Helaine Olen


Helaine Olen is an American journalist based in New York. She is a columnist for The Washington Post and, before that, Slate, where she wrote the column The Bills. She is the author of Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry and the co-author of , and Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding--and Managing--Romance on the Job. Olen also contributed to The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change.

Background

Olen graduated from Smith College and attended the University of Minnesota. She is married to the script writer Matt Roshkow and has two sons.

Views

Olen is critical of the personal finance industry's typical advice to consumers, suggesting that it leaves them unprepared for major downturns such as market crashes, layoffs, and medical bills.