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You sit and scroll through your bank account wondering where all of the money has gone. All of the little transactions and charges add up, but everything feels so out of control. You're spending money on things you can't even remember, and the idea of one day buying a house, saving for retirement, or even just getting free from debt seems so impossible. People keep talking about 'inflation' and 'recessions' and other things happening 'in this economy'. Money is stressful, so it's better to just ignore it and use as little of it as possible.

Have you felt this way before? So have I. So have a lot of us. Personal finance is something that everyone needs to know... but most people don't! How crazy would it be if your High School algebra teacher sat you down on day one of class and asked you to take your final exam? What if your kindergarten English teacher told you to read Shakespeare's Hamlet for homework? That would be ridiculous!

and yet... this is our reality when it comes to finance. Many states in the U.S. don't even offer a personal finance course - let alone require it. But right when you get into college or the workforce you're required to pay taxes, you need to know how student loans work, and those credit card offers full of confusing information just keep coming in the mail! 

If personal finance is required of every person in the U.S. and very few schools are teaching it, why is there so much shame surrounding the topic? Why when you ask someone how to do taxes do they scoff and judge? Why won't your college's financial aid office give you a straight-forward answer about your student loans? Why do those credit card offers in the mail have 86 of the most confusingly-written pages of all time?

I have a theory. I think a lot of people are confused, but they don't know where to turn and they're too afraid to ask. If that's you, please know that you are not alone, and there is absolutely no judgement. Wherever you are in your knowledge journey, we are here to help. 

To help you gauge whether or not an article is right for you, we rate each article based on prior-knowledge level. If you're a beginner, the Financial Foundations articles will be best for you! If you have some background knowledge, our Finance Friendly articles will be best for you! To learn more about our rating system, read this →

Finance Foundations:

Articles with these ratings are typically written for someone new or new-ish to personal finance and economics. Finance Foundations readers may be interested in learning the answers to some of these questions:

• How do credit cards work?
• What are mortgages?
• Why do we save for retirement?
• How do I make a paycheck budget? 
• How do I make a zero-based budget?
• What is a recession?
• If I want to invest my money, how do I do that?
• How do I open a bank account?
• What is interest?
• How do student loans work?
• When people talk about inflation, what do they mean?
• Why is it so hard to buy a house?
• Can I afford to go on vacation?
• If I have a savings goal, what can I do to reach it?
• How can I get out of debt?

Finance Friendly:

If you see an article with this rating, it is written for people with some background knowledge! If you've been reading our Finance Foundations articles for a while, took a personal finance class or two, have studied economics, or have finance/economics/accounting credentials, these articles are great for you! Finance Friendly readers may be interested in learning about:

• What's the difference between a 401k and Roth IRA?
• How to I set up a 529 plan for my child?
• I want to buy a house in the next year. What should I do?
• Should I buy treasuries?
• What drives increases and decreases in the HPI?
• How do I diversify my income streams?
• Is a 6.5% mortgage rate good?
• How do I set up a high yield savings account?
• If I want to start a small business, how much money do I need?

Remember, the knowledge level ratings are only there to help you. If you start reading a Finance Friendly article and are getting confused, check out the related articles at the bottom of the page to learn more background knowledge and come back later! There is absolutely nothing wrong with needing to do some background research on a topic. If you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out via our contact page. Happy reading!