High Yield Savings Accounts & Right-Sized Emergency Funds
What is a HYSA and why is it awesome? A High Yield Savings Account is a savings account with a MUCH higher “Annual Performance Yield” (APY), a.k.a. interest rate, than a traditional savings account. We currently do most of our personal banking with USAA, and here are their current savings account rates: Meanwhile, this is…
NEC pain: self-employment tax and what to do about it
In spring 2023 I did some volunteering with Common Wealth Charlotte’s amazing VITA Latino program, which offers free tax prep services to Charlotte’s Latino community. (I wanted to do it again in spring 2024, but grad school ate my life; I’ll be back for 2025!) The IRS partners with community organizations to provide free training…
Cash Flow and Grow
An actually useful resource for new entrepreneurs. Cash Flow and Grow is a guide + calculator tailored to newer entrepreneurs who want to grow their business, pay themselves, and stay out of common small-business money traps. If you don’t personally have a bookkeeping/business financials background, this guide is for you. Fortuna Money has partnered with…
Anatomy of a scam #3: Marketplace authentication fraud
The Facebook scammers remain frisky, so here’s your irregularly scheduled reminder to listen to your spidey sense. Stay sexy and don’t get defrauded! We are selling a refrigerator, and to my chagrin, the first four replies have all been scam attempts. One in particular tried something just weird enough that I’d like to share it…
How to handle your $$ like a grown-ass adult, Part 2: 3 big money mistakes… and what to do instead
If you missed Part 1, you might not know yet that I was invited to be a guest on a podcast that I love. From Good Girl to Grown-Ass Woman is not just a fabulous show — it’s also hosted by the friend, colleague, and coach who helped me, personally, transform my mind and realize…
Anatomy of a scam, part 2: is that Facebook rental property too good to be true?
A reader who saw my last Facebook scam post reached out because her spidey sense was tingling: she’d been looking for a rental property, and although she thought she’d found something awesome, she was worried. I offered to look over the information she had to see if I could spot any red flags, and unfortunately,…
How to handle your $$ like a grown-ass adult, Part 1
Y’all, I am beyond excited: I was invited to be a guest on a podcast that I love. From Good Girl to Grown-Ass Woman is not just a fabulous show — it’s also hosted by the friend, colleague, and coach who helped me, personally, transform my mind and realize my calling to create Fortuna Money.…
Anatomy of a scam: Facebook Marketplace payment fraud
Someone tried to scam me yesterday. After the initial wave of irritation at the fact that they wasted my time, I got weirdly excited because I knew it would make a great cautionary tale. I don’t even need stock photos for this one, friends. I have receipts. I’ve been selling and giving away a few…
3 big types of savings + tips to grow them
I don’t love blanket generalizations. Humans are nuanced, complex, unique creatures who tend not to slot easily into tidy categories, despite what the MBTI/DISC/Enneagram/astrology/Hogwarts-house-quiz industries want us to think. That being said… most of the people I know tend to start out with a natural tendency to be either a spender or a saver. Although…
How I learned to stop worrying and love my credit cards
I just got defrauded, but I’m not even a little worried, and here’s why.
10 financial care tasks to consider for a brighter 2023
Happy 2023, dear reader! My hope is that we have a very calm and gentle year ahead of us, full of steady progress toward a more joyful life and a better world for everyone. In that spirit, I’m not setting particularly lofty goals at the moment. Winter is a tough time to start things –…
Holiday anti-overwhelm: there is just one thing you need… so what is it?
This isn’t the time of year where most people want to read a big explainer on something weird going on in the financial world. (If you do, let’s talk, because I am still reading The Morning Brew every day and I have thoughts.) And you almost definitely don’t want a whole bunch of to-dos on…
A mindful holiday shopping guide
Today I am delighted to share the first fruits of a dream partnership with you: a gorgeous (and totally free) Mindful Holiday Shopping Guide e-book, presented by Fortuna Money and Jean’s Apothecare. I’ve loved Jean’s Apothecare and their ethically-sourced, sustainably-produced teas, culinary goods, and body care products since long before I became close friends with…
Budget hack: gift yourself
I recently completed a spending audit for one of my clients, and my top recommendation out of that audit might surprise you: buy some gift cards. Let me explain. Most successful habit management techniques are founded on the idea of adding or subtracting friction. The concept is that you add friction (whether difficulty or active…
Winter is coming: 8 things to do instead of stressing about the economy
My newsletter readers got a sneak peek at some of this content over the summer when recession bells first started ringing. If you’d like to join the best group of monthly-ish newsletter readers on the internet, sign up here. For months now it feels like we’ve been teetering on the knife’s edge of a big…
The big rocks in your budget: knowing your financial essentials
If you’ve spent much time splashing around in the pop-psych-pseudo-philosophy internet, you’ve probably heard the story of the professor and the jar of rocks. If not, cozy up to your glowbox for a retelling (informed by this and this, but with our own little spin). The probably-apocryphal story goes a little something like this: A…
Interest-ing times: what inflation and interest rates mean for you
Whether you follow financial news or just regular news, you’re probably hearing a lot about inflation and interest rate hikes. There’s a good chance this is the first real time you’ve seen inflation in your financial life. If you were born after 1981, it’s the first time in your actual life that inflation has been…
When it rains, it pours: an “emergency fund appreciation” post
We knew August would be a financially intense month in the Fortuna household, but we were ready for it… or so we thought. First, there was a full year’s property taxes. (Fun fact: even when your house is paid off and you’re mortgage-free, you still have to pay those. Our mortgage company used to collect…
Ask Fortuna: are TSP + 401(k) contribution limits cumulative or separate?
If you have both a Thrift Savings Plan and a 401(k) option, or more than one TSP/401(k), are you allowed to max out the personal contribution limit in each account? Or is your limit the total of all your personal contributions?
2022: You are seen, you are safe, and you are welcome here. Still, and always.
Fortuna Money believes in equality for all. We are committed to learning about the issues and acknowledging the intersectional factors that affect your life and your finances. And we will show up for you with compassion and hope.
What to do with your 401(k) and HSA after you’ve left a job
What happens to employer-sponsored accounts like a 401(k) or HSA if you leave your job? You get to keep your money, and you can move it somewhere more convenient. As long as you move it the right way, you’ll avoid taxes and penalties.
Get that paper, Part 2: Asking for the raise you deserve
Hello, friends, and welcome to Part 2 of our series on getting a raise from your current employer. Part 1 shares the approaches you can take to identify a fair market rate for your role, company, and/or industry. If you don’t yet know what your number is, you’ll want to start there. If you have…
Get that paper, Part 1: finding your market rate for a raise
Let’s be clear: what you are inherently worth has absolutely nothing to do with how much money you make. You are priceless. However, since you cannot be paid in unicorn milk and angel tears, you should absolutely be compensated at a fair market rate based on your unique skills and experience. And there’s a good…
Parenthood, financially speaking
This post was supposed to come out in time for Mother’s Day… but in an ironic twist, my two-year-old caught COVID at daycare and gave it to me, and it knocked me flat for a week. In the grand tradition of mothers (and, really, conscientious parents of all genders), I am often riddled with self-doubt…
What is an emergency fund, really?
A cornerstone of our philosophy here at Fortuna Money is that we want to help you make the most of life’s ups, and prepare you to ride out the downs in a position of security and stability. In practice, that means one of our key recommendations is for you to build up a nice cushy…
Investing for retirement 101: a guide to getting started
Investing comes up all the time in my conversations with clients. Everybody feels like they should be investing in some form or fashion, but they don’t always know where or when to start. This guide is a road map for people who are fairly new to investing for retirement and who want a solid foundation…
Keeping it professional: tax edition!
As the Post-it says… it’s tax time! Have you started thinking about your taxes yet? Tax day isn’t until Monday, April 18 this year, but the season technically started on January 24. If you’ve filed yours already, you’re ahead of us — we’re normally late-February-to-mid-March filers, because we’re waiting on a flurry of forms and…
The point of net worth
In personal finance, it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees. We’ve all been there – you get focused on one particular account balance or debt threshold or deadline as a measure of your financial health. And it’s completely normal to do that! But when I talk with my clients these days,…
Giving yourself some credit
Something that comes up all the time (all.the.time.) as a financial coach: credit scores. I wish we didn’t all care so much about them, but most of us do. Even I get excited when I see that my score is healthy! Despite the conventional wisdom, your credit score isn’t a verdict on your total financial…
Tips for building your generosity practice
Friends who get our free monthly newsletter (and the incredibly special fireflies enrolled in Summer Goals Camp!), already know that we in the Fortuna household consider financial generosity to be an important part of our lives. We’re committed to it for ethical reasons, but it turns out that financial generosity is also an incredibly powerful…
Is perfectionism costing you money?
Have you ever spent so much time working on finding a “perfect” solution that you inadvertently made your life way harder? Maybe you were so obsessed with fine-tuning a project that you busted a deadline. Or maybe you spent so much time researching the perfect gift for somebody that you ran out of time to…
Perception isn’t always reality
Some of the identifying details here are being tweaked or muffled to protect confidentiality, although I will say that the people involved are lovely humans whom I respect a great deal. I keep seeing jokes like this pop up online: And boy howdy, have I been there. Hey, jealousy… When we first moved to our…
The perils of Prime time (also, don’t burn your face off)
I don’t honestly know how I missed it before this morning, but yesterday and today have been Amazon’s (annual? semi-annual? who the heck knows anymore?) made-up-in-2014 sale holiday known as Prime Day. It may be too late, and I’m really sorry that I didn’t remind y’all of this sooner, but: Sales are just advertisements. Sale…
Help, I’ve been hacked! What do I do?
So your bank/school/doctor’s office/grandma was hacked and your information was compromised. Here’s what you do.
Seven little ideas for self-care (from a recovering shopaholic)
A Tuesday that feels like a Monday usually means one thing: another long weekend is behind us. Long holiday weekends can hit differently for everyone — they may mean time off work or putting in overtime; trips, cookouts or parties; time with or away from family; relaxation or more stress; and of course, lots of…
Big-picture budgeting: first, don’t call it a budget
The audio version of this post can be found here. I fought budgeting tooth and nail. Kind of embarrassing to admit it now that I’m a financial coach, but there it is. Something about the idea of living on a budget sounded WAY too much like the idea of living on a finicky, exhausting calorie-counting…
Five things that are NOT signs that it’s the right time to buy a house (+ 6 things that may be)
The audio version of this post can be found here. I hear from friends, family, and coaching clients all the time that homeownership is their top financial priority. I’ve been asked about this more than I’ve been asked about cleaning up debt or negotiating a raise – and although investing and retirement are a close…
12 Frugal Habits for a Rich Life
The audio version of this post can be found here. While I was cutting my husband’s hair last week, I panicked. “I’m coaching people on how to save money… but… how did WE save money?” My mind went completely blank. All I could think of was that we never did the “beans and rice, rice and…
I used to be a hot money mess: a journey
The audio version of this post can be found here. Mr. Fortuna and I started our money journey back in 2013. At that time, we had: Two cars An $800 car payment (“but it was only 2% interest!”) A $1000 mortgage on a crappy, upside-down out-of-state rental property whose rent “almost” covered the mortgage -…
What is a financial coach?
The audio version of this post can be found here. As a financial coach, I’m here to: help you identify what’s important in your financial life support you in taking action toward your money goals provide you with excellent resources A financial coach is a trained professional who collaborates with and guides their clients to reach…
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