Posts filed as “Finance”
Practical Numbers for Parents
I received a reviewers copy of Practical Wisdom For Parents this morning, the guide to raising preschool-aged children penned by the directors of the 92nd Street Y Nursery School. While it certainly looks informative, I suspect there is only one bit of practical information most parents want from these women: How to get a child ...Read more.They’re selling the frozen lambchops in the freezer!
This charming anecdote from an LA Times article about estate sales reminded me about the time I went to an end-of-life tag sale and found them selling all the non-prescription pharmaceuticals, including a half used tube of toothpaste. There were pictures of what appeared to be grandchildren in frames for sale too, and all I could think was “someone really ...Read more.Quick! The Retired Will Work Cheap Too
I decided to not write about Sue Shellenbarger’s most recent Tuesday column when I first read it. I was sure I was overreacting, my fury was so great. So I waited till today and, guess what? It’s even worse than I thought: Lots of employers would like to be able to hire cheap, temporary teams of ...Read more.We Survived Birthdaypalooza
Well, we had about twenty children in the house (if you count siblings) to celebrate Luke’s birthday and seem to have survived the experience. A few lessons learned: If there is a way to host a birthday party for under $600 and not MC it yourself, I’ve yet to discover it. We did not save a dime by ...Read more.The More Things Change
I really, really wish I could buy this New York Times article about how the Facebook generation is turning out to be more open about their personal finances than their predecessors, as I am one of those folks who believes that the American tradition of silence about our incomes and personal finances is one of the main contributors ...Read more.Best Comment of the Week
This gets handed out to a fellow mom at my younger son’s nursery school who must remain anonymous. We were sitting next to one another last night at the annual fundraising auction for our forever financially challenged play program. The item up for a bid was an evening with an extremely connected media personage who covers the world of ...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.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.Housing and Babies
Apparently McMansions can inspire more than just lust for a new home. Demographers are now speculating that the formerly gangbusters housing market was the cause of the baby boom of 2006, the first year in more than three decades that the United States birth rate reached population replacement levels. The argument goes something like this: When housing is hard ...Read more.- « Previous
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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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