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2020 was hard on my finances. Here’s what I’m doing in 2021 to get back on track
In December 2020, Alainta Alcin got laid off a month after buying her first home. Here’s how she turned the situation around and got her finances back on track.
"The more you know about credit cards, the better equipped you'll be to make choices that work out in your favor – whether you're taking advantage of your credit card grace period to avoid interest charges, using a 0% intro APR credit card to fund a vacation or redeeming your credit card rewards at their maximum value. Credit is a powerful tool, when used wisely – and as a person who's been writing about personal finance for a decade, I hope to provide you with the tools to make as many wise decisions as possible."
— Nicole Dieker
Nicole Dieker has been a full-time freelance writer since 2012 — and a personal finance enthusiast since 2004, when she graduated from college and, looking for financial guidance, found a battered copy of Your Money or Your Life at the public library.
In addition to writing for Bankrate, her work has appeared on CreditCards.com, Vox, Lifehacker, Popular Science, The Penny Hoarder, The Simple Dollar and NBC News. Dieker spent five years as writer and editor for The Billfold, a personal finance blog where people had honest conversations about money. Dieker also teaches writing, freelancing and publishing classes and works one-on-one with authors as a developmental editor and copyeditor.
Nicole Dieker is the author of Frugal and the Beast: And Other Financial Fairy Tales, in which she reworks classic fairy tales to highlight their hidden financial lessons. She also writes the Larkin Day Mystery series.
"The more you know about credit cards, the better equipped you'll be to make choices that work out in your favor – whether you're taking advantage of your credit card grace period to avoid interest charges, using a 0% intro APR credit card to fund a vacation or redeeming your credit card rewards at their maximum value. Credit is a powerful tool, when used wisely – and as a person who's been writing about personal finance for a decade, I hope to provide you with the tools to make as many wise decisions as possible."
— Nicole Dieker
In December 2020, Alainta Alcin got laid off a month after buying her first home. Here’s how she turned the situation around and got her finances back on track.
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