Emily Guy Birken

Despite my current love for all things horror, I was quite the scaredy-cat when I was a kid.  (This may have something to do with the...

If you’re the resolution or goal-setting type, early January is the time of year for making your plans on how to do and/or be better in...

My husband is a dedicated DIYer. He loves the challenge of learning a new skill. He appreciates the joy in saying “And I did it myself!”...

About a month ago, Campbell Walker (aka Struthless), put out a video entitled 32 Ways to be Better at Life in honor of his 32nd birthday....

Since early childhood, I have been an avid consumer of pop culture. Whether it’s chewing gum jingles from the 1980s, movies I watched on...

Recently, someone asked me to list my top 10 favorite ways to save money. (I have a truly madcap social life, let me tell you.) I don’t...

“I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember most.” –Russell, Junior Wilderness Explorer I spend two hours each week managing our...

Several years ago, I was talking to a college friend about retirement, and he told me that his retirement plan was to assume climate...

Though I have spent the last 11+ years working as a personal finance writer, I’m actually an English teacher by training. Teaching seemed...

This past Saturday, my husband and I took our old couch to the dump. After 18 years of faithfully supporting our behinds while we watched...

I can vividly remember the first explicit lesson I had on the power of compound interest. Mr. Bosley, my 9th grade Social Studies...

There was a time when I struggled to figure out why I was so drawn to the study of Behavioral Economics. It's not a natural attraction,...

One of the foundational works in the development of my financial philosophy is the classic book Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin...

The start of a new year is supposed to feel like an exciting new beginning. We have the opportunity to shed old habits and rewrite our...

Over the weekend, a friend tagged me on Facebook in a discussion one of her friends was having on how to teach kids about money. The...

In November 2012, about a month after my dad was diagnosed with the glioblastoma that would take his life in April 2013, my husband and I...

I’m not in the habit of getting into knock-down drag-out fights with my financial institutions. I prefer to reserve my WWE style...

Some of the unfettered joy and extreme discomfort of parenting comes from recognizing your own traits in your child. Not only does my...

Note from Emily: I originally wrote this piece in September, 2020, but after the devastating June 24, 2022 Supreme Court ruling that...

Many years ago, I learned that Samuel Johnson, one of the most prolific of all English writers, spent his days lamenting his own...