Category: Reader Case Studies

Vanessa lives in Eugene, Oregon with her boyfriend and three cats, Freya, Orpheus and Gandalf. Vanessa works as the Licensing & Contracts Officer for the University of Oregon and is an attorney by training. In 2018, she bought her first home and is now facing the prospect of some pricey renovations or the possibility of selling this home and buying a different place. She and her boyfriend are also in the process of discerning whether...

Sara is a doctor and mother living with her best friend, Jodie, in the Pacific Northwest. Sara is a single mother by choice and her son Sam is now seven months old. She loves her work as a doctor and her new role as a mom, but wants to make sure her finances are as healthy as they can be. What’s a Reader Case Study? Case Studies address financial and life dilemmas that readers of...

Peter and his wife, Kim, both work as registered nurses in a medium-sized city in the Eastern United States. They became a family of three when they adopted their daughter, Rachel, in October 2020. Well, family of four including their cat, Pringles. Peter and Kim both enjoy their careers as nurses, but are at a point where they need to step back to part-time work in order to reduce burnout and fatigue and for the...

Sam and her husband John both work as full-time foresters for the federal government and part-time school bus drivers for their local school district. They live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on an off-grid hobby farm with their dog, dairy goats, laying hens and Tibetan yaks. Sam’s family lives nearby and they’re very happy with their location and lifestyle. The only problem? Their jobs. Both Sam and John would like to disentangle themselves from their full-time...

Sidney lives in a west-coast Canadian city with her husband, Steve, and their nine-year-old son. Sidney works as an atmospheric scientist for the federal government and Steve is an analyst, also with the government. They’ve been renting out their basement suite to friends for the last three years, but those friends will be moving abroad in May. Sidney’s grappling with whether or not they need to continue renting out the basement for the income, or...

John is in his late twenties and lives in a small southern city in the US along with his cat. He recently made the decision to go back to school to become a nurse. Previously he worked at a nonprofit and, while he was passionate about the mission, the work/life balance wasn’t tenable for the long term. John started his nursing program this month and is also working front-of-house at a restaurant to try and...

Puck works as a librarian and recently settled into a new job and new apartment in Boston, MA. Ve is also a writer and recently had vis first work of fiction published! Vis family immigrated to New York City from Ukraine in the early 90s and vis parents still live there. Today, Puck would like our help determining how to create a sustainable, mindful spending and savings pattern going forward. Ve is deeply generous and...

Eva and her husband Patrick live in Central Oregon where they both work as nurses. Their two children are now grown and Eva and Patrick are nearing traditional retirement age. Eva is concerned they may be behind on their retirement savings and would like our help analyzing their assets. A major concern for the couple is a family history of Alzheimer’s on Patrick’s side. Eva would like him to be able to retire sooner rather...

Erin and her husband Logan live in her hometown, a major metropolitan area of Nebraska, along with their six-year-old son and eight-year-old cat. Erin is a classroom teacher with 17 years of experience and Logan works as a media specialist at their local community college. While Erin loves teaching, and truly sees it as her calling, the stressors of the pandemic–and in-person pandemic teaching–are wearing her down. She’d need to work another 16 years in...