Have you ever seen an absolutely amazing-looking dessert that you just couldn’t wait to try, but then were super disappointed when you bit into it and it tasted simply awful (at least fruit cake looks gross too, right?). That’s what it’s like if you have an inadequate
I’ll be honest: it wasn’t love at first sight when I first stumbled across YNAB. I saw its potential, but there was one thing I really didn’t like about it. I wanted to add my income and clearly see it, along with my expenses, on my YNAB
One of the reasons I decided to start a personal finance blog was due to disappointment. Mainly, disappointment due to the fact that our formal education system fails to teach kids about money. When I began learning in-depth about personal finance, I realized how much I didn’t
This post was originally published in 2017 and updated on 6/19/2024. One of the most impactful first lessons in personal finances involves illustrating how compound interest works. Investing your money results in exponential rather than linear growth due to earning income on your investment earnings, not just
People are inherently irrational. It makes life pretty exciting at times (to say the least!). Often, this means that we need to accommodate the way our brains work to increase our ability to succeed. One way we can do this in personal finance is to set up
I remember when I first decided to learn about investing. I thought it would be super complicated and advanced, and I’d need another master’s degree just to figure it out. After all, most of what we see on the news is investment charts, daily stock changes, and
One of the most challenging aspects of creating a financial plan is balancing available resources (a.k.a. your money) with financial goals (a.k.a. your dreams). Some of these conflicting priorities include: The answer to every one of these dilemmas is: it depends. As much as we never like
Surprises can be fun. I mean, full disclosure—I’m a typical type A personality, so they’re certainly not my thing. But I even enjoy a surprise party (for someone else, ha!), a good movie plot twist, or unexpectedly good news out of the blue. April tax surprises, on
In mainstream financial planning, all roads lead to one ultimate destination: retirement. The word retirement invokes a picture of a gray-haired couple relaxing on the beach or (even worse) on rocking chairs on the front porch. Indeed, if you look at the websites of financial planners who
I’m convinced that everyone has a budget, even if they don’t consciously recognize it as such. From the solid anti-budgeter to the simply agnostic to the hardcore money nerd, we all have ways of managing future spending. Maybe you simply add and subtract from your bank balances
I’m Kathryn Hanna and I love to budget (really, I do!), build spreadsheets, and spend money on travel, sewing supplies & good chocolate.
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