I’m a trained Ph.D. scientist that left the bench behind to become a Financial Empowerment Coach, Certified Financial Education Instructor, Speaker, and personal finance Author.

I’m Barbara Friedberg and I’m passionate about teaching investing strategies to build wealth. I have both an MBA in Finance and an MS in Counseling as well as several decades of investing experience. From 1998 through 2019, I worked as an investment portfolio manager and chief financial officer for a real estate holding company. I’ve taught corporate finance and investing to MBA students and undergraduates at two universities. I wrote and edited Personal Finance: An Encyclopedia of Modern Money Management (Greenwood, publishers), and currently write for US News and World Report, ForbesAdvisor, and InvestorPlace. Check out all of my online writing on my Press page. I started this business to teach you that it doesn’t need to be difficult to invest and build hundreds of thousands of dollars for retirement.

Hello! My name is Emma Johnson and my goal is to help you build a full, awesome life as a single mom. I started Wealthysinglemommy.com when I realized a huge need for community, information and inspiration for women like me: Professional single moms. Immediately after launching in 2012, tens of thousands of women every month started visiting, commenting and connecting on Wealthysinglemommy.com. The media started calling. Something special was going on. There is an unprecedented number of women parenting alone. We’re not going away. There are 16 million U.S. unmarried moms heading families, and 64 percent millennial moms have a child outside of marriage. This is an incredible moment in history that affords unpartnered women more opportunity than ever to raise amazing, healthy children while also building wildly successful businesses and careers – and enjoy dating and the pursuit of romantic love. I’m one of them. So are you. But moms like you don’t always feel like they fit in. So they come here. This single mom business is not easy. On the tough days it is stressful, exhausting and lonely. But life as a single mom can be brilliantly fulfilling – even if you don’t stay a single mom forever (hello, dating!). I am here to help single moms like you build an amazing family, career and love life.

The name’s Amanda Holden, but my pals call me Mandy, Mandicakes, Manderson Pooper, A.Hol (get it? like J.Lo but…grosser??) and—you guessed it—Dumpster Dog. Ahhhh yes, ol’ Dumpster Dog, that’s me. What you’re probably not thinking is: For a young and single working gal, that is one darling nickname!! It’s okay—I love it. The nickname took root during a eight-month stint where I didn’t buy food (see this post for the gruesome details) and it has really stuck, glued to me like day-old bean burrito guts on a Taco Bell wrapper. The easy fusion was surely thanks to my preference for Birkenstocks and half-eaten gyros over stilettos and grooming; creativity over tedium, always. This brand of scrappiness is the very essence of Dumpster Dog, and accordingly, the perfect name for my blog on money!

This site was inspired by my family’s journey to live life to the fullest on less. But what does that look like? It involves budgeting and meal planning, a little minimalism, a strong backbone, and a lot of faith.

I am Bella Wanana, a personal finance & lifestyle blogger and freelance writer. I obtained my Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation in 2022. I love sharing with you the best tips and tricks on making money online, saving money, budgeting, and everything else related to personal finance and living a balanced but fulfilling life.