Paying down your credit cards and letting your credit mature are guaranteed to raise your credit score. But the boosting benefits can feel painfully slow. Five years ago, my credit score hung at 550 and my apartment lease renewal loomed around the corner. I would stay up late plugging scenario after scenario into a FICO […]
Debt Collectors Calling? Don’t Make This Mistake
One morning I switched my phone into Do Not Disturb mode, and kept it that way for two years. At that point I had many unheard voicemails. I’d stopped listening to them because they all said the same thing: I owed money. Six months earlier, I lost my job and emptied my savings to make […]
Is Anxious Attachment Hurting Your Relationship with Money?
I was $33,000 in debt by the time I turned 22. This wasn’t the sympathetic, socially-justifiable student loan kind of debt. This was $33,000 of credit card debt, accrued over a 9-month, blackout-style spending spree on clothing, farm-to-table dinners, bougie gym memberships, and Instagrammable getaways. The momentary thrill I enjoyed from all these purchases would […]
Role Reversal: Ways to Care for Financially Unstable Parents (part 2)
In the previous article in this series, I talk about some preliminary questions to ask yourself before you decide to help your parents financially. Stepping into a caretaking role for your once-caretakers can be daunting, demoralizing, and trigger a lot of resentment. I know because I’ve been there, and I’d encourage anyone in the same […]
Role Reversal: How to Cope with Financially Unstable Parents (part 1)
How old were you when you realized your parents struggled with money? I was five: crouched on the top stair, listening once again to my parents fighting downstairs. My mom wanted to know where all my dad’s money went each month. The math just wasn’t adding up. My dad, knowing his daughter was an eavesdropper, […]