Plain-English breakdowns of the things nobody taught you.
Long-form guides, written for the person who's about to fill out a 401(k) or 403(b) form for the first time and isn't sure what any of the words mean. Updated for the current IRS year.
Money Order of Operations
Always know where your next dollar should go — a nine-step order covering the match, high-interest debt, the emergency fund, Roth, 15%, and goals beyond.
Read the roadmapThe 5-minute real-talk version.
Same money roadmap, condensed to five buckets and an interactive self-check. For when 13 minutes feels like too many.
For your first real paycheck.
Day-one decisions for someone new to the workforce. The stuff nobody taught you in school.
Shortcuts you reach for before the math.
Mental models that turn money questions into something you can answer in your head — Rule of 72, real returns, the cost of waiting.
Cover what could derail you.
Before stacking money, make sure one bad week can't undo everything — the cash buffer, the debts eating it, the right coverage, and the account that doubles as a stealth retirement vehicle.
Guide to Emergency Funds
Know exactly how big your emergency fund should be, where to keep it, and the habits that quietly drain it — so a surprise bill never becomes a crisis.
Read the guide → Guide · 11 min readGuide to Debt Payoff
Build a payoff plan you'll actually finish — the three tiers of debt, the avalanche vs snowball math, and how to weigh debt against the employer match.
Read the guide → Guide · 12 min readGuide to Insurance
Sort what you actually need from what to skip — health, renters, auto, disability, and term life, not whole life or extended warranties.
Read the guide → Guide · 11 min readGuide to HSA
Turn an HSA into a stealth retirement account — the triple tax advantage, who's HDHP-eligible, the 2026 limits, and the receipt strategy that pays off later.
Read the guide → Guide · 11 min readGuide to Mortgages
Understand your mortgage before you sign — fixed vs ARM, points, PMI, escrow, and the amortization curve almost everyone reads wrong.
Read the guide →Where the money actually goes.
The strategy you're already using, and the funds inside the account.
Guide to Dollar Cost Averaging
Invest on a schedule so one bad guess can't sink you — what dollar-cost averaging is, when it beats lump sum, and why you're likely already doing it.
Read the guide → Guide · 12 min readGuide to Investment Vehicles
Know what to buy inside a 401(k) or brokerage — stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, index and target-date funds, plus the fees that decide your outcome.
Read the guide →For the people and purposes beyond you.
The retirement account your teen can't yet open for themselves. Education for the next generation. Giving as a line item, not a leftover.
Guide to Teen Roth IRA
Open the highest-leverage account there is for a working teen — what counts as earned income, why it beats a 529, and how to set up a Roth IRA step by step.
Read the guide → Guide · 11 min readGuide to 529 Plan
Save for education without locking the money away — how 529s work, the 2026 limits, and the SECURE 2.0 Roth IRA rollover for whatever's left over.
Read the guide → Guide · 10 min readGuide to Giving
Give in a way you can sustain — set a baseline rate, automate it, and use the tax tools that stretch each dollar: donor-advised funds, QCDs, appreciated stock.
Read the guide →The accounts that quietly do the heavy lifting.
Workplace plans, IRAs, and the Roth-vs-Traditional tax-timing decision you make inside them.
Guide to 401(k)
Walk away confident about your 401(k): Roth vs. traditional, the match you shouldn't leave behind, and what to do with it when you switch jobs.
Read the guide → Guide · 10 min readGuide to IRA
Pick the right IRA — Traditional, Roth, SEP, SIMPLE, and Rollover: what each is for, who can contribute, and how the taxes play out over decades.
Read the guide → Guide · 9 min readGuide to Roth vs. Traditional
Make the Roth vs. Traditional call with confidence — when each one wins, why your tax bracket drives it, and why Roth often beats the math on paper.
Read the guide →When the paycheck stops.
Social Security — when to claim, how it's taxed, how it fits the plan.
Glossary of terms
One-sentence definitions for every term used across the guides and calculators — accounts, tax timing, investing, debt, retirement.
→Subject index
The back-of-book index — every topic on the site, with its guide, calculator, and chart anchors gathered into one row.
→Every chart in one place
Forty-two figures across the guides and tools, grouped by shape — bar, line, donut, flow. Click any card to land on the chart in context.
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