If you have accessed the Internet at any time in the past decade, you have probably found content about how people your age do not understand the financial struggles that young people are facing, and that you and your peers are unfairly blaming the young generation for their dismal financial situation. Now think about the…

Making your debts go away quickly comes at a cost. The best-case scenario is that you win the lottery, inherit money from a relative, or land your dream job; if that happens, you will gain money but lose friends, either because they are jealous of you or because your newfound fortune brings out your worst…

Getting through another month without overdrawing your bank account and without incurring any more late fees feels like a win.  You should congratulate yourself by doing something that ostensibly doesn’t cost any money, like going for a walk for the length of time it takes to listen to three songs or procrastinating going to bed…

Not having any money is bad enough, but it only adds insult to injury when you check your bank account balance, and it shows you a negative number, so you can see exactly how much less than nothing you have.  The indignity of having an overdrawn bank account does not end as soon as you…

Florida may call itself the Sunshine State, but the muggy Everglades, where the alligators can always slide into the water to cool off, and the single-family homes where a chill sets in during the daily lightning storms, have got nothing on the likes of Death Valley, where there is no shade, no rain, and no…

The rumblings about one or another flyover state unseating California as the new favorite destination for working-age adults in the Sun Belt have only been getting louder since the COVID-19 pandemic tempted us with the possibility of continuing to work at our high-paying jobs. Every time you open a news app or social media feed,…

Everywhere you look, you see self-help content that explicitly tells you, or else implicitly operates on the assumption that winning at all costs is the only acceptable option. The Internet, where everyone antagonizes each other openly, seems to be united in the belief that everyone who does not get what they want through honest or…

You have the right to file for bankruptcy protection a theoretically unlimited number of times, provided that you are immortal, but there are waiting periods for how soon you can file after your previous bankruptcy filing. It is possible that you can start borrowing again, and your credit card debt can pile up before you are…

If the retailers of the world had their way, everyone would spend their tax refunds on cars, furniture, and other fun stuff that they had kept their eyes on all year but had never been able to afford while living paycheck to paycheck. You have a better idea, though. You have spent your tax refunds on splurges…

Walking away from homeownership and surrendering your house to the bank to avoid foreclosure is a heart-wrenching decision because there is no telling whether the financial stability you once enjoyed in your house will ever return. If at all possible, the best long-term solution is to buy time with your mortgage lender, hold onto your…