I’m craving a lack of urgency. I don’t know if it’s aging or burnout or what, but I need things to slow down. I’ve been quiet quitting social media, moving my Substack reading back into my email inbox (away from the app, which is officially just more social media), giving myself nothing to do on my phone but read, listen to music or (increasingly, nostalgic) podcasts, do yoga or practice Spanish. I’m reading physical library books. Enjoying evergreen content. I read news digests a day late, and guess what? It’s fine to know about stuff 24 hours after it happens!

It’s been about a decade-long process of stripping away social media and seeing all the ways our culture tries to keep me frantic. I’ll always fight it — always be occasionally sucked back in — but I don’t buy the urgency anymore. I don’t believe life has to move that fast. I don’t believe I have to move that fast. I’ve been slowing down for a long time, but I’ve just recently realized I’m not a failure for doing it.

News and upcoming events:

• There’s still time to get digital freebies and enter to win $1,000 in the Frugal Friends Fall Financial Giveaway!

Here’s what you might have missed at Healthy Rich and other places online lately!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich

🔗 Things to catch

• “Contrary to what toxic productivity wants us to believe: Humans are not machines designed to maintain consistent output from dawn to dusk,” says ADHD writer .

• In a disaster, will $100 tucked inside an envelope in your nightstand make the difference? Financial educator ponders.

• I was back on Kathy Oneto’s Sustainable Ambition podcast to talk about the intertwined realities of work, money and wellness — catch it wherever you get podcasts!

• Financial coach shares how to use money forecasting instead of budgeting.

• Thanks to for passing this my way — and to for teaching me that “dana” is a Buddhist concept for basically how I try to live my life: “The time, money, and resources I find myself with aren’t mine in any meaningful way, at this level. They’ve simply landed with me for the moment.”

• Love these ideas from on how to support public schools even if you’re not a parent (because good public schools are good for everyone!!).

• “What if setting limits isn’t about restricting ourselves or fixing ourselves, but about rebellion?” and other cognitive reframes against a world that wants to keep you buying and scrolling, from .

• A good reminder from to worry less.

• “All discrimination needs to do to go on discriminating is redefine “unprofessional” to be synonymous with whoever it’s working to exclude,” writes in How to Hide Discrimination.

• “The race for Governor in Wisconsin is not just about one state. It is about the direction of our country.” Thanks, , for supporting my favorite state rep, Francesca Hong!!

💬 Let’s discuss

What’s slowing down — or could slow down — in your life? Where do you feel frantic? Which plates are you spinning that need to drop?

Leave a comment

This newsletter is reader-supported and ad-free. Paid subscriptions keep this one of the only personal finance spaces not paid for by banks, creditors, fintech companies and investment firms. Thank you for your support!

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As expected this time of year, I’m completely out of sorts coming into August. Does it have the same effect on you? I haven’t been able to regulate my body heat in about two months. The sunshine. Family activities. Two kids’ birthdays. The nagging need to “get outside and enjoy the weather because it’ll be gone soon!” A lot of digging? Fairs and parades and fireworks. I do like summer; I appreciate warmth and daylight as much as the next midwesterner. But the collective energy of all of us trying to make the most of these days is disorienting. It’s like three months of sweaty December.

Every year, I see Americans looking longingly at an imagined European lifestyle and calling for us all to take August off. And I support it. No one’s doing their best work this month. Let us nap with our feet in the water.

News and upcoming events:

• Reminder for folks in central Wisconsin: I’m presenting in Wausau for the Central Wisconsin Book Festival on Sep. 27! It’s a free event at the library, where we’ll talk about liberation from budget culture and getting money worries off your mind. If you’re on Facebook, RSVP to this event so organizers can see people are interested!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this month

• Why we’re going — and staying — in debt for quality child care by

• Money date No. 29: Doing what I love through collective burnout

• 6 months later, my new relationship with Amazon

• A happier way to manage money: Saying ‘yes’ to you

• Let’s normalize talking about our credit histories

• How I vet online financial advice as a financial educator

🔗 Things to catch

• John and David Auten-Schneider wrote about why LGBTQ+ Americans are drawn to self-employment (spoiler: workplace heteronormativity and discrimination) and how to redefine retirement for yourself under those conditions.

• If you don’t know why tipped wages are a problem, take 29 minutes to catch up on the racist and capitalist history of the practice in the United States from Vox.

• perfectly describes the body and lifestyle crap that’s wound up with trying to be frugal about buying clothes — and why she finally just bought the darn thing she needed with a credit card.

• A neurodivergent career: why traditional work doesn’t work for me and what I do instead from

• explains: What is financial coaching, and what’s the role of personal finance in these unsettled times?

• “I really need a wife to help out.” on husbands not picking up the mental load just because a woman puts it down.

• shares a glaring example of the high cost of inaccessibility.

• I spend a lot of my days doing intellectual things like talking about writing books — but my personal entertainment is 100% middle America, and I love it. Please talk to me if you watched Happy Gilmore 2 and felt it in your heartstrings like I did, because I very much did, and none of the smart people I know are talking about it!

• If we’ve met, you know Butch Walker is in my top five special interests. I recently remembered he somehow got Matthew McConaughey to revive the role of Wooderson for a 2012 music video, and I can’t stop watching it.

💬 Let’s discuss

What’s the most joyful way you’ve used money this summer?

I love taking this time as summer starts to wind down for a lot of people to celebrate what money brought us these past few months. Summer comes with so much out-of-routine stress and so many opportunities to spend money. It’s easy to feel out of sorts and guilty for all of it and vow to “fix” yourself in the fall — but let’s instead let go of the guilt and appreciate those moments we got to use money to support our joy!

Leave a comment

News and upcoming events:

• WISCONSIN! Save the date — I’ll be hosting a session on money and YDNAB at the Central Wisconsin Book Festival in Wausau on Sep. 27. I’d love to meet you if you’re in the area (or you want to take a trip…).

• There’s still time to enter to win a free copy of You Don’t Need a Budget from NerdWallet’s book club! I’ll be a guest on their book club podcast, and you can enter anytime until July 31. Learn more and enter here.

Here’s what you might have missed at Healthy Rich and other places online this week!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich

Some advice from me:

• One question to help new grads have a better relationship with money

• Using debt is not ‘living beyond your means’

• How to create a money map to manage your money without a budget

From our summer series sharing your debt stories:

• Debt gave me freedom from toxic deprivation culture by

• I filed for bankruptcy twice — and it was the right choice both times by

• We believed the lie that we could bootstrap our way out by

• A middle-class Black family’s story of debt, dreams and determination by

Behind-the-scenes money dates:

• Money date No. 26: No more striving

• Money date No. 27: Boring and peaceful

• Money date No. 28: One year of money dates!

🔗 Things to catch

• I was on “money month” of the Forever35 podcast to talk about resisting budget culture with and — catch it wherever you get your podcasts!

• at Anti Work Girlboss shared five ways to pretend to be indoctrinated by corporate culture so you can get a job without raising anti-capitalist red flags (and get a paycheck while saving your sanity).

• on her advanced investment strategy that pays weekly dividends. (I’m still generally anti-stock market, but I know that’s not for everyone, and Martha’s advice is smart and gentle and useful, so I love passing it on!)

• Anyone else feel like you’re forced to focus on Slack messages while fascism crumbles the world around you?

• I inhaled ’ Adventures in Opting Out last weekend and highly recommend! I adore Cait’s writing (and can’t wait to see what she’s working on next).

• Immediately made this image my wallpaper for the summer ✨

• on why estrogen-driven folks shouldn’t strive to live up to a system built around testosterone-driven biology.

• If you’re an astrology skeptic — but also kinda want to know what all the fuss is about — my friends and have started the Substack to get up to speed and connecting beyond your star sign.

💬 Let’s discuss

Do you feel out-of-sync with male-driven expectations for productivity at work?

Reflecting on Rachel Lawlan’s piece (linked above), an estrogen cycle changes your energy and focus week to week (and perimenopause throws you into yet another set of fluctuations), while a testosterone cycle resets your energy daily. Have you ever made changes to the way you work so you can show up according to your own energy fluctuations? Do you talk with coworkers about your energy cycles or deal with them on your own? Do you find certain seasons or phases more productive and creative than others? How do you harness those?

Leave a comment

Being broke or poor sucks. But it often yields some entertaining stories of creativity and resilience! Because life is more than just our struggles, and we have to laugh when it’s funny.

Here’s my favorite, gotta-laugh moment of broke dumb luck.

I married young and got divorced while I was still in college. Suddenly bearing the costs of a whole life on my own while going to school left me hard up circa 2010. I worked at a local video rental store, and I ate candy bars and popcorn for dinner because I got a discount and could charge them against my next paycheck.

The store was open until 1 a.m., which meant a lot of late nights downtown. Sometimes I could catch the last bus back to my apartment about a mile away, free with my student bus pass. Sometimes I missed it, and I’d have to walk the mile through the college town at bar time. Not ideal, but some nights I felt like I could handle it. Some nights I didn’t.

One late night after closing, I missed the last bus and decided to call a cab to avoid the creepy walk home — even though I knew I had no money to pay for it. I was out of cash. My bank account was empty. My best hope was that my debit card would be accepted, and I could get money into my account before the transaction went through and overdrafted. (Card transactions used to take a few days to process, a benefit for those of us with tight cash flow…)

I called the cheapest cab company in town, one that did shared rides and had a terrible reputation. Halfway to my place — while I sweated and crossed my fingers about my debit card and tried to think of what I’d say if it was rejected — we picked up a very drunk young man who, luckily, sat in the front seat and not next to me. Unluckily, he was pretty belligerent.

Just a few minutes down the road, this guy pissed off the driver enough that the driver stopped the cab and told him to get out. The rider refused, so the driver got out of the car, went around to the passenger side and yanked him out. The guy was not pleased, and I, a 24-year-old lady taking a cab home to avoid the chaos of drunken college students at 2 a.m., watched frozen while these two men wrestled in a random yard for about five minutes.

The drunk rider finally walked away, and the cab driver returned to the driver’s seat. He turned to me, apologized profusely and said, “Obviously, your ride is free.”

Phew! Thank you, belligerent drunk man.

Onto this week’s links: Here’s what you might have missed at Healthy Rich and other places online this week!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

🔗 Things to catch

• My latest for Salon: four ways to anti-budget your money management.

• and on why common financial wisdom isn’t always so wise for everyone.

• A new report from the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania shows the incredible boost of a guaranteed income of just $500 a month. (Read this LinkedIn post for the tl;dr.)

• at asked 10 creative women to share their vision for their retirement. It’s inspiring to see the variety in what “retirement” means for folks (including those from different countries.)

• We should all be ’s tucked-in cat.

• ’s new book is out! Hello, Cruel World! is science-based strategies for raising terrific kids in terrifying times — I’m not a parent, but I love Melinda’s writing for the insights into kids and other humans in my life.

💬 Let’s discuss

What are your favorite moments of poor dumb luck?

Whether you grew up poor or had a moment of being being broke for the first time in grad school, you know what it’s like to get a tiny break just when you need it. What are you favorite memories of stretching a dollar impossibly far, striking it lucky at the right time or beating capitalists at their own game (if only for a second)?

Leave a comment

This post contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org, so if you buy a book mentioned here, you support the author, local bookstores and Healthy Rich!

I’ve been retreating a little these past few weeks. Spring and summer always put my head in the clouds, and this year I’ve needed the retreat more than ever. I’ve been reading more fiction and less hot takes, getting my hands in the dirt (I know that’s the opposite of the clouds, but it still feels dreamy!), soaking up sun on my balcony, taking evening walks and enjoying so much daylight ☀️

With so much in the world trying to drag us down, we have to remember that protecting our joy (and others’) is the whole point here. Where will you find joy among the chaos this summer?

News and upcoming events:

• Did you know you can get 20% off You Don’t Need a Budget from my publisher, Little, Brown Spark, when you sign up for their newsletter? And that’s site wide, so you’ll also get that discount on books I’m proud to share a publisher with, including Tricia Hersey’s Rest Is Resistance, Christy Harrison’s The Wellness Trap and everything from my favorite writing instructor, Roy Peter Clark1 :)

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

🔗 Things to catch

• Why , a personal finance journalist, doesn’t like giving out financial advice.

• The revolution will not be tax deductible.

• I need this on a t-shirt, stat.

• with the response to transphobia that we need to hear from every nice white mom of a cis kid right now.

• “Women like me were regularly told that we were lucky to have jobs, and this was just what happened at work.” — on (psychological and physical) safety at work.

• My latest for Salon: four ways to anti-budget your money management.

• At my niece’s recommendation, I started The Inheritance Games series by . I recommend it if you’re into mystery, puzzles and YA! She’s eagerly awaiting the next in the series this fall, and I’m happy to have the summer to catch up.

💬 Let’s discuss

Where will you find joy this summer?

Whether you’ll joyfully spend money without guilt or keep it simple and enjoy life on the cheap, how will you enjoy yourself in the coming months? How do you unwind, retreat, detach, decompress? Where do you find money stress getting in the way of unwinding — and how can you alleviate it to enjoy life more?

Leave a comment

This post contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org, so if you buy a book mentioned here, you support the author, local bookstores and Healthy Rich!

I started my first ever corporate media job recently, and this essay hits hard. So much of the 40-hour workweek of corporate knowledge-industry workers is… nothing. And that’s quite funny when you’re in your 20s and it’s your first doing-nothing job.

But by mid-career, you’ve seen a few layoffs, and you realize, oh, eventually they figure out doing nothing is costing them a whole lot. To fix their books, they lay you off and, a few months later, hire a new round of people to do nothing for a while. People make billions of dollars running business like this. Money isn’t real.

No news this week, so straight to a little reading to get you through your day (and a discussion on a topic I’m currently obsessed with and would love to know your thoughts!).

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

🔗 Things to catch

• Worried about the impact of tariffs on necessities? Tool libraries could help you get what you need while reducing your consumption!

• Trust among Americans is declining in general, but this data from Pew Research is interesting (if unsurprising to those of us with experience): Folks with the least access to education and income are also the least trusting.

• Are you ready to let your credit card do your shopping for you?

• The Biden-era Junk Fees Rule just went into effect — even out of her post, Lina Khan’s FTC legacy is making our lives better 💖 by Samuel Levine at .

• An essay on the helplessness and frustration of living paycheck to paycheck.

• This is why everyone who’s ever worked in the service industry says everyone should be required to spend time working in the service industry.

• with a too-perfect summary of life under late-stage capitalism: We traded good jobs for cheap crap, but now the crap isn’t cheap.

💬 Let’s discuss

Do you trust your neighbors?

I find the Pew Research study on trust fascinating. As someone who understands the way working-class folks always feel taken advantage of, as someone who lives in a town where most voters would rather a woman like me didn’t exist, as a neurodivergent person who’s always been perceived as a weirdo, I understand distrust deeply. And yet, I believe in the value of community and the goodness of people just as deeply.

How’s your relationship to trust? Do you believe most people can be trusted? Do you generally trust your neighbors and the people around you? What effects your level of trust in people, especially strangers, especially people who aren’t exactly like you?

Leave a comment

Happy Mother’s Day to anyone who celebrates, and a happy Sunday-staying-off-social-media to anyone who hates this holiday! A few quick notes to get you through your Sunday :)

News and upcoming events:

• A reminder that I’m accepting pitches about debt for summer newsletters. All the details are here.

• Also a reminder that you can join me for this free presentation on becoming a freelancer next weekend!

• Huge thanks to the EIFLE Awards from the Institute for Financial Literacy for naming You Don’t Need a Budget a book of the year in 2025!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

🔗 Things to catch

• The physical toll of running a main street business.

• A great explanation of how the Republicans’ proposed $4.6 trillion tax cut is a squandered opportunity. (I also like the math in this one that shows how money funneled into real services through the government goes way further than that same money in the hands of individuals trying to solve their own problems through private services.)

• A very 😂 😂 😢 cartoon.

• What would happen if you let yourself buy anything you wanted?

• Why is the media obsessed with making Gen X extinct?

💬 Let’s discuss

How does money impact your Mother’s Day experience?

Does your family do gifts, service, time together, something else or nothing at all for the holiday? How does money affect your plans? What kind of role does work — especially domestic work — play? Do you get the day off if you’re a mom? Let us know how (if) you honor your mom and how your kids honor you!

Leave a comment

Call for pitches!

I want to publish your debt stories ✨

Summers always make my availability really rocky, so I’m going to publish more essays from contributors from June through August. And since I’ve shown you mine, I’d love for you to show me yours — what have been your experiences with debt?

I’m looking for stories about the reasons you’ve deliberately chosen to go into debt, surprises you’ve faced dealing with debt, challenges you’ve had repaying debt, weird things you’ve learned about debt products and financial systems, life goals or transitions debt has helped you achieve, and more.

Our purpose is to reduce the stigma around having debt, so I’m looking for bold writers wiling to share the messy stories personal finance media usually ignores. I’m NOT looking for efficient-debt-payoff stories or snowball strategies or any other debt-shaming, budget-culturey stuff.

Pay is $200. Send pitches to pitch@healthyrich.co for consideration! (Not in a reply to this email; I’ll probably miss your pitch that way!)

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

🔗 Things to catch

• How to set up a low-demand lifestyle to intentionally reduce stress if you’re autistic (or, truly, anyone).

• Republican lawmakers will try to ram through wildly unpopular program cuts to support tax breaks for billionaires in their next budget bill — here’s what that means for student loans (and Medicaid and SNAP and other vital services).

• Girlbossing is capitalism in cursive.

• “I think I found that welfare state the right wingers keep crying about.” (’hem, it’s in Republican-led counties.)

• In case you’re a reader who ever feels bad checking a book out from the library instead of buying it — no need! Please keep doing it!

💬 Let’s discuss

What’s your favorite thing about spring?

It’s finally consistently warm and sunny in central Wisconsin, and this is my last day off before starting a new job, so let’s steal a lighthearted moment together. I die every winter and reanimate in the spring, when I remember that sun and green things and flowers and warm breezes and iced lattes and short sleeves and long walks exist. Anyone else? What do you look forward to every spring? (If it’s not spring where you are, take a second to remember what you have to look forward to!)

Leave a comment

✍️ Support diverse writers! I pay writers for their contributions to Healthy Rich, and I’m able to do that because of your subscriptions. This newsletter is reader-supported and ad-free, and I intend to keep it that way. If you appreciate diverse perspectives and want to keep ‘em coming, please consider supporting Healthy Rich with a paid subscription — your first year is just $35. Thank you!!

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My money date this week got me really thinking about how I’m using my money. My new job (read the post for details!) gives me a tiny bit of extra breathing room, so I can think again about using my money to build and not only to survive. I haven’t had space for that in a few years.

I’m also completely aware that our volatile economy — under our volatile national leader — could steal this newfound comfort from me at any time. I hold no illusions of stability under this regime. I and many people I know entered into this last gasp of the Trump era knowing our job would be to simply survive, and we’re at peace with that.

So I’m thinking about my money in a way I probably never have before. I’m still carefully considering my spending and, once again, my savings — but not with the scarcity fear I’ve been fostering since November. Instead, I feel like I have the privilege to be very intentional with my money, and I feel a profound responsibility to live up to that. It’s a weird time to manage money!

News and upcoming events:

• I’m presenting a virtual session for the Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southwestern University on May 17! Join us for free to learn about how to start freelancing.

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

🔗 Things to catch

• I was flattered to join personal finance OG Jean Chatzky for the HerMoney podcast to talk about an intuitive approach to building a healthier relationship with money.

• Our American forebears traded our social safety net for the conspicuous consumption of capitalism. Not a good trade, but cheap consumption is, now, in our DNA. Trump’s tariffs threaten that foundational American identity, writes Amanda Mull for Bloomberg.

• Love that is examining what FIRE got wrong about personal finance (and, I’ll concede, I like her points about what the movement got right, too).

• describes systems-level thinking in a way that makes sense for everyday life, not just the big capital-S Systems.

• “A state of deprivation is a fundamental condition of the working class under capitalism.” — on why it costs so much to exist.

• Yes! 50 money rules up for re-evaluation!

💬 Let’s discuss

What are you doing lately to weather the state of our economy?

Are you taking steps to reduce your spending or monthly financial commitments? Have you bought new insurance plans (or dropped them)? Refinanced debt? Cancelled subscriptions or services? Adjusted your investments to “buy the dip,” reduce risk or pull out altogether? Deprioritized goals like debt payoff or savings to keep up with day-to-day costs? Let us know in the comments!

(I’m also working on a freelance piece about these moves, and I’d love to include your experiences! I’ll reach out for permission before I quote you. If you’d rather not share in a comment, reply to this email to share your experience. Thank you!)

Leave a comment

Did the past week feel 10 years long to anyone else? I spent it watching courts hold the Trump administration accountable for its inhumane treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, deeply sad but optimistic this regime won’t succeed at fascism. The week was capped off by an inspiring Day of Action, thousands turning out around the country again to protest the administration. So, we’re entering a new week on a higher note, but still pretty exhausted. I think that counts as good news these days?

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• ‘Eat now, pay later’: DoorDash’s Klarna deal has inspired so many bad takes in personal finance media

• Podcast: Mindfulness practices to overcome money shame and stress

🔗 Things to catch

• Thanks to Jeanine Skowronski for talking with me about spending and “splurging” for her newsletter, Money As If.

• Kimberly Palmer was inspired by some YDNAB ideas to write about “intuitive budgeting” for NerdWallet.

• How to qualify for a mortgage after filing bankruptcy.

• Meet the woman who lives without money — and the lessons we can learn about simplicity.

• I talked live with Jen Baxter on Monday about the viral essay that led to my first book deal.

• Remember when we were all going to be girlbosses?

💬 Let’s discuss

What were you into 10 years ago that makes you cringe now?

Salon’s girlboss satire took me back to being 28; buying in fully to the promise of digital media; thinking closing my Activity rings would solve everything; and wanting nothing more than to be a boss bitch with a 401(k) and three weeks of vacation to travel to Puerto Rico every year. What were you buying into a decade ago that feels silly now? Was your mind changed by age? The pandemic? A first or second Trump administration? The spiking or plunging economy? A job change? A growing or aging family? Share the old parts of you you laugh at now — and what you’ve learned in the meantime.

Leave a comment

🙋‍♀️ Don’t miss our latest class!

I spoke with estate planning experts and founders of Legado, Noelle Kimble McEntee and Ciara Lister, Esq., to answer your questions about getting your affairs in order. We talked about unique estate-planning challenges for non-traditional families, plus the basics — like what, exactly, is a trust? The recording, like all Healthy Rich classes, is available with a paid subscription.

Subscribe now

Tuesday is Tax Day! In case you’ve been busy, overwhelmed or despondent, here’s your reminder that tax returns are due by April 15. If you can’t get yours filed by then, you can apply for an extension and get until Oct. 15. And remember, most people can file online for free — so check IRS Free File for options before you pay to file through tax prep software.

News and upcoming events:

• I’m joining of The Skillful Scribbler for a Substack Live conversation, Monday, April 14 at 1:30 p.m. PT / 4:30 p.m. ET. We’ll talk about my journey from personal finance journalist to publishing You Don’t Need a Budget. Mark your calendar and join live at this link tomorrow!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• Why budgeting is terrible advice for poor people

• Money date No. 22: The world is overwhelming and I feel fine

• New class added! Paid subscribers can watch the recording of my session with Noelle and Ciara from Legado on estate planning for every type of family.

🔗 Things to catch

• I’m joining to write a monthly advice column! Check out our first edition, where I answer questions about finding stable income, reducing costs on necessities and resources for beginner investors.

• Should you become a war tax resister? Great overview of the issue from (without pressure one way or the other).

• Thanks to , I’m now obsessed with “financial geography.”

• Adding this book to my TBR list, thank you, !

• “I feel like I should hide how little I work.” — on embracing ease when it’s available to you.

💬 Let’s discuss

What do you want to know about writing and publishing a book?

Tell me what you want to learn from my conversation with Jen tomorrow! What have you always wanted to know about publishing? What do you want to know about getting a book deal? What questions do you have about making a living writing in general?

Leave a comment

I’m writing from the ACES editors’ conference in Salt Lake City, so I’m deep in word nerdery this week :)

I was delighted to present a session on how to change the way we write about money, teaching lots of new people about the impacts1 of budget culture and discussing alternatives to our least-favorite money words and phrases. Despite my credentials in personal finance and years of studying financial products and methods, I will always be primarily a writer. My obsession with the words we use, how we arrange them and how we share them frames how I see everything, including money. It’s such a treat to combine these special interests to discuss our culture of money with my fellow word-loving peers (and folks well above my station, like people who literally write dictionaries!)

News and upcoming events:

• This week! Join me for a webinar on estate planning this Friday, April 11, with experts from Legado to answer all your questions!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• Getting 'good at spending' with Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni

• Money date No. 21: Air travel enshittification makes me want to boycott everything

🔗 Things to catch

• I talked about women and money, and money in relationships, with leadership coach Cynthia James for her Women Awakening podcast.

• Re: my terrible airport experience earlier this week — this is why I never blame the workers.

• For CNET, I wrote about what to do if your tax refund is less than you were counting on.

• “Is it really that hard to eliminate poverty in America?”

• “Love is not a financial strategy” — why women need to work (for pay).

• Stop everything you’re doing and look at this adorable babushka dog.

💬 Let’s discuss

What are your pet peeves in how we talk about money?

What are the cliches you’re tired of hearing? What are the stereotypes that have to go? What are the meaningless terms that continue to be bandied about? What are the harmful terms people use without understanding their harm? Tell us the words and phrases you’d like to strike from the ways we talk about money!

Leave a comment

Talking with a loan officer at a local bank this week reminded me just how bad most available financial information is — and why.

It occurred to me that she doesn’t clearly explain the terms of a loan, because she assumes the working-class folks in this community either won’t understand or they’ll be turned off by formal language because of an anti-intellectual bias. And they’ll simply go along with the bank’s demands over time to avoid being a bother. I noticed the same when a medical provider instructed my partner to sign a form that, they said, “just acknowledges we sometimes work with private providers,” but most likely waived his right to protections against surprise medical bills.

Americans aren’t taught how to be conscious consumers, and most of us have had no useful financial education to learn the ins and outs of the financial products (including insurance!) that run our lives. When the stewards who bring us those products wave away complex commitments like they’re negotiating pay with an evening babysitter, how can we be expected to “responsibly” incorporate those commitments into our lives?

Don’t let people treat you like you’re stupid. Read contracts they try to whisk you through, and ask questions until you have concrete answers. You have a right to understand the consequences of the financial commitments you make. And know that, if you feel out of your depth, that’s not because you’re stupid; it’s because the entire process is set up to make you feel that way.

News and upcoming events:

• Are you retired or semi-retired on a working-class income? I’d love to hear from you for a piece I’m writing for Business Insider! Reply to this email to set up a quick phone or email interview. Thank you! 🙏

• Still time to sign up for my webinar on estate planning! My friends at Legado will answer your questions about making a will or a trust in any kind of family — including special considerations for unmarried, same-sex, transgender and polyamorous partners, adoptive families and more.

• Editors! I’m presenting on language and finance at the annual ACES conference in Salt Lake City this Thursday. ACES is my happy place — come say hi if you’re attending!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• Sometimes being a parent means breaking the ‘rules’ — my anti-budget approach to parenting by

• Relocating at the drop of a hat to a trans-friendly state or city

🔗 Things to catch

• I was at my alma mater (employer) this week talking about what is — and isn’t — happening right now with student loans.

• Have you seen the circulating post about stoop coffee??

• With the CFPB kneecapped by the Trump administration, here are some alternative places to file a complaint about issues with your financial institutions.

• If you don’t know her already, you absolutely must meet Frances Perkins.

• Losing your job is bad for your health — but keeping a positive attitude can genuinely minimize the harm.

• How being a survivor of financial abuse impacts self-employed women.

• I appreciated ’s story at about using debt in a crisis, even when it didn’t conform to conventional financial advice.

• The strange psychology of extreme savers — CFP of on what really drives frugality.

💬 Let’s discuss

Tell us about your interactions with financial services!

Have you opened an account, taken out a loan, signed up for insurance, dealt with a creditor, enrolled in debt relief or worked with a financial advisor recently? What were you hoping to get out of it, and what did you end up with? Did you feel respected, guided, accommodated, understood? What do you wish would have gone differently? What tips would you offer someone preparing to do the same?

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I went on a bit of a roller coaster ride this week, and I blame it on news consumption.

I was delighted to be tasked by a client with writing a summary of what, exactly, is going on with student loans right now, because, as my editor said, “We're hearing that a lot of people are confused by what's happening.”

No kidding people are confused. Out of professional obligation, attacks on student loans and the Department of Education are the only areas of Trump news I’m following closely in my otherwise news-lite existence. I find myself most often dispelling myths and quelling fears when I write these pieces, because news articles, headlines and social media posts do so little to actually inform people but are really good at getting everyone riled up.

So I wrote the whole thing with a bunch of my usual stay calm, nothing is really happening yet appeals — income-driven repayment hasn’t been abolished, PSLF is still available, the Department of Education isn’t eliminated… And then hours after I submitted the draft, Trump signed the executive order to further the closure of the agency, and the media around me went bonkers. My stomach dropped.

But, as often happens, I was comforted when I went straight to the source of information myself. I read the executive order and actually felt better. Because, OK, yes — it’s a piece of racist, anti-trans trash as is standard for this administration, and I don’t have the emotional resources to conjure new rage about that every time. The point is this order says basically nothing of substance.

It says education “should be returned to the states,” but that’s where the functions of education that it critiques already live. So… check? It says the Department of Education isn’t equipped to service student loans like a bank, but it already doesn’t do that; contracted servicers do that work. It says, “The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education,” but guess what? The law doesn’t permit her to close the department; that’ll take an act of Congress that’s going to require at least 60 votes in the Senate that Republicans don’t have.

So headlines are swirling and publicists are filling my inbox with predictions about what the closure of ED could mean — which is exactly the frenzy this stupid president wants to create. We can’t give into this. We have to notice what’s really happening: This administration is publishing executive orders watered down by legal compliance because it has zero authority to take action, and it can’t count on legislators to take action because its agenda is wildly unpopular with the American people. (Thank you to for reminding us of this fact with every. single. report. like all media should be doing.) It’s also engaging constantly in illegal activity that’s immediately being challenged and often halted or reversed by lawsuits.

Headlines meant only to scare us are a waste of our time. While I empathize with the challenges of my fellow journalists attempting to cobble together work in a struggling industry, we’re out of time for dithering about click rates and neutrality. Spreading real information — with context! — and unabashed critiques of this dangerous regime is the job of the fourth estate right now.

This sort of rant isn’t always what this Sunday newsletter is for, so I thank you for being here for it today. It lets me keep my regularly scheduled programming for Tuesday and make space for a guest essay from a writer who’ll talk about something I know very little about: anti-budget parenting.

If this post was shared with you, subscribe below to make sure you don’t miss that one!

News and upcoming events:

• Save your spot for my session on April 11 with estate planning experts Noelle Kimble McEntee and Ciara Lister from Legado! Drop your estate planning questions in the box to the right after you register, or just share them in a reply to this email, and we’ll get the answers for you during the session.

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• This 1984 Wisconsin law makes me less worried about paying my bills on time

• Money date No. 20: Listening to my body

🔗 Things to catch

• I love the opportunity to think about spending that’s important for other people, even when it’s not important for me. I was delighted to talk with personal stylist about spending on clothing!

• My niece was delighted by this joke I learned from . And this one.

• How one Washington county is making progress on homelessness (shocker: collaboration with people who actually talk to folks experiencing homelessness)

• This AP News tracker of lawsuits against Donald Trump is an important reminder that smart, dedicated people are on the ground working their asses off for us — thank you!! Support them by donating to the ACLU, Legal Defense Fund, Lambda Legal and others doing the nitty gritty work to block this administration’s attacks on democracy.

• “I went from being known as the funny girl at the party to the funny girl in debt at the party.”

💬 Let’s discuss

How do you personally manage your spending on clothing?

In light of my conversation with Dacy, let’s talk clothes and fashion! Do you dress for utility, artistic expression, comfort, acceptance or something else? Where does clothing fall on the scale of things you value spending money on? How do you manage money around clothing?

Leave a comment

I’ve gotten some lovely feedback on Tuesday’s post about what you can ignore in financial news — thank you! I’m glad it’s been helpful. I believe filtering the news for need-to-know information is one of the toughest and most important media literacy skills to develop in this moment when information is so deeply weaponized.

Generally avoiding the news (unless I have to write about it…) is how I’m surviving right now. I wish I could offer a more general list of “what you can avoid in the news,” but that’s not my area of expertise. If it’s yours, or you know anyone who’s written something like this, let me know!

News and upcoming events:

• Join me Friday, April 11 at 12 p.m. ET in conversation with estate planning experts and founders of Legado, Noelle Kimble McEntee and Ciara Lister, Esq. We’ll answer your questions about planning for the end of life and protecting your legacy — in any kind of family. The event is free to attend, and paid subscribers will have access to the recording afterwards. Sign up and submit your questions early here.1

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• How to wade through the litany of scary financial news to find information you actually need

• How to create financial stability with inconsistent income

🔗 Things to catch

• Why do Americans idealize people who found businesses?

• Is consumer activism a lost cause? A reflection on trending boycotts and how to decide where to put your money.

• Leave poor people the fuck alone.

• I loved talking with Simon Owens for his media podcast about growing Healthy Rich and landing a book deal for YDNAB through a viral guest post.

• Working women and men are similarly likely to have the flexibility they need at work to address child care responsibilities — but women are way more likely to downgrade their careers to take care of kids. More from Gallup on women’s wellbeing at work.

• Wanna do pilates AND help bring independent non-profit abortion care to Wisconsin? You can do it for $25 — sign up by March 18!

💬 Let’s discuss

What’s the worst piece of financial news you’ve seen lately?

“Worst” can mean whatever it means to you — fear-mongering, poorly reported, ridiculously scandalized, whatever. What is financial media getting wrong? Which headlines do you wish you had skipped? Share a piece of news that was less useful than you thought it would be. (If it’s been debunked, please also share the debunking!)

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As I write this, I’m glaring out at the remains of a late-winter snowstorm. So I’ll take the opportunity to share my little community-action success story from my winter in rural Wisconsin. This is for anyone who’s stuck in a conservative area and pulling your hair out every time you hear someone on the left call for building community with the slimeballs around you.

Very few people this town shovel their sidewalks, even though it’s required of property owners under a village ordinance. Last winter, I made an enemy of a church on our block when I asked them to shovel after a couple of major snowfalls; the property abuts sidewalks on three sides and makes up about half of our block. We have to walk in the streets. Some elder was not happy about my request and actually yelled at me about how I “don’t know how things work in this town,” like a villain in a 90s tween movie.

This winter, I’ve taken a different tack. I don’t talk to anyone at the church. I shovel the entire block of sidewalk that’s in front of my house — covering my house, two neighbors and the church. And I call the village to take care of the sidewalks on the other two sides of the church. According to the ordinance, they’re supposed to bill the property owner for this service, but I’m sure they don’t bill the church. I don’t care. The sidewalks are cleared. It’s better for everyone — even the lady across the street with the Trump sign still in her yard, who walks down that sidewalk to get to that church every Sunday.

Sidewalks are a vital public good that tell a story about a community. In this town, an unsafe sidewalk says people like me are unwelcome. As is any person who uses a wheelchair or a mobility aid, any parent pushing a stroller, any kid walking to school, anyone without a yard for their dogs to run in, anyone without a car to get around. There’s not a lot I can do to move the needle in a town filled with people who don’t value socialized care. But I can make sure a few sidewalks are clear.

If you’re stuck in a similar locale and wondering how to participate in resistance, a reminder: We don’t have to make friends to be in community. We don’t have to convince anyone to be a better person. We can just do the work to create the world we want to live in.

News and upcoming events:

• I’m setting up a webinar for April with a partner on estate planning. Sign-up link to come soon! In the meantime, what questions do you have about wills, trusts, legacy planning, etc.? Reply to this email to share them, and we’ll address them in the presentation!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• 'There are worse things than being ambitious, right?’ — a Q&A with ’s Lindsey Stanberry

• Money date No. 19: Sisyphean

🔗 Things to catch

• Shocker: Cost-cutting advice annoys readers more than it helps them.

• My latest for Business Insider: Why rent reporting is important for credit scores.

• Love this reflection from personal stylist Dacy Gillespie on her relationship to spending money on clothes.

• Did the Feb. 28 economic blackout “work”? Rough data shows mixed results; not enough stories point out that 24 hours doesn’t offer a useful measure of consumer power.

• If you’re going to continue boycotting big retailers, do it like a Black woman.

💬 Let’s discuss

What tiny problem are you obsessed with in your neighborhood?

Is there an intersection that needs a stop sign, a lack of public green space, a need for accessible food sharing or book exchange, a craggy sidewalk the municipality won’t address? What little thing do you see every day that makes you think someone needs to do something about this? Feel free to use this space to just vent — very necessary! — or think about your next steps: What skills or resources do you possess to deal with it? (Maybe you go full Ron Swanson on a pothole, distribute literature or take a few friends to a city council meeting?)

Leave a comment

Please stay skeptical. Liberal-baiting misinformation has made it to Substack Notes, and I lose my mind a little every time I see 100,000 restacks on an uncited post about something that sounds delightful (usually Elon Musk eating some kind of crow) but is also so easily debunkable.

Even if you’re not on social media, this stuff makes its way into conversations via friends who are. Make a mental note during your chat, and give it a quick Google before you pass it along the grapevine. It’s a vital habit to build, and if you can start with the obviously-too-good-to-be-true stuff, you can strengthen that muscle to question the more subtle and insidious misinformation that impacts things like, well, elections.

News and upcoming events

🥳 It’s my birthday month! To celebrate, I’m making all new subscriptions 30% off this month! That applies not only to annual subscriptions, but also month-to-month, and you’ll lock in this discount for as long as you’re subscribed.

Paid subscribers get access to my classes on personal finance and freelancing, plus behind-the-scenes money dates to look at my personal experiences with money.

(One reader recently said of money dates: “I want to thank you for being so generous and vulnerable and transparent every time you use specific numbers regarding your expenses and income. I truly don't have the words to adequately explain how meaningful that is for me. It's a real gift, and I'm so appreciative.”)

Upgrade to an annual or monthly subscription by March 31 to get 30% off forever!

Get 30% off forever

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• Money is mostly vibes

• Podcast: Answering your questions about becoming a freelancer

🔗 Things to catch

• Does a low unemployment rate really matter if nearly one-quarter of Americans are earning poverty wages or less?

• I talked with Anne and Melody for the Culture Study Podcast about the enduring myths of budget culture (plus Melody’s riveting Dave Ramsey experiences!).

• Since, like, a third of you also subscribe to Culture Study, you might have already learned about Jonathan Tarleton’s book Homes for Living this week, but it’s absolutely worth a second mention. Tarleton’s essay on setting policies that make housing for living in and not for wealth building is a good primer. As his Culture Study Q&A.

• As I desperately attempt to keep up with the student loan repayment saga playing out in our federal government, another update for borrowers on income-driven repayment.

• A very cool Q&A by writer Nicole Dieker Finley with me and Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni about the differences and similarities of money management between You Don’t Need a Budget and their book, Buy What You Love without Going Broke.

• One more of me talking: I joined financial planner Meghan Dwyer on Money Isn’t Scary to budget culture, the three dimensions of financial wellness and how to look past social media posts about consumption and use money the way you want to.

💬 Let’s discuss

What’s your favorite birthday memory or tradition?

How do you celebrate birthdays in your family? Are you big gifters, experience-seekers or just-another-day types? I’m terrible at celebrating myself, but I hate to let my birthday pass without note, so I’m looking for inspiration! Take this question wherever you want to go — do birthdays bring up money feelings for you? Are you doing them differently this year in light of economic blackouts, underconsumption, simplicity, etc.? How are we doing birthdays in 2025??

Leave a comment

This post contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org, so if you buy a book mentioned here, you support the author, local bookstores and Healthy Rich!

News and upcoming events:

• Writers, save the date! On May 17, I’m presenting a virtual workshop for the NSU Alvin Sherman Library on How to Start Freelancing, open to anyone who registers.

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• The myth of employment

• Money date No. 18: One huge move and a little bit of hope

🔗 Things to catch

• A comprehensive guide on where to file your taxes for free, get free assistance, disaster relief options and more from .

• If life is hard right now, you’ll definitely find something to make it better in this list from .

• Parenting writer on why she doesn’t tie her kids’ allowances to chores (and why there’s no “right” way to do allowance).

• Don’t want to drop $20,000 on an engagement ring to keep up with “tradition”? Good news! That tradition is corporate nonsense.

• Why is not doing a no-buy year — and what she’s doing this year instead.

• How worried should we be about ongoing and future inflation? Maybe… a little, says economist .

• Before worrying about a plummeting hiring rate, make sure you have all the data (from someone who knows what she’s talking about, like ).

💬 Let’s discuss

What’s your allowance experience?

Did you receive an allowance as a kid? Was it tied to chores? If you have kids, do you offer an allowance? Do they have to meet any requirements to receive it? What have you learned about allowance based on your experiences?

Leave a comment

News and upcoming events:

• If you’re around Portland or Seattle, pick up a signed copy of my book! I signed them at Annie Bloom’s Books and Powell’s on Burnside in Portland, and at Elliot Bay Book Co. in Seattle.

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• You don't have to pay your student loans if you don't want to (2025 update)

• Podcast: How (and why) to turn yourself from a saver into a spender

🔗 Things to catch

• I talked with Melinda Wenner Moyer at Now What about money and parenting — including whether you really need to save for your kid’s college tuition.

• 30 lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now to show people the resistance is thriving and they’re welcome to join from the brilliant organizer Garrett Bucks.

• Keep calling your reps in Congress. If you don’t know what to say, pick one of these questions.

• 10 creative ways to pay it forward this Black History Month, from Robin Divine, with tons of resources to find Black-owned businesses.

• Thank you to LA Bourgeois for saying the perfect thing about You Don’t Need a Budget: “This is not a book for everyone. It’s for the weirdos and the outcasts, the impoverished and those who live unconventional lives.”

• This message from Dan Savage: “Keep fighting, keep dancing.”

💬 Let’s discuss

How do you hold the ones you love?

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day (or Galentine’s Day??)? What are you favorite traditions? Who are you favorite Valentines (partner, spouse, kids, friends)? If you opt out of the holiday — why? What other lovely traditions do you share with the people you love? What else brought you joy this weekend?

Leave a comment

This post contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org, so if you buy a book mentioned here, you support the author, local bookstores and Healthy Rich!

I’m noticing a lot of folks settle into the new year, the new presidential administration, the new reality — figuring out what our roles will be, how we’ll move forward. I’m curating quiet moments, searching for simplicity. Amid the chaos of this transition, I barely thought to set goals for 2025, but as the fog lifts, I’m looking forward to the possibilities of this year. Spreading a new way of talking about money, finding my community, resisting fascism — a day in America.

Onto this week’s round up.

News and upcoming events:

• Excited to see you in Portland on Tuesday! Meet me at Annie Bloom’s Books at 7pm — and order your book here to pick it up at the event :)

• Reminder that I’m always taking questions for the Healthy Rich podcast — ask me anything!

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• Simplicity as resistance

• Money date No. 17: Finally making some changes

🔗 Things to catch

• ’s notes from a month without Amazon.

• So excited for ’s new book, Hello Cruel World! about raising terrific kids in terrifying times!

• "Don’t internalise the idea you’re bad with money, when really you’re underpaid.”

• Another fabulous follow on Notes: and her delightfully whimsical outfits (is this fit checks??).

• I joined KC Davis on Struggle Care to talk about a new approach to debt and our fascination with shame to force people to change.

• Not new, just a pleasant retreat from our modern shit show: I’m re-watching the Peter Jackson Beatles documentary Get Back — if you didn’t think it was worth eight hours of your time when it came out in 2021, I recommend rethinking!

💬 Let’s discuss

How are you feeling about your 2025 goals/plan/challenges/experiments?

Did you set goals for the new year? Did you try any challenges or experiments during January? How did it go? What changed for you over the course of the month-that-was-a-year of January? How are you adjusting going into February?

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