On Influencers, Beauty Culture & "Corporate Confidence," with Kate Kennedy

Well, here we are—for the last time, for now. A couple weeks ago, I wrote an end-of-year letter that functioned like a little “status update” on how I’m feeling moving into 2026. In this episode, I invite back five of my favorite guests for their own check-ins. We talk about: What it feels like to finally pull the “F.I.” rip cord (and whether it “works”) How money changes relationships, and vice versa Marriage between entrepreneurs An economic diagnosis of our present moment  Things we’ve changed our minds about in 2025 This felt like the most fitting possible capstone for the year and this chapter of the show. Thank you for tuning in week after week; thank you for being along for the ride as this show has evolved over the years and as I have evolved over the years; thank you for arguing with me in good faith and expanding my worldview; thank you for engaging with this show so earnestly and consistently. Until next time! 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/curtain-call/ — 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

Today’s guest won’t surprise you if you read the introduction to Rich Girl Nation, which recollected the 2018 event that made me think personal finance might not be solely for people with brown bananas and pocket protectors. Lindsey Stanberry, founding editor of Refinery29’s Money Diaries turned media entrepreneur, joins me for the penultimate episode to talk about: Why most conversations about money are really about time What she learned about our culture from monitoring the Money Diaries comments section Leaving a job, even when it means sacrificing financial security for emotional security What’s really driving our “obsession with FI/RE” The dark side of optimization 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/lindsey-stanberry-judge-hide-admit/ — 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

Rebecca Herbst reached financial independence at age 32 during the tenuous early days of the pandemic, and volunteered shortly thereafter to be furloughed from her job in commercial real estate—and so began her (extremely) early retirement.  But spending her days exactly as she wanted featured an unexpected side effect: guilt. What do you owe to others when you’ve gotten everything you wanted? Rebecca alchemized her sense of duty and founded Yield & Spread. In detail, we cover: What the “FI-lanthropy” pledge entails How she squares the desire to retire early with the idea of “hoarding money” Where Rebecca gives for the highest impact Who donor-advised funds might make sense for, and how they work How to donate appreciated stock, and why it might be  preferable to giving cash 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/the-filanthropy-pledge/ — 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

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