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To say Andy Dick has a checkered past is a profound understatement. A performer and NewsRadio alum (and not it’s only notorious one), he has a long history of being in trouble with the law, from stealing to drug abuse to publicly exposing himself to domestic violence. On Wednesday, he was arrested on charges of sexual misconduct while staying on a California campground.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Dick had been residing at a Orange County site with a group of people who were documenting their lives together on the YouTube channel Captain Content. During one of their livestreams, recorded on Wednesday morning, deputies showed up and started inquiring into a man’s claims that he’d been sexually assaulted.

During the livestream, deputies asked if they knew Dick’s whereabout. One of the men there, named Maximiliano, told them that he’d been staying in one of the RVs. Dick was subsequently arrested and is currently being held on $25,000 bail. The man who reported the alleged violation was taken to a hospital for examination.

As mentioned, there are many stories of Dick running afoul of the law. In 2018, he was charged with one count of sexual battery and one count of simple battery after he was alleged to have groped a woman’s butt while they were walking on a sidewalk.

(Via THR)

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers and where to buy them. This is one hell of a week for sneakerheads and an even bigger week for Jordan fans. For the first time this year, SNX is coming to you with a full list of 10 drops. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a week this strong and a couple of this week’s releases are definite contenders for our year-end list of the best sneakers of 2022.

Of these 10 drops, Nike snagged eight spots — proving that the brand is truly firing on all cylinders right now. Joining Nike is Kawhi Leonard’s latest Kawhi 2 colorway and brand new Yeezys. Let’s dive into this week’s best drops. RIP to your wallet.

Air Jordan 6 Midnight Navy

When you start a roundup of the best sneakers of the week and your first entry is these Midnight Navy Jordan 6s, you know it’s going to be a strong week. The Midnight Navy is hands down one of the best Jordan 6 colorways of all time and Nike has been keeping it locked up for 20 years now.

The Midnight Navy received its first retro release in 2000 and this drop matches it 1:1 with an all-white leather upper, crispy Midnight Navy accents, embroidered branding, and a translucent outsole. If you can cop it this week, you have at least one year-end list-worthy sneaker in your closet.

The Air Jordan 6 Midnight Navy is out now for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like Flight Club.

Nike Air Max 97 Off Noir

This week the Air Max 97 is finally getting the Off Noir treatment. Featuring a distinct faded black and white colorway over the Air Max 97’s wavy design, the Off Noir adds a weathered sleekness to the silhouette, pulling it out of the dad-shoe territory for something a bit more sophisticated.

Reflective detailing and a full-length airbag give this design a sort of shimmer in the right light.

The Nike Air Max 97 Off Noir is out now for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Max BW Marina

Fans of ‘90s sneakers, prepare to nerd out because the Air Max BW Marina is back! Originally designed by Tinker Hatfield and released in 1991, according to Nike the Marina earned its legendary status almost a decade later in dance circles thanks to its spongey foam midsole and airy mesh build, which kept it lightweight and comfortable.

That’s something we take for granted these days, that build philosophy is basically the template that most modern sneaker designs start with (looking at you Yeezy brand), but few can capture the magic of the OG. It combines modern expectations with a retro look that is often imitated but never truly matched.

The Air Max BW Marina is set to drop on May 12th for a retail price of $130. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Converse x A-COLD-WALL Aeon Active CX

Designed in partnership with Samuel Ross’ A-COLD-WALL, this new Aeon Active CX in Black and Apple Green offers a futuristic aesthetic over Converse’s most cutting-edge modern technology. Featuring a CX foam underfoot over a Crater foam midsole wrapped in a suede and leather upper and stretch bootie construction, the Aeon Active CX is designed for all-day comfort no matter how rugged your terrain.

In keeping with its future-leaning aesthetic, this sneaker’s midsole is constructed from leftover factory scraps, offering a slightly smaller carbon footprint.

The branding is kept elegant here, nothing is too loud. Just a simple Converse logo on the pull-strap and heel with ACG branding at the toe. With the cratered midsole, the wild black and pea-green color combo, and the murky translucent outsole, more noticeable branding might’ve completely ruined the design, which admittedly has a lot going on.

The Converse x A-COLD-WALL Aeon Active CX is set to drop on May 12th for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

New Balance Kawhi II

Nike may be on fire this week, but New Balance is bringing the heat too. The brand’s best release of the week is this Kawhi II in Ocean Blue, which features a bright spring-appropriate colorway of baby blue and orange. Featuring a FuelCell midsole, a Kinetic Stitch upper, and braided stitching, this Kawhi 2 is sure to go down as one of the silhouette’s best colorways.

We’ve been saying the word “best” a lot this week and that’s by no accident. This truly is one of the best weeks we’ve had in 2022 for sneaker drops.

The New Balance Kawhi II Ocean Blue is set to drop on May 14th for a retail price of $159.99. Pick up a pair via the New Balance website.

Nike ACG Air Mada Vachetta Tan/Ash Green/Black

Lovers of ‘90s sneaker silhouettes, this is undeniably your week. A hiking favorite from ’94, the ACG Air Mada is getting three new colorways across its rugged upper ensuring that when you hit the hiking trails, you look more stylish than anyone on the hill. Ever.

Featuring a lightweight and breathable (but durable) upper, the ACG Air Mada features pull-tabs, simple branding, premium leather overlays, and an eye-catching color block design.

The Nike ACG Air Mada Vachetta Tan, Ash Green, and Black are set to drop on May 13th for a retail price of $130. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air Jordan 11 Low 72-10

Another Jordan? Absolutely. This week brings the drop of the 72-10 AJ-11. It’s meant to commemorate the season when Jordan won 72 games and a title solely rocking AJ-11s. It’s a season so strong it solidified the Jordan 11 as one of the all-time greatest silhouettes in the Jordan lineage.

Featuring a black patent leather upper, this sneaker features tumbled leather accents, a translucent outsole, and a luxurious sheen that will have it go down as one of the all-time greatest Jordan 11 colorways ever.

The Air Jordan 11 Low 71-10 is set to drop on May 14th for a retail price of $190. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Adidas Yeezy 500 Granite

There is a sort of faded nostalgic quality to this week’s Yeezy 500 Granite, maybe I just have the eerie “Life Of The Party,” video on the brain since it also dropped this week, but these shoes could’ve probably shown up in the nostalgia-heavy video without seeming totally out of place.

The simple monochromatic colorway kind of resembles graphite more than granite, but we have to admit ‘Yeezy 500 Graphite’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

The Adidas Yeezy 500 Granite is set to drop on May 14th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Adidas Confirmed app or Yeezy Supply.

CLOT x Nike Air Jordan 5 Jade Low

It’s a glowing Air Jordan 5 in black with alluring jade and crimson red accents, need we really say more? We are now halfway through the year but we can say with confidence that by the time the end of the year rolls around, this is definitely going to be making our best sneakers of 2022 roundup.

Just look at it! That silver speckled shark tooth, the glowing jade, that subtle detailing work courtesy of CLOT? This is the sort of sneaker that makes the case for the idea that shoes are modern-day canvases for our best artists to paint on.

The CLOT x Nike Air Jordan 5 Jade Low raffle closes today. Hit up retailers like Juice to join the raffle to win a pair.

Nike Women’s Air Jordan 3 Dark Mocha

This week in sneakers is bookended by two truly great sneakers, the Air Jordan 6 Midnight Davy, and this women’s exclusive Dark Mocha AJ3. Featuring a clean and crispy white leather upper with mocha elephant print panels and an off-white midsole, this Jordan 3 is easily Nike’s best Women’s exclusive of the year so far, and may even stand as THE best of the year.

Sneakerheads with bigger feet are definitely feeling the ‘L’ on this one!

The Women’s Air Jordan 3 Dark Mocha is set to drop on May 14th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or your favorite aftermarket sites because this most definitely will sell out in the first minute.

If you’re a big craft beer drinker, there’s a good chance you use an app to track the brews you’ve been lucky enough to sip. So you may very well know which classics you’ve had and which you still need to track down. Maybe you even have a few “white whales” you’re always looking out for.

While every drinker’s palate is different — and with over 9,000 breweries in the country — there are obviously a ton of IPAs available for the beer aficionado to try. And of course, everyone’s bucket list will be at least slightly different and calibrated to their own unique palates. But we still decided to come up with our list and even went so far as to rank them.

8) Lawson’s Sip of Sunshine

ABV: 8%
Average Price: $15.99 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

Made by Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Vermont, this beer is based on the original Double Sunshine IPA. Brewed with Columbus and Citra hops, it’s known for its combination of caramel malts, floral, slightly bitter hops, and tropical fruit flavors.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a combination of orange peel, dank hops, wet grass, and slight caramel malts. The palate is herbal and loaded with resinous pine, caramel malts, tangerine, mango, passion fruit, and floral hops. It’s a nice mix of sweetness and bitter pine.

Bottom Line:

This beer is dank city. If that’s your jam, definitely add this beer to your list. If you prefer a beer to have a less bitter profile, try something hazier and juicier.

7) Maine Lunch

ABV: 7%
Average Price: $7.99 for a 16.9-ounce bottle

The Beer:

Named for a whale that’s been seen swimming off the coast of Maine since 1982, Maine Lunch is brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo, and Centennial hops. It’s most known for its citrus, tropical fruit, and resinous pine flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

Grapefruit, tangerine, citrus zest, and pine are prevalent on the nose. Sipping it reveals a slightly herbal backbone with a wallop of mango, guava, orange pulp, some caramel malt flavor, and a nice kick of resinous, bitter pine at the very end.

Bottom Line:

As New England IPAs go, this one is tough to beat. It’s more citrus-centric than some casual drinkers might be used to though. If you’d rather have more tropical fruit flavor then this iconic beer isn’t for you.

6) Tree House Julius

ABV: 6.8%
Average Price: $5.50 for a 16-ounce can

The Beer:

Massachusetts’ Tree House is well-known as a beer pilgrimage destination. But, even with all of its success, everyone still wants to try one beer in particular: Julius. The brewery’s flagship IPA is hazy, pillowy, and filled with tropical fruit with slight hop bitterness.

Tasting Notes:

This beer’s nose is citrus to the max. Orange zest, lemon essence, grapefruit, tangerine, pretty much every other citrus fruit you can imagine. The palate follows suit with more juicy grapefruit, ripe tangerine, lemon, as well as light malts, and a herbal, piney, floral, bitter finish that ties everything together.

Bottom Line:

Citrus is the name of the game with Julius. It’s a well-rounded, well-balanced New England-style IPA that ends with a bitter finish. It’s necessary to bring everything together. If you’d prefer not to have any bitterness, look elsewhere.

5) Trillium Congress Street

ABV: 7.2%
Average Price: $12 for a 750ml bottle

The Beer:

Another Massachusetts brewery, Trillium is well-known in the craft beer world. Its flagship beer is its Congress Street IPA which gets most of its flavor from the addition of Galaxy hops from Australia. It’s been made in other versions, including a double dry-hopped IPA, but the first is still the best and most sought-after.

Tasting Notes:

Pine is center stage on this beer’s nose. It’s followed by orange zest, lemon rind, caramelized pineapple, and a slight malt flavor. Sipping it brings forth notes of tangerine, guava, mango, passion fruit, honeydew melon, and a nice kick of bitter, resinous pine at the finish.

Bottom Line:

When it comes to well-rounded New England-style IPAs, Congress Street ticks all of the flavor boxes. It’s filled with citrus, and tropical fruit flavors as well as caramel malts and dank, bitter pine.

4) Surly Axe Man

ABV: 7.2%
Average Price: $18.50 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

While Minnesota might not be known as a beer drinker’s paradise, Surly is worth the trip alone. Especially for its Surly Axe Man IPA. Originally brewed in collaboration with Denmark’s Amager Brewery, it’s double dry-hopped with Citra and Mosaic hops and Golden Promise malt.

Tasting Notes:

This beer smells like a classic West Coast IPA with notes of dank pine, ripe oranges, and grapefruit. There are also herbal, grassy, and slight spice notes. On the palate, you’ll find hints of lemon curd, orange peel, ripe grapefruit, wet grass, and a wallop of bitter, piney, resinous hops at the end.

Bottom Line:

This beer is aptly named. It’s a bold, aggressively hoppy, citrus-centric, bitter finished beer. It’s definitely not for everyone but should be a bucket list beer for West Coast IPA fans.

3) The Alchemist Heady Topper

ABV: 8%
Average Price: $19.99 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

Stowe, Vermont is home to one of the most obsessed over breweries in America: The alchemist. Home to multiples beloved beers including Heady Topper, it’s a must-visit brewery if you ever find yourself in New England. Heady Topper, its take on the American double IPA is fresh, hoppy, slightly bitter, and highly memorable.

Tasting Notes:

A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. Aromas of tangerine, lemon zest, grapefruit, pineapple, and ripe peach or prevalent. As well as some dank, piney, slightly herbal notes. More of the same on the palate with fruit esters, pineapple, mango, citrus zest, and caramel malts. The finish is dry and slightly bitter.

Bottom Line:

There’s a reason Heady Topper has historically been one of the most sought-after IPAs. It has to be imbibed to be believed. Citrus, tropical fruits, malts, this beer has everything in unison.

2) Russian River Blind Pig

ABV: 6%
Average Price: $5.50 for a 16.9-ounce bottle

The Beer:

Casual IPA fans might be surprised by this pick because we could have easily added Pliny the Elder or Pliny the Younger here. Sure, if you get California’s Russian River, you have to try those beloved beers. But we think the best most bucket-list-worthy IPA from the brewery is actually Blind Pig.

Tasting Notes:

Wet grass, peach, grapefruit, tangerine, ripe peach, and resinous, dank pine. This beer’s nose is everything IPA fans could ever want. The palate continues this trend with more freshly cut grass, slightly herbal flavor, tart grapefruit, caramel malts, and fresh, resinous, fairly bitter hops.

Bottom Line:

In our opinion, it’s tough to beat Russian River Blind Pig if you’re a fan of bold, aggressively bitter, piney West Coast-style IPAs. This beer has everything they could ever want.

1) Hill Farmstead Susan

ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: Limited Availability

The Beer:

In the pantheon of bucket list IPAs, you’d have a difficult time finding one more sought-after than Hill Farmstead Susan. This oftentimes hard-to-find beer is named for the owner’s grandfather’s sister. It’s brewed with a combination of hops from Yakima Valley and Riwaka hops from New Zealand.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is filled with scents of ripe grapefruit, orange zest, lemon peel, ripe pineapple, and herbal, floral hops. The palate is highlighted by more tangerine, lemon curd, grapefruit, caramelized pineapple, and a surprising malty, caramel backbone. It all ends with a sweet, fruity, piney, bitter finish.

Bottom Line:

If you’re an IPA drinker, Hill Farmstead should be your holy grail. It’s a well-balanced, fruity, citrusy, malty, and perfectly bitter beer that needs to be added to your bucket list immediately.

For the last two weeks, Donald Trump has been fined $10,000 a day, all because he’s failed to provide documentation to a key investigation into his business practices. Surely that’s chump change to a self-professed rich guy, even one who’s been caught pocketing donations from his cash-strapped supporters. And yet Trump has been desperately trying to end the daily fines, even going so far as to claim he simply lost them.

But now, after two weeks, the big guy finally caught a break. As per The New York Times, a New York State judge formally released him from his contempt of court charge in relation to the state attorney general’s investigation into the Trump Organization. There were a few conditions, though. One of them is that he must pony up a $110,000 penalty by May 20. Should he fail to do so, not only will the daily $10,000 fines resume, but the days when the fines weren’t being applied will be retroactively added to his total.

After Trump claimed he couldn’t find some of the requested materials, including four separate cellphones, an outside company dug through more than 1,300 boxes. They couldn’t find them either. Then again, Trump has a history of trying to destroy potentially damning evidence in creative ways.

The investigation, overseen by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, is examining whether the Trump Organization, as per NYT, “falsely inflated the value of his real estate properties and other assets so that he could secure favorable loans and financial benefits.”

(Via NYT)

Ah, prom. A quintessential teen experience that somehow manages to take every single one of those high octane, conflicting emotions felt during the entire school year and condense them into one solitary evening. All while everyone is dressed in elegant evening wear.

Though prom began as early as the 1800s as a simple cotillion, it has evolved over the years to become more extravagant—what with “promposals” and limousines and celebrity appearances. But, it has also evolved to become more LGBTQ inclusive and challenging of old gender rules.

Prom is (and continues to be) such an integral part of teen culture that it’s the central plot of many well loved rites-of-passage movies like “Pretty in Pink,” “She’s All That,” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Hopefully, your own prom was more like these movies, and less like “Carrie.”

Giphy

But the truth is: for many of us, prom really was somewhere between a romantic comedy and a horror movie. For every romantic slow dance and first kiss there were also plenty of fashion disasters, alcohol experiments gone wrong and relationship drama. Lots and lots of relationship drama. Successes and failures, if you will.

In honor of prom season, Jimmy Fallon asked his “Tonight Show” audience to share some of their most memorable prom fails on Twitter. Here are 20 that were just too hilarious and/or relatable not to share. Hopefully it will help you love your own #PromFail.

---

Fallon went first.

1.

“My friend ripped his tuxedo and spent the night crying because he thought Men’s Wearhouse was going to sue him.” – @jimmyfallon

2.

“A guy I knew rented a tuxedo and died on his way to prom. It wasn’t damaged, so his family decided to bury him while wearing it, but forgot it was just a rental and they didn’t buy it, so they ended up with a huge debt and the other partygoers had to help them pay.” – @jon_jonz

3.

“A friend of mine was planning on going with a girl he had liked for many years. He was so nervous, he got Very drunk, then ended up throwing up all over his rented suit AND spending the night in jail for underaged drinking as he was entering, so she had to go alone…” – @Sallyjo25

4.

“Our limo driver was pulled over at the venue and turns out he was driving with an expired license and we had no way to get home so we had to scramble during prom to find another limo.” – @allieng07

5.

“My date’s ex-boyfriend showed up to the prom and won her back. He didn’t even go to our school. I still paid for their room.” – @chrisfreas

6.

“I was walking up to a girl in the cafeteria to ask her to prom and someone threw a big piece of cake and hit me in the head right as I got there. Long story short, she went with someone else and I became known as ‘cake boy.'” – @gumgumerson

7.

“I was dumped on prom. That’s it.” – @beastmodemom247

8.

“End of the night, stepped outside the perimeter to see my date off. A total distance of about 10 feet. Well within eye shot. Was denied re-entry because 1. I went on the grass (a real excuse they used) and 2. They genuinely thought I was a stranger crashing the party.” – @L_Drumer

9.

“We didn’t have a prom in 90’s UK but did have a disco. I don’t imagine U.S. proms had a quality beige buffet of sausage rolls, chicken legs, vol-a-vents & chips; & a DJ who waited till each record ended before lifting it off the player and putting the next one on!” – @Optimist_Eeyore

10.

“One year they played “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line – the grind pit immediately vacated the floor and the only ones left were like 8 of us that decided to square dance while everyone left to quench their thirst off the dance floor.” – @TotallyVannah

11.

“The Prom King and Queen were twins. Their slow dance song was “Truly Madly Deeply”. They pleaded with the DJ to find another song, and when asked why, they yelled “We’re twins!” The DJ quickly picked another song: “Always be my baby.” The king walked away, grumbling.” – @overbaughs

12.

“Walked in dressed to impress including fake fur. Walked beautiful self to bathroom sat down and realized the feet next stall facing towards toilet. I had been so self absorbed I walked into mens room.” – msyvonnne2u

13.

“My date’s friend was trying to impress me by breakdancing. He ended up slipping on his own sweat and broke his wrist in the process. I guess he put the break in breakdancing.” – overbaughs

14.

“My girlfriend and I broke up right before my senior Prom! She ended up not going at all, so when we won queen and king, my friend just yelled out ‘that’s one lonely castle”’! – @claydoughrocks

15. 

“A bunch of the girls in my class all got their super puffy, super expensive dresses from the same place. By the end of the night, they were stuck sitting because their dresses were falling apart. Meanwhile, 18 years later. I still have my maybe $200 dress.” – SaiyanaBrief

16.

“My husband and I are teachers. We were chaperones and he was doing the Russian bottle dance and tore his meniscus. Life’s little reminder he was 40.” – MrsMieschigan

17.

“Our prom was booked at a hotel resort. When prom committee went to decorate and setup the space. There was a huge wedding party already in progress. Wedding party offered more money so resort Mgr took it. Took 3+ yrs in court to get the $21k fee they refused to refund.” – @DingleBob

18.

“I wore the wrong spanx under my dress, does this really need more explaining?” – @itstherealmeboo

19.

“After leaving prom my date and I were involved in a 9 car accident on the freeway. Just bruises luckily, and hey we got to ride in the same ambulance together.” – @Wayren

For the last one, let’s just say a picture’s worth a thousand words:

20.

My daughter and her friends thought it would be fun to take pictures in the rainforest at our zoo. This was the moment a bird decided to fly right at them. #PromFail pic.twitter.com/wMMVdyrVJZ

— Lisa Hebert (@lmhksu) May 10, 2022

American single malt whisk(e)y might be one of the most interesting categories in whiskey right now. American single malts are popping up all over the country, mostly in the craft distilling scene. But since there are fewer regulations around American single malt, there’s a bit more going on in the making of the spirit. And unless you’re up on all the techniques, you probably need a place to start on your American single malt whiskey journey.

Before we dive in, an American single malt is any whiskey that’s made with 100 percent malted barley, either peated or unpeated, just like in Scotland, Ireland, Japan, or anywhere else for that matter. The whiskey has to be matured in some kind of oak and made in the U.S., which is kind of obvious. There are some other detailed rules about ABVs before barreling and bottling, but you get the gist.

Below, I’m calling out ten American single malts — all under $100 — that I think are worth actually drinking right now. Yes, I’ve ranked them but the bottom five are all winners too (maybe just not quite my cup of tea). The top five are all fire. All of these bottles are fairly new, some are instant classics, most of them have a slew of awards, and perhaps most importantly these are all tasty whiskeys.

Lastly, these are going to be fairly widely available but some of them might still be a little regional, and therefore only available at higher-end whiskey shops with good folks curating what’s on the shelf.

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months

• The 50 Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2021, Ranked
• The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
• The Best Scotch Whiskies Under $50, Ranked
• Every Scotch Whisky Brand From Diageo’s Massive Portfolio, Ranked
• The Best Value-Per-Dollar Scotch Whiskies, Ranked

10. Virginia Distillery Co. Courage & Conviction Cuvee

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

Virginia Distillery Co. is doing some of the most interesting things with American single malt — so let’s start here. This expression is made from 100 percent malted barley distillate that’s aged for three years in Cuvée wine casks. Those barrels are vatted and proofed down with local water and bottled without filtration or coloration, letting the barrels shine in the glass.

Tasting Notes:

Berries burst forth on the nose with a raspberry and blackberry bramble leading toward a cherry orchard with plenty of wood and fruit, a hint of malty spice, and a tiny whisper of brown butter. That butter layers into the palate with a berry cobbler vibe full of malty biscuit topping and spiced red berry filling that’s all dusted with plenty of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little allspice. The finish layers in a creamy note of honey, some more woody spice, and a tart, almost sour cherry end.

Bottom Line:

This is an exciting pour. It’s well-rounded but easy. It also feels summery, which, hey, that’s perfect for right now.

9. Westland American Oak American Single Malt Whiskey

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $75

The Whiskey:

This Seattle whiskey is made with five types of barley from Washington state: Munich, Extra Special, Brown, Pale Chocolate, and Washington Select Pale malts. Those malts are all processed locally and then mixed with classic Belgian ale yeasts for fermentation. The distillate is then triple-barreled in new American oak, Cooper’s Reserve (more on them next) new American oak, and first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. Finally, those barrels are blended, proofed down, and bottled as-is.

Tasting Notes:

Lemon meringue pie bursts forth on the nose with thick and creamy vanilla pudding dotted with vanilla seeds, a little bit of Pecan Sandie, a touch of mocha latte, and a whisper of Earl Grey tea. The palate leans into the black tea and mocha with a continued creaminess. There’s an ester-y/banana vibe on the mid-palate that steers the taste toward ripe cherries, white peach, Almond Joy, and a hint of spicy malt. The finish is part banana bread and part rich vanilla/chocolate with a whisper of wet wicker.

Bottom Line:

If you like creamy fruit bombs (I do), then this is the bottle for you.

8. Copperworks Washington Peated American Single Malt Whiskey

ABV: 51%

Average Price: $76

The Whiskey:

The Pacific Northwest is a real hotspot for American Single malt and this other Seattle whiskey really leans into that community. This juice is made from 100 percent peated Copeland barley grown locally in Washington’s Skagit Valley. Those grains are kilned with peat harvested from a lake on the Olympic Peninsula. The whiskey is then small-batched from only six barrels before being bottled in a mere 1,043 bottles.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a whiff of grilled pineapple and papaya on the nose with smoked caramel, burnt vanilla pods, and tart passionfruit — it smells like a fruity IPA. That smoky caramel married roasted almonds with plenty of salt as firewood sap mingles with rye bread crusts, old saddle leather, plum jam with allspice, and a hint of mulled wine. The finish has a fig vibe with more of that leather and firewood leading to a slight white pepper powdery vibe.

Bottom Line:

This feels like more of an acquired taste than anything on this list. That said, if you like big, hazy IPAs with a little spice, then this is the play for your bar cart.

7. Dogfish Head Distilling Co. Lets Get Lost Whiskey

ABV: 51%

Average Price: $66

The Whiskey:

All whiskey starts off as beer so it makes a lot of sense when brewers start distilling. Industry darling, Dogfish Head, did just that with this expression. The base is 100 percent barley with a mix of Pale, Crystal, Coffee Kiln, and Applewood Smoke malts. That mash is fermented with Dogfish Head’s own ale yeast before distillation, aging, proofing, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Orange and honey mingle with a salted nuttiness next to vanilla pudding and a touch of dry cherry tobacco. The palate has a touch of that fruity yeast next to a slight chili-choco vibe that leads back to the tobacco with a cinnamon Red Hot edge. The finish really leans into the dryness of the chili-chocolate’s bitter end — to the point of conjuring an espresso bean next to a touch of smoked cedar.

Bottom Line:

This is a really nice whiskey all around. It also won a coveted double gold in San Francisco this year, which tracks for its quality. Overall, if you like Dogfish Head’s beer, this is a no-brainer buy.

6. Hillrock Estate Single Malt Whiskey

ABV: 48.2%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

Master Distiller Dave Pickerell (Maker’s Mark, WhistlePig) started this whiskey in New York. The juice is true farm-to-glass with the barley grown on the estate in the Hudson Valley. The grains are malted in-house. Hell, even the stills were specially built for this whiskey. Naturally, the whiskey is bottled by hand, adding an extra layer of detail to the whole thing.

Tasting Notes:

Bourbon vanilla and spicy malts lead the way on the nose as butterscotch candies, a hint of old oak, and leathery dark fruits round it out. The palate marries that butterscotch to almost woody honeycombs next to Red Hots, red-wine-soaked cedar planks, and plenty of winter spices. The finish leans into the winter spices with a touch of heat as the dark fruit leather comes back into play with a whisper of that wet cedar on the backend.

Bottom Line:

It’s crazy that this costs what it does. Granted, this might sneak above $100 in some markets but still… Anyway, this is a super refined and bespoke American whiskey that will speak to bourbon fans and maybe get them into the style.

5. Cedar Ridge The Quintessential American Single Malt

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is all about a grain-to-glass experience. The juice is made with 100 percent 2-Row Pale Malted Barley (the same stuff used in some of the biggest craft beers) from up in Saskatchewan. The whiskey is matured in ex-bourbon barrels for an undisclosed term. That whiskey is then finished in a combination of brandy, rum, wine, port, and sherry barrels before it’s vatted. The whiskey’s blend is then made using the solera method — where the vat is never fully emptied before the next barrel is added.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is immediately full of bright fruit with a peach and pear vibe that leans into a malty banana bread with plenty of butter, cinnamon, and walnut next to a touch of Almond Joy (but the good ones from a high-end shop). The palate is soft and subtle with hints of spiced malted gingersnaps, light cream soda vibes (maybe a light sasparilla), and a mellow and creamy base of chocolate that’s not dark but not milky either. The mid-palate has a nice sweetness that’s slightly apple adjacent with an apricot hint that mellows into a final note of chewy toffees with rum-raisin lurking on the very backend.

Bottom Line:

Things are really getting interesting on the bottom half of this list. This is just good whiskey, American single malt or not.

4. McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey Aged 6 Years

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $98

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is a marriage of Scotland and Oregon in the bottle. The mash is made from 100 percent peat-malted barley from Scotland that’s fermented by Widmer Brothers Brewing and then distilled at Clear Creek Distilling on their Holstein pot still. That spirit then spends six years resting in air-dried Oregon oak before proofing and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

The whiskey opens with a wet brown sugar that leads to a sticky toffee pudding with black-tea-soaked dates, plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg, toffee sauce just touched with dark rum, and candied cherries on top. That candied vibe carries through on the palate with red cotton candy, rock candy sticks, and Red Hots on the mid-palate. The finish veers away from all of that with a mix of woody winter spices, old leather, and cinnamon/cherry tobacco with a very dry edge over a hint of cedar.

Bottom Line:

This, again, is the perfect American single malt for a bourbon lover. There’s a nice balance of sweet and spicy with a fruity edge that just works.

3. Boulder American Single Malt Whiskey Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $75

The Whisky:

This Colorado whiskey is a fascinating experiment in that it asks what a single malt that’s treated like a bottled-in-bond bourbon might taste like. The juice is made from 100 percent malted barley. Then is spends four years in a bonded warehouse aging in new American oak. It’s bottled at 50 percent ABV, per federal regulations.

Tasting Notes:

Leather meets Chery Coke on the nose as vanilla pudding and brown spices mingle in the background with a hint of dry cinnamon sticks that have been dipped in mulled wine. The taste is all about the malty spice with more of that Cherry Coke next to ropes of black licorice, Sioux City Sasparilla, and a moment of dry wicker that was painted a long time ago. A hint of anise arrives late and brings about a finish that indulges in a spicy oatmeal cookie with raisins and walnuts and plenty of brown sugar, vanilla, and butter.

Bottom Line:

This feels like it’s all over the place but somehow works. Add some ice or water and it really blooms in the glass.

2. Westward Whiskey American Single Malt

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $75

The Whiskey:

Portland’s Westward Whiskey has its roots in Pacific Northwest craft brewing culture (like most craft distilleries in the PNW). This juice is emblematic of how important the first step of whiskey is — the fermented mash that is basically beer — to the whiskey-making process. The whiskey spends a few years aging in new American oak, like bourbon, before tiny batches of five or six barrels are used to create this expression.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mix of cream soda, wet applewood, soft yet spicy malts, and orchard fruit (apples, plums, pears) on the nose. The taste has a soft vanilla tobacco vibe with a nutmeg-heavy eggnog creaminess, a little dry leather, and a pretty big dose of dry cacao that’s almost waxy. The chocolate vibe drives the mid-palate towards the finish with a powdered cacao edge, a slight wet wicker feeling, malty spice, and a plum pudding hint at the very end.

Bottom Line:

This is maybe the most straightforward whiskey on the list but that’s not why it’s nearly number one. Numbers five through three are all great, unique, etc. This has a point of view that’s succinct and engaging. The applewood feels wet. The spicy malts feel soft. There’s detail here that helps it stand out and that’s what feels special.

1. Balcones Lineage Texas Single Malt Whisky

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $52

The Whiskey:

Balcones helped redefine single malt as an American spirit. This expression starts as a combination of Simpsons Golden Promise malted barley from Scotland and barley from the high plains of Texas. Those malts are fermented and then distilled on stills Balcones imported from Scotland. The spirit then goes into both used bourbon barrels and new American white oak (like bourbon and rye) for a rest under the hot Texas sun. Finally, those barrels are batched and bottled with a little Texas water for bottling.

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a rush of tea tree oils in a mug of apple cider with freshly chopped and sappy douglas fir firewood next to notes of raw pancake batter, old peaches, and a freshly cracked can of Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda. The palate builds on that with spicy yet sweet mulled wine, a big dollop of fresh honey, and plenty of soft cedar with a hint of allspice, burnt sugars, and maybe some floral black tea. The finish arrives with a syrupy red wine pan sauce with butter and cinnamon next to dry cedar, wet black tea grounds, and a walnut cake full of spice and vanilla with a caramel drizzle.

Bottom Line:

This is next level. It’s so complex yet takes you on a journey. It’s tea and cake in the afternoon next to making pancakes on Sunday morning with a hangover next to standing in an orchard next to the beehives. It’s one of the best American single malts you can actually get that also happens to be affordable.

Earlier this week, word broke that Nikola Jokic had won his second straight NBA MVP award, edging out Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the process.

After months of arguments and hand-wringing over advanced stats, the eye test, and who should and shouldn’t have a vote, the results bore out what was a pretty comfortable win for Jokic, as he got 65 first place votes to 26 for Embiid (and nine for Giannis) — with Devin Booker and Luka Doncic finishing fourth and fifth as the only other players to receiver top-3 votes.

With the Nuggets getting bounced by the Warriors in the first round, the MVP award ceremony took place in a very unique location this year, as Jokic has already flown home to Serbia for the summer to take part in his true passion: harness racing. So, to surprise the big man with his second MVP, the Nuggets flew the award to Serbia and had it waiting for him at the stables after he got off the track, clearly catching Jokic a bit off guard.

It’s a cool moment and also one that could only happen with Jokic, who is probably the only NBA player (much less a star) who rides around in a rig behind a horse in his spare time.

While some have been acting like the pandemic is over, it isn’t. Cases are again on the rise. New variants are still cropping up. Prominent figures, such as Stephen Colbert, are still catching it. So when Broadway legend Patti LuPone blew up on a theatergoer for not properly wearing a mask, she got cheers, not jeers.

The multi-Tony winner was taking part in a post-show Q&A session following the latest revival of Company, the game-changing musical by the recently late Stephen Sondheim (and recipient of a top shelf parody on Documentary Now!). While New York City has gone lax about mask and vaccine mandates, both are still required to see Broadway shows. So when LuPone spotted someone in the orchestra section being sloppy about mask-wearing, she let them have it.

“Put your mask on over your nose, that is the rule,” LuPone declared, in a video that went viral. “That’s why you are in the theater, that is the rule. If you don’t want to follow the rule, get the f*ck out!”

After LuPone — who was just nominated for a Tony for her work in the show, where she does a predictably stirring rendition of “Ladies Who Lunch” — reamed out the violator or violators, she earned a round of applause. Perhaps that inspired her to keep going, shouting, “I’m serious. Who do you think you are, if you do not respect the people that are sitting around you?”

A woman in the audience, likely the offending party, then had the nerve to tell Patti LuPone, “I pay your salary.” Patti LuPone did not like that either.

“You pay my salary? Bulls*it. Chris Harper pays my salary,” she said referring to the production’s producer.” “Who do you think you are? Just put your mask over your nose.”

LuPone has a history of not putting up with theatergoers’ nonsense. In 2009, during a production of Gypsy, she stopped the show dead in its tracks when she noticed people were taking pictures — a Broadway no-no. Six years later, she made headlines for snatching a phone out of a patron who was texting during the show. You can listen to a recording of the former incident in the video below.

In any case, if you somehow have the stones to talk back to Patti LuPone, you get what’s comin’ to ya.

(Via Variety)

Always changing with the seasons, Dunkin’ has just dropped its latest menu revamp! The change-up sees winter-leaning flavors like Oreo Hot Chocolate, Irish Creme Swirl, and Mint Hot Chocolate ditched in favor of the Mango Pineapple Refresher, Cake Batter Latte, Butter Pecan Iced Coffee, and Sunrise Batch Iced Coffee. To pair with its lighter and brighter flavor run, Dunkin is also introducing a few new snacks including the Tomato Pesto Grilled Cheese and corn-bread versions of their donut and Munchkins.

That’s a pretty big overhaul of the menu and we’re sure the people at Dunkin’ are hoping you try everything, but let’s be real, some of these are bound to be flops. No fast food brand plays a perfect game, even Popeyes stumbles sometimes. So we decided to roll up to the Dunkin’ drive-thru — during literally the worst time we could’ve possibly picked, why did I think picking up Dunkin’ in the AM would be fast? — and ordered the entire spring menu, so that you don’t have to.

Dunkin’s new spring menu will be available for a few months until the chain decides to replace it with whatever it has planned for summer. Here is hoping we get a return of that Arnold Palmer Coolatta! For now, let’s talk about the good and the bad of Dunkin’s new spring offerings. Staring with the bad…

Cornbread Donuts

Tasting Notes:

Cornbread donuts are a great idea, in theory. Cornbread is delicious, and so are donuts, so presumably, a donut made from cornbread should also be delicious, right?

Wrong! The earthy, slightly sour, subtly sweet flavors of cornbread are a bit better suited to savory dishes than sweet treats. Cornbread pairs best with butter, comes alive when fried or filled with jalapeño peppers, and who doesn’t love a good corn dog or cheese on a stick? But as a sweet treat, with sugary icing drizzled all over it? It’s too much of a good thing. The sweet corny quality of cornbread tastes downright nauseating when paired with frosting and a sugar glaze.

The Bottom Line:

It sounds like a good idea, but it’s way too sweet to be enjoyable and isn’t worth satiating your curiosity over. Especially because a better form factor exists (we’ll get to it).

Butter Pecan Coffee

Tasting Notes:

I ordered the Butter Pecan Iced Coffee without cream or milk, just Dunkin’s coffee, and two pumps of the Butter Pecan syrup to get the best sense of just what this seasonal flavor has to offer. Nutty pecan notes mingle over a brown sugar body with subtle vanilla top notes.

It’s good, but kind of comes across as a slight variation on Dunkin’s caramel coffee.

The Bottom Line:

It’s good but tastes totally inessential, there is a reason this flavor only comes out every spring and hasn’t earned a spot on the permanent menu.

Cake Batter Latte

Tasting Notes:

The Cake Batter latte combines Dunkin’s espresso with a cake batter syrup, and a generous mocha drizzle over rainbow sprinkled whipped cream. Whipped cream that will last you about 10 minutes before it melts into your drink like mine did.

As someone who prefers more balanced lattes where sweetness acts as an accompaniment to the bitter and natural flavors of espresso, I’m not at all the target audience for this drink.

Having said that, it’s kind of hard to hate this thing. Is it sickeningly sweet? Absolutely, but if you’re ordering something called the “Cake Batter Latte’ from Dunkin’… isn’t that kind of what you’re signing up for? On that front, this drink absolutely delivers.

The espresso notes are completely overpowered by the sweet cake batter syrup, and when paired with the whipped cream and sprinkles, this drink ends up tasting more like a liquefied cupcake than a proper latte. But it still works because of the espresso, the subtle traces of bitterness reign the flavor in from getting too overwhelming.

The Bottom Line:

If you like your lattes to taste sweet and creamy to the point that you can’t taste the coffee, then this drink is absolutely for you.

Cornbread Munchkins

Tasting Notes:

Munchkins are Dunkin’s version of the donut hole (both horrible names for a snack, just call ’em ‘lil dough balls’) and feature the same sugary glaze found on their donuts so I fully expected to dislike these about as much as the donut versions, if not more. But the flavors are much better balanced here. The ratio of sugary glaze to cornbread is different here, the earthy corn notes take prominence over the sweetness, making this a lot more palatable.

The Bottom Line:

If the idea of a cornbread donut appeals to you, order the Munchkins over an actual donut — it’s a better form factor for flavors of cornbread to really shine.

Sunrise Batch Iced Coffee

Tasting Notes:

I tried to order my Sunrise Batch Iced Coffee black to get a better sense of what makes this roast different from Dunkin’s stock roast, but I ended up receiving a drink with cream and sugar which muddled the flavors a bit. That made it a bit harder to pick out the real flavors of the Sunrise, but what I can taste is that the roast is a lot lighter here. Dunkin’s regular coffee leans toward the darker end of the roast spectrum, this is much more medium-bodied and balanced. It’s a lot less bitter to the tongue, which means you can go easier on the sweeteners or just drink it black.

The Bottom Line:

A more balanced medium-bodied roast than Dunkin’s stock brew.

Tomato Pesto Grilled Cheese

Tasting Notes:

As soon as I read that this Tomato Pesto Grilled Cheese was made using nut-free pesto, I was skeptical. Pine nuts are a staple ingredient of pesto, not including them is like making teriyaki sauce without mirin and ginger. Sure you could do that, but it’s always going to taste like something is missing. But I have to say, this sandwich is… pretty damn good. The build consists of white cheddar, grilled sourdough, oven-roasted tomatoes, and the nut-free pesto.

For the most part, that nut-free pesto tastes like pesto. It isn’t nearly as complex in vegetal, grassy, and aromatic notes as a quality pesto made with good EVOO (and pine nuts!), and the texture is a bit mushier than it’s supposed to be and lacks texture, but the flavor is in the ballpark of any decent pesto. I have less of a problem with the pesto and more of a problem with the sourdough.

Dunkin’s sourdough is spongy and soft, and even when it’s grilled it doesn’t really ever get crispy. This is probably because it’s loaded with preservatives to keep it shelf-stable for longer. Some crunch would go a long way in making this sandwich better though because when the flavors in this sandwich come together, it really works. I just wish they took a few extra steps to make for a better end product.

The Bottom Line:

Good bread and a better pesto recipe away from being a truly great fast food sandwich. As it is, it dunks on all of the sandwiches on the Starbucks menu.

Mango Pineapple Refresher

Tasting Notes:

The Mango Pineapple Refresher, with its radioactive glow, looks more like something you’d find on Taco Bell’s menu than Dunkin’s but don’t sleep on the Refresher line. Dunkin’s steadily growing lineup of tea-based sweet drinks slaps, and the Mango Pineapple is the best flavor yet. Dunkin’s refreshers combine sweet fruit flavors with a green tea base, offering a subtle caffeinated buzz with a more delicate and natural flavor than Dunkin’s more decadent coffee offerings.

Sweet tropical fruity notes hover over the floral and vegetal qualities of green tea, for a drink that is refreshing without being boring. While it looks candy-sweet, this has a much more subtle sweetness to it than something like a mango Snapple of Arizona Iced Tea. Having it in a cup full of ice just makes it all the more refreshing.

The Bottom Line:

This is perfect for those warmer days when the idea of drinking coffee just isn’t the vibe. It still offers that caffeinated kick (albeit a lot more chill) but tastes more refreshing. If you love tea-based drinks, you’re going to love this. It’s a great introduction to Dunkin’s very-good Refreshers line.

Find your nearest Dunkin’ here.

Massive inflation, a workforce still hobbled by the pandemic, stagnating wages, a widening wealth gap, and the prospect of having to pay student loans again come September — things are a little shaky right now for anyone but the super-rich. If you’re just entering or exiting college, the financial reality may feel downright frightening. Maybe even, “I might as well drop all my savings on red in Vegas”-level frightening (I could win… it can happen right…RIGHT?!).

We get all that. But before you dig yourself into an even deeper hole by betting it all away, know that there are in fact time-tested financial strategies out there that can help you survive and even thrive. Yes, even in this economy. They aren’t sexy, cool, or even particularly fun, but they are necessary if you want to get closer to living that life you envisioned for yourself before you entered the real world and realized how much everything costs.

To help you better manage your dollars and figure out smart and sensible ways to navigate our economic realities, we reached out to financial expert, Sharon Epperson. Epperson is a Senior Personal Finance Correspondent at CNBC and the creator of Money 101, an 8-week newsletter that teaches you all the basics of financial literacy. We hit her up about everything from budgeting, to dealing with student loans, wage bargaining, strategizing to become a homeowner, and whether or not you should listen to your parents and finally look into what a Roth IRA actually is.

Let’s dive in!

What hope is there in the face of what feels like a system stacked against the interests of a younger generation and their pursuit of what has classically been defined as the “American Dream,” but is now pretty basically defined as job security, home security, et cetera?

In short, we know the cards are stacked up against us. What can we do about it?

That’s so interesting. I think many people, as they’re starting out in their careers, believe that the cards are stacked against them, whether they are living in 1993, when I was starting my career, or whether they’re in 2022. I think the reality is that the cards are rarely stacked in anyone’s favor. And I say that as a woman of color because that’s my perspective. So, I’ve never thought that the cards, as a woman of color, are stacked in my favor, even though I’m a college graduate, I have a master’s degree, and I went to Ivy League schools, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that now every door is going to be open. What it requires people to do as they’re starting out is to make sure that their clear on what their goals are.

What do they want to achieve professionally? What do they want to achieve financially? What values do they hold dear that they are not willing to budge on as they make sure that these goals become reality? I think that that needs to be the focus first and foremost, to really think about what you want your life to be and what you want your financial life to be. And then from there, work on how you can get there.

I think in terms of making sure that the cards aren’t stacked against you so much, is that you have to really research and make sure you understand as well as you can, the ways that you can achieve what you want to do financially. As you’re starting out in your career, as you’re trying to make sure that you can afford rent, that you can afford the transportation costs, that you can afford everything that goes into living your adult life, what are you doing to make sure that if there’s a curveball and something else changes, how are you going to be able to then pivot to something else?

What kind of cushion are you going to have to fall back on if that happens? That’s why I think it’s so important to think about what you’re spending and take a hard look at what you’re spending. Many people can’t figure out, have no idea, and could never give you a number on how much money they spend every month to live their life. That’s essential. As essential as it is to get a job, it’s essential to know where that money’s going. So, knowing that, knowing what your net worth is. You know what your worth is because you know what your goals are, you know what you want to achieve, and you know what values you hold dear, that are going to make sure that inform your choices, in terms of what you’re doing professionally.

But then, you also need to kind of know, very practically, where do you stand? How much debt do you have? How much money do you have coming in? What are your assets? What are your liabilities? What is your net worth? People get scared with the amount of debt they may have, whether it’s student loan debt, credit card debt, or they have a property, they have some type of mortgage or something. They’re like, “I don’t have net worth, it’s negative.” But you got to know what the number is, whether it’s positive or negative, and know how to turn it around to the positive number you want it to be. So, I think that’s one of the key places to start, in terms of knowing where you stand financially, and then knowing where you want to go and how to get there.

I do wonder though when you talk about the life or the financial life that you want and how to get there, does that mean college is our only option? Should people be putting more time and stock into trade schools? Are there any other paths aside from the typical/traditional path?

The entrepreneurial spirit has always been there in many, many people, and the difficulty has been being able to find access to capital to take advantage of it. And that’s still an issue for many people, particularly for people of color. But I think that it’s important to look at various ways to have an income. So, that can be getting a traditional job, that can be in starting your own, that can be in investing, and trying to see the growth that you can from your investments.

There are many ways to do it, and I think it’s really important to pursue all of them.

We briefly touched on student loans and I was wondering what tools or strategies are there out there to help people lessen the load and impact that taking student loans can have, the way that it kind of anchors progresses. If you take student loans, does that automatically mean you’re less likely to be a homeowner?

So, statistics will show that having student loan debt definitely impacts when people purchase a home and if they purchase a home. Taking out student loans does not preclude you from achieving any of the financial goals that you have if you’re able to figure out a way to pay those loans back while trying to achieve those goals. So, again, it starts out at the earliest stages. Are you taking out student loans that reflect what the possible return on that investment will be in terms of the job that you could get when you get out of school? Are you coming up with a plan while you have these loans, if there’s anything that you can start to pay back a little bit along the way, even while you’re getting your education? And then, when you graduate and you have student loans, how are you thinking about what is your strategy for being able to pay them back?

Are you looking at the various ways to do this, whether it’s an income-driven repayment plan, whether it is working out some type of perhaps even personal loan that you’re getting from parents, or family members to help you pay down some of the debt, and then you pay them back. There are various scenarios that people work on, but I think the idea that there’s ‘no way I’m ever going to get a house, I have student loan debt.’ No, get a great job or make a great job that would provide income for you to be able to pay back your student loans and pursue whatever your goals are.

I think that ties a little bit into budgeting, which is something that you mentioned earlier. So, I wonder, how do people start to begin to budget sensibly? What kind of tools, and strategies should we be using? What should we look at to make sure that we do know where our money is going, and why having that kind of visual is so important to be better at budgeting?

I’m so glad you brought up visual because I want to go back super old school. I absolutely think that you need to know where every dollar’s going, where every dime is going of your money over the course of a month. Just try to track it and see where it’s going. Because I think, again, a lot of folks don’t know where it is going and you’re paying with PayPal, Venmo, Digital, Apple Pay, not the same way that you necessarily would get a receipt way back when.

So, there are different ways to track this. You can use an app that might help you with your budgeting, like Mint, or there are many different… I’m not even going to suggest one over the other because there are so many budgeting apps that are out there that can possibly help you. But writing it down, even if it’s on your own spreadsheet, maybe it is still pen and paper, to see exactly where that money is going, I think is super, super helpful.

Just take a month to do that so that you know where your money’s going. I think that’s where you start to just see where it’s going now and where should it be going? The budget strategy that I like to use is called the 60% Solution. There’s another rule, some say 50/30/20 … That’s not my favorite because living in New York, it’s got to be 60% once I tell you where that money’s going.

60% of your gross income goes to committed expenses and taxes. So, taxes take out a big chunk if you live in the New York area. Committed expenses are your housing, any bills that you have to pay every month, your student loan bills, when those start again, and your credit card bills that you have to pay. Anything you have to pay every single month goes into that pie.

Then the other 40% is broken down this way, 20% goes to long-term savings. So, that could be a retirement plan. That could be some type of investment that you want to make with money that you don’t need for at least five to 10 years because this 20% is money that you should be investing, not money that should be just sitting there in a savings account. Another 10% though, should be just sitting in a savings account. This is your short-term savings. This is that rainy day’s fund, the ‘you can take it and shove it fund,’ whatever you want to call it. But something happens and you need that money, that is where that money goes. So, 10% of your money goes there.

And then 10% is to do whatever you want with. That’s your fun money. That’s your discretion money. Do whatever you want, your vacations, your ways of just making yourself feel great, doing whatever you want to do. That’s where that money comes from. Now, trying to stick to the 60% solution has not been easy for me over the many years that I’ve been trying to do it, but it gives me a goal. It gives me a goal of where to go. And sometimes I’m not saving 20% for the long-term. I need to get a new car, or something’s broken in my house, but that gives me goals.

I think having that strategy or finding another one that you think you could adhere to at least for some period of time is really, really important. And when I stray, at least I know where to go back to.

I was looking at some statistics and I found that 50% of older millennials aren’t homeowners until the age of 35. That follows a decreasing trend from as high as 70% in the 1940s. And I imagine that gap will keep growing for the younger millennials and the Zoomer generation. So, aside from budgeting, what are some real strategies people can start in their late teens, or early 20s if they hope to be a homeowner one day?

One thing I did, I think, and this again, is if you have a job and you’re getting a regular paycheck, but you can do this if you’re freelancing, working on your own, have your own business and you can create these accounts, but if you have a job and you’re getting your regular paycheck and you’re having it direct deposited, understand that it doesn’t just have to go to your checking account.
When we talk about people living paycheck-to-paycheck, it’s because all the money that they’re getting is going into this checking account. Many employers will allow you to put your money into multiple accounts. So, not even just checking and savings, it could be checking and three different accounts and those accounts have different goals.

When I was saving to buy my house and I was around the same age of the people that are the statistics that you’re talking about, when my husband and I bought our first home, what you need to do is create that house fund so that the money from your paycheck goes straight into that fund early on. You may have an idea of the type of home you want. Understand what type of down payment you’re going to need to make that happen. Also, as you’re building the money to have that down payment, that could also be like your mortgage payment. So, you’re paying rent now perhaps, or maybe you’re living at home, but you are going to eventually have to be paying a monthly mortgage. Start paying that mortgage now.

How do you do that? You create an account to have the amount of money that is perhaps above the rent that you’re paying now, or if you’re able to live from home, the whole mortgage payment, put that every month in a special account, that’s your house account. That’s your house fund. Before you’ve even decided really where you’d like to live or exactly the type of house, but you have an idea of what the housing prices are going to be like. So, that is kind of the discipline and the strategy that it takes to eventually buy a home.

I get asked a lot now, with rising interest rates and the way that the markets are going and the housing market’s going, “Should I buy a house?” That’s not how you think about it. Do you have the money for a down payment? Do you know that you could make the monthly mortgage payment? Until you’ve tried it, you don’t know. So, try it and see if you can handle it. And then you’ll know if you’re ready to buy a house. Not just because mortgage rates are at a certain place, not just because the house that you think you want is going for well over asking, you’re afraid you won’t get it when you’re ready to have it. No. You need to be ready for you financially to be able to afford that home. And there’s no way for you to know for sure unless you do a trial run.

You mentioned the idea of living paycheck-to-paycheck briefly. So, I wonder, is there any number, when you’re talking about these different accounts, these different funds that you should have for yourself, is there any amount that’s too small? Because sometimes your bills and your rent do leave you with a very small amount of leftover income, or of the money that you made from that paycheck. So, I just wonder, if you’re not making that much money, is this something you can still be doing? Is this something that everybody can do at every income level?

You definitely should still be doing this. I remember right before I bought my house, a financial advisor telling me that… I just felt so stretched. I was like, “The cash flow, there’s nothing flowing here. There’s no flow.” And he said, “Everyone’s stretched to buy their first home. Everyone has to stretch.” That was not exactly the best advice because I stretched and I had no furniture for over a year. One of my friends came over and said it looked like I lived in a gymnasium. I didn’t have a humongous house. I just had no money for furniture. I was just trying to pay the mortgage.

So, I think if I had to do it again, I would’ve thought about not just how much it costs for the mortgage, but how much it costs for furnishing the home or making sure the lawn looked right, and what I wanted to take on myself. So, no, there’s no amount that’s too small when it comes to what you have to save. What has to change is the mindset. Not that you are giving up on your goals, but you may have to change them from what you originally thought.

I always wanted to have a house like the one I grew up in, right? Or maybe better than the one I grew up in, but that takes time because the house that I remember growing up in was not the first house my parents had, was not the first house that my mom or dad lived in, or first apartment. It takes time to get there. I think that kind of understanding, it’s hard because you also do see other people that don’t necessarily take the time, don’t have the discipline. And it appears, and I use that word, “appears,” that they’re able to do all of this. And how are they able to do all of this? Because it appears that they can, but you don’t know what’s under that hood. You don’t know what their financial life really looks like.

What would you say to young people who want to be homeowners, but still live in a city? Is that a hopeless idea that we should abandon, or is that something that you can make work?

To become a homeowner in the city, in a major city, in an expensive city? Can you do that? That’s what you’re asking?

Not possible?

No, I don’t want to say that, because that’s not true. But again, you may have to change and adapt to what you can afford in that city. So, if you want a lot of space, you may not get that in the city for the amount of money that you have. But if you’re willing to have a limited amount of space, but live close to your job, or close to your friends, or close to where you want to socialize, or for whatever reason that you want to be in the city, then it’s worth it.

You have to look at what the cost is for you to give that up, and not just the financial cost, but what is the social cost? What is your mental health cost? Are you the type of person that likes to commute? If you’re not, then you need to be in a city or close to where you need to go, but know that it may not be the space that you wanted or the exact type of home that you wanted.

Because of the inflation that we’re all experiencing. What should we be doing right now with our money to maximize our livelihoods? How do you balance the strain of inflation with wages that aren’t increasing fast enough?

First thing, do you have any subscriptions that you have, do you look at your credit card bill with a fine-tooth comb every time you see it? And if you don’t, because who wants to, start, so that you can see where the money is going. And you may find that in 2020, in April or March, or the summer, you signed up for all this stuff because you’re like, “I can’t go out. I’m going to do this, I’ll get this delivered. Then I’ll sign up for this streaming service, and I’ll do this one.”

And now, the weather’s nice, people are going out more and you don’t have time for any of those things. So, why are you still paying for them? Find out what you can cut. That’s the first thing. So, that’s one thing that you can cut out right away. I told this to a colleague last week, he cut $60 a month from his budget, just right off the top.

Then the next thing you need to do, I don’t buy anything that’s not on sale or with a coupon. That includes, and I’m not ashamed of this, if I have to get the last drink at 6:45 for the Friday night that I’m out with my friends, I’ll go there at 6:45, my drink will have already been poured at half price. And you can come at 7:30 if you’d like. Or a blouse, or everything, anything. The way that I do this when I’m doing the basic essentials, like shopping for groceries, I look at the unit price. I don’t just look at the sale price, because sometimes the sale price may seem like it’s more but if I look at the unit price, which is how much it is for each ounce, it might be less.

If you do online grocery shopping, it’s so much easier to do that. Coupons, whether it’s Honey, RetailMeNot, or anything. My kids know, don’t come to me and say you want anything if you don’t have a coupon code with it. These are things that are basic, that you should be doing all the time. But now, they make a huge difference. I was watching a story on NBC Nightly News and a woman was talking about having lost her job, dealing with inflation, rising prices, groceries, and having to have less fresh vegetables and taking out meat some days out of the week for her son.

And I thought, “That may be where you have to go, but there may be some other, those seemingly little things, that could make a difference. Like is that canned good really cheaper?” Maybe you don’t have time to go to a farmer’s market. Or maybe you don’t have time to go somewhere and look for less expensive, fresh produce or something. And maybe it could be healthier to cut some meat out of your diet some days. But you have to figure out what you’re willing to give up and see what concessions you can make so that you don’t have to give up the things that are really, really important to you.

We don’t know how long this inflationary period is going to last, but we do know it’s going to probably be painful, but we can make it less painful by doing some of these simple things.

The other thing I would say, I’m sure many people who you reach that are entrepreneurial and have the passions and their job is fine, but they really love X. Figuring out how to monetize that passion is so powerful. Again, takes a little bit of extra time to go online and look up a seminar or go to a workshop. It can be free. It’s not something you have to pay for, but figuring out another income stream is my point, is another key way to deal with this inflationary period. So, your wages from your traditional job may not rise as fast as the prices are going up for things you have to pay for. How do you deal with that? You need more money. You may need more income. You may need another job, a side hustle.

How early should we really be thinking about things like CD accounts and Roth IRAs? I feel like you’re going to tell me “yesterday.”

My son was 16. He had a summer job and he wanted to spend a lot of it on various types of very expensive sneakers. And some of that money, again, even at 16, the 60% Solution, you have gross income. Let’s work it out. He had to save some of it. And the long-term money, the money he saved long-term, he put in a Roth IRA at 16 years old and I had to be there too, and all of that. You have to do it with a parent, but yes, you should start a Roth IRA immediately, immediately. If you’re listening and you’re eligible to do so, you qualify based on your income to contribute to a Roth IRA, which is probably most people that you’re reaching, you should absolutely do it.

There are several reasons why I think it’s the best thing ever in terms of long-term savings. One is, that it is for long-term savings. It is for long-term savings. It is for long-term savings! That said, any contribution that you put into a Roth IRA is yours to take out anytime you want. So, if you don’t have an emergency fund and you have one place that you’re saving, that might be the best place to put it. You don’t want to touch that money, but if you have to, you could take it out. But it also provides you the discipline of having your money somewhere that is designed to grow long-term.

So, within that Roth IRA, maybe the majority of it is invested in the stock market, but some of it, you just leave sitting in cash so that if you do need to take it out, it’s yours to take out whenever you want to, as long as you’ve held the account for five years. The other reason why I love it is that the money that’s in a Roth IRA, as it grows, and when it does become those long-term savings that you then want to take out after every penny that’s in that Roth IRA is your money. It doesn’t go to Uncle Sam, because that money is money that is after-tax, so you don’t have the same tax hit that you’d have on a regular IRA. So, it’s that after-tax money that you’ve already put in, paid taxes on it already, you don’t have to pay taxes when you take the money out. So, that’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.

As that money grows, it’s also growing tax-free. So, there are a lot of great ways to do that. And some people may think, “Okay, I can put up to $6,000 a year in a Roth IRA, does this lady not understand that I don’t have $6,000 at the end of the year to put anywhere?” Fine. Put $60 in a Roth IRA. I mean, just start somewhere and eventually work it up, work up to as much as you can put in based on that, again, 60% solution of trying to put 20% of your income into something that’s longer-term, Roth IRA would be a great place to put that.

What are some smart ways we can increase our financial literacy? How do we address our lack of knowledge, and what tools out there are available for people?

So, I’m going to start, I have to, CNBC’s Invest In You. So, you see a stock ticker on TV, a person is talking to this economist and this person, and some of it, I get, some of it, I don’t really get. Are they really talking to me? Invest in You is talking directly to you. It is about asking, how do you manage your money? How do you grow your money? How do you protect your money? And it’s all about your money. So, that is a great resource. If you Google CNBC Invest in You, and then whatever topic we’re talking about, whether it’s student loans or budgeting. I think that will be a great place to go to get some information.

And quite frankly, you have to read, you have to research it, and find out what you want to know more about, be familiar with the terminology and know what a Roth IRA is, know what a Roth 401k is and if that’s offered at your job. Understand the different options that you have for paying back student loans well before you’re told, “Okay, now, no, I’m serious this time. I’m really serious. You’re going to have to start paying them back.” Eventually, that message will come out. You want to be ready.

If there’s some way that you actually had extra money after you’ve done the savings I’m talking about and all that, because you don’t have to pay back your federal student loans, but you say, “I’m still going to pay something back, just a little something.” If you’re doing that right now, you are brilliant, because every single dollar that you put toward that is going to your principal, because you don’t have to pay interest on Federal student loans right now. So, those people that are still paying down their student loan debt are going to be so much further ahead.

And it’s such a small percentage of people who are doing this. And I know the relief is needed desperately by many people, but some may be taking that extra vacation because they now don’t have to pay their student loan debt. And I’m not saying this is the majority. And I know, I don’t want people to get angry and say, “Why are you saying this?”

I’m saying it because if you have even a little bit, not what you normally would have to pay, but maybe a portion of that, and you are still paying back something, all of it is going to reduce your principal. And that is so, so important to make sure that your overall debt is not going to prohibit you from doing the other major things that you want to do, like we were talking about earlier, like buying a home.

It’s no secret that there’s a lot of wage inequality across gender, racial, and ethnic lines. When taking a new job, do women and people of color need to factor that into bargaining? What are the best ways to ensure we’re entering the job market on an even playing field? Should we be bold?

Strong, smart, bold. Bold, bold, bold. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. You absolutely have to be bold, but you can’t be bold unless you come with the goods. So, know your worth. Understand why you deserve to be paid what you’re asking to be paid, and make sure that you are going to be able to deliver on what’s expected of you when you get that pay. So, I think it’s really important to ask, really important to negotiate and negotiate hard. I mean, this is a time when some companies, many companies thankfully, are stepping up and saying, “We need to do better.” Okay. Prove it. Pay me more, give me a job and a title that I deserve because I am worth it. And I am going to deliver beyond your expectations. So, you should be actually paying me more, but I’ll be okay with this.

I think it’s very important to go in aggressively. I say that, and I also say though, you have to be prepared. So, in your preparation, you need to be able to know backward and forward that you can do that job, without a doubt. And if you don’t know how to do it right now, you’re going to figure it out and you’re going to make sure that you do it to the best of your ability. You also have to know that if you go in hard for this job, at your current job or the new job, and asking for more money, if they say no, what will you do then? If they say no, as in, “No, you can’t have this job,” or “No, you’re not going to get this promotion.” What’s plan B? Always think about the ‘what if’ before an employer or potential employer gives you the ‘this is what it’s going to be.’

And I think the final thing is, when you do actually make that happen, protect it. Protect it. Don’t just spend it. Don’t put it, again, all under the mattress, but protect it. So, how were you living with the money that you had that was 20% less before you got the 20, 25% raise? Which you’re just dancing about, which you should, congratulations.

But if you were able to kind of make it work a little bit before and you don’t have tremendously more expenses, then you need to be saving that. You need to be managing that, protecting that, investing in things that are going to be long term, whether that’s in the markets, whether that’s in making sure now that you have proper insurance for things, all of those things are important. So, yes, if you are going for a new job, be bold.