SoFi Blog

When you can’t make it home for Thanksgiving, throwing (or attending) a Friendsgiving dinner party is the next best thing. Friendsgiving is the perfect occasion to give thanks with your closest friends, gorge yourself on terrific food and drinks, and, of course, watch some football.

This annual get-together of great friends and food has increased in popularity over the years, and one reason for that is the cost of air travel. For example, if you live in San Francisco and want to spend the four-day Thanksgiving weekend with your family in New York City, a non-stop, round trip ticket will cost anywhere from $738 (JetBlue) to $1222 (American). If you work in a demanding professional career, your career goals might force to you stick around town. But a tight budget or work obligations shouldn’t mean you have to miss out on what many people believe to be the best holiday of the year. You’ve got friends—lots of them—and some of them might be in the same position as you are.

Discussing finances with your life partner can easily stir emotions, especially when autonomy is thought to be threatened or when one partner makes significantly more money than the other. Financial conversations require finesse and, of course, respect and understanding. And because emotions surrounding money are often tied to fear and can illicit strong reactions, those important conversations are sometimes avoided.

In 2016, after 10 years in the online marketing industry, Christopher Brown and Michael Mazzuca founded DIGI SEARCH, a dental- and medical-specific digital marketing agency. The two built the business on insights gained while Chris was growing his family’s practice through innovative digital marketing campaigns.

Christopher is also a proud member of SoFi’s Entrepreneur Program, which empowers a select handful of promising entrepreneurs by giving them financial flexibility, access to investors, and a support network of peers and mentors to help them succeed. Since joining SoFi this year, DIGI SEARCH has more than doubled its client base.

For any startup to succeed, it takes talent, intelligence, hard work, and a love of innovation. It also helps to be connected—to have people looking out for you, especially when you’re on your way up and in need of that first big break. SoFi Entrepreneur Program member Mark Pawloski started Upkey with friends Mo Bitar and Amir Badr to help college students who didn’t come from elite backgrounds get noticed by more elite employers.

Got student loans? We’ve got you covered with our Student Loan Smarts blog series. Our expert tips and hacks will help you save money, pay off loans sooner, and stress less about student loan debt. Read the other posts in the series here to get all the info you need to make intelligent decisions about your student loans.

Unfortunately, spotting a student loan scam today is more challenging than you might think. It can come in the form of a Facebook ad, an email, or a cheerful voicemail: