SoFi Blog

Christmas carols are playing on the radio, decorated trees and presents line window displays—the holiday season is quickly approaching. If you’re stressed about all the holiday shopping you have left to do, you’re not alone.

Between finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list and fighting crowds at the mall, holiday shopping isn’t always a pleasant activity. But doing some of your shopping before the holidays are in full swing could help alleviate some of the shopping-related stress and can be financially advantageous. With all the hustle and bustle around the holidays, staying ahead of your shopping can be difficult.

Doing the bulk of your holiday shopping online could end up saving you a little bit of money, especially when you’re taking advantage of Black Friday sales or other holiday deals. Here are 10 helpful tips so you can get ahead on your holiday shopping and make the most of your money.

As a kid, there’s a strong chance you dreamed about becoming a doctor. In fact, according to Fatherly’s Imagination Report , becoming a doctor is the number one dream of young girls nationwide. It’s also the number one dream career for children living in the West and the mid-Atlantic, and second in the Great Lakes, Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest, according to Fatherly.

And apparently a lot of those kids actually followed through on their dreams, as more than 51,000 people applied to med school in the 2017 to 2018 school year. Of those applicants, more than 21,000 actually got in. (And if you’re wondering what it takes to be part of the 40% who got accepted, the Association of American Medical Colleges revealed that the average MCAT score for applicants was 501.8 in the 2016 to 2017 school year and 504.7 for 2017 to 2018. The average score for matriculating students was 508.7 in the 2016 to 2017 school year and 510.4 for 2017 to 2018. In other words, MCAT scores aren’t trending down.)

Upon graduation, these medical school students turned doctors can expect an average salary of $294,000 a year, and more if they follow through with a specialty such as becoming an orthopedic surgeon, a job which commands an average salary of $489,000 . Or if they choose to live and practice in a state that pays medical professionals particularly well, like North Dakota, they can expect to make an average of $361,000.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be about celebrating your bounty, not spending it. Still, it can be tough to get through the holiday meal and festivities without gobbling up your bank account.

If you’re already working on a budget for the winter holidays—between Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and New Year’s—why not back things up a bit and include Thanksgiving in your plan? That way you won’t be in the red before you even get to Black Friday.

Whether you’re the host or a guest, being creative and proactive can be key. Here are some tips on how to save money. (No thanks necessary.)

No one likes high interest rates any more than they like managing multiple student loan payments every month. That’s why refinancing can help. It means you can consolidate to one monthly payment, instead of several, and refinancing can potentially lower your interest rate or help make your monthly payments more manageable.

We’ve created a straightforward comparison chart, so you can see exactly why SoFi is a smart choice when refinancing student loans. We’ll compare loan structures, discounts, and how easy it is to actually refinance. We’ll also look at perks like unemployment protection, so you know what to expect if you find yourself facing an employment gap.

The goal of this information is to allow you to compare and contrast SoFi and First Republic Bank, based on information available on both websites, so you can choose the loan that works best for you and your unique situation. If you’re ready to refinance your student loans with SoFi, you can find your rate in just two minutes.

Maybe you love sports. If so, transforming your basement into a rec room where you can, say, shoot pool and watch football games on a big screen with your best friends may feel like a dream come true. Or, maybe you just need an extra bedroom and/or more bathrooms for your growing family. Either way, read on.

No matter what extra room you want in your home, basement remodeling makes good sense because you can handle the renovations without needing to add an addition onto your house. “Sure,” you might think, “but you haven’t seen MY basement. The floors and walls are concrete, and we store all of our extra stuff down there.”

Well, that sounds just like a normal basement, pre-remodel. And in this post, we’ll share steps to help you turn that cold concrete into a livable (and even lovable!) living space, as well as providing information about a typical basement remodel cost. We’ll start out by sharing inspirational remodeling ideas, so you can solidify what you want your finished basement to look like, and then we’ll do some reverse engineering for you, including an excellent way to finance your remodeling project.