M1 Finance How M1 Finance’s “Pies” Helped Me Build and Automate My Perfect Portfolio Want to bake the perfect investment cake without getting messy? M1 Finance’s “Pies” felt like magic! I picked my ingredients (stocks/ETFs) and set the percentages, like choosing how much chocolate or sprinkles. Then, M1 automatically keeps my pie balanced, adding more … Read more
Alliant Credit Union How I Joined Alliant Credit Union (Without Military Ties) for Their High APY Checking Did you know you can join a cool money club even without being in the military? I felt stuck with my old bank giving me almost nothing back. Then I heard about Alliant! They said I could join … Read more
FAFSA (fafsa.gov) How Filling Out the FAFSA Unlocked Thousands in FREE Grant Money for College My heart pounded like a drum when I tackled the FAFSA form; college seemed like a far-off dream. Sharing our family’s money stuff felt super weird and a little scary, like showing everyone my secret piggy bank. Would anyone even … Read more
Experian (App/Website) I Tried Experian Boost for 6 Months: Did Paying My Netflix Bill ACTUALLY Raise My Credit Score? Could telling the librarian I pay for cartoons help my grown-up score? It sounded silly! Experian Boost let me connect bills like Netflix and my phone. For six months, I let it watch. Did my score … Read more
Mad Fientist How the Mad Fientist Podcast Unlocked Advanced FIRE Strategies I Never Considered Reaching Financial Independence (FI) felt like climbing a hill, but the Mad Fientist podcast revealed secret mountain passes! Listening felt like getting whispered secrets from a super-smart friend about complex topics like tax optimization and withdrawal strategies I hadn’t even thought … Read more
Bogleheads Wiki / Forum How the Bogleheads Forum Taught Me to Ignore Wall Street Noise and Build Wealth Simply Watching financial news felt like being yelled at by excited clowns – buy this! Sell that! It was confusing and stressful! Then I found the Bogleheads forum. It felt like walking into a calm library filled … Read more
FINRA BrokerCheck How BrokerCheck Saved Me From Hiring a Financial Advisor with a Shady Past Trusting someone with my life savings felt huge, like letting someone borrow my favorite teddy bear forever! This advisor seemed nice, but a tiny voice whispered “Check first!” I nervously typed their name into FINRA’s BrokerCheck tool. Oh wow! Red … Read more
Charles Schwab (Equity Awards Center) My RSUs Vested! How I Navigated Schwab’s Equity Awards Center to Sell Shares Suddenly, free company stock appeared in my account – like magic presents unlocking! It felt amazing but also confusing: what now? Logging into Schwab’s Equity Awards Center felt like opening the instruction manual. Big, clear buttons showed … Read more
AcreTrader How I Invested in American Farmland (Without Buying a Tractor) Using AcreTrader Imagine wanting a piece of a big, yummy farm pie, but not wanting to bake it or even own the whole kitchen! That’s how I felt. I dreamed of owning land, the kind that grows our food, but tractors and muddy boots? … Read more
Bloomberg How I Use My Bloomberg Terminal (Access) to Find Market-Moving News BEFORE Everyone Else Wow! Imagine having super-secret spy glasses for the money world! That’s kind of like my special Bloomberg computer screen. Sometimes, big news happens, like a toy company making a brand new, amazing toy. My screen often tells me just before … Read more