Money, money, money, money...MON-NAY

steeling myself for back-to-school spending

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This week on the show, we are re-sharing an episode of Death, Sex & Money that is one of my all-time favorites. I interviewed a former debt collector named Angela, and we got deep into consumer debt, our moral frameworks around spending, and judging others’ debt more harshly than our own. 

Listen to “A Former Debt Collector’s Unpaid Bills.”

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Money is on my mind this week as my family prepares for two major transitions: back to school and our migration back to Berkeley after our summertime in Wyoming. This annual transition always comes with a sticker shock. 

Things cost less in Wyoming than in Berkeley, from gas and food to vet appointments and oil changes. When we’re in Wyoming, we’ve got the added benefit of having grandparents nearby for regular shared meals and date nights, so we also save a lot on groceries, takeout, and babysitters.

Moving between these very different lifestyles — not to mention housing markets — always reminds me how varied our spending, saving, and debt lifestyles can look in the United States.

While financial advice and internet budget calculators can feel pretty boilerplate, what’s normal — or even advisable — is particular to your household structure, community type, life phase, and value system. Remember that the next time you’re anxiety-googling about money!

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A question for you: Is something big changing in your financial life as the seasons shift this year?

Tell me about it in the comments, whether you’re trying out a new system or absorbing a change in saving or spending.

And generally, are you feeling abundance or more of a sense of scarcity?

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In a spirit of sharing and productive internet clicking, here are a few headlines about life and money that I was glad I read in the last week. They’re not all comforting, but they each left me more clear-eyed about current money possibilities and pitfalls.

Tim Walz Doesn't Own Any Stocks—The Minnesota governor’s personal finances look a lot different than those of the national politicians we’ve become used to. Zina Kumok wrote a follow-up article in Slate about public pensions and portfolios.

All the Nitty Gritty on How Another Family Spends Its Money – It’s a very different retirement picture from a young family living in the San Francisco Bay – an engineering supervisor and a nonprofit administrator. I love detailed money columns, and this one made me think a lot about the tradeoffs we make when we settle in expensive cities. It’s a Sustack collaboration between Katherine Goldstein’s The Double Shift and Lindsay Stanberry’s The Purse. Both are worth subscribing to if you’re curious about the concrete details of how families of all sorts are trying to make due. 

How One Man Lost $740,000 to Scammers Targeting His Retirement Savings — A newly retired friend told me about a wild series of threats and demands he was met with after he called what he thought was the customer service line for a bank. It was a scam, and a similar thing happened to this retiree profiled by the New York Times. He lost nearly all his retirement savings with little recourse — and maybe even owes a hefty tax bill.

Real Estate Commission Rules Are About to Change. Here's How It Could Affect Home Buying - As if shopping for a home were not already deflating and confusing enough, get ready for “a little bit of a wild ride” as buyers and brokers renegotiate the terms of their relationship.

The Multigenerational Living Arrangement is on the Rise for Good Reason—Nearly 1 in 5 Americans lived in a multigenerational home in 2021, and this piece does a good job outlining the upsides, hazards, and best practices—like “Figure out food.”

Millions of Student Loan Borrowers Are Getting New Details on Qualifying for Biden's Broader Debt Cancellation Plan Coming This Fall – If you have a federal student loan, check your email. And if you still have questions, remember that Death, Sex & Money’s expert friend Betsy Mayotte is an excellent resource at freestudentloanadvice.org.

Until next week,

Anna

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Listen to our latest Death, Sex & Money episodes

8/6 A Former Debt Collector’s Unpaid Bills

7/30 Olympic Legend Greg Louganis on Outliving and Outperforming Expectations

7/23 What’s Missing from the Opioid Overdose Conversation

7/16 The Mayor of the Most Controversial City in the U.S.

7/9 Sex Parties and Shakespeare with Carvell Wallace

7/2 Baby Reindeer’s Intimacy Coordinator on Sex and Trauma on Screen

6/25 Kara Swisher and Orna Guralnik on How To Get People Talking

6/18 Mark Duplass on Making Money, Mental Health and Midlife