We’ve all heard Marcus Buckingham’s famous line of “people leave managers, not companies.”

In my experience, working with an incompetent or unprofessional manager is an immediate red flag that leads employees to look for another job or give their resignation notice sooner rather than later.

But what is it about a company that makes an employee leave?

Toxic work environments.

But by the time someone makes the conscious decision to quit, chances are, they’ve probably worked in a toxic environment for an extended period.

Through my personal experience and the lens of an HR professional, below are some signs of…

According to a survey conducted by Ramsey Solutions in 2017, money fights are the second leading cause of divorce, behind infidelity. While monogamous relationships are usually (and should be) on the same page with not cheating, money agreements are a little trickier.

What are the essential money conversations that need to occur before marriage?

1. How much money do you make?

It’s not necessarily first date conversation, but when you’re in a long-term committed relationship, the discussion must come up.

Discussing current and potential income is essential for financial success. The seemingly intrusive question establishes the foundation of you and your partner’s money habits.

It’s nearly impossible…

“It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” — Charles A. Jaffe

As Jaffe implies, increasing your salary can still keep you living paycheck to paycheck if you make the same or greater adjustment to your spending. Enter lifestyle inflation.

Lifestyle inflation, or lifestyle creep, lives up to its name: when a person’s increased income matches increased spending. Sometimes it creeps on us to the point where we don’t notice. From upgrading your vehicle to saying you deserve a new pair of luxury shoes, lifestyle inflation occurs in many forms.

Upgrading your lifestyle is acceptable but…

By the end of 2020, Netflix reached over 200 million subscribers. If we’re honest, Netflix extends to well over 200 million households, with users discreetly sharing their passwords here and there.

With Netflix originals, comedy specials, reality TV, Korean dramas, and a vast catalog of movies, there’s something for everyone. But Netflix may have a more significant appeal to a select group: couples.

Netflix and chill jokes and memes ran rampant for years, but watching TV and films produced some surprising benefits.

How can Netflix benefit your relationship?

Science says enjoying TV together improves a couple’s relationship through a shared identity.

Sarah Gomillion, Ph.D., and other researchers published a study in the Journal…

In March 2020, companies in the U.S. began to transition to a remote workforce. As a result, people found it challenging to define a clear boundary between work and personal life. For fitness, we still had the outdoors but didn’t have gyms as an option. So work, school, fitness, food, and everything in between developed into an adjustment.

For me, the lockdown started a stop-and-go reaction. My progress, weight, and confidence fluctuated more times than I could count.

Almost one year later, my weight increased, but my habits improved. While I haven’t reached my goal weight, I can see the…

Sink or swim. That’s an oddly accurate sentiment when young adults jump in the deep end with little education or personal finance knowledge.

Despite money impacting our daily lives, navigating money decisions from paying off debt, using credit cards wisely, or buying a home is like learning a foreign language. Therefore, it’s common for people to start making poor money decisions like digging themselves out of student loan debt with no end in sight or racking up high-interest credit card bills.

While we can blame the education system or how our parents didn’t teach us about money, the sum of…

Finding a healthy relationship can feel like hitting the jackpot. While we attempt to not enter into relationships with a long checklist in mind, it’s easy to feel conflicted between not settling in a relationship and not being too picky.

Where does a healthy relationship fall? It’s not settling, but an obvious red flag if you’re in an unhealthy relationship.

In reality, relationships take effort but don’t have to be hard. You don’t have to fight every day or do all the housework while your partner doesn’t lift a finger.

I like to equate the concept of a healthy relationship…

It’s a standard route to graduate college, enter the ‘real world,’ and then think, “now what?”

It’s safe to say what you thought your life would look like after graduating doesn’t always pan out. It’s all too familiar, and you feel less than as you see your friends taking higher-paying jobs. You’re happy for your peers but also wallow in uncertainty as you reevaluate your major in school and career choice altogether.

While some recent graduates are fortunate to jump into a six-figure salary or find a long-term company, most people jump through more hoops. We take on underpaid entry-level…