Personal Finance is Broken—Can These Economists Fix It?
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.
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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
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1:19:15
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1:19:15
A CFP on Outdated Advice, "Jumping" Social Classes, & Why Money Mindset Matters
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.
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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
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51:28
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51:28
On Worthwhile Side Hustles, Financial Tradeoffs, & Frustration with American Politicians
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.
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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
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1:36:52
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1:36:52
How Other Countries Used Their Darkest Hour to Radically Reform Their Economies
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.
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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
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1:17:53
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1:17:53
The Powerful 0.01% Spending Rule, Making Career Shifts, & When to Adjust Your Asset Allocation
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.
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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
Finance bros are out, #RichGirls are in. Join Money with Katie and her guests for conversations about where the economic, cultural, and political meet the practical personal finance education that everyone needs. Listen weekly on Wednesdays.
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