Today

Saving

Three months of savings is where an emergency fund starts, not where it ends

The usual rule gets you through a broken car. A job search takes longer. Here's how to size your cushion for the emergencies you're actually likely to have.

7 min read

Months of essential expenses covered

Debt

Avalanche or snowball? Pick the payoff plan you'll actually finish

5 min read

Investing

The boring portfolio, explained on one page

6 min read

Budgeting

A budget that survives a bad month

4 min read

Money script quiz

What did you learn about money before you could count it?

Most of us carry a few beliefs about money from childhood. Psychologists call them money scripts. Map yours in five short chapters and leave with your archetype and a 30-day plan.

Take the quiz

45 questions, about 8 minutes. Answers stay in your browser.

Try a question from the quiz

However much I have, it never feels like quite enough.

Guides

Budgeting

Start with your bare-bones number

What would you need each month if income stopped tomorrow? That one figure anchors everything else.

Saving

Automate it on payday, before you see it

Willpower runs out by the 20th. A scheduled transfer doesn't.

Debt

List every debt with its interest rate

You can't choose a payoff order until you can see the whole table.

Investing

Get the full employer match first

If your employer matches 401(k) contributions, the match is free money. Take all of it before anything else.

The week in money

Open enrollment is coming. Many employers run benefits sign-up in November. Check whether your health plan's deductible still fits your emergency fund, and whether you're eligible for an HSA.
December 31 is a real deadline. 401(k) contributions for this year have to go through payroll by year end. IRA contributions can wait until the tax-filing deadline in April.
Set a holiday number before the sales do. Decide a total, divide it by the people on your list, and pay with cash or debit where you can.
Read the APR on your card statement. If you carry a balance, that rate is the return you'd get by paying it off. Few investments beat it.
Your credit reports are free every week. AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site for reports from all three bureaus. Look for accounts you don't recognize.

Sample briefing. Replace with this week's items before publishing.

What $200 a month becomes

Invested monthly for 30 years at steady annual returns

Illustration, not a forecast. Real returns vary year to year and aren't guaranteed.

The 50/30/20 starting point

A common split of take-home pay

Needs50%

Wants30%

Saving and debt20%

A rule of thumb, popularized by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. High-cost cities often need a different split.

Talk it through with a coach

Knowing what to do with money is rarely the hard part. Doing it every month is.

One-to-one sessions start from your quiz results and end with a plan you can keep.

20 minutes, free

Intro call

See whether coaching fits, and what you'd want to work on.

Book an intro call

60 minutes

Money script session

Go through your quiz results together and pick the one habit to change first.

Book a session

3 sessions over 90 days

90-day plan

Build a spending plan, automate it, and check in while it settles.

Ask about the plan