Since it’s every person for themselves, freelancing can be a tough gig. But on your tax return, should you just be yourself (in the legal sense), or should you form some kind of business entity (insert wacky — or meaningful — name of LLC here)? “Incorporating” can offer you important tax...
For more than seven years, I worked for one of the most popular men’s magazines in the country. Our editorial offices were like somebody’s fantasy of a frat house: Models on casting calls; expensive toys like drones hand-delivered to us for testing (i.e., playing with until we...
When I was a dumb 22-year-old working my first job out of college, I got assigned to sit within 10 feet of the startup’s founder/CEO. It was miserable. Aside from absolutely hating the work I was doing, I had to sit under the watchful eye of the guy who...
The average American full-time employee spent 6 hours and 24 minutes per day working or commuting to work in 2016. That’s 44 hours and 52 minutes per week (for reference, there are 168 hours in a week). And more damningly, that includes the weekends. But let’s be...
I saw a post on Reddit’s super-popular personal finance forum earlier today that made my eyes bleed and my heart cry. “Friend declined pay raise because he’d ‘make less money,’” the post reads. That much is pretty self-explanatory, but to briefly summarize: A man relays the story...
We’re all faintly aware that when you’re out on your ass and the bills are piling up, bankruptcy is an option for escaping the mountain of debt. But how does it work? What are the pros and cons? And does it really get you off the hook?...
This morning, while at one of the many rogue Los Angeles coffee shops where waiting 10 minutes for a coffee — even an iced coffee, black — is standard, I finally saw a guy lose it. After several minutes of waiting for his coffee, he cut back into the front of the...
Remember when you were a kid, and a savings account — and more importantly, the idea that you could get more money just by leaving your money in there — sounded awesome? Welp, those days are done, my friend. Rates on savings accounts these days are 0.01 to 0.05 percent. That’s...
“Once you take on a task, never let it go, even if you are killed.” So begins a 1951 employee handbook at Dentsu, Japan’s largest ad agency, written by its then-president Hideo Yoshida. Sixty-four years later, Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old graduate recruit at Dentsu, leapt from her...
Have you ever wondered what an administrative fee goes toward? I’m talking about that extra charge you have to pay when you fill out just about anything these days. A preschool application for your child; updating your car insurance account; changing your address; paying your bill over...
“Personal finance.” You know you should be doing it, but if your eyes glaze over when you hear those words, you’re not alone. The sheer number of investment options, the risk involved, the alphabet soup of terminology and the smarmy veneer of stereotypical “wealth managers” — the people who...
Nearly half of all Americans spend their entire paycheck — or more — every month. It’s no wonder: Stuff’s expensive these days, and raises are hard to come by. And despite the recent uptick in the stock market, the idea that the economy has improved in recent years seems theoretical and...
