How to Make Your Finances More Resilient to Climate Change
In my previous post, I wrote about how we can use our finances to fight climate change. Simultaneously, we need to think about how we protect our finances in uncertain—and unprecedented—times. While we have time to slow planetary warming, scientists still say that we’re headed towards more frequent and intense destruction of ecosystems. According to […]
How to Use Your Finances to Fight Climate Change
The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was a “code red” warning for humanity. Scientists say that planetary warming is speeding up and will bring about more frequent and intense destruction of ecosystems. Earth has warmed by one degree Celsius, and keeping the warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius will require […]
What Should I Do with My Money?
What should I do with my money? This is one of the most common questions that clients have when they come into financial planning work. And, for better or worse, it’s a question I really can’t answer for them! Lurking beneath this question is another, more central one: Am I doing the wrong thing with […]
How to Think About Debt: Is it Good or Bad?
Debt is a loaded topic in financial planning. When is it good or bad, and what’s the best way to approach it? There are two main things to consider: What’s “financially optimal” and what feels right given your own unique circumstances. Not all debt is created equal. Clearly, high-interest credit card debt is “bad” and […]
Can You Stay Calm and Carry On? Here’s What Happens When Interest Rates Rise
In the past 10 to 12 years, we’ve seen two major crises: a global pandemic and a financial crisis. Both have brought about extraordinarily low interest rates as a policy response. But as we’ve moved through each of these events, we also start to wonder if higher interest rates lurk around the corner. You may […]
How to Save for Retirement When You’re Self Employed
If you’re self-employed or a small business owner, you know that saving for retirement is just one of the many things you have to figure out on your own. Saving for retirement when you’re self-employed is a challenge. Not only do you have to research and employ the strategy that best suits you, but you […]
Why Should You Save Money?
Saving money is one of the most fundamental parts of building a successful financial life. It’s drilled into us as something we “should” do. We are often bombarded by the tips and tricks and rules of how to save and how much to save. But an important question gets lost among the noise: why should you […]
Make Saving for Vacation (and Rest) Part of Your Planning!
I want to shout it from the rooftops: I just got back from vacation! Even as someone who loves to travel, taking a vacation feels like a major accomplishment. And as someone whose money script is a little (ok, a lot) more on the vigilant side, successfully saving for vacation feels even more important. I […]
Should I Sell My RSUs (Restricted Stock Units)?
Restricted Stock Units (aka RSUs) are a common form of supplemental compensation for employees of public companies. If you’re granted RSUs, you get to essentially own company shares without putting any money down (unlike when you are exercising stock options). So, when is the best time to sell your RSUs? If your company is public, […]
What is a Money Script? And What are Yours?
You would think that, as a financial planner, I would know my own money script. After all, money is what I think about almost all of the time! But, maybe not surprisingly, I didn’t know what I thought I knew about myself and money until I took a course on money scripts. As I’ve reflected […]