Writing & Updates

Posts on financial education, learning design, and the data and AI tools shaping how people make money decisions. Most are written for the University of Illinois System's Student Money Management Center.

Featured Posts

Selected posts I wrote for the SMMC News & Events blog on student loans, budgeting, banking, retirement, and more.

From Save to Forgiveness: A PSLF Guide for Federal Borrowers May 27, 2026 Federal Student Loan Repayment Wizard Mar 31, 2026 Financial Feedback: Calculating Net Worth Jan 30, 2026 Comparing Private Student Loans Jan 26, 2026 Increasing ROI for a College Degree Jan 22, 2026 SNAP Disruption: Where to Find Food Now Oct 31, 2025 Before You Give or Take Financial Advice, Read This Jun 26, 2025 Opening a Bank Account in the United States Jun 17, 2025 13 Ways to Avoid Unlucky Losses in 2025 Jun 13, 2025 Roth vs. Traditional Retirement Plans: What's the Difference? Apr 22, 2025Co-authored with Richard Owusu-Cyrus
All SMMC Posts ↗

Making Cents of Money

I co-host this financial education podcast with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation. These episodes connect most closely to my research on learning, decision-making, and design.

Design, Data & AI

Episode 129: How App Design Shapes Financial Behavior and Why It Works, Pt. 1: The Invisible Nudge
Episode 129
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud
Episode 130: How App Design Shapes Financial Behavior and Why It Works, Pt. 2: Designed to Spend
Episode 130
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud
Episode 131: How App Design Shapes Financial Behavior and Why It Works, Pt. 3: Know the Game
Episode 131
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud
Episode 127: What Happens to the Data You Feed LLMs?
Episode 127 Guest: Emmy Tither
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud

Stress, Behavior & Well-Being

Episode 115: The Money-Stress Habit Cycle
Episode 115
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Episode 105: Stages of Financial Behavior Change
Episode 105 Guest: Emily Harmon
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Episode 120: Money and Happiness
Episode 120 Guest: Donovan Sanchez
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud
Episode 106: Neurodiversity and Financial Strategies
Episode 106
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Episode 119: Prioritizing Your Paid Time Off
Episode 119
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Family, Advice & Everyday Needs

Episode 99: Financial Socialization
Episode 99
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Episode 121: Before You Give or Take Financial Advice, Listen to This...
Episode 121
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Episode 94: Cost of Living
Episode 94
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud
Episode 95: Basic Needs & Needs Insecurity
Episode 95
Episode pageAppleSpotifySoundCloud
All Episodes ↗ Apple Podcasts ↗ Spotify ↗ SoundCloud ↗

Other Writing

Independent articles and posts from earlier blogs will be added here. For scholarly work, see my publications.