Maya Ellison
Personal-finance writer & recovering over-spender
Denver, CO
Maya writes about money the way she wishes someone had explained it to her at 22 — plainly, with real numbers and none of the jargon. She isn't a financial advisor; she's someone who spent her twenties digging out of credit-card debt, got a little obsessive about budgeting, and now turns intimidating financial math into decisions anyone can make. Everything she writes is meant to inform, not to be personal financial advice.
Articles by Maya Ellison
How to Calculate Your Optimal Biweekly Mortgage Payment Strategy: Interest Savings, Payoff Timeline, and Lender Fee Analysis
Switching to biweekly mortgage payments sounds simple, but the math is more nuanced than most homeowners realize. Learn how to calculate your actual interest savings, compare lender-managed programs versus DIY extra payments, and determine whether the accelerated payoff timeline aligns with your broader financial goals—or whether that money works harder invested elsewhere.
Sep 18, 2026How to Calculate Your Ideal Weekly Review Duration: Measuring the Time Investment Required to Reset, Reflect, and Plan for Maximum Clarity
Most productivity systems recommend a weekly review but never tell you how long it should actually take. Learn how to measure your backlog volume, open loops, and planning complexity to calculate a weekly review duration that fits your workload without bleeding into focus time.
Sep 17, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal Geographic Salary Negotiation: Remote Work Pay, Cost of Living Adjustments, and Location-Based Compensation Strategy
Remote work changed the salary rulebook. Learn how to calculate whether a location-adjusted pay cut actually costs you money, how to benchmark your salary against local and national markets, and how to negotiate compensation that reflects your true economic value regardless of zip code.
Sep 16, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal Revision Cycle: Measuring When to Review, Update, and Archive Recurring Documents
Outdated SOPs, stale templates, and forgotten policy docs silently drain team productivity. Learn how to calculate a data-driven revision cycle for recurring documents by measuring update frequency, access rates, and the true cost of working from outdated information.
Sep 16, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal Cash-Out Refinance Strategy: Equity Access, Rate Trade-Off, and Long-Term Cost Analysis
A cash-out refinance can unlock home equity for investments, renovations, or debt consolidation—but replacing a low-rate mortgage with a higher one carries a hidden long-term price. Learn how to calculate the true break-even point, compare the all-in cost against HELOCs or personal loans, and determine whether tapping your equity actually improves your net worth over a 5, 10, and 20-year horizon.
Sep 14, 2026How to Calculate Your Cross-Device Sync Lag: Measuring the Hidden Time Cost of Working Across Multiple Platforms
Switching between your laptop, phone, and tablet feels seamless — until it isn't. Learn how to measure the real time lost to sync delays, version conflicts, and device-switching friction, and use a time calculator to quantify the hidden productivity drain in your multi-device workflow.
Sep 14, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal Taxable Brokerage Account vs. Maxed-Out Retirement Accounts Strategy: When to Invest Outside the Tax-Sheltered Wrapper
Most financial advice stops at 'max your 401(k) and Roth IRA,' but what happens to extra savings dollars? This guide walks through the exact math of when a taxable brokerage account beats additional retirement contributions, covering tax-drag calculations, capital gains treatment, flexibility trade-offs, and the specific income and timeline thresholds where each approach wins.
Sep 12, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal Task Batching Window: Grouping Similar Work by Time of Day for Maximum Throughput
Discover how to measure and map your task types against your daily energy curve to find the ideal batching windows for administrative, creative, and communication work — reducing setup time and boosting total daily output.
Sep 12, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal Mega Backdoor Roth Strategy: After-Tax 401(k) Contributions, In-Plan Conversions, and Tax-Free Growth Analysis
Most high earners don't know their 401(k) plan has a hidden third contribution tier. Learn how to calculate whether your plan allows after-tax contributions up to the IRS limit, how to execute in-plan Roth conversions, and how to project the tax-free growth advantage over 10, 20, and 30-year horizons compared to taxable brokerage accounts.
Sep 7, 2026How to Calculate Your Ideal Inbox Zero Recovery Time: Measuring the Effort and Frequency Required to Reach Inbox Baseline
Inbox zero sounds simple, but getting there — and staying there — takes measurable effort. This guide walks you through calculating how long it actually takes you to clear your inbox, how often you need to do it, and whether the time investment is worth the productivity payoff compared to a managed inbox strategy.
Sep 6, 2026How to Calculate Your Optimal 72(t) SEPP Distribution Strategy: Early Retirement Withdrawals Without the 10% Penalty
Learn how to use IRS Rule 72(t) Substantially Equal Periodic Payments to access retirement funds before age 59½ penalty-free. We break down the three calculation methods—RMD, fixed amortization, and fixed annuitization—compare their annual payout differences, and show you how to model the long-term cost of locking into a SEPP schedule versus alternative early retirement funding bridges.
Sep 2, 2026How to Calculate Your Sprint Velocity Decline: Measuring Productivity Erosion Over Long Work Cycles
Discover how to track your output rate across consecutive work sprints, identify when fatigue-driven velocity drops begin, and calculate the exact point where diminishing returns make rest or scope reduction the smarter productivity move.
Sep 1, 2026