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IMC Financial Consulting

We offer a holistic comprehensive services to help clients prioritize and attain their life goals by making smart financial decisions.

07/21/2026

The No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft will make $500,000 this year. Last season, the top rookie earned closer to $76,000.

Thanks to the league's new labor agreement, the average rookie now earns about $386,000, over five times last year, and first-round deals are now locked in for the full season (Sportico, 2026).

It is a great milestone for the league and the players. It is also a real financial test. Imagine going from a college budget to a half-million-dollar income in one week, at 21, with no financial team yet in place.

The hard part is usually not the obvious splurge. It is the quiet assumptions: that the whole check is yours to spend, that next year will look like this one, that the requests from family and agents can be sorted out later.

The athletes who keep their money tend to start early. They set aside taxes before spending a dollar. They separate this season's money from the rest of their lives. And they decide who gets a yes before the calls start.

A bigger paycheck does not make money simpler. It makes every decision matter more.

07/20/2026

"Just split it into four payments." Most of us have seen that button, and more than half of us have used it.

In early 2026, 51% of Americans said they used a buy-now-pay-later or installment plan for an online purchase (Experian, July 2026). It is used most in the households with the least room in the budget.

Here is the fair way to think about it. BNPL is not automatically a trap. Splitting a planned, necessary purchase into interest-free payments can help you manage cash flow. The catch is how it changes the way a purchase feels. A $200 item becomes "four payments of $50," and the price shrinks in your head while the bill stays the same.

Two questions before you tap:
Would I still buy this at full price, in one payment, today?
Can I name every plan I am already paying?

If the answer is no, that is your signal to pause. Installment plans do not make things cheaper. They make them feel closer.

07/17/2026

There's a raise you can study for. PwC just measured it.

Workers with advanced AI skills earn 56% more than coworkers in the very same role, according to PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer.

And it's not just about the technology. PwC also found entry-level roles touched by AI are 7x more likely to ask for senior-level human skills, and new tasks in those roles lean 2.5x harder on empathy, judgment, and creativity.

If someone in your house is picking a major, changing careers, or just AI-curious, this is a kitchen-table conversation worth having. The skill you build this year can pay you every year after.

What's one skill you're glad you invested time in? Tell us below.

Full story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/courtney-connley-hampton/2026/07/07/the-ai-proof-skills-employers-want-most/

07/16/2026

Quick question: when you buy an index fund with 500 companies inside, how many are really driving it?

Right now, the ten largest companies make up roughly 40% of the S&P 500's market value, near a record high, according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Semiconductor companies alone are nearly one-fifth of the index, the highest share on record.

Why? The index is cap-weighted: bigger companies count more. A dollar in is not a dollar split 500 equal ways.

And under the surface, Yahoo Finance notes only about 60% of S&P 500 stocks are trading above their own 200-day average.

None of this is a prediction. It's a vocabulary lesson. The label says 500. The weight says 10.

Was that news to you? Tell us in the comments.

07/15/2026

Your grocery store might be about to change hands, and it's a great excuse to learn how big deals actually work.

Kroger announced it's buying Giant Eagle, the Pittsburgh-based grocery chain, in a deal valued at $1.65 billion. Here's what's inside that number: $1.25 billion in cash, plus about $400 million in debt Kroger agrees to take on. The price of a company is cash plus the debt that comes with it.

And here's the surprising part. Giant Eagle does about $9 billion in sales every year, with 197 supermarkets and 11 pharmacies across 5 states. Sales and value are two very different numbers.

Giant Eagle keeps its name and headquarters, and the deal isn't expected to close until 2027, after regulators take their look.

Which grocery chain does your family swear by? Tell us below.

Full story: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/kroger-buying-giant-eagle/

07/14/2026

If there was ever a jar of Ultra Sheen or Afro Sheen in your family's bathroom, you already know part of this story.

George E. Johnson Sr. passed away on July 7 at 99. He started Johnson Products in 1954 with a $250 loan. That company became the first Black-owned business listed on the American Stock Exchange.

And he kept building. He founded Independence Bank. He became the first Black director at Commonwealth Edison.

Here's the part worth sharing with the young people in your life: he didn't just make products people loved. He owned the company behind them. Then he built a bank so the next person with $250 and a plan could get their chance too.

Ownership is how a single loan becomes a legacy.

What's the first Black-owned business you remember your family supporting? Share their name below.

07/13/2026

If your family is holding off on school shopping until the sales drop, you're in good company.

Deloitte just surveyed 1,207 parents, and only 48% of back-to-school spending will be done by the end of July this year, compared to 61% last year. Families everywhere are waiting for deals.

The headline says spending is flat, about $30.4B nationally and $557 per K-12 student (down $13 from last year). But look closer and every household is adjusting differently. Higher-income families plan to cut about 20%. Lower-income families expect to spend more because prices went up, not because the list got longer. And 57% of parents think the economy will get worse, the highest share since 2020.

Here's the takeaway for your kitchen table: a "flat" number can hide a lot of movement. Waiting for deals, trading down, spreading purchases out... that's not falling behind. That's paying attention.

What's the one back-to-school buy you're waiting on a sale for? Tell us below.

Full survey breakdown: https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/deloitte-back-school-spending-holds-120100126.html

07/10/2026

Have you noticed the question about AI at work is starting to change?

For a while, the measure of progress was simply how much of it you were using. There was even a nickname for it: "tokenmaxxing." Now CNBC reports (June 2026) that companies are tightening their AI budgets and asking a sharper question: what is this actually earning us?

Honestly, that is a healthy shift. It is the same discipline most families already practice. You do not keep a subscription because you open the app a lot. You keep it because it gives something back: time, savings, a better decision.

Whether it is an AI tool at your job or one on your phone, the test is the same. Usage is not value. Returns are.

More on how we think about money and technology at planningimc.co.

07/09/2026

When was the last time you read an actual earnings report? Not the headline about one. The report itself.

You'll get a fresh chance soon. Q2 earnings season kicks off July 14, when the big banks (JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo) start the June-quarter reporting cycle, per Zacks via Yahoo Finance.

Four things to look at, no finance degree required:

Revenue vs. earnings: what came in vs. what's left after costs.
Margins: how much of each dollar becomes profit.
Guidance: the company's own forecast for what's next.
Beat vs. growth: clearing analyst estimates isn't the same as growing year over year.

These reports are free, public, and published every quarter. Learning to read them is one of the most practical money skills there is.

07/08/2026

Only about 30% of U.S. workers are engaged right now, the lowest level Gallup has measured in more than a decade. And in a 2026 study covering organizations that employ 88 million people, workers kept describing the same thing: too exhausted and too directionless to do their best work.

So here is a question for anyone who leads people: does your team actually know what a good week looks like?

We tend to blame the worker. But engagement is a management output, not an employee trait. Clear expectations. Honest one-on-ones. A team where questions are safe. Recognition that is specific and out loud. That's what moves the number, and none of it costs a dime.

Full story from Fortune: https://fortune.com/2026/06/23/gallup-worker-engagement-low-psychological-safety-gap/

Whether you lead a company, a classroom, or a crew of two, let's make clarity the thing people can count on from us.

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