And why the bare minimum isn’t enough — I came across a post the other day asking if saving $200 a month is enough. Some people said yes. Some people said no. I answered, “it depends.” If you're making $1,000 a month, then saving $200 is a good amount of money to save, since that’s 20% of your…

Your twenties are the most important time of your life — One of the first questions I get from my financial literacy students is how they can become a millionaire. I smile and ask them why they want to do that. Unlike most personal finance YouTubers and articles, they don’t say it’s because they want freedom. They say it’s because they…

History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes — People are surprised that Threads, an Instagram app, garnered 100 million users in only five days. And yet, that was exactly Mark Zuckerberg’s intention when Threads was released into the wild. Because like many other companies, the best way to eliminate the competition is to cannibalize your own products to…

Young adults aren’t building healthy spending habits — When I told my financial literacy class we’d be learning about budgeting, one of the students raised their hand and said the following: “I’ve been waiting for you to teach this lesson. …

Students deserve better than what they’re eating — Toward the end of each school day, a few students will ask me if I have any food. “Why?” I ask. “Didn’t you eat the school lunch?” “No,” they reply. “Why not?” “Because it’s disgusting.” I went online and downloaded the school lunch menu for my school. …

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows — I’ll be starting my eighth year of teaching in the fall of 2023. I have taught World Geography, World History, U.S. History, and Financial Literacy. From those four subjects, I have learned a lot about delivery, instruction, classroom management, and most importantly, how to build a connection with your students. …

The investment isn’t always worth the effort — About a year ago, I had a conversation with a teacher about one of our students. That teacher was encouraging them to attend an out-of-state university. I asked them why. They said the experience would be worth it. …

And what I would’ve done instead — Looking back on my 20s, there are plenty of things I wish I knew or would’ve done. More importantly, there are things I wish people would’ve told me. These are just three of them. I regret going back to college When I was in high school, I had no plans to go to college in the…

They should’ve told you what jobs are out there — I've taught financial literacy at the high school level for over a year now. I'm incredibly surprised by what students have learned from their other teachers. The only three careers teachers ever recommend are doctors, lawyers, and engineers. They never recommend any other careers to students. This is a huge…