worth
My first child was born a few days after I turned 19. Looking into his eyes as I held him, I told myself I wanted to give him a better life than I had.I was a homeless teenager, and I had to raise myself. I had to figure everything out…
There’s only one Amtrak train with first-class seating. I’ve ridden it twice.The train line’s first-class cars are exclusive to the Acela, a Northeast express service that has business and first-class cars (no coach).In 2022, I took a $270 first-class Acela ride from New York City to Baltimore and thought it…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Maria Diaz Valdez, a 29-year-old based in Spain. It’s been edited for length and clarity.I feel like a relationship with a founder is a relationship on steroids because it’s so intense in the trust and patience it requires. I’ve had to…
Vivian Tu spent her first years out of college on a trading desk. While working at JP Morgan, she noticed something about the wealthy people she worked around: they didn’t dress like it.”Nobody really had that fancy of stuff,” Tu, who got our attention as our “Rich BFF” thanks to…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tamara Hancock, who lives in the greater Phoenix area — one of the first areas to have access to Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery service, which is expanding to 500 US cities by the end of the year. She’s used the…
Before launching The Savvy Couple in 2016, Kelan Kline had reached a breaking point.He and his wife, Brittany, had recently married, bought a starter home, and begun paying down roughly $40,000 in student loans. Brittany was an elementary school teacher, while Kelan worked as a jail deputy.The couple, who grew…
When my youngest child was 6, a new neighbor and her daughter came over to play. The mom enthusiastically offered to “return the favor” by hosting my daughter at her home for a sleepover. I knew this child had multiple older siblings, some of whom spent weeks going back and…
From the time our three kids were little, our family has always prioritized low-cost travel. We’ve visited the free museums of New York City, hiked in Yosemite, and enjoyed several lay-on-the-beach vacations in Mexico. So when our oldest child graduated from high school last year, we felt a “last hurrah”…
The Slate truck doesn’t have a typical key.Unlike today’s cars — which pack proximity sensors inside a little plastic box that runs tech that allows drivers to start the engine via a push-start button — the Slate has a simple solution.Drivers put a square key into a square slot. The…
When I was growing up, my mom told me that education is never wasted. I was fortunate to grow up in a household where college was on the table.Having graduated from high school one year early, I started my associate degree shortly after my 17th birthday. For two years, I…
