The term lifestyle creep describes what happens when you spend more money as you earn more money. You might also hear this referred to as “lifestyle inflation. It means the same thing: you inflate your lifestyle to match your income. There’s never much of a gap between what you earn and what you spend. If…
Don’t Have Specific Financial Goals? That’s Okay If You Have One of These Instead
It’s hard to plot out every goal you want to accomplish in your long life — especially if you’re in your 20s, 30s, or 40s right now. You have decades of life to live ahead of you, and these are the prime years in which to experience and enjoy some major life milestones and changes….
Saving for College: What to Consider and What Tools to Use
Worried about saving for college and having enough to fund your kid’s education? Then let’s start with the good news: there are so many ways to pay for college. You have a lot of options to explore. Now for the tricky part: you have a lot of options. There are a lot of variables and…
Why Investment Returns Don’t Matter (If You’re Not Saving)
Ever heard someone brag about how much they made off their amazing investment? Or talk about how they got in somewhere early and made a killing because they gambled on an unknown company before it blew up? People often talk about great investments they’ve made or the incredible investment return they’ve received. But this is,…
Make Little Money Details Add Up to Big Financial Impact
The next time we go out to eat, we’ll get $20 off our meal just because we have a habit of making reservations. We use OpenTable to book spots at restaurants when we plan to eat out. Even if we know we’ll get somewhere at a slow time when there won’t be a wait, like…
When to Start Financial Planning (and What to Think About First)
A lot of people I talk to aren’t sure of when to start financial planning. Do you have the same question, about when you should start? I could really sum up the entirety of this blog post with a single-word answer: Yesterday. That was the best time to get started. The second best time, of…
5 Ways to Take Advantage of Living in Boston (or Other Big Cities) Without Going Broke
Let’s face it: living in Boston comes at a price. While I love this city and am happy to both live here and base my business out of my downtown office (even though I can meet with clients around the country via virtual video calls), there’s no avoiding the fact that Boston is one pricey…
All the Reasons You Seem Financially Stuck (and What to Do About It)
As a financial planner, I hear all sorts of reasons about why people’s finances are the way they are; all the reasons why they’re financially stuck and not making progress. Let me know if any of these sound familiar: We have $10,000 in credit card debt because my wife lost her job. My credit score…
The 3 Factors That Set Financially Successful People Apart from Those Who Struggle
Ever wonder what it really takes to become wealthy? Assuming you don’t have a very rich relative who leaves you a lot of cash or you’re not on track to be the next Silicon Valley tech startup wunderkind, then you’re probably taking the same path most of the rest of us take: Earn a strong…
3 Ways to Use a Personal Finance System to Help You Do More with Your Money
Part of the value of building out a complete financial plan for yourself is that in doing so, you create a process for moving from where you are right now to where you want to be in the future. What actually moves you from Point A to Point B? The smart, strategic, intentional actions you…