Real answers to the questions you're actually Googling

Home buying · Market update

Everyone’s Scared to Buy a House Right Now. That’s Exactly Why You Should Get Ready To.

Los Angeles is a buyer’s market. Here’s what that means in Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, and how to be ready before everyone else catches on.

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Home buying · Financial fitness

Is It a Good Time to Buy a House? The Question You’re Actually Asking Is the Wrong One

Nobody can tell you where rates or prices go next. A financial coach, REALTOR® and mortgage broker explains the question that actually decides whether you should buy.

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Home buying · Financial fitness

How Do I Know If I’m Ready to Buy a House? The Honest Answer Nobody Else Is Giving You

Everyone hands you the same five-item checklist. It isn’t wrong — it’s incomplete. Here are the five questions that matter more than your credit score.

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Early inheritance · Home buying

Should I Give My Kids Their Inheritance Now or Wait? A Financial Coach's Honest Answer

My mother stood on a Pasadena sidewalk and whispered “all cash.” Here’s what happened next — and why timing matters more than amount.

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Home buying · Financial fitness

Nobody Talks About This Part of Buying a Home

Between 30% and 82% of recent buyers report at least one regret. The reasons are almost never about the house — they are about going in underprepared.

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Early inheritance

Will Giving My Kids Money Ruin Their Work Ethic? A Financial Coach Who Received an Early Inheritance Answers Honestly

We shopped at Payless while living in La Cañada. Here’s what my mother understood about wealth, character, and the right time to give.

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Home buying · Early inheritance

How to Help Your Adult Child Buy a House in Southern California (Without Making It Complicated)

Four ways parents can help — gift, loan, co-sign, co-purchase — what lenders require, and the mistake most well-meaning parents make first.

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Early inheritance · Financial fitness

Should You Give Your Adult Kids an Early Inheritance?

The timing gap. The 2026 gift tax picture. The house-poor trap. And what the data says about whether gifted wealth undermines motivation.

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Financial fitness

Spring cleaning advice from a financial coach

We’re talking spring cleaning today. This advice has nothing to do with money, at least not on the surface. In this video, I’m going…

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Financial fitness

Would you be a good millionaire?

There’s one experiment that everyone would love to be a part of. What happens if a million bucks gets dropped into your bank account?…

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Financial fitness

The right and wrong way to do loud budgeting

Let’s hear it for loud budgeting! I’m certainly a fan. I fully support practices that encourage financial self-expression with our…

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Financial fitness

How to stop having financial one-night stands

If it seems that money is here today and gone tomorrow, you might wonder why you’re relationship with money is so short-lived…

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Financial fitness

Money Mindset: What do you deserve?

What do you deserve? Feelings of worth and deservingness underpin our relationship with money. If we don’t feel that we deserve a…

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Financial fitness

When’s the right time for a small business owner to hire out bookkeeping?

Hiring a bookkeeper sounds so grown up, responsible and professional. I have an unconventional take on hiring out help with basic…

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Financial fitness

Who does NOT need a budget?

Budgeting is a rule of personal finance 101. I know they are not popular, but I am a huge fan of budgets. Well, of S.A.V.E. Budgets…

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Financial fitness

The best time to spend money

Maybe you’re not bad with money. It’s possible you have been picking the wrong times to spend. After all, timing is everything. There…

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Financial fitness

Money Mindset: Should you look back?

Looking back is getting major shade these days. Of course you want to look forward to the future and go forward in life. You do not…

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Financial fitness

How to set a financial goal… that you actually stick with

We’ve all been disappointed with goals we set that fell by the wayside. This new year, try my goal setting method so that you see your…

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Financial fitness

8 ways to consolidate debt

You are facing your debt head on and are looking into your debt consolidation options. In this video, I break down eight common debt…

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Home buying

The True cost of Closing Costs | Understanding “Other Costs” of your home purchase

As a soon to be homeowner, you’re doing your research on what fess expect for the home loan. You know about closing costs but there’s…

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Financial fitness · Early inheritance

Should you lend money to friends and family?

You find yourself in a really uncomfortable situation: a loved one has just asked you if they can borrow money from you. Besides…

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Home buying · Financial fitness

2nd mortgages: HELOC vs HEL for consolidating debt

You’re a homeowner in high debt and a second mortgage is looking like a promising option. The question becomes which kind of second…

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Home buying · Financial fitness

Homeowners with high debt and a low mortgage interest rate | Second mortgage for debt consolidation

Welp, we’ve done it — we got our collective credit card balance to exceed a trillion dollars! It’s mind blowing. If you’ve done your…

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Financial fitness

Why debt is extra dangerous this holiday season & 5 steps to avoiding holiday shopping debt

As this holiday shopping season kicks off, I’ve got a couple gifts for you. First, a reminder to be kind to yourself by avoiding debt…

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Financial fitness

Is your vision of “rich” sabotaging your financial fitness?

I blame Hollywood. Think of all the movies and TV shows, including “reality” TV, feed us a false image of how rich people behave…

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Financial fitness

Does financial fitness & money management matter in 2023?

2023 is a weird year. On the surface, things look great! We’ve returned to “normal” after a global pandemic and the U.S. economy has…

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Financial fitness

The key to financial fitness for the self-employed & solopreneur

If you have made the leap and left your job to become self-employed, then welcome to the club! And, congrats! That is no small feat…

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Financial fitness

Why even high earners need financial coaching

Are you a high earner or a real estate investor? Most people would assume that you have your finances all figured out, but that’s not…

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Financial fitness

What to do if there are financial secrets in your relationship

Having financial trust in a relationship is essential. Unfortunately, most people are not skilled in managing their money effectively…

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Home buying

How to get a home loan closed ASAP

I don’t drive fast but I have a need for speed – I love closing home loans as quickly as possible. If you have a similar need for…

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Home buying · Financial fitness

Most problematic credit cards I see on credit reports

What are the worst credit cards to have? I can tell you based on my experience as a mortgage loan officer, which ones wreak the worse…

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Financial fitness

The Best Personal Finance App

Fintech is all the rage. So what app do I recommend? Watch and find out. Transcript: The best personal finance app is the one that you…

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Financial fitness

How much emergency savings do you need?

Once you accept that planning for the unexpected is the smart way to go, the question becomes: how much emergency savings do I need?…

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Financial fitness · Home buying

Why you need an online high yield savings account

Who doesn’t love free money? A high yield savings account is the closest you’ll get to risk-free, free money. So why are so many…

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Financial fitness

How to make the best of a 0% balance transfer credit card

Man are they popular! 0% balance transfer cards are a favorite among those carrying credit card balances, looking for reprieve from…

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Home buying

Is now a good time to buy a house?

This question needs no introduction. Let’s dive right in. This video shares my very honest thoughts on whether it’s a good time to buy…

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Financial fitness

Is financial coaching worth it?

Yes. Is my answer biased? Of course. But this is the response I’d give if you asked the question — and I know you’re thinking it. In…

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Financial fitness

Catching and dismantling limiting thoughts and beliefs

Maybe you know how to manage your money, but you’re not doing it. It’s one thing to have the knowledge and it’s another to have the…

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Financial fitness

How is a financial coach different from an advisor or planner?

Financial coaches are special… in more ways than one. See what I mean here. Transcript: A financial coach, advisor, and planner are…

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Financial fitness

How your budget categories represent your values

Already already earning a decent living? If so, I wholeheartedly believe that living in alignment with your values will make you…

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Financial fitness · Home buying

The worst credit myth that refuses to die

Let’s be clear: Carrying over a balance on your credit card is NOT going to increase your credit score. Any claim to the contrary is a…

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Financial fitness

The Must-Do ritual for a budget that works

Your state is powerful! Um, what? Let me explain: If you’ve been into personal development for a minute, you know how much your state…

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Financial fitness

How to show money love

Let me first address the elephant in the room – the concept of showing money love sounds weird. I know. But it is a thing! And an…

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Financial fitness

How does Financial Coaching for business owners work?

Here’s why small business owners need financial coaching: Small business owners and solopreneurs are doubly poised to benefit from…

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Financial fitness

Is this the most dangerous money mindset?

There’s a pervasive money belief that convinces people that they don’t need to be financially fit. It’s disseminated indirectly in the…

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Financial fitness

Money behaves like a person

Your relationship with money is more important than your income. I truly mean that. If you have a healthy relationship with money…

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Financial fitness

How to Create Healthy Financial Habits

Have you ever wondered what domino kicks off the chain reaction to a healthy habit? If you knew the starting point that naturally led…

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Financial fitness

Budget Categories — Shortcut to Creating a Budget that Works!

Here’s your shortcut to creating a budget that works. Some budgets are overwhelming because they have way too many categories. We’re…

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Financial fitness

What does it mean to be financially fit and what is a financial coach?

Let me cut right to the chase. There are so many ways to describe what financial fitness is (and isn’t) so in this video I cut right…

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Financial fitness

The only financial fitness test you’ll ever need

Few people know what financial fitness is and even fewer know how to test their financial fitness. You are about to find out the…

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Financial fitness

How Does Financial Coaching Work with Couples?

With money being – by far – the biggest stressor in relationships, I know what a massive difference it makes to get this handled once…

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Home buying

How the new 7 figure loan limit helps buyers

For the first time in history, loans backed by Freddie and Fannie (about half of all home loans) can go as high as $1,089,300. That’s…

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Financial fitness

Why we ignore danger warnings

Leave the cart alone. Do not proceed to checkout. For the better part of 2022, I’ve read articles on the daily about how bad things…

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Financial fitness

My new killer comeback, courtesy of Oprah

Ever need a little inspiration to get out of bed in the morning? I definitely do. On this one particular day I needed to hear from the…

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Financial fitness

Your biggest money mystery and how the answer is hidden from you

The greatest mystery in all of personal finance isn’t compound interest; it’s where the heck did all your money go?!

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Financial fitness

I hated finding this out about myself

This right here is a personal post. I hope it helps you have a meaningful breakthrough. To get right to the point, I discovered the…

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Financial fitness

How to figure out if someone is as successful as they appear

I live in LA – the land of people posing as far better off financially than they really are. How often do you wonder how well off…

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