Personal finance doesn’t need to be overly complicated. Yes, the complexity in your financial life will increase as you build assets and grow wealth—but don’t confuse complex for overly elaborate and impossible to understand. At the end of the day, most of what it takes to reach (and maintain) financial success comes down to some…
How to Build a Bulletproof Balance Sheet
Too often, we equate being conservative or risk-averse with missing opportunities, or missing chances to grow wealth. While there is such a thing as being too hesitant or too cautious, there’s a good reason to lean toward less risk when doing long-term planning. Even if you feel highly comfortable with risk or actively seek it…
Looking for Your 2021 Financial Goal? Try This One
This essay was written by BYH’s creative director, Kali Roberge. It was published on Business Insider, and we’ve republished a version of it here. If you’re looking for insight into the kinds of goals we set each year, or need inspiration for your own 2021 focus, read on to learn about our number-one annual priority…
Is Your Financial Plan Missing This X Factor?
We originally wrote this this piece for Kiplinger, where it was first published. We’ve provided an updated version for the BYH blog here. There is no shortage of great content available for those who want to build a sound financial plan that considers how you may want to retire someday (especially if you want to…
Managing Money as a Couple: Tips and Tricks to Get It Right
If you ask 10 different couples how they manage their money, you’ll probably get 10 different answers… including something along the lines of “We don’t. Budget? What budget?” Let me go ahead and say that might be the only wrong answer here. Some couples keep separate finances, both before and after marriage. Others combine everything…
The Surprising Skill You Need If You Want to Maximize Your Money
The other day, my wife, Kali, mentioned she wanted to thank me for something. We recently bought a home we both love in upstate New York. It sits on a little mountain and has an incredible, western-facing view. We were sitting on the deck watching a gorgeous sunset (an activity we don’t imagine tiring of…
The Unusual Financial Planning Process to Buy a Vacation Home
My wife and I rarely do anything in what could be described as “the usual way.” We think outside the box and generally choose to forge our own path instead of following the well-known and mainstream; from the fact that we’re both extremely independent and prefer to work for ourselves to choosing to rent in…
Some Favorite Books for Personal Finance and Personal Development
Reading personal finance blogs and listening to podcasts is great (here’s one you might want to try if you haven’t already), but sometimes there’s no substitution for the deeper dive that well-researched and well-written books can give you. The right books for personal finance and personal development can provide an incredible amount of powerful knowledge…
Have Equity Comp? Make Sure It Doesn’t Put Your Wealth at Risk
A version of this article was originally written for and published on Kiplinger. Equity compensation can be an extremely useful tool when it comes to building wealth. And just like any other tool you may use, you can leverage your equity comp to build something great — in this case, significant wealth — or, you…
Disability Insurance: Use This Process to Help Determine What You Need (and What You Don’t)
No one likes to think about what would happen in the event of an emergency, disaster, or loss — but the reality is that things don’t always go according to plan. The good news is we can prepare for this in practical terms by getting the proper insurance coverage, or knowing how to self-insure against…