Finerate

How do you handle money with friends without it damaging the friendship? Speak up early, kindly, and simply, before the awkward moment turns into silent resentment. This episode of Finerate covers how. Money comes up with friends all the time, but actually talking about it can be hard: the check at dinner, the wedding invitation that costs a month's rent, the friend who earns far more or far less...

How do you talk to your parents about money without it feeling awkward or intrusive? This episode of Finerate shows you how.   Nearly 1 in 4 American adults now provides ongoing care for a family member, according to AARP's 2025 caregiving report. For many families, the money conversation doesn't happen until a health event forces it. In this episode, CFP® Anastasia Taber and her father Bill Taber...

The Fed is raising interest rates again, the national debt keeps climbing, and AI is reshaping the stock market. What does any of it mean for your money? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber work through the big economic questions people are asking right now, in plain English. Anastasia and Bill start with an "explain it like I'm five" look at...

Do you really need to check the markets every day to be responsible with your money? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber take on the constant pull of financial news and dig into what is truly decision-relevant, why financial media is often structured to provoke a reaction rather than inform a financial decision, and what a sustainable, realis...

A daily coffee, invested instead of spent, can grow into real money over a few decades. It's also true that one large purchase can wipe out years of saving on small items. So why does that one small purchase often carry more guilt than expenses that cost far more? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber dig into the psychology behind small, recur...

Does writing down a goal actually make you more likely to achieve it or is that just motivational-poster advice? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber separate the research from the popular myths around goal-setting, and make the case for why a written plan changes financial outcomes. Anastasia and Bill dig into what happens psychologically whe...

What if getting clear on your priorities isn't about giving things up but about creating more freedom? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber make the case that real abundance starts with knowing exactly what you want. Anastasia and Bill reflect on the phrase "You can have it all" and discuss how the power of visualization and believing in what'...

What should you actually be teaching your teenager about money and when? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber tackle the real, practical money conversations parents should be having with 13-17 year olds, drawing on Bill's firsthand experience raising four financially independent adult children. Anastasia and Bill break down the specific financ...

Why are so many young investors choosing meme stocks, options trading, and crypto over traditional saving and investing? In this episode of Finerate, CFP® Anastasia Taber and 45-year investment advisor Bill Taber break down the psychology and economics behind the rise of high-risk retail trading and what it says about the state of financial confidence today. A growing share of investors under 35 s...

After six years and 163 episodes of Creating Wealth, we're turning the page. This is the episode where we tell you what we're building, why now, and what drove each of us to take this step. Because Finerate came from something we kept seeing and haven't stopped thinking about. Anastasia has spent years watching the financial planning industry concentrate its resources on high net worth families. B...

If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, start there first .  Part 1 laid out what's happening and named some truly wild predictions. Part 2 answers the question that actually matters: given all of that, what do you do? With your money. With your career. With your mindset. And with the fear that many people feel right now. In this episode: One prominent thinker predicted we're heading toward an "emotional...

We do this once a year: a dedicated episode on artificial intelligence and what it means for your financial life. And every year, the material is big enough for a two-parter. Part 1 is the orientation: what's happening with AI right now, our honest reactions to some crazy predictions, and our biggest takeaways for adapting to these turbulent times. We're not AI experts. We're a CFP® and a 40+ year...

We're bringing this one back, because the problem it covers is even more relevant in today's environment. Social comparison has always been part of human nature. But financial social comparison in 2026 is a different beast. TikTok has entire subcultures built around money. Algorithms are engineered to show you exactly what makes you feel behind. The explosion of AI generated content will make the...

One in three Americans plans to start a side hustle or business in 2026. Most of the conversation around that number is about how to do it. Few conversations are about whether you're ready and what to do with the money when it starts coming in. That's this episode. They cover: What's actually driving the side hustle surge: ambition versus necessity The financial readiness checklist before you star...

The S&P 500 is near record highs. So why does your financial life still feel uncertain? In this episode, Anastasia and Bill tackle the disconnect that a lot of people are feeling in this moment where markets are up, hiring is slow, costs are still high, and a general sense that the headline numbers don't match what's happening on the ground.  In this episode, we cover: Why the gap between what mar...

What does Star Wars have to do with building wealth? More than you'd think. In this episode, Anastasia introduces Bill to the core framework from James Clear's bestselling  Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.  This wide-ranging conversation connects several threads like Daoism, Newton's First Law, and what Yoda would say, to help you establish your best finan...

Fair warning: this one is a little different. Every April Fools Day, Anastasia and Bill take a break from their regularly scheduled financial wisdom to do something a little silly, and this year is no exception. In today's episode, they take a "deep dive" on cryptocurrency, unpacking blockchain technology, decentralization, volatility, peer-to-peer transactions, and the importance of planning for...

What if the biggest obstacle to building wealth isn't what you know, but what you believe? This is one of our most downloaded episodes ever, and we're bringing it back because three years later, it's more relevant than ever. In this conversation, Anastasia and Bill break down the four money beliefs, also called money scripts, that most of us picked up in childhood, long before we had any real expe...

What if the best financial advice ever written came from ancient Babylon and was published exactly 100 years ago? In this episode, Anastasia and Bill walk through the seven money principles from George S. Clason's classic  The Richest Man in Babylon  and break down why every single one of them still holds up in 2026. Bill has had his own handwritten notes from this book for decades, and today he b...

How often should you rebalance your investment portfolio? If you Google this question, you'll find the standard answer: quarterly or annually. But what if that advice doesn't fit YOUR situation? In this episode, father-daughter advisor team Bill and Anastasia Taber tackle the rebalancing debate: Questions answered:   ✓ What is portfolio rebalancing and why does it matter?  ✓ Why do passive investo...

Bitcoin dropped from all-time highs. AI agents are making headlines. Ray Dalio is warning about a once-in-a-generation debt cycle. So what should you actually do with your money right now? In this episode, we cut through the noise to help millennials navigate today's volatile markets. We break down what's really happening with crypto, investor sentiment, and the AI revolution, and why the fundamen...

Why do lottery winners often end up broke within three years? Why do you suddenly face an unexpected car repair the moment you get a raise? It's not bad luck—it's your Money Blueprint. In this episode, we dive deep into the psychology of wealth with a breakdown of T. Harv Eker's classic book,  Secrets of the Millionaire Mind . We explore the groundbreaking premise that financial success is 80% psy...

Is your New Year's resolution to "spend less"? We think you can do better. In this episode, we ditch the restrictive "financial diet" mentality and focus on a Value-Based Audit for 2026. Budgeting isn't just about math; it's about alignment. We share our personal year-end spending reviews (the good, the bad, and the surprising) and introduce a new framework to help you design a budget that funds y...

Are you "bad with money," or are you just exhausted? If your brain feels like a browser with 100 tabs open, you are likely carrying a heavy mental load. While we often talk about mental load regarding chores or parenting, there is a Financial Mental Load, the invisible worry, planning, and remembering, that is silently sabotaging your bank account. In this episode, we explore why burnout is not ju...

It's our favorite tradition of the year! In this special holiday episode, we step away from the spreadsheets and stock charts to focus on the "mental game" of money: Gratitude. We believe that an Abundance Mindset is critical for financial success. When you appreciate what you have, you make better spending decisions, feel less financial stress, and build wealth from a place of confidence rather t...