The Money with Katie Show

How do you solve a problem like the disconnect between “wages employers are willing to pay” and “wages employees need to survive”? If you’re my guest this week, the answer is: a wage subsidy.  Today on the show, I speak with Ben Glasner, an economist with a PhD in public policy and management in search of answers for how to build a fairer economy, about the benefit proposal that he says has two very critical things most proposals of this nature lack: efficient targeting and bipartisan support. We discuss: The significance of the fact that 21 million Americans earn less than $16 per hour, and two-thirds of those workers are women Why other attempts at incentivizing job creation are expensive ($100,000–$200,000 per job) and poorly targeted The target wage and proposed funding structure that Ben and his coauthor believe will minimize or eliminate fraud and make small business hiring more competitive Subscribe to my weekly newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation, one of Barnes & Noble's Best Business Books of 2025:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits at: https://moneywithkatie.com/the_mwk_show/end-low-wage-work-forever/. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since I spent last week’s episode detailing the thrilling ins and outs of making your own 2026 financial plan for wealth-maxxing, today I’m taking a hard left turn and interviewing Andrew Hartman, a history professor and the author of Karl Marx in America, a 500-page tome about which he says, and here I quote directly, “My father-in-law told me that he likes the book even though he still doesn’t like Marx.” We talked about: The limitations of theories from the founding Enlightenment thinkbois like Adam Smith, John Locke, and Thomas Paine, which mostly pre-dated industrial capitalism The "gospel of success" as an anesthetic for an uproarious working class who did not go gently from their farms into factories A surprising role for corporations, which have—ironically—done more to "socialize production" than any other modern entity The trap of thinking about class as an "identity," rather than a relationship How wealth inequality creates speculative markets and bubbles Sign up for the December 3 D.I.Y. class and see the Wealth Planner System's new features: ⁠⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.myflodesk.com/mwk-2026-planning-party⁠⁠ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation, one of Barnes & Noble's Best Business Books of 2025:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.com/the_mwk_show/freedom-capitalism-missing-revolution⁠⁠. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At this point, the annual “Plan with Me”-style episode feels like a sacred ritual. In today's show: Thinking through major tax changes, including why I finally ponied up for a CPA and what they’ll be doing Estimating and planning with irregular income Identifying new retirement contribution targets Revisiting the slush fund concept for covering lean cash flow months Penciling out a realistic spending plan Sign up for the December 3 D.I.Y. class and see the Wealth Planner System's new features: ⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.myflodesk.com/mwk-2026-planning-party⁠ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠ Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation, one of Barnes & Noble's Best Business Books of 2025:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.moneywithkatie.com/the_mwk_show/financially-plan-2026⁠. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is perhaps nobody in the financial education space who knows her way around the National Bureau of Economic Research quite like Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez. If Chapter 2 of Rich Girl Nation were sentient, it would probably sound a lot like Stefanie. Today on the show, I’m picking her brain about the current state of what she calls “the ambition penalty.” Subscribe to our Wednesday email: ⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/newsletter⁠ Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation, recently named one of Barnes & Noble's Best Business Books of 2025:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: ⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/ambition-penalty. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode of Rich Girl Roundup: 👀 A little more about the changes coming at the end of the year 🏖️ Whether mini retirements or “semi-retirements” are unrealistic (and talking through a few remaining tactical questions) 🔥 Some burnout-reduction tips we’ve been experimenting with 📍 Thoughts on shifting asset allocation away from US dominance without jeopardizing 4% rule “eligibility” 🥇 What to make of the increasingly popular advice to buy gold Subscribe to our Wednesday email: https://moneywithkatie.com/newsletter Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation, recently named one of Barnes & Noble's Best Business Books of 2025:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: ⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/burnout-retirement. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I previously joined Kate Kennedy on her show, Be There in Five, to discuss Rich Girl Nation, and we ended up talking about everything from beauty culture to women as breadwinners—enjoy. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation, recently named one of Barnes & Noble's Best Business Books of 2025:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: ⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/beauty-culture. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you frequently find yourself feeling overwhelmed and spread thin? Like you can't catch up with life, no matter what you do? If so, a mini-retirement —or 20 mini-retirements over the span of your career—might help. (02:20): Introducing Jillian Johnsrud and the idea of mini retirements (04:00): How to actually structure a mini retirement (08:55): Why you should practice retirement before you reach FI (12:30): What do you want out of your mini retirement? (20:20): Three tools to help visualize a mini retirement (28:58): How to build your narrative story (36:25): Figuring out your career alongside mini retirements (42:00): How to approach mini retirement as a high-performing professional (58:20): The finances behind making mini retirements possible (01:06:11): How to afford US healthcare (01:14:34): Trends when trying mini retirement for the first time Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: https://moneywithkatie.com/mini-retirements. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I sat down with assistant professor of labor studies and author of We Are the Union, Eric Blanc, to discuss: the euphoria and struggle of movement-building as a response to hopelessness, how mid-century suburban development undermined labor power, and why understanding (and wielding) economic leverage is critical. (05:22): The pushback against unions and why unions are essentially about democracy (08:55): How worker-to-worker organizing might be the best path forward against oligarchy (18:45): The story of Morrisha Jones and the importance of leverage (22:15): Why full employment in the economy should be a progressive priority (27:55): The obstacles that appear after a union's been formed, but before a contract's been reached (36:24): How "vibes" and culture play a role in building a movement (43:00): How unions can flourish beyond a manufacturing economy, and how the country's structure has changed since the 1930s (47:20): The impact of suburbanization on labor power (01:01:33): The connection between social justice movements and broader organizing (01:19:32): How Europe's move to the right, despite its union density, speaks to the future of the US (01:28:04): Tactical next steps and resources Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/workplace-unions. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We covered more ground than usual in this Rich Girl Roundup, because a few themes dominated your feedback and questions. On today’s show, in addition to recapping feedback to our last three episodes: (00:00): Intro (01:12): Plastic surgeons encouraging young women to set aside money in “face-lift funds” alongside 401(k)s and IRAs (14:00): Feedback to our episode, "A CFP on Outdated Advice, 'Jumping' Social Classes, & Why Money Mindset Matters" (24:38): Feedback to our episode, "Personal Finance is Broken—Can These Economists Fix It?" (44:40): Feedback to our episode, "Why the 'Double Tax' is the Canary in the Economic Coal Mine We Need to Pay Attention to" (58:20): Other listener-submitted questions Our show is a production of Morning Brew and is produced by Henah Velez and Katie Gatti Tassin, with our audio engineering and sound design from Nick Torres. Devin Emery is President of Morning Brew content and additional fact checking comes from Scott Wilson. Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/overvalued-stocks. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, I’m talking with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, a writer and researcher as well as the youngest-ever recipient of the Women’s Human Rights Award by the UN Convention. Her new book, ⁠The Double Tax⁠, is out now. We covered: (00:00): Intro (07:45): Black women as the group whose economic progress (or stagnation) signals what’s coming for everyone else (24:20): Beauty spending as an investment in respectability and social capital (50:35): The study that explored hiring discrimination and what came out of it (01:00:00): Why reputational damage is one of the only consistent levers of power that "the masses" can wield to force change (01:04:00): The rational economic case for solidarity as the only way forward during crises Our show is a production of Morning Brew and is produced by Henah Velez and Katie Gatti Tassin, with our audio engineering and sound design from Nick Torres. Devin Emery is President of Morning Brew content and additional fact checking comes from Scott Wilson. Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: ⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/the-double-tax. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guests this week, economic professors John Campbell and Tarun Ramadorai, argue that the financial system itself is a powerful contributor to wealth inequality, and that there are ways to improve it. Their new book, Fixed: Why Personal Finance Is Broken and How to Make It Work for Everyone (out October 21), addresses how the bulk of our financial issues are downstream of poor structural design, not personal shortcomings—and what we can do about it. (00:00): Intro (04:00): 🏁 How our financial system allows the upper middle class to pull away from the lower middle class, even if they start in relatively similar places (26:55): 😈 Why financial firms aren’t incented to make better products, and how “competition” produces services that exploit the human tendency for bad decision making (41:42) 🏡 The unique products in the mortgage market that might actually be underutilized (like ARMs and reverse mortgages)  (57:50): 🍼 What John and Tarun would include in a “personal finance starter kit” for every adult (like a Finnish baby box, but for when you’re a baby adult in a predatory system) (01:08:50): 👊 Where the three of us disagreed about who should be providing said starter kit Our show is a production of Morning Brew and is produced by Henah Velez and Katie Gatti Tassin, with our audio engineering and sound design from Nick Torres. Devin Emery is President of Morning Brew content and additional fact checking comes from Scott Wilson. Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: https://moneywithkatie.com/personal-finance-broken. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Certified Financial Planner® Adrianna Adams joins us to answer six questions pulled from last year’s final round of listener submissions. After poring over hundreds, I selected these for how they captured themes that find their way into our inbox frequently.  (00:00) Intro (03:40) Outdated personal finance advice (07:53) How health diagnoses could impact your FI plans (15:57) What grad students can do before earning consistent income (19:18) I'm underpaid but enjoy my work—what should I do? (30:51) How do I straddle two rungs of the class ladder after an inheritance? (36:25) I'm envious of my friends' more stable paths as an entrepreneur—should I be? Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: https://moneywithkatie.com/cfp-answers⁠⁠⁠. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s Rich Girl Roundup, we’re discussing a wide range of alternately nerdy and controversial (sometimes both) topics: 🩹 The role of insurance around the fear of impending doom 🏃 When side hustles are worthwhile 🧮 How to calculate opportunity costs when you have both savings and loans as options on the table 🤑 The theoretically rigorous case for wealth taxes 👀 Where the current economic discussion about Trump’s immigration policies is self-defeating ⚖️ Why my perspective on state-run universal services has become complicated by the last six months  …and more, including a temporary and especially thrilling new segment called “Airing Your Grievances.”  Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: http://moneywithkatie.com/side-hustles-tradeoffs. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why don’t things in the US feel like they work the way that they should? Why does life feel so much harder than it would need to be, between exorbitant costs of housing, draining healthcare expenses, and inequitable access to education? But the problems that plague us aren’t unsolvable, and in fact, other places have solved them with tactics that are within reach. So this episode, featuring the author of Another World is Possible, Natasha Hakimi Zapata, is all about solutions and hope. Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits will be available within a week at: https://moneywithkatie.com/another-world-is-possible⁠. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode with fellow money nerd, Nick Maggiulli, author of The Wealth Ladder and writer of Of Dollars & Data: 🫐 Why you might be spending too much time agonizing over small consumption choices 🤔 How to approach a risky career shift when you’ve already built financial momentum 📈 What the largest risks and opportunities are once you’ve eclipsed the $100,000 net worth mark—and how they shift after you pass the $1 million threshold You’ll walk away with at least two handy new tricks for quickly gut-checking your spending and income opportunities. Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits can be found at: http://moneywithkatie.com/wealth-ladder. — Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs. Get your copy of Rich Girl Nation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://moneywithkatie.com/rich-girl-nation⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices