SoFi Blog

In 2016, after 10 years in the online marketing industry, Christopher Brown and Michael Mazzuca founded DIGI SEARCH, a dental- and medical-specific digital marketing agency. The two built the business on insights gained while Chris was growing his family’s practice through innovative digital marketing campaigns.

Christopher is also a proud member of SoFi’s Entrepreneur Program, which empowers a select handful of promising entrepreneurs by giving them financial flexibility, access to investors, and a support network of peers and mentors to help them succeed. Since joining SoFi this year, DIGI SEARCH has more than doubled its client base.

For any startup to succeed, it takes talent, intelligence, hard work, and a love of innovation. It also helps to be connected—to have people looking out for you, especially when you’re on your way up and in need of that first big break. SoFi Entrepreneur Program member Mark Pawloski started Upkey with friends Mo Bitar and Amir Badr to help college students who didn’t come from elite backgrounds get noticed by more elite employers.

Let’s get the ugly truth out of the way up front: A lot of Americans don’t have great financial planning skills. More than half (56%) have saved less than $10,000 for retirement, according to a March 2016 GoBankingRates survey. And 49% of U.S. adults with a self-directed retirement account, such as an IRA or 401(k), lack the confidence to invest iwt properly, according to a Federal Reserve Board report published in May. To add insult to injury, that same report reveals that 46% couldn’t cover an unexpected $400 emergency expense with ready cash or savings.

While there’s plenty of saving and investment advice available to help us all increase our financial smarts, the lion’s share of it is built around the idea that we should invest and save for other people in our lives. We’re told to save up for a wedding, a down payment on a house to enjoy with a life partner, a couple of cars, and for children and their educations. But where’s the financial planning advice for singles? It’s unfair to be left out just because your life milestones differ from those of others.

You’re ambitious and focused on your profession —and so is your significant other. But unless you both have the amazing ability to clone yourselves, juggling demanding careers and personal pursuits can prove extremely challenging. Creating a work-life balance that truly serves your goals and passions can feel impossible.

But there are couples who are proof positive it can be done.

Data this week confirmed that the slowdown in the US economic growth seen in August was a temporary one. Market-derived probabilities of a Fed rate hike by December continued to rise along with a stronger dollar and higher 10-year Treasury yields. Oil continued to climb as U.S. oil inventories fell and the prospects for an OPEC agreement remained intact. The rising price of oil caused emerging markets (many of which export oil) to outperform.