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Dana Miranda

CEPF®, Small Business Expert Writer, author of YOU DON'T NEED A BUDGET

About

Dana Miranda is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® who's been writing about money management and small business operations for more than a decade. She writes the newsletter Healthy Rich about how capitalism impacts the ways we think, teach and talk about money. She's the author of YOU DON'T NEED A BUDGET (Little, Brown Spark, 2024).

Dana Miranda is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® (CEPF®), an author and a personal finance journalist. She writes Healthy Rich, a newsletter about how capitalism impacts the ways we think, teach and talk about money. She’s the author of YOU DON’T NEED A BUDGET (Little, Brown Spark, 2024), a book about money management without restriction, shame or greed.

Dana grew up in a working-class family in a small town in Wisconsin. When she joined the ranks of personal finance media in 2015, she found the niche led mostly by advice (and admonitions) from middle-class white men, ignoring the broad diversity of our relationships with work and money. After leaving a leadership position with a popular financial media startup and spending two years as a freelance writer, she created Healthy Rich to change the way we talk about money.

A freelance writer for more than a decade, Dana has contributed to Forbes, Insider, Culture Study, the New York Times, CNBC, Money magazine, NextAdvisor, USA Today and Inc. magazine, among others.

Expertise

  • Financial education
  • Freelancing
  • Small business
  • Money management
  • Debt relief

Achievements

  • Certified Educator in Personal Finance® (CEPF®)
  • Creator of the Healthy Rich newsletter
  • Author of YOU DON’T NEED A BUDGET (Little, Brown Spark, 2024)
  • Business/finance journalist since 2011

Other Publications

Education

University of Wisconsin—Madison

Professional Memberships

  • National Writers Union
  • Authors Guild
  • Freelancers Union
  • Best Employee Benefits In 2024

    Employees will always take more money if you offer it. But pay alone isn’t necessarily all it takes to attract and keep good employees. In a survey of employed workers and employers, Forbes Advisor found that 40% of employers say...
    Best Employee Benefits In 2024
  • Top Paychex Competitors 2024

    If you’ve been using Paychex or Paychex Flex for your small business, you might be looking for a more affordable solution or a platform with more features and a simpler user experience. Forbes Advisor rated the top Paychex competitors to...
    Top Paychex Competitors 2024
  • 11 Best Designed Websites Built On Platforms Anyone Can Use In 2024

    Whether you run an online or brick-and-mortar business, a website is an important way for customers to find and learn more about you. Creating a stunning, professional website is simple and affordable for any business because of a plethora of...
    11 Best Designed Websites Built On Platforms Anyone Can Use In 2024
  • Best Point-Of-Sale System For Grocery Stores (2024)

    A point-of-sale (POS) system is vital for any retail business, and your needs are particularly complex for a POS system for a grocery store. Groceries need to be able to accept in-person transactions in multiple forms, scan barcodes easily, process...
    Best Point-Of-Sale System For Grocery Stores (2024)
  • Best Restaurant Payroll Software (2024)

    Managing payroll and benefits for employees can be a daunting task for a small business owner, but online payroll services take much of the work off your plate. The best restaurant payroll software can handle fluctuating staffing levels, tips and...
    Best Restaurant Payroll Software (2024)
  • Gusto Vs. Justworks (2024 Comparison)

    Growing your small business comes with a lot of advantages and excitement. However, one drawback is the added complexity and cost of hiring, managing and paying workers. Online payroll and human resources (HR) platforms can help you manage those new...
    Gusto Vs. Justworks (2024 Comparison)
  • Payroll Tax Rates (2024 Guide)

    Payroll taxes are the payments you as an employer make when you run payroll for employees. They include taxes that come out of an employee’s pay plus costs you cover for federal, state and local programs. The payroll tax rate...
    Payroll Tax Rates (2024 Guide)
  • Part Time Vs. Full Time: Key Differences You Should Know

    When you're hiring employees, a key part of shaping a role is to define how many hours you'll need an employee to work for your business. Should you hire part-time or full-time employees? What are your responsibilities to each? Is...
    Part Time Vs. Full Time: Key Differences You Should Know
  • Gross Pay Vs. Net Pay: What’s The Difference?

    When you hire your first employee—or pay yourself from your business—you become responsible for payroll. That means it's time to understand the numbers that go into an employee's paycheck, including the difference between gross pay versus net pay. In this...
    Gross Pay Vs. Net Pay: What’s The Difference?
  • SumUp Vs. Square POS (2024 Comparison)

    You've probably gotten used to seeing sleek white card readers and tablets gracing the checkout line of your favorite coffee shops and retail boutiques. These modern point-of-sale (POS) systems are replacing clunkier computer towers and credit card machines inside small...
    SumUp Vs. Square POS (2024 Comparison)
  • 1099 Vs. W-2: What’s The Difference?

    It's a big step for any business to hire an employee. Starting with contractors or gig workers could be a smart step to help your business grow without taking on the responsibility of full-time employees—but you have to know the...
    1099 Vs. W-2: What’s The Difference?
  • W-2 Vs. W-4: What’s The Difference?

    Both the W-2 and W-4 forms are tax-related forms for employees of all businesses. As a business owner, you have to file these forms for all part-time and full-time employees. You must also file their counterparts, the 1099 and W-9...
    W-2 Vs. W-4: What’s The Difference?
  • W9 Vs. W2: What’s The Difference?

    Both W-2 and W-9 forms are tax forms for workers in any kind of business. But each form has a distinct purpose and they're relevant for different kinds of workers. As a business owner, you have to know who each...
    W9 Vs. W2: What’s The Difference?
  • Hourly Wage vs. Salary: Differences, Pros & Cons

    You have a lot of decisions to make when you hire an employee. One of the biggest decisions is whether to structure the role as a salaried or hourly employee. How you pay an employee―in addition to how much―could determine...
    Hourly Wage vs. Salary: Differences, Pros & Cons
  • DBA Registration Guide: How To File A DBA

    A DBA (doing business as) name is useful for any business that wants to rebrand or relaunch without creating an entirely new business entity. It's also useful for small businesses that don't wish to incorporate or form a limited liability...
    DBA Registration Guide: How To File A DBA
  • Wave Vs. QuickBooks (2024 Comparison)

    Wave and QuickBooks are two popular platforms for invoicing and accounting for small businesses. QuickBooks is a mainstay that’s dominated the industry for decades, while Wave is a relative newcomer responding to the needs of modern freelancers and micro-businesses that...
    Wave Vs. QuickBooks (2024 Comparison)
  • How To Pay Yourself From An LLC (2024 Guide)

    Once you’ve set up an LLC, running your business gets a little more involved than it would be if you were earning money from providing goods or services as an individual. To make it even more complex, the IRS throws...
    How To Pay Yourself From An LLC (2024 Guide)
  • Microsoft Planner Vs. Trello (2024 Comparison)

    The Kanban board has proven to be a useful and popular project management method, and many tools are built around it. Both Microsoft Planner and Trello emphasize this planning style with their project management apps. In this review of Microsoft...
    Microsoft Planner Vs. Trello (2024 Comparison)
  • Notion Vs. Asana (2024 Comparison)

    Since the dawn of agile project management methods, developers have continued to give us new tools to organize information and communicate with our teams better. Two popular tools, Notion and Asana, represent the rapid innovation happening in this space and...
    Notion Vs. Asana (2024 Comparison)
  • How To Accept ACH Payments For Your Small Business

    Getting paid as a small business owner, especially if you operate mostly online, can be tricky business. It can also get expensive. Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments are a way to get paid smoothly, quickly and relatively cheaply, so you...
    How To Accept ACH Payments For Your Small Business
  • The Best Legal Billing Software Of 2024

    Law firms have particularly unique, if not complex, billing needs. Even solo practitioners and small firms have to track and allocate hours to clients, account for retainers and manage a variety of rates and billing options. And lawyers have to...
    The Best Legal Billing Software Of 2024
  • Indeed Vs. LinkedIn: Which Job Board Will Help You Score Your Next Hire?

    Workers are in high demand in our current economy, which gives them their pick of employers. When you’re hiring, you have to stand out in the right way to the right job seekers to connect with the people who will...
    Indeed Vs. LinkedIn: Which Job Board Will Help You Score Your Next Hire?
  • How To Hire Employees (2024 Guide)

    Not everyone starts a business knowing how to hire employees—many of us have to learn along the way. This learning curve is part of owning a business, though this can come with some serious pitfalls, from creating poor team dynamics...
    How To Hire Employees (2024 Guide)
  • Best Free Website Builders Of 2024

    Your business needs a website—full stop. That might cause chills for some small business owners, but it doesn’t have to. With the help of one of the many great website builders on the market today, you can get your business...
    Best Free Website Builders Of 2024
  • Gantt Chart Template: Grab Our Free Template For Your Next Project

    A Gantt chart is a fairly simple project management tool that makes it easy to plan tasks and set realistic delivery dates. The visual format makes it easy to plan projects on a reasonable timeline. Large teams often manage projects...
    Gantt Chart Template: Grab Our Free Template For Your Next Project
  • Partnership Agreement: What Is It? And Do You Need One?

    If you’re starting a business with one or more partners, you want to get on the same page and be clear upfront about how the business is going to operate—and how you’ll share the money you make. The best way to...
    Partnership Agreement: What Is It? And Do You Need One?
  • What Is A Business License And Do You Need One?

    You might be surprised to learn most states don’t require businesses to hold a general business license to operate in the state. But your business may be required to apply for a license to do business in your industry, in...
    What Is A Business License And Do You Need One?
  • How To Get A Business License In 5 Steps

    When you’re starting a business, it can be difficult to sort out which steps to take to get up and running—and stay compliant with confounding government regulations. Depending on the type of business you run, and where, you may need...
    How To Get A Business License In 5 Steps
  • 10 Essential Project Management Skills

    Some people naturally possess project management skills. You know who you are. The innate ability to keep things in order and keep people on task is valuable in a team environment, and you can actually make a living out of...
    10 Essential Project Management Skills
  • Gantt Chart Excel Template (Free Download)

    When projects get more complex, you can still keep track of them in the humble spreadsheet. Download our free Gantt chart Excel template to step up your project management game without investing in new software. A spreadsheet is the simplest...
    Gantt Chart Excel Template (Free Download)

Top Picks From Dana Miranda

  • Best Employee Benefits In 2024
    Best Employee Benefits In 2024

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  • The Four Principles Of Change Management
    The Four Principles Of Change Management

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  • W-2 Vs. W-4: What’s The Difference?
    W-2 Vs. W-4: What’s The Difference?

    by Dana Miranda

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About

Dana Miranda is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® who's been writing about money management and small business operations for more than a decade. She writes the newsletter Healthy Rich about how capitalism impacts the ways we think, teach and talk about money. She's the author of YOU DON'T NEED A BUDGET (Little, Brown Spark, 2024).