robo investing 2025-09-16T12:56:48Z

Rain lashed against my apartment windows as I stared at the hospital bill glowing on my laptop screen. That $3,000 unexpected charge wasn't catastrophic, but it exposed the flimsiness of my financial safety net. For years I'd treated savings like a guilty secret - random deposits into accounts with names like "Emergency??" and "Trip Maybe." My investment attempts always died at the brokerage gatekeeping: minimum balances I couldn't reach, jargon-filled forms that made my eyes glaze over, fee str