As we kick off 2025, a lot of people consider what they want the year to look like and how to put their best foot forward, especially financially. Think: “new year, new me!” To figure out what the new “you” is all about, sometimes it helps to reflect first on what you’ve done in the past and what you want to change moving forward. Today, we’ll talk about the financial decisions and habits you’ve maybe had in the past and what changes you can make this year to embrace the new you.This week, we’re diving into more fun ‘getting-to-know-you’ questions…

  Yes! You got a tip about the perfect job. It’s a role you’ve always dreamed of. You know you have the skills, experience, and enthusiasm for the position. Now you just have to write the perfect cover letter – one that grabs them, persuades them, and makes them want to pick up the phone and schedule an interview…tomorrow! You grab your computer and start typing away. Date. Salutation. Now what? Not a writer? Been a while since you wrote more than a few lines in a rapidly fired text? Or just a bit rusty? Wondering what is the latest and greatest in…

Financial mistakes can happen at any age, but they can have a particularly significant impact in your 60s. In this episode, we’ll explore 5 common financial mistakes to avoid during this crucial decade, along with 4 budget-friendly retirement activities to inspire your golden years.As usual, we have some fun getting-to-know Matt and Sam questions lined up, as well as quotes of the week from Walt Mossberg and Jack Canfield.For this week’s listener question, Dale asks whether he should make his 401(k) investments more conservative despite their recent strong performance. For our Retirement Ride Along segment, we’ll talk about some new…

Are you trying to keep up with people on Facebook, but you never seem to see their updates? Perhaps you aren’t seeing the updates from companies you want to see. Or, you want to see more of your friend’s vacation photos, but you’re seeing another friend’s political posts instead. Did you know you can influence what you see in your Facebook feed? What can you do to keep up with the information you want to see — even if it is from companies.  Maybe you enjoy viewing updates from organizations and companies, or from certain career experts, right? How can you…

Here’s a special mid-month update from Root of Good! A reader asked for more detail about the lodging we usually book on our multi-month vacations.  Phillip wrote: “I am constantly amazed at how frugal you are able to travel, especially on big ticket items like lodging. It would be great to see lodging pictures, like the apartment and hotel you stayed at. That would greatly help me understand what value for the buck you are getting in different places.” To summarize our overarching philosophy on lodging choices, we’re looking for a good value for nice, comfortable places to stay.  High…

  Remember the job-hunting days when you would send in a few applications, wait a week and get a call back to come in for the interview? It didn’t require a lot of heavy lifting to make a change. It was a simpler time – but those days are long gone. Today the process is more arduous. It’s not just a matter of completing a couple of steps – often you will be asked to pass not one or two, but three or four interviews just to make it to the final round.  And as a start, assuming you’ve met the…

Personal finance blogs primarily fall in three major categories. First, there are the “getting out of debt” blogs. Second, there are the “just got out of college” personal finance blogs. Third, there are the “career track” personal finance blogs. Of course there are more categories such as retirement blogs or I-won-the-lottery blogs, but these are the biggest. Drawn below is a graph depicting this triad. The x-axis shows spending. The y-axis shows earning. The diagonal line shows where earnings are equal to spending. Those who are in debt have been spending more than they have been earning and thus they…

As a job seeker, you may feel like you’re lost in a sea of applicants, bobbing along but not getting anyone’s attention. But you wouldn’t be the only one feeling this way! With companies getting dozens (if not hundreds) of applications per opening — and recruiters only spending 10-20 seconds scanning your resume, standing out from the crowd can feel like an impossible feat. But in working with job seeking clients across multiple industries, I’ve seen that there are some concrete ways to increase your chances of getting noticed and landing more interviews. Here are 4 tips: Stand Out Tip…

The day President Trump took office, he announced plans to implement a 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada. Additional tariff conversations have exploded since that day. How might this impact your personal finances and the economy? Today, we’ll explain a bit of the backstory of tariffs and discuss these new tariffs.Like always, we have some great quotes of the week to share and fun getting-to-know Matt and Sam questions to get the episode started. Later in the episode, we hear from one of our listeners, Peter, who’s at his wit’s end with his soon-to-be former broker. He’s shocked by the high…

In the midst of a pandemic, it is easy to be distracted and ignore your social media accounts. However, during a time when it is more challenging than ever to connect and impress people in person, even more people will turn to online tools to learn more about you. Will they learn what you want them to know? In addition to being a place to share information you want people to know about you, social media is still a great place to learn about opportunities for new jobs. Jobvite’s 2019 Job Seeker Nation Survey indicates that 35 percent of respondents…