Attend your lavish wedding? With what money?
The average cost of a 2013 wedding is up 5% from last year to $28,427 – and that's not counting the $539 guests pay to attend
• Guests, tell us: Have you ever been a victim of the Wedding Industrial Complex?
Last year, I wrote an article speculating that maybe, just maybe the low-key backyard nuptials of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan had driven a stake through...Read more.
NYU’s loans for summer homes highlights student debt injustice | Helaine Olen
Why is NYU loaning money to star academics to buy vacation homes, at a time when its students are struggling to pay?
As is quite well known to many who follow the student loan foibles, New York University has, as they say, some problems.
NYU is one of the most expensive undergraduate institutions in the United States. Tuition, room and board will cost more than $64,000 for the 2013-2014 year. Financial aid,...Read more.
NYU’s loans for summer homes highlights student debt injustice | Helaine Olen
Why is NYU loaning money to star academics to buy vacation homes, at a time when its students are struggling to pay?
As is quite well known to many who follow the student loan foibles, New York University has, as they say, some problems.
NYU is one of the most expensive undergraduate institutions in the United States. Tuition, room and board will cost more than $64,000 for the 2013-2014 year. Financial aid,...Read more.
Room service no more: why luxury is leaving the middle class behind | Helaine Olen
Hilton's pulling of room service in New York is another example of how middle income earners are losing access to life's luxuries
New York City's Hilton Hotels recently announced they would end room service this summer, offering customers instead a high-end food shop in the lobby.
That's right. For $200 a night plus taxes, you'll be expected to brown-bag it.
Think of this as one more demonstration of how services for the middle...Read more.
Room service no more: why luxury is leaving the middle class behind | Helaine Olen
Hilton's pulling of room service in New York is another example of how middle income earners are losing access to life's luxuries
New York City's Hilton Hotels recently announced they would end room service this summer, offering customers instead a high-end food shop in the lobby.
That's right. For $200 a night plus taxes, you'll be expected to brown-bag it.
Think of this as one more demonstration of how services for the middle...Read more.
American retail workers need more than $10 an hour
The more workers are earning low wages, the less likely the economy will reach escape velocity
The retail sector has been a star of recent jobs reports. May's numbers from the Department of Labor say it was responsible for adding 28,000 positions to the overall economy. It's on an upward trend – the monthly retail employment number has averaged 20,000 for the past year.
Considering one in nine Americans work in, for...Read more.
American retail workers need more than $10 an hour
The more workers are earning low wages, the less likely the economy will reach escape velocity
The retail sector has been a star of recent jobs reports. May's numbers from the Department of Labor say it was responsible for adding 28,000 positions to the overall economy. It's on an upward trend – the monthly retail employment number has averaged 20,000 for the past year.
Considering one in nine Americans work in, for...Read more.
Retirement savings: the million-dollar myth
Conventional wisdom in the 1990s told people saving $1m would be enough for retirement – today, that's not enough
When I got my start writing personal finance in the 1990s, it was conventional wisdom to tell people that if they could save and invest their way to $1m – via their 401(k) and other retirement accounts – their golden years would be a glorious event. They could travel, indulge in a hobby,...Read more.
Retirement savings: the million-dollar myth
Conventional wisdom in the 1990s told people saving $1m would be enough for retirement – today, that's not enough
When I got my start writing personal finance in the 1990s, it was conventional wisdom to tell people that if they could save and invest their way to $1m – via their 401(k) and other retirement accounts – their golden years would be a glorious event. They could travel, indulge in a hobby,...Read more.
Money makeovers: like placing Band-aids on deeper political wounds
Superficial tips and tools gloss over the main point – Americans have a political problem not a money management problem
When I sold the proposal that became Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, the original subtitle was "How the Cult of Personal Finance Turned us Into a Nation of Dreamers." I didn't think of personal finance as a dark side vs a light side. I...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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