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| This Week In Your Wallet |
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It’s never too early to talk money with your kids – and doing so doesn’t have to feel like a lecture. It can be hands-on, and even fun. Yes, more schools are pushing for financial education (and we love to see it!), but the most powerful classroom is still your kitchen table. If you have an elementary schooler, start by opening a savings account with them. Middle schooler? Have them set – and hit – a real savings goal, whether that’s for something they’ve been eyeing on your Target run, or a trip to an amusement park. "Once kids see their accounts growing, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – they feel confident about their ability to accumulate money so they become motivated to get more," says Jeannine Glista, co-creator and executive producer of Biz Kid$. "This translates to having more self-esteem in their own ability to grow their savings."
Are you taking unknown risks with your home insurance? As The Washington Post reports, with traditional insurers retreating from disaster-prone areas, a "last resort" option is booming – especially in places like California, Florida, Texas and South Carolina. Premiums written under so-called "surplus" or "excess" insurance have nearly tripled in five years, from $1.5 billion in 2021 to $4.1 billion in 2025, according to National Association of Insurance Commissioners data. These policies were built for high-risk, unusual properties – meaning fewer protections, higher costs and arbitration clauses that can block you from picking your own contractor or price adjuster. As The Post reports, experts caution that if homeowners go this route, they’ll likely have fewer consumer protections and could receive lower payouts in the event of a disaster.
If your retirement budget is feeling tight, experts say there are three key questions to ask that could help widen the gap, starting with whether getting a job is feasible. According to new research from AARP, 6% of retirees reported returning to work from retirement in the past six months. In many cases, it’s a part-time job that helps ease financial pressure. "Many people associate retirement with not working. That's understandable," Maurie Backman writes for USA Today. "But the reality is that a part-time job could be your ticket to a better financial place." One catch – if you're collecting Social Security before full retirement age, there's an earnings limit, and going over it can mean a temporary benefits reduction.
😮💨 One other way to give yourself some breathing room? Put together a more solid retirement spending plan with help from Jean’s new book, The Forever Paycheck. It hits shelves September 8 – preorder your copy here. |
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| Things That Save You Money |
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| Is Financial Independence Still Possible? What Two FIRE Experts Want Late Starters to Know |
A recent BlackRock survey found the average American now believes they need over $2 million to retire comfortably – and BlackRock’s own CEO admits almost no one is close.
So is financial independence dead? No – but the plan you built a few years ago probably needs an update.
On a recent HerMoney Podcast, Jean sat down with Bill Yount, MD, co-host of the award-winning podcast Catching Up to FI, and Jackie Cummings Koski, CFP, and author of F.I.R.E. for Dummies, to answer your real questions about retiring early – even if you’re starting late.
Yount was a practicing ER physician earning a doctor’s salary when he had a financial wake-up call at 50. He didn’t know his net worth, and he had no idea where he stood.
"I flipped the script and started saving first and spending last," he shared. "My wife went back to work full-time. We worked together, basically living on one income and saving 40%, investing aggressively, staying the course. And thanks to the market tailwinds, in 10 years we got to financial independence."
Cummings Koski grew up in poverty, raised by a single father alongside five siblings. A divorce in her 30s became her financial turning point. "For a lot of us, it takes a wake-up call to really start us thinking that I need to do something different," she said.
Her advice to anyone who feels behind? "Give yourself a little grace. This stuff is not taught in school. Just acknowledge that, ‘Hey, I did things wrong. I didn’t know the things I wanted to know.’ Let that sink in and then say, ‘Okay, what am I going to do about it?’" |
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| What’s Your Money Story? |
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We all have a money story — and if you’re anything like us, yours has probably been rewritten a few times over the years!
The way we think about spending, saving, investing, and planning for the future changes as our lives change, which is why it’s so important to get a complete picture of your finances. Enter Monarch. It brings your entire financial life — your accounts, investments, savings goals, and spending — into one place, so you can actually see the story your money is telling!
Plus, whenever you want to dig a little deeper, you can ask Monarch’s AI Assistant questions like: "How much did I spend on travel last summer?" or "Can I afford this vacation without dipping into savings?" It can also flag spending spikes, net-worth changes, and upcoming expenses — doing some of that important financial dot-connecting for you.
If you’re ready to write the next chapter of your financial life, use code HERMONEYFAM to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50. |
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| Ask Jean |
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| Q: |
Today’s question comes from Michele. She writes: "I've been charged debit card fees. I thought the Durbin Amendment prohibited fees from being collected in connection with debit cards. Can you clear this up?" |
| A: |
The Durbin Amendment doesn’t stop banks from charging you fees associated with your debit card. Instead, what it actually caps is the interchange fee, which is the fee your bank collects from a merchant every time you swipe your card at checkout.
So, if it’s a fee being charged by your bank – whether it’s a monthly maintenance charge, ATM fee, something tied to an overdraft, etc. – it falls totally outside the Durbin Amendment’s reach. Essentially, it’s between you and your bank, not regulated by the law.
On the flip side, if the fees you’re referring to have to do with a merchant adding a surcharge for using a debit card, that’s not allowed. While credit card surcharges are legal in many U.S. states under specific conditions, debit card surcharging is not. Federal law and major card network rules prohibit merchants from tacking on fees to debit card transactions.
If, as I suspect, you’re looking at bank fees, call your bank and get clarity on what the fees are for – and whether you might qualify for a fee-free account tier. Or, in some cases, if you’ve been a good customer, they may be willing to reverse overdraft fees, for example (here’s how to ask your bank to do so). Otherwise, if these are really eating into your balance, it might be time to shop around for a new account. Many banks and credit unions offer truly free checking these days. |
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