Townsend Financial Life Management

What happens to your employer-sponsored retirement accounts when you change jobs? Find out in our latest video.

Retirement Accounts When You Change Your Job This video explores what to do with retirement accounts when you move on from your job.

September brought a rebound in private sector hiring, with employers adding 90,000 jobs, according to ADP. That's more than the 68,000 economists expected and well above August's revised gain of 36,000.

🏥 Education and health services led the way with 55,000 new jobs, followed by leisure and hospitality (22,000), manufacturing (17,000), and construction (15,000).

Not every industry shared in the gains. Financial activities lost 16,000 jobs, while professional and business services shed 11,000.

Pay continued to grow, too, with base pay rising 3.2% and gross pay increasing 4.7% from a year earlier.

The report offers another look at the labor market as the Federal Reserve weighs employment trends alongside persistent inflation.

Private sector jobs rose by 90,000 in September, better than expected, ADP reports Private job creation picked up in September after a brief slowdown.

The savings rate is the government’s estimate of how much U.S. households are saving.

U.S. Personal Savings Rate What can be learned from the savings rate?

The U.S. economy grew faster than previously estimated in the second quarter, with consumer spending and business investment contributing to the stronger performance.

The Commerce Department revised annualized GDP growth for April through June to 2.2%, up from its previous estimate of 1.5%.

Consumer spending, which accounts for approximately 70% of U.S. economic activity, was a major contributor. It increased at a 3.8% annualized rate, compared with just 0.7% in the first quarter.

While the upward revision exceeded economists' expectations, second-quarter growth was still below the 2.5% pace recorded during the first three months of 2026.

US economy grew a solid 2.2% in the second quarter, government says, upgrading previous estimate The U.S. economy grew at a solid 2.2% pace from April through June as consumer spending and business investment came in strong.

Lifestyle inflation can be the enemy of wealth building.

Keeping Up with the Joneses Lifestyle inflation can be the enemy of wealth building. What could happen if you invested instead of buying more stuff?

What every parent needs to know about insuring his or her teen driver.

Buying Auto Insurance For Teen Drivers Tips on insuring your teen driver.

📌 Higher rates sting borrowers, but they can be a real win for savers.

As rates rise, banks may increase the yields they offer on savings products to attract deposits. The average U.S. savings account still pays just 0.64% annual percentage yield. Some high-yield accounts are paying more than six times that, up to 4.2%, for the exact same deposit.

🔎 Certificates of deposit, or CDs, can offer even higher rates, but the tradeoff is access: your money is locked in for a set term, and pulling it out early usually costs a penalty.

Higher yields don’t erase the effects of inflation, and they won’t necessarily transform household finances. But if your savings account is still earning close to that 0.64% average, that gap alone might be worth a second look.

What are the financial benefits of higher interest rates? Experts explain The Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates for the first time since 2023.

Understanding credits and deductions is one of the critical building blocks to making the tax code work for you.

How to Make the Tax Code Work for You When you take the time to learn more about how it works, you may be able to put the tax code to work for you.

🌴 More Americans are deciding that enjoying life now matters just as much as making financial progress for later.

A recent SoFi survey found that 72% of Americans would be willing to make slower progress toward their financial goals so they can spend more time with family, travel more, and prioritize meaningful experiences.

That doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning long-term goals. In fact, 59% of respondents said enjoying life is how they define financial progress, compared with 27% who pointed to owning a home.

The challenge is finding a balance between what matters now and what matters later. ✈️ That can mean making room for a vacation, concert, or family event while still keeping an eye on retirement savings and debt.

But charge that trip to a credit card and carry a balance, and interest can turn a two-week memory into a much longer bill.

What does financial progress look like to you: reaching the next milestone, enjoying more of life now, or some mix of both?

72% of Americans would slow financial progress to enjoy life now, SoFi survey finds SoFi found 72% of Americans are willing to make slower progress on financial goals to prioritize family, travel and meaningful experiences.

A million dollars is a common milestone—but what does it actually take to get there? Enter your numbers and see how contributions and time work together.

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