Book review – Farewell
I just finished reading the book Farewell by Dr. Ed Creagan (also available at RPL), a Mayo Clinic palliative care doctor whose book is designed to help us all navigate end of life decisions. It’s a topic that makes many uncomfortable, but death in our country has been medicalized (with…
Job costs – do you know what yours are?
Having a job has costs. It’s well known that your job may need certain professional dress attire, or tools. Maybe the job requires traveling. Maybe the job requires a specific college degree, which costs thousands of dollars to earn. Maybe the networking requirements, or simply the social expectations, include going…
Adding books to my reading list – teaching children about money
Have you ever had one of those days when, as the day goes on, you feel like the world isn’t just trying to nudge you, it’s trying to hit you over the head with a frying pan to get you to pay attention to something? I started by spending a…
What does the new COVID-19 stimulus bill mean for you?
The new COVID-19 stimulus bill has passed both the House and the Senate at lightening speed, and is on to the president’s desk for his signature. Assuming he signs it, we get a 4th Trump administration major tax overhaul in his 4 years (not evenly distributed, of course; TCJA in…
What financial struggles are women aged 35-50 facing?
That was the question I was asked recently. Being right in that demographic, I didn’t have to spend long thinking. The answers poured out of me. Unedited, here’s exactly what I replied. And yes, these words dumped right out of me because I’m living much of this; if I’m not,…
Savings rates and Grandma’s 10%
Not feeling valued at work is rough. Triggered by ongoing (failing) salary discussions for our area, I got asked for my input today by one of my data scientist colleagues, about their own financial situation. “If you have thoughts or perspective, I’d be glad to hear them as well, ……..
Trust and Learning vs Shame and Ignorance
We just talked about how people in the United States would rather talk with their friends about sex than about money. Let’s carry the link between sex and money a little further today. Remember back to sex ed in elementary school, in junior high, with your parents, and possibly also…
Start With Why
It’s inevitable, all parents will run into this at some point, today was just my day. The day you catch your kids lying, deliberately, at an age old enough to know both the difference between truth and lie, and old enough to know better. In fact, actually both yesterday and…
Ups and Downs
I was catching up with someone today, entertaining them with stories of parenting while working during the months of stay at home time for COVID-19. Tales of distance learning. Life got a lot easier here once school ended, with my having to manage the executive functioning for the kids. “Where…
Worrying about Grandma, aka the value (and limitations) of secondary data
My nonagenarian Grandma lives in Midland, MI. Home of the current floods that are making the news. I didn’t find out about the floods until too late at night to be making phone calls. And I love my Grandma, I would have a really hard time going to sleep if…