Student loan forbearance began in March 2020 and, for over two years, borrowers didn’t have to pay anything towards their student loans, with no consequence. As Americans everywhere were met with new financial hardships, student loan debt relief was put in place, pausing all payments and keeping the interest rates at 0%.
Here’s everything you need to know about student loan repayment after covid relief and how to prepare for student loan payments to start back up again in 2023.
Read MoreIt’s happening, y’all! The Department of Education launched a beta test of student loan forgiveness applications at 5:45p PT on Friday Oct 14, 2022. During this beta period, federal student loan borrowers may submit applications for some debt relief.
The applications won’t be processed until the official site launch later this month. However, according to a Department spokesperson, folks that apply for forgiveness during the beta period won’t have to reapply once the site goes live (or so they say).
Of course, a beta period indicates that the site, the application, and the process are in testing. During this period, bugs will be discovered – it’s the point of a beta test. So folks that apply now should manage their expectations.
Read MoreHere are a bunch of different things I’ve been thinking about. Lately, my work has felt like collecting dots in the hope that a constellation of meaning will soon reveal itself.
Read MoreHere’s everything you need to know about dealing with a possible stock market downturn and what you can do for yourself to prepare for your long-term goals.
Read MoreHere are some things I’ve been thinking about lately.
Disclaimer: I’m probably not the first person to think of these things. I’m sure I picked these up from a fellow human expressing themselves through conversations, words in a book, dialogue in a movie, lyrics in a song, or eavesdropping on folks arguing over dinner (one of my favorite things to do). Sometimes it’s hard to remember where every insight originated. Sometimes they are slowly internalized through repeated exposure, like learning every lyric to a pop song you had no intention of loving. We’re all pulling from the same weird, swirling pool of ideas
Read MoreI went to hang out with a friend and outside of her apartment, I found an Amazon package that I picked up and brought in with me. She said she didn’t remember what she bought. That’s part of the horror of online shopping; the ability to purchase so cheaply and frequently that you lose track of your purchases. But that’s also the beauty of it - it’s a two-for-one when it comes to pleasure and dopamine. You get the first dose doing the shopping and the next when the package arrives and you anticipate what’s inside.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter responsible for transmitting signals between the nerve cells of the brain. It directly impacts our central nervous system and plays a significant role in the body. While many of us have come to believe that dopamine is involved in rewards, it’s important to understand that it’s also involved in the pursuit of rewards. Some researchers argue that dopamine when acting within what has become known as the brain’s reward system, signals desire.
Read MoreWhat you need to know to learn how to maximize benefits and get the open enrollment help needed to have a health benefit plan that will work for your needs
Read MoreThe holiday season is an opportunity to slow down, to appreciate the year we’ve just had, and to spend time with family, chosen family, and friends. As you start to plan your holiday dinners or create new traditions, you may feel stressed or overwhelmed about staying true to your budget during this time of the year.
One gift-giving tradition that doesn’t need to continue throughout this holiday season is overspending on gifts that your friends and family probably don’t need. Giving someone a gift should come from a place of generosity, not lack. Giving gifts shouldn’t reinforce scarcity, so there's no reason to break the bank or dip too deep into your savings to express your affection and appreciation for your loved ones. Thankfully, there are sustainable and alternative gifting options that may be more energetically aligned with the spirit of giving.
We created an alternative gift guide to help put things into perspective, spark creativity, provide you with more sustainable alternatives, and be a voice that encourages you to be mindful this season.
Let’s take a closer look at some gift-giving alternatives for the holiday season.
Read MoreThe end of a year is a time for reflection. As you plan your end-of-the-year celebrations and start to plan your new year resolutions, you may want to consider taking some time to take a closer look at your finances. A year-end personal money review can help you reflect on the choices you made over the previous year and help guide you to make better financial choices in the new year.
Let’s take a look at what a year-end personal money review is and how it can help you have a better relationship with money:
Read MoreHey reader, just a little heads up that I am not an investment advisor, and the following article is not investment advice.
Before I took my first investment course in college, I had a lot of assumptions about investing. Many of them were wrong. I thought you had to know a lot about individual stocks and companies. I believed it was much more complicated than it turned out to be. And I expected it to be so much more exciting.
Investing is kind of like film and television. The result might be sexy and shiny and cool. But if you’ve ever been on set, you know that the process of filming is usually pretty dull compared to the result. There may be some excitement, but the great majority of the time gets spent waiting around - a lot like investing!
However, lately, investing seems to have changed -- from the Gamestop chaos to the Dodge coin drama, to the general market run-up over the last two years, investing feels exciting. Ask anyone who has seen their investment balances go up over the last couple of years.
Read More