Nikki Boulukos and Carissa Jordan first met a decade ago as young analysts at Goldman Sachs. Ten years later, they happened to reunite in the same New York City suburb as friends and neighbors raising their young children. Nikki and Carissa founded Benjamin Talks with a mission to make all kids financially fit, no matter what their circumstances. Read on to hear their expert advice on all things family & finance.

The summer should be an opportunity for teachers, and other school employees, to relax! No more grading papers and tests, no more lesson plans to write, and thankfully, no more asking students to turn on their cameras for Zoom class. But as much as you were looking forward to the last day of school, if you aren’t financially prepared for the summer, you’ll just as quickly start counting down days until the first day of school! So if you’re a teacher, what can you do financially to prepare for the summer to make sure you get the break you deserve?

Unlike other expenses that you can go without if needed (like streaming services, takeout, or buying new clothes), groceries will always be a part of your budget. It’s inescapable. For that reason, focusing on getting your grocery bill under control can pay dividends for years to come. A lot of (still great) advice about cutting food expenses such as meal prepping and meal planning can be time consuming. Here are other ways to save without carving out more time from your schedule:

The Financial Gym Client Mackenzie Stewart shares with us how she approaches paying off her debt on a less-than-ideal income. Mackenzie breaks down both concrete steps as well as how to shift your mindset in order to conquer those debt repayment goals.

As fall 2020 approached winter, I put increased emphasis on self-improvement. The year from hell needed some sort of silver lining, right?

Some big questions that freelancers, self-employed workers, entrepreneurs, and individuals who dream of starting a business always ask themselves; should I incorporate? How do I do that? When will I know if it’s the right time? What type of corporation should I be? And down the rabbit hole they go. It can be overwhelming! My goal here is to help pull back some mystery surrounding two very common business types. Let’s get into it.

One of our favorite parts of our community is getting to learn about all the amazing things our clients are doing. To round-out Women’s History Month, we have decided to share some of the businesses owned by women in our Financial Gym community.

In our previous blog post, we covered the financial opportunities and challenges for people with developmental disabilities. However, proper healthcare coverage is another crucial part of becoming financially healthy. There are details to consider for people with developmental disabilities, like Medicare, Medicaid, special state services, access to specialists, and long-term care.

TikTok has brought us many things, from quarantine olympics to happy, happy dogs to Dadosaur. Now it’s bringing bite size financial literacy to the masses, or at least to those who frequent finance TikTok. But not all finance TikToks are created equally, so here’s our thoughts on what you should learn from financial TikTok and what you absolutely shouldn’t.

As part of our Women’s History Month series, we want to shine a light on the gender wage gap and discuss ways to address workplace inequality throughout your career.

Millions of people in the US have medical debt. It is particularly easy to find yourself in because healthcare in the US is more expensive than anywhere else in the world, the system is difficult to understand, and the pricing for procedures and services is often opaque. On top of that, many of us find ourselves uninsured or underemployed at some point in our lives and have to pay large amounts of our healthcare costs out of pocket.

Teaching financial literacy to children can be a daunting task, but introducing fundamental financial concepts now can set them up for a stable future. Instilling the building blocks of saving, spending, and making money early on can help increase prepare your children to be financially wise.

My personal debt story began when I first started undergrad. I did not know anything about managing my finances, and I was easily persuaded to sign-up for my first credit card.

Although everyone on our team has a passion for personal finance, many of our teammates' life goals are what drives our passion!

In this article, our client Caitlin Crews shares her decision to save money for a home by moving home during the Covid pandemic.

One of our awesome clients, Mary Whiteside, put together this awesome guide after purchasing her first home that features everything you need to know when purchasing a home for the first time.

Home ownership is one of the most common goals our clients share, and as Covid has reshaped what we need and want from our living spaces, interest in buying homes has only increased.

Travel hacking is the art of maximizing credit card, airline, and hotel loyalty programs to get free travel, travel discounts, or travel perks that would otherwise be very costly.

It’s the beginning of a new year, so it’s time for those new year's resolutions to kick in right? Whether it’s for your health, to read more, to travel more (hopefully we can do this!), and many others I hope that one news year's resolution is to make sure your finances are in order.