Lately I have been seeing a flood of ads for new banking apps that break from the traditional accounts of the past. These are accounts where you earn points toward rewards, get savings rates double the national average, or use an app that makes banking fun. They are all intriguing options if you have been using traditional (and boring) banking, and the allure of higher rewards and free accounts can make anyone want to sign up. What these accounts do not come with is a warn

It seems that anything I want to do in life now requires a subscription of some sort. Even if I just want to use an app for a single day, it now requires a subscription. Then I have to remember to dig into my Apple Subscriptions and cancel before the free week ends, or I get charged. Annoying. That means a large chunk of my budget (and probably yours as well) is being eaten up by subscriptions.

There are two types of people with student loans: people who just graduated and do not know what is in store for them, and those who have gone into the real world and now understand the weight of what student loans can do to a person. Hopefully neither is you, and you have just stumbled onto this article by accident. But chances are, you came across this in a furious Google search with terms like “student loans laid off” and are not sure what you are supposed to do now.

Wait, sinking fund? Surely my emergency fund is enough? Or do those mean the same thing? This may be your first thought if you're hearing the word “sinking fund” for the first time. If you've already saved an emergency fund, good for you, only 47 percent of Americans have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency, according to Bankrate. But realizing you might need to save even more to be fully prepared for a job loss can feel daunting.

If you have landed on this article, chances are you are grappling with a pretty major decision right now: To vacation or not to vacation: that is the question. You have everything planned out. Hotels confirmed, flights booked, and you (or you and your family) are already jazzed about getting out of town for a little while. Then the worst happens. You get the dreaded layoff call.

Even if you have stumbled across this post and are not facing imminent job loss, this advice applies to anyone working today. American society has very few safety nets for job loss relative to those in other highly developed countries, and it will be on you to weather the storm. A cash cushion is the single most powerful tool for turning a financial shock (a layoff, a car repair, a medical bill) into a manageable inconvenience rather than a crisis that follows you for years.

Maybe you aren't as severely attached, but you at the very least view your phone as an absolute necessity. Not just for life, but for taking phone screening calls, browsing jobs on LinkedIn in your spare time, and combing through your email for what is hopefully not a rejection. So that means there is nothing to do about this expense, right?

After reviewing my COBRA benefits information, instructions for rolling over my 401(k), and details about the loss of my RSUs (ugh), I noticed one more document. It stated that my PTO would be paid out with my last paycheck from the company. What a welcome piece of news! I had not realized that my not going on vacation was going to give me a nice little bonus as I walked away from my job. Fast forward a decade. I was leaving another job, fully prepared to enjoy that PTO p

It feels that way since many people’s most expensive bill is their housing payment each month. And the worst part of that bill is that it can feel so out of your control. If you are locked into a mortgage for 30 years or just signed a year-long lease, that number can feel like a noose around your neck if you get laid off and have no steady income coming in.

I will admit it: I love to spend money. If I am bored and out and about in a city, I might start ducking into local shops to see if there is anything I “need” inside. If I hear anyone throw out the word “happy hour,” I am the first to ask when we are going. This desire to spend money to have fun is not actually a problem in some cases (experiences over things, for example), but it becomes a lot more difficult when there is no longer an inflow of money to speak of.

If you don't have a robust emergency fund and have been informed that you are being laid off, it is going to be very tempting to cash out your 401k account and use that to keep the lights on. But it is important that you explore every option. Rash decisions about moving retirement funds around can have ramifications that last a lifetime.

If this hits home then you may be looking for ways to bring in extra cash while the money isn't free flowing like you are used to in the absence of a steady paycheck. Living a life of absolutely zero indulgences including a $5 coffee (which let's be real is now closer to $7-$8) can make an already frustrating job search feel even heavier.

Every month I would find myself trying to align the monthly transactions to what I was doing but it wasn’t coming out exactly right. It was a nightmare.

Groceries are also one of the first places people make cuts to their budget when trying to save money post-layoff. They are mostly right to do so as the average American family is spending roughly $1,000 a month on groceries. This is a huge amount to come out of your income each pay cycle.

You are asking me to cut out the one thing that make me feel good when I am going through a tough time?