Rachel Hart

Rachel Hart

Hi, I'm Rachel. I spent eight years as a corporate financial analyst and plenty more living paycheck to paycheck - so I know both sides of the kitchen table. I write about money with real numbers, zero jargon, and no shame. If I could fix my finances, so can you.

Investing

Did We Predict the S&P 500 Bottom?

Last year I guessed the S&P 500 would bottom at 3,200. The real bottom came in at 3,491. Here's what that miss taught me about trusting data over panic.

Budgeting

A Visual Way to Understand Your Finances: Money Mapping

I still remember sitting on a bench outside my college calculus class, in tears. Numbers never came naturally to me — but when I started drawing my finances as a visual map, everything clicked. Here's how you can do it too.

Budgeting

Two Types of Budgeting: Retroactive vs Forward-Looking

A reader's email about a budgeting stalemate with her husband made me realize there are two fundamentally different approaches to managing money—and the right one depends entirely on where you are financially.