Hello world! I thought I'd kick off the blog by telling you all a little about myself. I found my love for money as a topic of study when...

One of the biggest myths people carry into retirement is that they’ll magically become a different version of themselves once work ends. That somehow the saver will turn into a spender, the worrier will relax, or the reactive decision-maker will suddenly become strategic. But money doesn’t work that way, and neither do people. Our habits don’t disappear at retirement—they solidify. Over time, they quietly become our priorities. The data around retirement savings highlights ju

If you’ve paid any attention to markets over the past few years, you’ve probably heard of Roaring Kitty. A YouTube persona. A Reddit username. A retail investor who became a folk hero after helping fuel a short squeeze that rattled Wall Street and nearly sank a major hedge fund. He wasn’t the first finance influencer, but he became a symbol of something much larger: financial advice no longer flows through a single, professional gatekeeper. That reality makes many people unea

(You don’t need this. I just enjoy it.) This is a more advanced post than most people need. If you’re early in your career, still figuring out basic saving habits, or just trying to get your financial feet under you, feel free to skip it entirely. Nothing here is required to live a good financial life. I’m writing this one for fun—for the people who enjoy peeking under the hood of retirement income planning and asking, “Wait… are we modeling this correctly?” Because there’s s

When I was younger, I quietly disdained the idea of vision. I tried the usual tools—vision boards, written goals, pictures meant to motivate me—but none of them worked. They felt hollow. I assumed the problem was the tools themselves, that vision was just another self-help gimmick dressed up as productivity. That wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was that I hadn’t taken the time to understand my own motivations or define what success actually meant to me—financially o

At some point, life veers off script. Not in a dramatic, cinematic way, but abruptly and without warning. A plan collapses, a body fails, a job disappears, or a relationship shifts in a way you didn’t anticipate. One moment you’re moving forward with clarity and confidence, and the next you’re trying to orient yourself in a future you didn’t choose. These moments aren’t rare exceptions. They are a normal part of being human. Most financial planning quietly assumes a predictab

(And Why Only One Actually Builds Momentum) Most people don’t fail with money because they’re bad at math. They fail because they’re using the wrong mode of thinking  for the kind of life they want. Over time, I’ve noticed that almost everyone manages money using one of three approaches. Not three tools. Three mindsets. Each one shapes how decisions feel, how stressful money becomes, and whether progress seems to compound—or constantly reset. Those approaches are reactive , p

The More You Save, the Less You Tend to Spend There’s a pattern that shows up repeatedly in retirement research, and it catches people off guard every time. You would reasonably expect the people with the largest retirement balances to be the ones living the most comfortably—traveling more, upgrading their lifestyle, and finally enjoying the freedom they spent decades working toward. After all, that’s the promise we implicitly attach to saving aggressively. Yet that’s not wha

If you ask people what scares them most about retirement, the answer usually isn’t dying . It’s running out of money . That fear drives a single, powerful assumption:“I’m probably nowhere close to saving enough.” And for many people, that assumption is simply wrong. Not because retirement is cheap. Not because saving doesn’t matter. But because most people dramatically overestimate how much they’ll actually need . Where the Overestimation Comes From When most people imagine r

When planning for retirement, a common assumption is that our spending will remain constant or even increase over time due to inflation...

I've studied lots of financial literacy education programs in my day. And by a lot, I mean A LOT. And with only a few exceptions, they...

Are you looking to take control of your financial future? Do you want to learn how to manage your money, invest wisely, and secure your...

In today's fast-paced world, understanding economics and personal financial planning is more crucial than ever. This is where Vested...

Have you been looking to take control of your finances and build a better financial future for yourself? Look no further than the latest...