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Every once in a while I receive an email that makes me scratch my head. So for this week’s post, I present to you: “We have 3 children under 18 and pay significantly less in taxes now than we will 12 years from now. This makes the tax savings from Traditional accounts less impactful during […]
One of the first things they teach you in the unofficial Personal Finance Classics canon of required reading is that every time things look like they’re going awry, people will insist, “This time, it’s different. This time, we’re not coming back from it!” Every author cautions against falling prey to this mix of seductive pessimism […]
This blog post was originally #inspired by a question that (seemingly) came out of the blue in an interview: “If someone wanted to save $50,000 over the next two years to buy a house, how would you suggest they go about that goal?” Questions like this always feel a little…funky, because it seems as though […]
That title feels ominous, huh? The other day, I was mulling over the Traditional vs. Roth debate (#JustKatieThings) again because I was running some projections that showed someone who invested really wisely in a Roth IRA at age 22 could easily 15x their money over 40 years, making the tax liability they originally paid minuscule […]
As my standard legalese: I am not a licensed tax professional, and this is not tax advice. Please consult your friendly neighborhood CPA and do your due diligence. This is intended to be a starting point for your #TaxSzn research. As I was reminded repeatedly by TurboTax’s 2023 ad campaign called “Don’t Do Your Taxes,” […]
If you’re a high earner in the market for an investment strategy that sounds more like a Transformer than a legitimate wealth-building option, then boy, do I have good news for you: The Mega Backdoor Roth IRA might be a contender for your tax-advantaged lineup. Before we talk about the “how,” let’s talk about the […]
As anyone who’s been in the same room as me when the topic of tax savings comes up knows, pre-tax investment vehicles are like my inner 12-year-old girl’s Justin Bieber. If my husband would let me put up a poster on our bedroom wall of the US’s tax-efficient trifecta (401(k), Roth IRA, HSA), I would. […]
If your instinctual response to that title was, “Wait, but aren’t those the same thing?”, your training is complete. I’ve successfully brainwashed you into the relentless pursuit of wealth. After all, like Jonathan Haidt says in his book The Happiness Hypothesis, “Those who think money can’t buy happiness just don’t know where to shop.” But […]
“Freedom without discipline is chaos.”—Cullen Hightower I heard from a reader the other day who’s in marital gridlock about the best way to manage their newfound high income. When they earned less, she said, they were in agreement about their strategy: They used dedicated savings accounts for discretionary purchases and a rollover strategy, in which […]
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Last year, my husband and I started a new financial tradition (okay, maybe it’s fairer to say I strong-armed him into it) in which I tap into the small, shameful part of me that’s still in awe of management consultants despite their well-documented crimes against humanity and I churn out a deck like I’m getting […]
There’s something stressful about consumption. It demands forethought, analysis—but it’s so often disguised as entertainment (#TargetRun! Women be shoppin’, amirite?) that we forget how much effort it takes. A few weeks ago, I was reminded of the year’s most acute variant of this feeling: “What’s on your list for Black Friday?” The question prompts a […]
Update: It’s come to my attention that the team at Copilot are ever the strategists and are working on an integration to import data from Mint in light of the news that Intuit is shuttering the platform. What did I tell you? User-friendly kings & queens. I should disclose upfront that I used to work […]
As my standard legalese: I am not a licensed tax professional, and this is not tax advice. Please consult your friendly neighborhood CPA and do your due diligence. This is intended to be a starting point for your #TaxSzn research. As I was reminded repeatedly by TurboTax’s 2023 ad campaign called “Don’t Do Your Taxes,” […]
Update: It’s come to my attention that the team at Copilot are ever the strategists and are working on an integration to import data from Mint in light of the news that Intuit is shuttering the platform. What did I tell you? User-friendly kings & queens. I should disclose upfront that I used to work […]
If you’re a high earner in the market for an investment strategy that sounds more like a Transformer than a legitimate wealth-building option, then boy, do I have good news for you: The Mega Backdoor Roth IRA might be a contender for your tax-advantaged lineup. Before we talk about the “how,” let’s talk about the […]
During my junior year of high school, I found myself in an unexpected situation where I had the highest grade point average in several of my classes. It wasn’t thanks to any sudden stroke of genius (my prefrontal cortex still had a way to go), but an accidental shift in my approach to studying. You […]
During my junior year of high school, I found myself in an unexpected situation where I had the highest grade point average in several of my classes. It wasn’t thanks to any sudden stroke of genius (my prefrontal cortex still had a way to go), but an accidental shift in my approach to studying. You […]
Last year, writer and activist Gabe Dunn came on The Money with Katie Show and said something insightful: “I can see some of [these personal finance experts] who, even if they started out as a ‘waitress’ or ‘a child of immigrants’…I know how quickly you can lose perspective. And it’s very quickly.” Their point was […]
When I originally published this post in February 2021, my thesis was pretty simple: Comparing your financial situation and decisions to the gals you wine down with on Bachelor Monday probably won’t net highly favorable results, because you’re selecting your “financial frame of reference” based on unrelated qualifications. As I revisit the idea in 2025, […]
A few years ago, I was going through cycle instructor training in Dallas. I entered into the process as a certified yoga sculpt instructor already, convinced that learning how to teach this other modality would last a few easy weeks at most before I’d find myself saving a horse and riding a stationary bike, with […]
¹must be willing to jump through a litany of loopholes and degrade oneself before the transfer portal gods. In the last week, I’ve seen a slew of headlines on the tails of American Express’s first-quarter earnings report, revealing that Gen Z and millennial users are accumulating their pricey, premium cards like student loans are in […]
This week on The Money with Katie Show, we revamped our patented (okay, it’s not patented, but it should be) travel rewards strategy. And lest you distrust the personal finance wench’s hot takes on travel rewards, I’m bringing in the big guns: Benét Wilson, former senior editor for The Points Guy. But how do you […]
Last updated Oct. 2021 Check out the Sapphire Preferred card here Disclosure: This content is not sponsored or endorsed by any of the card brands described here and is accurate as of the posting date, but some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Money with Katie is part of an affiliate sales network and […]
Last updated Oct. 2021 Check out the Sapphire Preferred card here Disclosure: This content is not sponsored or endorsed by any of the card brands described here and is accurate as of the posting date, but some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Money with Katie is part of an affiliate sales network and […]