Who’s the richest person in US history? The answer is John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937). By the time of his death, his net worth was $1.4 billion, representing 1.5% of the entire US economy’s output then. Adjusted for inflation, his fortune would be worth $410 billion…
The Truth about Debt Relief Company: Helpful or Harmful?
With nearly two decades managing collection strategy for a leading credit card company, I’ve witnessed many economic booms and busts. Riding along these economic waves emerged an industry targeting financially distressed customers with a utopian promise: becoming debt-free. Debt relief companies first put down their…
In Credit Card Debt… Now What?
Credit card debt is a big problem in the U.S. How big is it, exactly? According to the results released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, our total credit card debt hit $1.129 trillion at the end of 2023. Yes, that’s right: in…
Confessions of An Ex-Corporate Hamster
I quit on February 29th, 2024. My last day as a corporate hamster was on Good Friday, March 29th. For almost 28 years, I was a diligent, reliable hamster, scrambling faithfully along an invisible moving platform called the Corporate Ladder. I didn’t recall when it finally…
Inch by Inch, Life’s A Cinch
In the realm of personal finance, the word “budgeting” comes up all the time. How do you feel about it when you hear it being said over and over again? If you feel restrained, deprived, stressed, overwhelmed, or likely to fail, you aren’t alone. In…
Not Worth Trying to Be The Joneses
Average length of novels: 300-400 pages Average time of a podcast episode: 40 minutes Average number of posts on a social media platform for scrolling: Infinite In today’s digital age, we can’t live without our smartphones. We take photos of our food. We shop online. …