I left my job as a CPA when my husband received an international business assignment back in 2011. While I’ve kept up on my CPA license, I have yet to go back into the full-time working world. Now that my husband is more established in his career and makes substantially more than when we were […]
My Exact Financial Account Setup (From Checking to Retirement Accounts)
Confession: I use to be a scrapbooker. However, I never actually finished any of the scrapbooks that I started. I spent 90% of my scrapbook time organizing all my supplies and 10% (possibly less) actually creating scrapbook pages. Fortunately, I accomplish a lot more with my finances, but it’s another thing that I love to […]
YNAB Tutorial Part II: Budgeting Basics
This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here. It’s been a while since I mentioned how much I love YNAB and presented the introduction tutorial & video to show you just how to set everything up. If you’re new to YNAB, you’ll definitely want to check that out first. The last step you […]
How To Teach Kids to Track Their Income & Expenses
This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for my full disclosures. One of my biggest priorities as a parent is to raise money-smart kids. However, sometimes I get caught up in the day-to-day aspects of teaching my three kids such as trying to get them to help around the house, complete their schoolwork and […]
Hire a Financial Advisor to Advise You, Not to Organize You
Have you ever wondered whether you should meet with a financial advisor? The more you get your financial life in order, the more you realize how much you don’t know. There are so many unique circumstances that a google search just doesn’t always cut it, especially when you are faced with two good options, but […]
YNAB Tutorial Part 1: Setup
This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here. I have another video tutorial for you today. The last one I did was on the basics of Excel. You know by now how much I love Excel. And now, today, I’m introducing you to another great tool, YNAB. (Note: select the settings icon and […]
Beginner Excel Tips for Financial Planning
If you’ve been around here for a while, then you likely know that I LOVE spreadsheets. I took an Excel class as an elective in college (wow-nerd alert!) and it was possibly the single best class I could have taken to really set me apart from my peers in the accounting field. And, it made […]
How I Hack YNAB to Budget My Income
This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosures here. When I returned from our 4-year long business assignment in Asia, I was ready to finally utilize a budgeting software that would help simplify the budgeting process and minimize the time I was spending tracking our expenses. I am a HUGE believer in tracking […]
A Comprehensive Guide to Organizing Your Finances for a Brand New Year
I would say I’m a pretty typical nerdy accountant. I enjoy debits and credits, at least when they balance. I have an unusual fondness for buying office supplies (especially pens and pencils). By now, you probably already that I’m obsessed with spreadsheets. So…you can probably guess that organizing my finances is something I rather […]
5 Steps to Stress-Free Holiday Gift-Giving (And Printable Spending Plan!)
I absolutely love Christmas time. The excitement. The decorations. The music. The message. But, oh…the gifts. I’m terrible at giving thoughtful gifts. Unfortunately, this has meant that I’ve spent many years scrambling at the last minute to finish my Christmas gift purchases. Having kids compounds this (in my case times three). I’ve spent this year […]
