Personal Finance

I called Wells Fargo’s customer service line on a Saturday morning but code-switched into my weekday work voice. “Hi. I’m calling about a checking account bonus that may be due…

Update, June 2020 I bought another automobile from Hertz Car Sales, this time a jazz blue 2019 Chrysler Pacifica minivan/bus for the kids to ruin in comfort. Due to media…

Student loans are Satan’s work backed by the federal government. According to Forbes, Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, which is nearly equal to the entire…

Thanks to deficit-funded tax cuts championed by that disturbed guy in the White House, corporations are flush with cash, especially financial institutions. They are using the extra money for stock…

I promised myself in June that I would salvage an otherwise swag-deficient year by submitting one article each month for publication on websites that pay writers and have much larger…

I recently wrote of how my contract job ended early, leaving me angry and unable to walk confidently like George Jefferson, as black men prefer to do when we have…

My neighbor, who is often drenched in sweat while doing yard projects, referred to his house as a “money pit” when discussing deck restoration. Now…I wouldn’t go that far, but…

I began looking for contract, remote, and other flexible jobs after I started a family and decided it would be fun to stay home with my kids and their friends…

I was in Los Angeles but had a phone interview scheduled for 6 a.m. with a large healthcare organization based in the Midwest. Despite the cruel hour, I prepped for…

I walked into the interview with the confidence of a guy who already had a gig that paid well. A confidence enhanced by two glasses of wine. The interviewer, who…

Last February, we joined the estimated 3.5 million people who left California over the first half of this decade. Armed with home equity and a desire for an inexpensive life…

My love affair with Walmart lasted close to 20 years. Almost every day I’d visit to buy a little bit of nothing, more so out of habit than need. Late…

Here are some of my feelings about surviving Christmas as a parent: 1) Kids should be told that Santa’s fake, and that his round belly, indicative of low testosterone and…

The excitement of having a new car ends long before the payments. For the first year or so you keep it clean, probably don’t let friends eat in it, and…

I am a man of many gigs. From Uber driver to grant writer to USPS director of dropping stuff off, I will do just about anything to refill my meager…

There may or may not be a heaven for a gangsta like myself, but there is life insurance. I searched for a policy after coming across GoFundMe posts from families…

There was a time when I held a 100 percent interview-to-hire ratio. Of course I had only had three jobs—grocery bagger, bookseller, and movie theater popcorn eater/maker—but the wins increased…

My wife and I had a master plan to sell our San Diego-area residence and use the proceeds to live mortgage-free in the boonies outside of Columbus, Ohio. As I…

I figured my travel days were over after my wife and I completed three straight years of procreation. Discretionary income was one issue: Kids are costly and unable to contribute…

When I was young and sexy but not yet wise, I made a number of financial mistakes that would eventually lead to a temporary stay in Brokedom. One that stands…