SoFi Blog

Summer is almost here and the long, lazy days are in full swing. The hazy heat and extra sunlight are cause for celebration. Days spent cooling off at the beach or pool and summer nights spent enjoying time with friends and family—is there anything better?

All of the summer fun can lead to some serious spending, though. It can be easy for summer to feel like the season of perpetual vacation, treating yourself to iced lattes and trips to the local ice cream stand.

When your friends are frequenting rooftop happy hour and splurging on tickets to outdoor concerts, it can be difficult to reign in your spending. The fear of missing out can make it easier for people to spend money on things they don’t actually want or need. One recent study found that of the 1,045 participants aged 18 to 34, nearly 40% said they had gone into debt to keep up with their friend’s lifestyles.

Especially in today’s social media obsessed world, it can be easy to feel left out when you’re sitting at your desk envious of a Facebook friend’s trip to Fiji. One of the biggest drivers of consumer behavior is social comparison.

There’s something inherently dramatic about money that makes it uniquely suited for the big screen. It could be the dramatic rise and fall of the stock market. It could be our strong desire to predict what the markets will do, only to be surprised once again. Or it could be the fact that money is everywhere.

Everyone is impacted by it. We’re all working toward our next paycheck, to buy a car, buy a house, start a family, so it’s no wonder that Hollywood has cashed in on the drama, developing countless movies about making money.

Great money movies offer insight into the financial industry while also creating a compelling, captivating, and entertaining story. From Wall Street to The Big Short, filmmakers have mastered the art of making movies about making money. If you’re looking for good movies about money, we’ve got you covered. Here are our 10 top money movies.

If you like the idea of a good spring cleaning—clearing up the clutter and sprucing up your home to make a fresh start—why not do the same thing for your finances?

The end of tax season is a great time to reevaluate your saving and spending habits and organize your finances. You can even brag to your trendy friends that you went all Marie Kondo on your paperwork and “sparked joy” by getting a better grip on your budget.

Whether it’s residual fallout from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, or just a sense of inherent scrappiness, side businesses seem to be everywhere these days. From selling collectibles from your couch to launching a boutique, home-repair business, there are countless side hustle ideas to pursue.

Thanks to free marketing tools through platforms like Instagram or Facebook, all you need is an idea, talent, and some chutzpah to launch your next gig. Starting a side hustle can be difficult enough, but have you ever thought about how to turn your side hustle into your business? Whether your side job ideas are crafty or cognitive, here are some tips on turning a side hustle into a full-time business.

If you have plenty of money and a generous heart, tipping is a relatively easy way to be kind to another human being. For most people, though, it’s an annoyance. And some full-on despise it. You’ve already paid for the meal, they reason, so why tack a tip onto the price?

Besides that, there’s often math involved—typically a percentage. And the calculation frequently is done on the fly, while you’re talking, finishing your cocktail, wrapping up your business (or dinner roll) and looking for your keys.

Also, it’s inexact. There are no real rules for who or how much you’re supposed to tip – just a few general rules of thumb. (Which are not the same thing.)

And yet, this is how the world works. Or, at least, the United States. There are workers – and some are extremely hard workers – who rely on gratuities for a large part of their earnings. It’s become customary to acknowledge their service by adding a little extra to the bill.

And if you don’t, well, you’re kind of a jerk.