Managing Your Personal Finances Better

Trent Hamm

Life was much simpler for my parents. When I was young, my mother stayed at home and handled the multitude of household chores while my father worked outside the home, alternating between factory work and small-scale commercial fishing. One income was enough, and even then, my father always seemed to have plenty of time to spend with me, teaching me how to garden, how to ride a bike, how to throw a baseball, and all of those other classic elements of fatherhood.

Today, this simply wouldn’t work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average full-time worker in the United States works more than eight hours a day.¹ Not per weekday—every day, including weekends and holidays. That’s more ...