Around this time, people start complaining about how stressful it is to shop for Christmas gifts. I just nod and pretend I have any idea what it’s like. I am fortunate not to have the stress of figuring out “perfect gifts” for my family, because...
Recently, more states are adding financial education to their curricula. Some people cheer the change but I question the utility of it. When I was in school, we were taught how to write checks (oh I’m so old). But there are objectively wrong ways to...
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...
Every renter I know has been scolded for “throwing money away” by not buying a house. But is buying a house still good advice? We know that houses bought in the 1980s and held until now amassed a tremendous amount of wealth for the owners....
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...
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...
Many people go straight through from college to law school. Many lawyers are unhappy. It’s easy to wonder had some of those people taken some time before law school to contemplate whether law was a good career for them. The answer from a lawyer: maybe....