Dragons Live Forever
One of my great pleasures in life is singing to my children. Now at some point this won’t be a great pleasure to them because they will realize their mother can’t carry a tune but, for now, they appear to think I am American Idol material. And Jake, who is currently in a phase of life ...Read more.Vacations And Recessions Continued
The question I posed in my last post might well have an answer. ABC News is reporting on a new survey claiming that nearly half of all families will cut back on or curtail vacation and travel plans for the upcoming spring break....Read more.So It’s A Recession
Despite what our President thinks, it’s pretty clear to me that the United States is in a recession. Now, yes, I could follow the official indicators and come to that conclusion (retail sales and consumer sentiment, anyone?) but the fact is after forty years of life as a certified practicing materialist in New York City and Los ...Read more.Updates
I realize it has been a week since I posted here but I’ve not been silent. Slightly edited versions of It’s Yesterday No More and Wouldn’t It Be Nice? were featured on the Huffington Post and Girl With Pen blogs respectively. In addition, I wrote original post for Huffington on John McCain’s travails, which got noted by BuzzTracker and a few ...Read more.It’s Yesterday No More
First things first: It’s 60 degrees here in the Hudson River Valley with occasional bursts of sun through the clouds. There’s definitely an upside to global warming. But on to more important issues. The home in Downey, California formerly owned by the parents of Karen and Richard Carpenter is likely to be torn down and replaced ...Read more.Wouldn’t It Be Nice?
Cali Williams Yost, the work/life blogger for Fast Company, thinks a recession could be good for the cause of balance. Sure, there will be a few companies that turn to the tried and true method of firing as many people as they can get away with and forcing the survivors to work 60 hour weeks. But they ...Read more.Why Not to Worry About American Children
There are stories that remind you that the vast majority of issues American parents worry about are absolute bs in the greater scheme of things. This is one of them....Read more.The Stork
When my younger son was born, my curious 3 1/2 year old firstborn asked where his new brother came from. I am embarrassed to report that I lied, informing him that there was this kind of bird known as a stork, and he was responsible for all babies. Not only did the stork put his younger brother in my tummy ...Read more.A Post for the Grammys
I spent a recent afternoon playing Nanci Griffith’s amazing 1988 album One Fair Summer Evening. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost twenty years since I first heard Once in a Very Blue Moon on the Fordham College radio station while listening to my Walkman as I walked through Central Park on my way home from ...Read more.Conversations, Part II
It’s only fair to include a conversation between my younger son and one of his best friends I had the good fortune to overhear last week. Both parties in the conversation are four years old. Best friend: I don’t want to get old. Luke: You know what? My grandma — my grandma isn’t old, but ...Read more.About Helaine Olen
I am the voice of The Bills, a column about the intersection of money and life, at Slate. At Inc., I contribute to the Spread the Wealth personal finance column. My work on politics, economics, workplace culture and women’s issues has been published in numerous other print and on-line publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, Pacific Standard, and The Los Angeles Times, where I wrote and edited the popular “Money Makeover” feature.
I'm the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, and The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to be so Complicated, which I co-wrote with Harold Pollack.
What else? I’m a passionate bibliophile, a fan of 1970s pop music and a lover of rummage sales. I live in New York City.
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