Decisions

Where you can find me on social media (and why)

An update on my social media channels, including reasoning for why I’m on (or not on) certain sites. A few years back, I talked about what social media I was using (and, more to the point, not using). It’s a … Read MoreRead More

If you’re thinking about taking an early withdrawal from your 401(k)

New legislation eliminates penalties for some early withdrawals from your 401(k). However, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. UPDATE: This legislation has expired as of the end of 2020. Penalties will apply again for early 401k withdrawals. These … Read MoreRead More

The affiliate trap: How professionals can lose both trust and income

Amazon just severely changed its commission rate, showing how easy it is to lose not only trust with affiliate marketing, but also income. There are many ways that flout conventional wisdom in building my financial coaching business. For one thing, … Read MoreRead More

Time to plan for the unthinkable

Now that we’ve seen firsthand how the unthinkable can happen, we need to prepare for other situations that can (and probably will) happen. By now, we’ve all been dealing with “the unthinkable” for many weeks now. “Nobody” thought this could … Read MoreRead More

Why I’m going for my AFC® certification

I started the process of becoming an Accredited Financial Counselor®, to gain more skills and for people who prefer want to work with certified professionals. Years ago, I wrote a post called, “Do you need to be certified in order … Read MoreRead More

The Roth IRA danger zone (part 4): How to withdraw an excess contribution at Vanguard

After having decided to remove my Roth IRA excess contribution, I went through the process at Vanguard for making it happen. More posts in this series: The Roth IRA danger zone (part 1): What to do when you almost make … Read MoreRead More

The Roth IRA danger zone (part 3): How I resolved an excess contribution

With a number of different ways to resolve this problematic situation, here is how I dealt with an excess contribution to a Roth IRA. More posts in this series: The Roth IRA danger zone (part 1): What to do when … Read MoreRead More

The known unknown: On preparation and getting laid-off

How financial preparation can lessen your anxiety when getting laid-off, and give you more choices and freedom to find your next path. Last year, I wrote about job loss, specifically the loss of a paycheck. I was tempted to call … Read MoreRead More

Course review: How to Win the Game of Advanced Personal Finance

I review “How to Win the Game of Advanced Personal Finance”, an online course by Ramit Sethi (from I Will Teach You Be Rich). A while back, I talked about purchasing a personal finance course. In response to the obvious … Read MoreRead More

How to determine if a purchase is worth deliberating over

If you cut down on time spent making decisions on things that don’t matter, you will have more energy for the decisions that do. As you make more money, the way a certain amount of money will feel will change. … Read MoreRead More