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CEO & Co-founder
Andrew started his career at a Chicago hedge fund and quickly noticed a problem: the people who most needed financial guidance weren’t getting any. He co-founded Money Crashers in 2009 to fix that with free, plain-language money education. He’s been interviewed by MSNBC, CBS News, NBC News, and Fox News, and featured in Forbes and US News & World Report. Off the clock he plays ice hockey and tennis, and meditates. Andrew holds a bachelor’s in economics from Brown University.
Treat a rent renewal offer as the landlord’s first number, not the final one. If you leave, the landlord loses rent while the unit sits empty and pays to clean and advertise it, so propose your own rate in writing about three months before your lease ends.
To anyone who pulls it from your mailbox, a preapproved credit card offer announces your name, your address, and that a lender has already picked you. Opt out of these prescreened offers at OptOutPrescreen.com or 1-888-5-OPT-OUT, the free service the credit bureaus run, and the offers drawn from your credit report stop coming.
File your unemployment claim as soon as you’re laid off, even with severance or a signed separation agreement, and let the state decide whether you qualify. Benefits are paid from the week you file, not the day you lost your job, and states rarely pay for weeks you waited.
If you’re bringing debt, a home, a business, retirement savings, or kids from a past relationship into a marriage, start the prenup conversation months before the wedding. Writing one begins with each of you disclosing everything you own and owe. Even if you never sign, you’ll both know exactly what the other brings to the marriage.
Everything a gig app pays you is revenue, not profit. Before you count on it, work out what an hour of your gig work pays after costs and tax. Subtract what your miles cost and a set-aside for self-employment tax, then divide by every hour you were logged in, waiting included.
Paying for three or more streaming services at once usually means paying for months when most of them sit idle. Rotate them instead, except any your household watches daily or needs for live sports. Keep one or two at a time, watch what you signed up for, then cancel and move on to the next service.
An income-driven student loan payment stays tied to your income only if you recertify every year, and a missed deadline resets it to the 10-year standard amount. Consent once on StudentAid.gov to share your IRS tax information, and if you’re eligible, the Education Department recertifies you automatically each year.
A dealer’s trade-in offer leaves room to recondition and resell your car at a profit. Before you say yes, look up your car’s private-party value and get an instant cash offer you could take instead. Accept the trade only if the offer, plus any sales tax it saves you, comes close to a private sale’s price.
An accurate late payment can still come off your credit report if the lender that reported it agrees to remove it. If it’s your only late payment and the account is current, ask the lender in a short goodwill letter. Some lenders refuse, but a yes removes a mark that can stay seven years.
Set a water leak sensor under each sink and beside your water heater. For under $50, it sounds an alarm or alerts your phone the moment water touches it. Many homeowners policies exclude damage from a leak that seeps for weeks, so the slow drip nobody noticed can be yours to pay.
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