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I like answering surveys. They’re kind of a professional curiosity for me, like a baker tasting chocolates. But lately, I’ve been stumped by one of the questions at the end of the survey. It’s the one that asks about employment status. The choices are: Employed full time, employed part time,

When my daughter was in elementary school, I got her a Moon jar – a foldable bank with three compartments labeled “Share, Spend, Save.” Moon jars were created to help kids learn about money and goal setting. I encouraged my daughter to sort her money – allowance, earnings from chores,

It seems that every Sunday when I visit my Mom for dinner, she shows me a pile of envelopes from charities asking for money. She regularly sends modest checks to several groups, but they always seem to want more. I remind Mom that giving tends to trigger more asks, and

When I went through a major layoff as a twenty-something, my Dad didn’t hide his concern about my career choice. Advertising, I told him, was simply not going to be as secure as his life as a tenured professor. When I went on to secure a job at the regional

It seems that part of parenting is imagining what your kid is going to do when they grow up. A child who enjoys tinkering may be destined to be an engineer. One who loves to put on a show might become a director one day. We’re always on the lookout for the spark that will

When my 20-year-old daughter looked over the wage summary for her summer job, she zeroed in on the money that was taken out before the paycheck even hit her account. She grudgingly acknowledged the income taxes, hoping she may get some back as a refund. But Social Security? From the buzz she’s hearing among her generation, Social Security will be

Remember when the pandemic was going to disrupt life for a few months – okay, maybe a year – and then everything was going to get back to normal? Just when it looked like we had a handle on the virus, the global supply chain falls apart. Then came the

It’s a crazy world out there, and it all seems to be happening in real time. Four decades after CNN brought us 24-hour news, we now carry an endless supply of news and information in our pockets. We can see world events unfolding before our eyes, and watch moment-by-moment as

When my dad was around 85 and dealing with health issues, I made some time for the two of us to have lunch together while Mom was off with friends. I told him I’d done some research that I wanted to share. “Dad,” I said, “A while ago you told

One recent weekend I painted my bedroom walls a dark cobalt blue. Then I sent a photo to my cousin who said, “That’s going to be hard to paint over when you decide to sell your house.” I know. And I don’t care. The color makes me happy. My home

Before the whole world was carrying a GPS around in their pockets, I loved planning weekend camping trips using detailed topographical maps. I’d unfold a section of the wilderness on my kitchen table, locate a starting point, then trace alternate routes into scenic high country, waterfalls, or alpine lakes. Using

Are you Bunny Slope or Black Diamond? I have to be honest, whenever I meet with my financial planner and we get to the questions about risk tolerance, I suddenly become extremely uncertain: Am I a low risk person? Highly risk tolerant? Or somewhere in between? Most of the time