Category: Recent News

Money on My Mind: Global Happiness
This week, we discuss recent reports on global happiness and starting families.

We also discuss lessons from successful businesses that we can apply to our personal lives.

The World Happiness Report 2025

Since 2012, an organization known as The World Happiness Report (WHR) has studied global wellbeing and how to improve it.

Each year, they analyze data from 140 countries and publish their findings in an effort to give everyone the knowledge to create more happiness for themselves and others.

That sounds like a great mission to me.

They also publish a global happiness ranking of all the countries studied. The rankings are based on answers to a single question:

Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

WHR explains that this “life evaluation” question empowers people to make their own judgments about what matters most.

As part of its analysis, WHR uses economic modeling to explain countries’ average life evaluation scores. They look at six variables, and one of them jump out at me:

“Freedom to make life choices.”

What countries would you guess scored the highest on the 2025 rankings?

The top five countries in the happiness rankings are:
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Netherlands
Each of these nations has ranked near the top for a long time.

Where is the United States on the happiness chart?

The United States fell to number 24, its lowest happiness ranking ever.

The United States’ highest ranking was 11th place way back in 2011.

I’m not totally surprised that the United States’ ranking is as low as it’s ever been.

We’ve discussed some theories that may help explain this drop:
- Americans’ debt balances are increasing year over year. Of course, Debt can cause some serious negative emotions, like shame and embarrassment.
- 8 out of 10 of us are worried we may lose our jobs this year.
- Nearly half of us don’t use our hard-earned paid time off (PTO) and choose to work more days than we are asked to.
I wasn’t surprised to see the United States rank 24th in the global happiness rankings, but I was shocked by the sub-ranking for this specific question:

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?

The United States ranked 115th out of 147 countries in response to the freedom question!

That ranking truly shocked me.

It also helps explain one of the primary goals of Think and Talk Money: to help each of us reach financial freedom.

When we are financially free, we can choose to live life on our own terms. To me, that sounds a lot like what the WHR freedom question is trying to answer.

When you have financial freedom, you can make important decisions based on what truly matters. When you don’t have financial freedom, you risk making unsatisfactory decisions for money reasons.

We can choose to spend more time with the people who are meaningful to us.

We can choose to use our skills for work that is meaningful to us.

Most of us grow up thinking that life only revolves around getting an education and then getting a job. We don’t allow ourselves to believe that financial freedom is possible for us.

This was exactly how I felt before I wrote down my Tiara Goals one day on the beach in 2017.

My goal with Think and Talk Money is to help us all realize that financial independence is within our reach. If we can think and talk about our money choices even a little bit every week, we can make sure our money life remains in balance with the rest of our life.

By practicing strong personal finance habits, each of us can feel more satisfied with our freedom to choose what to do with our lives.

How would you rank yourself on the freedom question?

Are you satisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?

What are your core values?

Have you ever written down your core values?

Do you know what you’re striving for?

Successful businesses look at these questions regularly. I find it helpful to learn how successful businesses operate so I can apply similar principles to my own life.

For example, there’s a great business book called Traction by Gino Wickman. In the book, Wickman encourages businesses to focus on vision, mission, and values.

It seems like a pretty good idea for all of us to think about vision, mission, and values as they apply to our own lives.

For example, if you’re one of the nearly half of Americans not taking your PTO, are you making that choice based on your core values?

It’s possible that you are. Perhaps you’re being strategic and have formulated a plan to benefit from all those extra hours at the office.

Or, it’s possible that you’ve never really stopped to think about why you’re working so much. You’ve never paused to articulate to yourself what you want out of life.

In Traction, Wickman makes a compelling argument why businesses should not skip this crucial step.

We all should take the same step in our personal lives. In 2017, I wrote down my core values, what I call my Tiara Goals.

Looking at the big picture, my Tiara Goals have helped me visualize what I truly want out of life.

In the short term, my Tiara Goals help guide me through difficult decisions. As long as I’m clear with myself about what I want in the long run, I can make daily decisions to get my closer to those goals.

Millennials want more kids but can’t afford them.

According to a recent report from Business Insider, Millennials want more kids but can’t afford them.

This makes me sad.

The study points to rising costs, as well as the reality that Millennials are saddled with large amounts of student loan debt.

Combined, it makes sense that Millennials are worried about money.

If you want to start a family, or grow your family, what better motivation could there be to spend a little bit of time each week thinking and talking about money.

If this is your reality, or you know someone in this position, establishing strong personal finance habits is crucial.

Each week at Think and Talk Money, we focus on developing these strong personal finance habits.

Please share Think and Talk Money with your friends and loved ones.

I hope that in spreading the word about Think and Talk Money, we can all help each other make big life decisions without worrying about money.

This is important whether you are hoping to start a family or have other life goals in mind.

We can all benefit from making intentional and informed decisions with our money.
March 21, 2025
Money on My Mind: Always Working?

Simple question. Don’t lie to yourself.

Do you work too much?

I’m not asking if you work too hard.

I mean too much, as in too many hours of your life dedicated to a job.

I started thinking about this question after recently coming across a few surveys.

Let’s talk it out. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I am shocked by these survey results.

I’m not often surprised by survey results. This is one of the rare exceptions.

According to a recent report from MyPerfectResume, 81% of workers worry they may lose their jobs in 2025.

8 out of 10 people! Is it just me, or is that mind-boggling?

On the flip side, only 4% of workers report no concerns about losing their jobs.

These numbers are shocking to me, but maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised. As Yahoo Finance explains,

Many large corporations have already announced or kicked off a round of layoffs, including Chevron, CNN, Estee Lauder, Meta, and Southwest Airlines. And that, of course, doesn’t count the thousands of workers terminated under Elon Musk’s campaign to reduce the federal workforce.

My mind immediately jumps to a follow-up question:

How many of those people worried about losing their jobs have an emergency savings account?

Sadly, the answer is probably very few people have meaningful savings.

Surveys like this one motivate me to continue bringing attention to core personal finance issues, like having adequate emergency savings. This is why I so strongly believe that talking about money is not taboo.

Life is too short and too precious to be in a constant state of worry. Is there any sense worrying about something, like getting laid off, when you have practically no control over whether it happens or not?

Instead of worrying about what we can’t control, I think it’s better to use our energy on what we can control, like saving up for emergencies.

Hopefully, you’re not one of these people worried about losing your job. If you are, there’s no better time than right now to prioritize your savings.

If the first survey shocked me, this one just makes me angry.

According to this Pew Research Center study, 46% of US workers take less paid time-off than they’re offered.

I need to say that again.

Nearly half of US workers choose to work more days than they are required to!

And, it gets worse if you’re a high earner or highly educated.

According to the same study, the more money you earn, the less likely you are to take your full paid time-off.

The more educated you are, the less likely you are to take your full paid time-off.

The more senior you are, like being a manager vs. non-manager, the less likely you are to take your full paid time-off.

If the first survey mentioned above surprised me, this one just makes me angry.

Do you recognize a difference between working hard and always working?

Don’t misunderstand why these results make me angry. It’s not about working hard vs. slacking off. It’s not about being a good employee vs. a bad employee. I am 100% in favor of people working hard and working with integrity to get the job done.

My frustration is that somewhere along the way, “working hard” turned into “always working.”

By the way, before you accuse me of being a slacker, I am no stranger to working hard.

I work full-time as a lawyer, manage 11 rental properties, teach law school courses on Wednesdays and Sundays, and publish three blog posts per week. Still, none of these things are more important to me than spending quality time with my family.

Years ago, I first read Tim Ferris’ game-changing book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Ferris described how his small business took off as soon as he started doing less, not more. He empowered his staff and stopped himself from getting in the way. Not only did his company thrive, he had more time available to pursue what really mattered in his life.

Since writing The 4-Hour Workweek, Ferris has become one of the most influential thought leaders around. To learn more from Ferris, visit his website here.

Why do you work so much?

If you’re one of these people choosing to work more hours instead of taking your earned vacation time, have you ever asked yourself why?

Keep in mind, these are days off that your company has already agreed to give you. You earned them. Why are you not taking them?

Are you worried about getting fired? Passed up for a promotion? Is your self-worth tied to how many hours per week you work?

Years from now, when your grandkids are huddled up for story time, do you plan on telling them how much you worked and how many life experiences you skipped out on?

These are hard questions to truthfully answer. If you’re being honest with yourself, you may start thinking about another set of questions:

Is this job the right job for me? Do I want to spend my life stressed from working too much? What would be a better use of my working hours so I can spend more time doing the things that I love with the people that I love?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these questions. I’ve realized that I’ll never understand what the point is of working so much at the cost of spending time with the things and people you love.

Maybe I’m the weird one. But, I don’t think I am. Unfortunately, the data backs me up and confirms that working too much can have series consequences.

Fortunately, we can learn from strategies geared towards retirees. Let me explain.

Apply lessons for retirees to your life today.

Writing for BBC Science Focus Magazine, Hayley Bennett shares 5 expert tips for a healthy post-work life.

The tips include finding a purpose, strengthening your body, and rebuilding your brain.

When I came across this story, I immediately thought that we shouldn’t wait for retirement to do these things. This is solid advice for all of us, at any stage in our lives.

Do you know what sounds pretty great to me?

A life filled with purpose sounds pretty great. The same goes for being fit and smart.

The challenge is that work often gets in the way.

When we let this happen, the consequences can be catastrophic.

As just one example, lawyers as a profession have long struggled with mental health issues. I first learned about these challenges during law school orientation. Today, I see it in practice. Being a lawyer is a hard way to make a living. When you work as a lawyer, the hours are intense and stress levels are consistently high.

In 2023, the Washington Post analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor to determine what the most stressful jobs are. The study confirmed that lawyers are the most stressed.

Of course, lawyers are not alone in struggling in this regard due to long, stressful hours. The same study showed that people working in the finance and insurance industries were right up there with lawyers as being highly stressed.

Anecdotally, I’ve personally talked to people recently in a wide variety of other fields, like consultants and small business owners, who are frustrated for the same reasons.

The point is, regardless of industry, many of us struggle with work stress.

What can we do about it?

That’s a complicated question with many possible answers. For starters, I firmly believe that by building strong personal finance habits, we can create more opportunities to find purpose and practice good health.

I recommend you think back to our conversations about Parachute Money and why you should want to be good with money. When you’ve made thoughtful money choices, you can choose to live a life right now on your terms rather than waiting until retirement.

I agree with what you’re probably thinking. These are not easy or fun topics to think about. However, in my opinion, it’s much worse to let life go by while failing to take responsibility.

Am I wrong about people working too much?

Maybe I’m wrong about people working too much?

I don’t think I am.

The data paints a very sad picture for lawyers, and I have to believe anyone else working long and hard hours. If you have similar data about your profession, please share it with us. I hope I’m wrong about what that data will show, but I fear I’m right.

As always, let us know what you think in the comments below.

And, thank you for continuing to share stories you’ve come across that would be good to discuss here.

February 26, 2025
Money on My Mind: Capital One Edition
From time to time, I’ll post about current events and news I come across that adds to our recent discussions.

In today’s post, we’ll talk about Capital One’s alleged deceptive practices, rising credit card balances, and how much we should save for retirement.

Like with our Q&A posts, please leave a comment below, email me, or reach out on the socials if there are any stories you’d like to discuss here.
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Let’s start with recent news that impacted me personally.

A reminder to consistently evaluate your banking relationships.

For a long time, I used Capital One for all my savings accounts. When I started law school in 2006, there was a Capital One cafe right next to my school. You could get a cup of coffee for $.75 and talk to a banker at the same time. It was a cool concept and convinced me to bank with Capital One.

I told everyone about how great Capital One was. I had Capital One savings accounts and a Capital One credit card. You could say I was a huge Capital One fan.

Key word: was.

In November 2023, I had been a loyal Capital one customer for 17 years. This was during the time period when interest rates on savings accounts were rising dramatically. Many banks were advertising rates as high as 4% or 5%, which were higher than most of us had ever seen.

One day that November, for whatever reason, I logged into my Capital One account to see what rate I was earning. I was sure it would be in the 4% range, and probably closer to 5%, since Capital One was a leader in online banking.

When my statement loaded, I was shocked.

0.30%!

Shocked probably isn’t the right word. I was disgusted.

0.30% in 2023 might as well have been 0.0%… from a bank that had been a leader in online savings accounts that I had banked with for 17 years.

What the heck happened?

Capital One, unbeknownst to me, switched my savings from its high interest platform into an account with the much lower interest rate. At the same time, Capital One was still advertising and offering top rates to new customers.

It wasn’t just me. I am one of the many people that Capital One switched out of high interest rate savings accounts into inferior products. These deceptive practices are now the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau.

When I discovered the sneaky switch, I immediately closed all of my accounts and transferred my money to a new bank. I no longer have a Capital One credit card, either.

Capital One, of course, denies the allegations. Maybe they did nothing legally wrong. For me, I saw the deceit in my own statement and the damage was already done.

Why do stories like Capital One’s alleged deceptive practices matter?

It wasn’t the amount of interest I lost out on that bothered me.

This all happened during that time we talked about when my wife and I were aggressively acquiring properties, so we never had a lot of money sitting in savings for an extended period.

For me, it was about the principle. I don’t want to have any relationship with a bank that would do that to its customers, especially long-term customers like me.

That said, I have to admit that writing this post is reopening old wounds.

I did a quick search in my inbox and found a Capital One statement from December 2022 showing a 0.30% interest rate. That means Capital One had deceived me for at least a year before I caught on.

Now I’m getting hot all over again.

“Take a deep breath,” as my son says to his sister when she’s crying.

On the bright side, this experience was a good reminder of how important it is to look at our accounts regularly.

You could also say it’s a good reminder to regularly think and talk about money so something like this doesn’t happen to you.

No matter how much you trust your bank, keep an eye on your accounts.

Americans are spending more on credit cards and carrying bigger balances.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Americans are spending more on credit cards and carrying higher balances month to month.

As The WSJ notes, “Bigger credit-card balances mean people are paying more in interest charges, with rates hovering around their highest levels on records. The average credit-card rate was around 21% late last year, according to data from the Federal Reserve.”

These findings are consistent with a recently published study by The Federal Reserve reporting that consumers are using credit cards more often when compared to cash transactions.

Higher credit card balances combined with more frequent credit card use is a problematic combination.

I am no stranger to carrying a credit-card balance. These reports don’t come as a shock to me. Especially in an era where the cost of living is rising so sharply everywhere.

It’s because I’ve personally felt the negative emotions tied to credit card debt that I never like seeing stories like these.

I understand that some people don’t have options besides using credit cards because of life circumstances. I’m hopeful that through money wellness education, more and more people will realize that they do have options.

I’m not saying it’s easy. But, there is a path forward. You can create a money plan that is consistent with your life goals and does not include high-interest debt.

How much money should you have saved for retirement by age 50?

Investopedia recently summarized reports from three major 401(k) providers on the average balances people have in their 401(k) plans. These articles can be helpful to measure your progress. Just be careful on what you take away from them.

We all have different goals in retirement. That could mean when we hope to retire. Or, how we plan to spend our money in retirement.

Plus, some of us have different investments, such as real estate holdings, that would not be reflected in studies like this.

For many of the same reasons that I’m not a fan of a rigid 50-30-20 budget framework, I don’t find these types of comparisons too helpful. I prefer we strive for personal improvement, like fitness instructors have been teaching us for years.

Let’s look at one of the potential issues with articles like these. Empower reports that the average balance for someone in their 50’s is $592,285, and the median balance is $252,850.

That’s a big difference. Let’s refer back to high school math (ok fine, Google) for a refresher on what “average” and “median” are.

The average balance is calculated by adding up everyone’s account balance and dividing by the total number of people. The median reflects the middle account balance if we list everyone’s balance from smallest to largest.

Using Empower’s data, the average balance seems skewed on the high side. This is likely because of a subset of high net worth individuals driving the average up. The median value is probably a more informative number for the average American.

Let’s put this all another way. Whether my colleague has $50,000 saved or $500,000 saved should not impact my retirement planning. The amount he has saved doesn’t matter to me.

Instead of talking about his numbers, I can still benefit from talking to him about his goals. I should be talking to him about his money mindset, like what motivates him to save in the first place.

Am I saving too little or too much for retirement?

Since 2011, I’ve represented individuals with mesothelioma, a terminal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Most of my clients are in their 70’s and don’t get the chance to enjoy their retirements because of their mesothelioma.

My perspective on work, family, and life has undoubtedly been shaped by visiting with my clients in their homes and talking about their life experiences. I am forever grateful for what I have learned in these moments.

When I see stories like this one from The WSJ about the financial regrets of people over age 80, I pay attention. I read these stories about people who are living longer than they expected and can’t help but think of my clients with mesothelioma who won’t have that same experience.

I also think about Bill Perkins and his excellent book, Die with Zero. You can read more about Perkins and his philosophy that many of us are saving too much for retirement on the Die with Zero website.

For my own money decisions, I’m still sorting out these three competing realities:
1. Some people, like my mesothelioma clients, don’t get to enjoy a full retirement;
2. Others outlive their money in retirement; and
3. Still other people saved more than they’ll ever spend in retirement.
My main takeaway is that I want to make choices today that allow me to spend more time with the people I love and more time doing the work that I love. However those three realities play out in my own life, I’m confident I won’t regret living this way.

This mindset is what led me to start Think and Talk Money. I enjoy helping people think through these types of choices.

Please help me spread the word about Think and Talk Money so more of us can consider these important concepts.
January 31, 2025