TW: outing, homophobia, sudden death of a parent, complicated grief, body image.

Em was outed at 13 — before she ever got to say the words herself — and spent years being told she was too young to know who she was. This episode is about what it took to stop hiding: coming out for real on her own terms, finding her wife Paige, and building a family the way they wanted it. It's also about loss. In 2024 she lost her mom suddenly, with a thousand things still unsaid between them, right as she was stepping into motherhood herself. We talk about grief that doesn't come with a clean story, the voice from childhood that never fully goes quiet, and what it means to become the parent you needed when you were small. 

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light. 

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday! 

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters 

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🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com 

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The second Becks was born, Becky called Alex in a full panic and asked one question: "What account am I supposed to open for him?" Same energy as everyone who's ever Googled "529 vs UTMA" at 11pm. In this episode, Becky admits she had no idea where to even start, and Alex breaks down every kid investment account without making any parent feel like they're already behind.

The Solution

• Why the guilt parents feel is real, and why you can't pour from an empty cup (you can borrow for college, you cannot borrow for retirement)
• 529 plans: strong tax advantages and high contribution potential, but locked into education and penalized for non-qualified withdrawals
• UTMA custodial accounts: flexible and not tied to education, but your kid gets full control at 18 or 21, plus the "kiddie tax" and financial aid impacts to watch for
• Roth IRAs for kids: decades of tax-free growth, but only if your child has legitimate earned income (sorry, newborns don't qualify)
• Brokerage accounts: total flexibility, accessible anytime, and the account Alex and Becky both chose for their kids, with exactly why and how they set it up
• What to do if you're not financially stable yet, because there are still free, low-cost ways to start

This week's homework: If you're not stable yet, open a high-yield savings account in your kid's name and funnel birthday and holiday money into it, or just start building money habits at home. If you are stable, pick the ONE account that fits your family, not your friend's seven accounts on Instagram.

Want to ask Alex which account makes sense for YOUR family? Our Patreon members get direct access to her on Discord to ask anything → patreon.com/beckyhayter

Because money is emotional, and you deserve to feel safe with it. Love you, mean it.

Try Fidelity: https://fidelity.app.link/e/zN0pCpYeUZb

Try Monarch: Get 50% off your first year → https://monarch.com/referral/ey3kkk8c7e

Connect with us:

• Join the Live Therapy: Support the show and join our monthly live Q&As at patreon.com/beckyhayter.
• Share your story: Email us at [email protected] to have your financial scenario featured on the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trigger Warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of domestic violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and coercive control.

Lauren spent four years inside a relationship that cost her almost everything — her safety, her money, her freedom, and pieces of herself she's still recovering. She left with a one-year-old son, no car, and nowhere to go. What happened next wasn't a clean start. It was a slow, unsteady crawl back toward a life that actually looked like her.

This is what surviving looks like when it isn't pretty.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light. 

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday! 

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters 

🔹 Submit your story: [email protected] 

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com 

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every time someone mentions a Roth IRA, do you nod along and then immediately Google it the second they walk away? Same. In this episode, Becky admits she still isn't totally sure what she has or doesn't have when it comes to retirement accounts, and Alex breaks it all down without making anyone feel behind.

The Solution

• What a Roth IRA actually is and why Alex is obsessed with it (hint: the government doesn't get a cut)
• The difference between a Roth and a traditional account, explained in a way that finally makes sense
• Why just opening the account isn't enough and the one step most beginners skip
• HSAs: the triple tax advantage account that most people scroll past during open enrollment
• FSA vs. HSA, because yes, they are very different and one of them disappears if you don't use it
• The income limits, contribution limits, and the deadline most people don't know exists

This week's homework: Check your emergency fund, peek at your retirement accounts, and spend ten minutes learning one financial concept you've been avoiding. That's it. That's the whole assignment.

Want to ask Alex your specific 401(k) questions live? Join us May 14th at 6pm in our Wallet Therapy Live session on Patreon → patreon.com/beckyhater

Try Fidelity: https://fidelity.app.link/e/zN0pCpYeUZb

Try Monarch: Get 50% off your first year → https://monarch.com/referral/ey3kkk8c7e

Connect with us:

• Join the Live Therapy: Support the show and join our monthly live Q&As at patreon.com/beckyhayter.
• Share your story: Email us at [email protected] to have your financial scenario featured on the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: Infertility, pregnancy loss references, birth trauma, body image, postpartum hemorrhage, medical trauma.

One in six people will experience infertility and most of them will do it in silence. Gel did two rounds of IVF through a global pandemic, went to every appointment alone, gave birth with her husband waiting outside the building, and spent two and a half years not recognizing her own body. She's finally talking about it.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light. 

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday! 

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters 

🔹 Submit your story: [email protected] 

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com 

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: heart failure, near-death/flatline, suicide loss, domestic abuse, depression.

At three months old, Bree was given six months to live. She's 49 now — the only one left from a group of kids born with the same heart condition. We talk about being a "miracle baby" with the weight of that title, grieving the version of yourself you used to be, and the difference between existing and actually living.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light. 

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday! 

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters 

🔹 Submit your story: [email protected] 

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com 

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You make decent money. You're contributing something to your 401(k). You think you're good. But what if I told you there's free money sitting on the table — money your employer literally wants to give you — and most people have no idea they're walking away from it?

This week on Wallet Therapy, Becky admits she spent years contributing 2% to her 401(k) and missing out on her full employer match (oof), and Alex breaks down the part of your paycheck you might not even know you're leaving behind.

We get into:

• What an employer match actually IS (explained like you're five)
• Why this is step five on your money journey — and when it's okay to skip ahead
• The "paycheck illusion" and why contributing $100 doesn't actually take $100 out of your check
• Roth vs. Traditional 401(k) — and why Alex has strong feelings about it
• Real numbers: what starting at 20 vs. 30 vs. 40 vs. 50 actually looks like at retirement
• Why it's NEVER too late to start (and the math to prove it)

Your homework: Log into your 401(k) right now. Check your contribution percentage. Is it hitting your full employer match? If not, increase it today. That's it. That's the assignment.

🎟️ Want to ask Alex your specific 401(k) questions live? Join us May 14th at 6pm in our Wallet Therapy Live session on Patreon → patreon.com/beckyhater

Try Monarch: Get 50% off your first year → https://monarch.com/referral/ey3kkk8c7e

Connect with us:

• Join the Live Therapy: Support the show and join our monthly live Q&As at patreon.com/beckyhayter.
• Share your story: Email us at [email protected] to have your financial scenario featured on the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: parental death, grief, generational trauma, brain surgery, mentions of medical events.

Laura and Este grew up in the same massive Italian family — same Christmases, same wedding tables, same kitchen — and barely spoke for the first 20 years of their lives. Then Laura's dad died. This conversation is about grief, immigrant parents, generational patterns, and the cousin who became her person inside a family she'd known her whole life. 

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light. 

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday! 

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters 

🔹 Submit your story: [email protected] 

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com 

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: parental abandonment, complicated grief, dementia, caregiver burnout, complex family dynamics.

Danielle was raised by a single mom with a disability in the same small town as the father who chose not to be part of her life. Now she's parenting her own daughter while becoming a caregiver for the mother who raised her — who's living with dementia. This conversation is about growing up early, grieving a door that never opened, and learning to love in two directions at once.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light. 

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday! 

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters 

🔹 Submit your story: [email protected] 

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com 

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

70% of couples argue about money more than they argue about chores — and yet nobody teaches us how to actually talk about it. Becky gets real this week, confessing that the second she downloaded Monarch and started tracking every dollar, Leah felt like she was being audited (in her defense, the mystery $450 Amazon charge turned out to be baby formula). She's said no to dinners with friends, her social life feels strained, and now she's wondering — is getting your money together supposed to cost you your relationships? If you've ever felt the squeeze between financial goals and the people you love, this one is for you.

The Solution: Alex (The Expert) walks through the three conversations every couple needs to be having — and the mindset shifts that make them work:

• The Vision Date: Start with dreams, not numbers. Where do you want to be in 1, 3, 5, 10 years? Shared goals are what make the spending plan actually stick.
• The Monthly Check-In: 15-20 minutes, consistent, awareness not judgment. No hour-long money court sessions.
• The Emergency Huddle: When the unexpected hits, no blame — just solution.
• The 50/50 Trap: Why splitting bills equally when incomes aren't equal quietly causes financial infidelity — and why a percentage-based split is almost always more fair.
• The Friendship Tax: How to handle friends who spend at a different level than you (spoiler: the counter-offer changes everything).
• Your Most Expensive Relationship: Why your phone is quietly costing you more than any person in your life, and the 24-hour rule that helps you break up with it.

Plus, we answer a question from Anonymous — she's over 50, just told her husband about $10K in credit card debt, and he suggested separate fun accounts + a shared household account. Alex walks her through exactly where to start.

Schedule a vision date with your partner this week (or your future one — this still works solo). No spreadsheets. No numbers. Just dreams. Where do you want to be in 1, 3, 5, 10 years? Making it public makes it real.

Try Monarch (the app Becky mentioned): Get 50% off your first year → https://monarch.com/referral/ey3kkk8c7e

Connect with us:

• Join the Live Therapy: Support the show and join our monthly live Q&As at patreon.com/beckyhayter.
• Share your story: Email us at [email protected] to have your financial scenario featured on the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.