SoFi Blog

February is Black History Month, and as such, we thought we’d take a step back to honor one of the financial world’s true heroes. Maggie Walker was a leader and a visionary, who advanced the rights of African Americans and women, both socially and financially.

People often think of a personal loan as being a lifeline for emergencies. Be it an unexpected trip to the hospital, a leaking roof that needs to be replaced as soon as possible, or that squealing sound your brakes are making before a long road trip, personal loans can certainly come in handy when you need them.

But can you use a personal loan for everything? What people don’t know is that personal loans are so much more than an emergency backup plan.

Articles about the benefits of attending college typically focus on traditional situations where students live on, or right next to college campuses—and benefits of full college-campus experiences are numerous. But, there are also plenty of benefits when commuting to college and here we’ll look at seven of the most important of them.

Before we begin, though, we want to create a definition of this type of student. What is a commuter student, really? Traditionally, people think of students who live in dorm rooms as the ones who are heavily involved in campus life, but what about students who live nearby in an apartment? These students may also be immersed in campus life.

There are a lot of fun things to spend money on. Retirement does not always feel like one of them. Setting money aside for retirement is hard to do, but it’s truly a great gift that you can give yourself.

Your retirement has the potential to be one of the greatest times of your life—imagine taking your family on a European vacation, eating fantastic food, and reading all the books you never had time to read. It’s possible, but it all depends on how much money you save and invest.

The average person isn’t saving enough to live out their golden years in style. One study, by Vanguard , shows that the average (median) person has only $26,000 in retirement savings.

If you haven’t made an IRA contribution for 2018 and are looking to ramp up your retirement savings rate, you’re in luck: You can contribute up to $11,500 to your IRA by April 15, 2019 .

If you’re in the throes of wedding planning, one item on your ever growing to-do list might be setting up your registry. Maybe you don’t actually need a lot of the home goods that are traditionally listed on a wedding registry so you’ve been putting it off.

Maybe in the back of your mind, the outstanding student debt you or your partner owe is weighing on you. You’re tempted to ask your family and close friends to give you a cash wedding gift that you can use to accelerate paying off your debt. There’s just one problem—you don’t know how to ask for money for student loans instead of gifts.

After all, many people consider it a social faux pas when a couple asks for a cash wedding gift. If you’re wondering how to ask for money as a wedding gift without offending your guests, we’ve compiled our best tips to help avoid any pre-wedding fallouts.