Nobody taught me money. So I'm teaching you.
Plain-English money lessons for anyone who never had someone to explain it.
An MBA and a chief financial officer title helped along the way. I spent years learning on my own. You don't have to. Ten steps, one short email a day, in the order I wish I'd had them.
It's okay to feel overwhelmed by money
Money decisions are intimidating, whether you're a doctor or the first in your family to earn a salary. It can feel just as heavy at $40,000 a year as at $200,000. You're not alone, and it has nothing to do with how smart you are.
I'm here to help you feel confident making the money decisions that shape your life, in plain English.
You don't have to understand all of this today. You just have to not quit.
This is for you if
- You're the first in your family to earn a salary, and nobody at home can explain a 401(k).
- You have the degrees, maybe even an MD, and money decisions still make you nervous.
- You never had a money mentor, and every search gives you a different answer.
- You've never asked for a raise, because nobody told you that you could.
- You send home whatever your family needs, without knowing what it means for your own future.
- You're the one your family calls about taxes, forms and bills.
- Your income keeps going up, and your savings don't.
The free course · one step a day by email
Ten things nobody in my family could tell me about money
The basics, plus what most money courses skip: building credit with no co-signer, sending money home, and how raises really get decided.
- Day 1 Your salary isn't your paycheck
- Day 2 Your employer match: get every dollar your company will add
- Day 3 Which debt to kill first
- Day 4 How raises really get decided
- Day 5 Credit from zero
- Day 6 The emergency fund is what lets you say no without panic
- Day 7 When to pay tax on your retirement money
- Day 8 What "investing" means: three simple funds, not stock picking
- Day 9 Sending money home
- Day 10 A birthday present for future you
Each day takes a few minutes and ends with a single thing to do. Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
After that, the site goes deeper in three directions:
The Playbook
Step-by-step moves for your paycheck, debt, and investing.
Start the playbook →
Nobody Told Me
The unwritten money rules other people learned at the dinner table.
Read a Nobody Told Me guide →
Family Money
Helping parents and siblings without sinking yourself.
Read the Family Money guide →
Guides
Read a guide
Short, practical, from someone who had to learn this without a family playbook.
- What to do with extra money after paying your bills
The order that makes each dollar count: cover the basics, get your 401(k) match, pay off credit cards, then build an emergency fund, an IRA and more.
- Which debt to pay off first
Which debt to pay off first: the highest rate, once your minimums and full 401(k) match are covered. A worked example, plus the snowball.
- How raises get decided, and how to find out what your job pays
How raise budgets work, what helps a raise request get approved, and free ways to look up what your job pays where you live.
- Credit from zero: how to build a score when nobody can co-sign
How to build a credit score from nothing with no co-signer: what the score measures, a one-card setup, how long it takes, and the mistakes that cost the most.
- Your emergency fund: how much to keep and where to keep it
No credit card debt? Start with one month of essentials, then build to three to six months, in an insured savings account at a different bank.
- Roth vs traditional: pay the tax now or later
Roth or traditional? When you pay the tax on each, a $1,000 example, the 2026 limits, the employer match and taking money out early, in plain English.
- The Bogleheads three-fund portfolio: investing with three index funds
How the Bogleheads three-fund portfolio works, what Warren Buffett's bet against hedge funds showed, what fees cost, and how to pick your stock and bond mix.
- A birthday present for future you: your annual money checkup
Once a year, around your birthday, give your money one hour: a simple annual financial checkup of your pay, match, debt, credit, savings and investments.
- West Los Angeles or the Valley? What it costs to give up a low mortgage rate
A West LA condo at 3.1% or a bigger house in the Valley: the real payment, Prop 13, fire insurance, the 405, and how not to become house poor.
- Growth on top of growth, explained with the 401(k) mistake I made right out of college
How growth on top of growth works, why your first years of saving count most, and the 401(k) match mistake I made right out of undergrad.
- Your first real paycheck: do these five things in this order
Why your first paycheck is smaller than you expected, and what to do with it, in order: your pay stub, your bills, your 401(k) match, your credit cards, then savings.
- What a 401(k) match is, with real numbers
How a 401(k) match works, in plain words: find where your match stops growing, put in at least that much, and check when it becomes yours.
- Sending money home without sinking your own future
How to help your family every month and still get your 401(k) match, pay off your cards and save.
Who's writing this
Everything I wish someone had told me about money at 22.
First in my family to graduate from college and the first to earn a master's. First to earn more than my parents combined. I've helped support my family. I've worked across government, private company, and nonprofit finance. Every guide comes from my own experience and knowledge. I personally review and approve everything before it's published.