I’ve spent a lot of this year harping on the fact that emergency funds are incredibly important. Despite that, I get that it can sometimes feel like wringing water from a stone. One nice-ish thing is that if your finances are super tight, that means even a little bit can help so this list looks…
Weddings are expensive and the rigmarole of wedding etiquette is seriously ridiculous – and pretty outdated. I think it’s perfectly fine to RSVP no if the bride or groom would be offended that you can’t afford much of a gift. There are a few folks in my life that ascribe to such strict etiquette in…
An IRA is an Individual Retirement Account and mine has played a key, if not the key, role in my financial success. And it all started with a stroke of luck and the right person coming into my life. When I was 25, I started dating a guy who peer pressured me relentlessly – to…
A few weeks ago I was interviewed for the TheatreArtLife podcast and it sparked a pretty good conversation among us about sharing salary info. A key part of my blog is my accountability updates each month that breakdown where all of my money goes but also how I earn it – it gives readers a…
It’s easy to feel lost in the shuffle whilst working for a large company. With so many staff members, so many offices, and so many customers – feeling like a cog in the wheel is unavoidable at times. Whether you’re feeling apprehensive before searching ‘’amazon jobs near me’’ on Google, or worried about that big…
(Image Credit) It can be easy to be drawn into ventures that involve breaking the law. Money can often look much easier to get your hands on if you’re willing to break the rules, and a lot of people end up going down this route when they feel like they don’t have any other choice.…
If you don’t spend a lot of time reading personal finance blogs, you may not have come across the term FI/RE, which means Financial Independence/Retire Early. This is a small group of people who have figured that if they can super charge their savings rate for about 10 years, they can achieve financial independence and…
Setting aside an emergency fund is one of the smartest financial decisions you can ever make. The extra money can relieve stress during uncertain times and will help bail you out when you are in a tough spot. Surprisingly, nearly three in 10 U.S. adults don’t have any emergency savings. For those who do, only…
Profile I am thirty six years old and I’m a freelance digital event producer. I make $40/hour and generally work about 16-20 hours a week. I’m still living at my dad’s house. I am so not sad to say good-bye to this year. Spending & Saving This has been another weird month where my net…
For those still sticking to their social distancing guns (and as someone from a decimated industry, thank you), here are some ideas to keep New Year’s Eve from being a total bust. Several are paid games or “theatrical” events, so if the pandemic has not been a financial disaster for you, consider supporting the creators…
I’ve written a lot about how I think goals and tracking those goals have made a huge impact on my financial progress. But you might wonder how to track these goals? There are a few automated ways to do it using websites like Personal Capital or Mint (personally I do keep a Mint account fairly…
So I’ve been considering how to run away the last few weeks. I’ve done a lot of research on RVs with the idea of solitarily rolling around America and exploring some national parks and outdoor wonders. I’ve also looked at some countries that are allowing Americans in with really low cost of living with the…
I’ve spent a lot of time the last few months thinking about previous jobs and it left me pondering, what have I learned from all these places I’ve worked? I’ve been really lucky to make my career in theater, but there were even a few jobs I worked before graduating that taught me useful life…
If you’re just getting started with your finances, you may be looking to set up a checking account for the first time. Or you may have a checking account that you’re not very impressed with and looking for some options. I thought I’d spend a few minutes today writing about how I chose the checking…
I’ve found there are actually a few things that make saving money a little easier that are incredibly easy to implement. I call these one step money tricks because there’s like one moment of effort you have to exert and then the effort is done and you just get the payoff. Cash Back There are…
I am so excited for this dumpster fire of a year to almost be over. I know nothing magically gets better on January 1st but I really hope we’re closer in the downward slide back towards normal. So it’s reaching that time of year when I start to ponder my goals for next year. Because…
I saw an interesting question on one of the Facebook stage management groups I’m part of the other day from a younger member asking what any of us would do if we were recent grads this year and I thought a lot of the answers were pretty great. It left me wondering what I would…
Passive income is the dream, isn’t it? I remember reading a great book called Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen years ago and in it I learned that most millionaires have, on average, seven stream of income. That seemed insane to me at the time. And of course, the golden cow here is…
And interesting thing in the personal finance community is that there is a lot written about global arbitrage, which is where you make money in one place (usually the US, UK or Australia, in a lot of these PF stories) and then go live in a really low cost of living place to make it…
When I worked on cruise ships, my favorite moment of my handover when I joined a new ship was when the ship phone was handed over to me. Not. Actually, that was the moment I felt all my freedom for the next 2-5-11 months close shut behind a door. You see, the great thing about…
A lot of time, I think we can feel like we’re in this financial journey alone. Sometimes I think the unique challenges we face as freelancers in the arts can really amplify those feelings. We have some really unusual challenges at times. That beings said below are a few resources to consider using when you…
One kind of cool thing about blogging for a long time is that once in a while companies reach out to you with something they want to send you for free to review. I’ve been really lucky to get several pairs of eyeglasses and contacts to review this way, but for the most part, I…
Profile I am thirty six years old and I’m a freelance digital event producer. I also worked for a couple of hours as a stagehand this month. I’m still living at my dad’s house. That’s where we’re at. Spending & Saving You know what? I’ve been blogging about money for more than 7 years and…
Ideally, as an artist, I would move through these steps starting as a young artist at the beginning of my career and moving on from there, but you know what they day about planting a tree. The best time to do so was 20 years ago, the second best time is today. Stage One Assess…
What. A. Year. I was telling a friend recently that whenever I wind up at my parents house between tours, it always feels like time is frozen. This is kind of delightful for two to three weeks, and tolerable for a month or two with visits to friends and other family crammed in there too.…