these is simple. Personal finance classes in every high school…

20 High School Seniors Ask: How to Prepare for College Financially

I remember my college search process, the campus visits, and final choice like it was yesterday… my thought process went something likes this: I deserve to go anywhere that accepts me. Cost barely registered in my decision-making – and certainly not because my parents could afford it. My mom just kept telling me “we would…

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…

Save Money with Meal Planning

Lazy Mom’s Quick and Easy Shepherd’s Pie

One of my favorite, go-to meal plan ideas for Fall and Winter is Shepherd’s Pie… but seriously, who has time to cook the filling, make mashed potatoes, put it all together, and then, bake it all over again??? Here’s how I make all the same flavors happen in 30 minutes or less for a quick…

10 Best Things to Buy At Costco

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…

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…