Maybe spending money should be a little harder
Friction-maxxing is having a moment. And it might actually be good for your finances.
Derek Hopfner
Product Updates
Stowe September 2026 Update: Grocery insights, credit card value breakdowns, and better bank connections
September 2026 Stowe Product Updates
Product Updates
Stowe August 2026 Product Updates: Receipts, grocery price tracking, and bank connection health checks
Roundup of updates to Stowe in August 2026: snap your receipts, track grocery prices, get grocery spending insights, and bank connection health status.
How Many People Stick to a Budget? And Are There Budgeting Alternatives?
We break down some budgeting alternatives for those that find running a strict budget difficult to maintain.
Product Updates
Split rules, balance history, and a smarter Advisor
July 2026 Stowe product updates
The Costs That Decide How Much Room You Have
The costs that squeeze a household are rarely the ones people scrutinize. A better way to read your spending is to understand which ones are the hardest to change.
Introducing Stowe
We all overpay on something. Maybe it's a streaming service you stopped using months ago that still bills you every month. Maybe it's the phone plan you've had for years and never once compared against a newer one. Or the internet bill that creeps
Why It’s So Much Harder to Decide Whether to Rent or Buy
The median age of a first-time homebuyer in the U.S. has reached 40, up from 29 in the early 1980s, according to the National Association of Realtors. In Toronto and Vancouver, benchmark home prices are now eight to ten times the median household income. Much of the standard financial
What Most Couples Get Wrong About Money (And What the Research Says Actually Works)
38% of American couples fully combine their finances, 42% have kept a financial secret from their partner, and the research on what actually works has little to do with budgets.
$60 to $50,000 a Seat: How FIFA Turned the World Cup Into the Biggest Dynamic Pricing Experiment on Earth
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11 across 16 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It's the first time the tournament has been held in North America since 1994, the first with 48 teams instead of 32, and the first where the price of
The Dupe Economy: An Algorithmic Train Worth $81 Billion That's Displacing 'Taste'
71% of Gen Z actively seeks dupes, entire platforms exist to find them, and the algorithms shaping what you see may be deciding what you want in the first place.
The $895 Credit Card and the $6 Value Meal: Who Your Price Tag Was Designed For
What happened to dollar deals at McDonald's? Why are premium cards like American Express getting pricier while the economy feels unstable? The answer lies in what economists now call the E-Shaped economy. Let me explain. In 2020, economists started calling the economy K-shaped. After the pandemic, one segment—