Financial infidelity (keeping money secrets in a relationship) is strongly frowned upon – except when advising women. Instead, when discussing finances to an audience of women, the relationship advice is geared toward protecting oneself. This leads me to put on my Carrie Bradshaw advice column...
It’s a surprisingly controversial statement – women should pay in relationships. The notion that the man should pay is engrained in our culture. People usually bring up reasons like the pay gap and tradition. The difference these days is that we can’t assume anymore that...
Coping with money relationship problems? It’s easy to say that we fight about money because it’s scarce. But unless your fight is about student loans, gambling or property, there’s a good chance that the fight is not about a make-or-break expense. Most of our fights...
My post about why it sucks to date as a female lawyer is the most popular post on this blog. But I don’t want to paint a pitiable picture of dating as a lawyer; there are also great advantages to dating as a lady lawyer....
A money and power imbalance is why dating sucks for female lawyers. Couples often fight about money, particularly if the distribution of money is uneven. Money is a proxy for power, and power imbalances lead to disagreements. When the Woman Earns More Because of the...
Apparently, retail sales are up because of pent up demand due to Covid. Personal finance people are pleading, “Don’t go shopping if you don’t need more stuff!” This effort seems futile and wrongly focuses on the action rather than the motivation. It reminds me of...
Most errands are boring, but shopping can be exhilarating. Stores have figured out how to convert the pursuit of saving money into spending too much. Bargain hunting is making you broke. When you think about it, shopping should be full and painful. You have to...
We know that houses bought in the 1980s amassed a tremendous amount of wealth for the owners. But does that mean housing is a good investment or that a family rich enough to buy a house in the 80s and never sell is already rich?...
It used to be that we would spend our time and money trying to amass resources. But prices have gone down and shopping has never been easier or more omnipresent. It’s too easy to shop when we feel bored, anxious, happy, or sad. Previous generations...
Yesterday was my birthday, and I like to reflect on what I’ve learned every year on the day of my birth. It just so happens that I’m watching a friend’s dog this week and I’ve learned so many lessons from dogsitting. Here are a few...
It always seems like budgets require perfection. If you bust your budget, it always seems like some sort of moral failing. There is always an assumption that everyone has the ability to meet their budget every month, and it’s not true. There are lots of...
Law has historically been considered one of the safest careers to enter. With the rising costs of higher educations, stagnating wages, gluts of law school graduates, and, a global pandemic, that belief has largely been called into question. Even though law is not a 100%...
I discovered the zero waste movement in 2018. I started by reading Simple Life Hacks to Drastically Reduce Your Trash and 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste and eventually got to the grand poobah Bea Johnson, Zero Waste Home. The movement really spoke to me...
1. Don’t judge. When my mom had cancer, I was studying for the Bar. Luckily that meant I had time to take her to some of her doctor’s appointments. This made me feel pretty good about myself. I envisioned myself a little Mother Teresa and...
They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That holds true for burnout. All lawyers know someone who’s experienced it – and often experience it themselves. It’s much easier to climb out of burnout or to avoid it altogether if...