{"id":508,"date":"2025-05-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T18:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:30:20","slug":"to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love","status":"publish","type":"essays","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/","title":{"rendered":"To Personal Finance, My First True Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Over the long weekend, I was toying with a creative prompt: \u201cWhat are you afraid to write?\u201d Reflecting on the last dozen interviews I\u2019d done for <\/em>Rich Girl Nation<\/span><\/a>, the answer took the form of a complicated love letter to the self-help genre that raised me.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

To personal finance, my first true love:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our love affair began in 2018 as many love affairs do: in the desperate heat of a late summer evening. It was an immediate, overwhelming infatuation that consumed my thoughts and warped my focus. I\u2019d sneak away to private conference rooms where I could indulge the fantasy on my laptop, safe from prying eyes, and sensed even then it was only a matter of time before I\u2019d blow up my 10-year plan so our courtship could unfold out in the open. <\/p>\n

Your rules-based structure made the whole world feel pure, orderly, and limitless, keeping me up late to read and waking me early to write. Unable to contain my enthusiasm about our new relationship, I shook my affection like champagne and sprayed it all over the page, becoming fluent in the clean-cut language of responsibility and risk management. For a while, things were easy, good. We were happy. <\/p>\n

Then, as is usually the case, the cracks started to show. I never really cared for your friends, who seemed unbothered by the irony of lecturing about the importance of frugal living from the captain\u2019s seat<\/span><\/a> of a private plane. The wealthier they became from selling middle-class people bridges to make ends meet, the more openly they adopted politics<\/span><\/a> that pried open the gap their work supposedly existed to close, pulmonologists moonlighting for Big Tobacco. This lent the advice an air of tender betrayal, landed gentry atop real estate empires<\/span><\/a> issuing edicts for how to navigate unaffordable housing. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>For a field so proud of its mastery of numbers, the impossibility of the math bewildered me after I noticed median incomes were no longer able to buy median lives.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

For a field so proud of its mastery of numbers, the impossibility of the math bewildered me after I noticed median incomes were no longer able to buy median lives. Suspicion rusted in my gut that our answers were really only for those who had managed\u2014through combinations of birth, luck, or brilliance\u2014to avoid the multiplying sand traps of our economic system long enough to turn a little into a little more. <\/p>\n

Still, no one loves financial literacy programs more than those in power, because as with shuffling the holdings in a managed mutual fund, all the action leaves the noble impression of doing one\u2019s job. Those who ruled over state and corporate budgets alike were more than receptive to the idea that what workers needed most was not more money, time, or access\u2014all hard, expensive\u2014but the costless grace of knowledge. Financial literacy granted easy absolution to lenders extending subprime mortgages or multinational corporations cannibalizing a community\u2019s small businesses or private equity firms looting pensions. It allowed power the perfect alibi that someone should\u2019ve known better. <\/em><\/p>\n

Before long, our once-natural communication became tense and strained, my repeated questions unaddressed. There was no satisfying explanation for why the median citizen of countries with lower levels<\/span><\/a> of fiscal sophistication still managed to accumulate more wealth<\/span><\/a>, beyond the assurance that Americans were just uniquely bad with money. The years wore on and the cost of living crisis deepened and still, the commandments remained faithfully unchanged: Avoid debt, only spend on what you value. But what about the half of Americans who just valued making rent on time<\/span><\/a> or finding a pediatrician who accepted Medicaid<\/span><\/a>? The fault never lay with the predator, only the prey; the preferred mode of protection from payday lenders and claims adjusters was better education, not legislation. These dead ends compounded like interest, our joint account approaching default. Love, once curdled, can feel rotten. Preaching our gospel started to feel rotten, too. <\/p>\n

Where, then, does that leave us?<\/p>\n

All this time I felt you were asking me to overlook too much, but maybe I\u2019ve been asking too much of you, too. Would things really be better in your absence, or would even more of us simply get washed away by the creeping tide of institutional landlords and \u201cbuy now, pay later\u201d? Having a financial plan means retiring with between two and three times<\/span><\/a> as much\u2014that has to count for something, even if it\u2019s nowhere near enough. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>Would things really be better in your absence, or would even more of us simply get washed away by the creeping tide of institutional landlords and \u2018buy now, pay later\u2019?\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Our toolbox might contain only the insufficient manual levers of austerity and tax breaks\u2014the triple threat of the HSA fund for the $100 emergency room ibuprofen; the 529 plan for the multi-six-figure education\u2014but refusing to use them won\u2019t make a power drill appear. Still, shielding people from awareness of their vulnerability only makes them more vulnerable. An empowerment that fashions tiny, striving capitalists out of every individual sunders them from their source of real power\u2014each other. This is a truth I can\u2019t unsee. And even if you won\u2019t admit it, I think you see it, too.<\/p>\n

I suppose I\u2019m not angry with you, personal finance. <\/em>I\u2019m angry with the world that made you so necessary. We\u2019ve grown apart, but maybe we still want the same thing: to make money make sense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the long weekend, I was toying with a creative prompt: \u201cWhat are you afraid to write?\u201d Reflecting on the last dozen interviews I\u2019d done for Rich Girl Nation, the answer took the form of a complicated love letter to the self-help genre that raised me. To personal finance, my first true love: Our love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2504,"template":"","meta":[],"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","essays","type-essays","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nTo Personal Finance, My First True Love - Money with Katie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Personal Finance, My First True Love - Money with Katie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the long weekend, I was toying with a creative prompt: \u201cWhat are you afraid to write?\u201d Reflecting on the last dozen interviews I\u2019d done for Rich Girl Nation, the answer took the form of a complicated love letter to the self-help genre that raised me. To personal finance, my first true love: Our love […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Money with Katie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T18:30:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-1024x683.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/\",\"name\":\"To Personal Finance, My First True Love - Money with Katie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-26T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T18:30:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Essays\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"To Personal Finance, My First True Love\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/\",\"name\":\"Money with Katie\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To Personal Finance, My First True Love - Money with Katie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"To Personal Finance, My First True Love - Money with Katie","og_description":"Over the long weekend, I was toying with a creative prompt: \u201cWhat are you afraid to write?\u201d Reflecting on the last dozen interviews I\u2019d done for Rich Girl Nation, the answer took the form of a complicated love letter to the self-help genre that raised me. To personal finance, my first true love: Our love […]","og_url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/","og_site_name":"Money with Katie","article_modified_time":"2025-09-03T18:30:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-1024x683.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/","name":"To Personal Finance, My First True Love - Money with Katie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png","datePublished":"2025-05-26T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T18:30:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1706},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/to-personal-finance-my-first-true-love\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Essays","item":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"To Personal Finance, My First True Love"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/","name":"Money with Katie","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essays\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essays"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essays"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}