SoFi Blog

Bringing home a bundle of joy from the hospital is the start of a new adventure. You’re responsible for a new life and are now party to the ups and downs, the laughter and stress, of raising a child.

If you plan on having kids, you may already be considering how the new addition to your family will factor in financially. From the cost of health and prenatal care, to childbirth, to actually raising your child—things can get expensive. There’s a crib, maybe a new nursery, diapers, formula, clothes, and that’s just the beginning.

Young people are facing unprecedented levels of student loan debt and increasing costs for health care and housing. At the same time, millennial salaries are lower than those of previous generations, partly because many entered the job market after the 2008 recession.

While millennials are having kids later than older generations, a majority still rate being a parent as their most important life goal.

February is Black History Month, and as such, we thought we’d take a step back to honor one of the financial world’s true heroes. Maggie Walker was a leader and a visionary, who advanced the rights of African Americans and women, both socially and financially.

Articles about the benefits of attending college typically focus on traditional situations where students live on, or right next to college campuses—and benefits of full college-campus experiences are numerous. But, there are also plenty of benefits when commuting to college and here we’ll look at seven of the most important of them.

Before we begin, though, we want to create a definition of this type of student. What is a commuter student, really? Traditionally, people think of students who live in dorm rooms as the ones who are heavily involved in campus life, but what about students who live nearby in an apartment? These students may also be immersed in campus life.

There are a lot of fun things to spend money on. Retirement does not always feel like one of them. Setting money aside for retirement is hard to do, but it’s truly a great gift that you can give yourself.

Your retirement has the potential to be one of the greatest times of your life—imagine taking your family on a European vacation, eating fantastic food, and reading all the books you never had time to read. It’s possible, but it all depends on how much money you save and invest.

The average person isn’t saving enough to live out their golden years in style. One study, by Vanguard , shows that the average (median) person has only $26,000 in retirement savings.

If you haven’t made an IRA contribution for 2018 and are looking to ramp up your retirement savings rate, you’re in luck: You can contribute up to $11,500 to your IRA by April 15, 2019 .

“Retail therapy” is a tongue-in-cheek phrase people often casually toss about, referring to the good feeling that can arise through shopping, a feeling that is often (but not always) short-lived. (This isn’t, it should be noted, an actual form of therapy!)

Sometimes, people pursue shopping therapy when they need to cheer themselves up, whether after a romantic breakup, a bout with the flu, or a tough day at the office. Other times, this kind of pseudo-therapy is used to celebrate a special occasion, perhaps a promotion at work or an engagement announcement.

This post will explore the psychology behind shopping for pleasure, versus shopping strictly for what you need. We’ll delve into ways in which retail therapy can be harmless and may be a release, along with some potentially negative impacts.

We’ll share tips on creating a budget that helps allow room for purchases that make you smile, as well as ways to free up your cash flow, and a strategy aimed to help dig yourself out of credit card debt that can arise with over-enthusiastic spending.