Most people have no idea what their 401(k) is actually invested in. Amanda Holden spent years working in finance, and she's here to tell you: if you're invested in an S&P 500 index fund, you own pieces of weapons manufacturers, oil companies, and AI surveillance tech.

This isn't a conspiracy theory. It's how the retirement system works.

Amanda tripled her salary at 24 working as an investment counselor for wealthy clients. She walked away four years later because she couldn't stomach helping rich men get richer. Now she teaches regular people how to invest—and she's brutally honest about the cognitive dissonance of building wealth in systems that fund war, climate disaster, and surveillance.

We talk about:

• What's actually in your 401(k) and S&P 500 index funds
• Why you can't fully opt out of capitalism (even if you want to)
• How to use index funds that screen out weapons and fossil fuels
• What a Roth IRA actually is (most people get this wrong)
• The real percentage you need to save for retirement
• Why she charges $15 for workshops instead of $5,000
• What it costs to run a business aligned with your values
• Why your labor is also an investment in the system

Amanda doesn't have a perfect solution—because there isn't one. But she offers something better: honesty about what we're all participating in, and practical steps for navigating it without pretending it's clean.

Head to my Substack for the complete breakdown of this conversation—including all the key insights and tactical action steps you can take today. Whether you're opening your first investment account or rethinking what "enough" means, I've got you covered.

Amanda Holden is the author of HOW TO BE A RICH OLD LADY (https://www.amanda-holden.com/book) and founder of Invested Development, where she's taught 25,000 students how to invest. Follow her @dumpster.doggy.

Many women who come to me for coaching say they don't know what they want. But in my experience, that's almost never true. They DO know. They just don't trust it. In this episode I break down why desire is so complicated for women specifically, how to tell if a desire is actually yours, and three practices you can start using today to hear yourself more clearly. Because the more you do this work, the more you find yourself exactly where you're supposed to be.

For a full breakdown of insights + exercises, check out the accompanying Substack post: https://open.substack.com/pub/ladiesgetpaid/p/what-do-you-actually-want-c4e?r=1b87me&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Sonja Rasula, founder of Unique Markets and creator of the popup market concept, shares her unconventional journey with money—from making $300,000 in cash to negotiating two years of free rent during COVID.In this episode of Ladies Get Paid, we talk about:✅ How Sonja bought her first house using credit card cash advances (and paid it back in one year)✅ The $28,000/month rent negotiation that saved her $672K during the pandemic✅ Why she returned a $600 designer purse and what it revealed about her values✅ Her mom's negotiation advice that helped her ask for raises at every single review✅ The mindset shift from consumption to ownership that changed everything✅ Why losing money during COVID didn't damage her self-esteem✅ Going on unemployment as a business owner—and feeling proud of itWhat her therapist taught her about finding hobbies outside of work and moneySonja's philosophy: "I love money, but I don't need it." This conversation explores what that actually means—and how separating your self-worth from your bank account can unlock a completely different relationship with risk, success, and fulfillment.Whether you're an entrepreneur, navigating a career transition, or just trying to figure out your relationship with money, this conversation will shift how you think about financial decisions and personal worth.CONNECT WITH SONJA:Instagram: @sonjasulaWebsite: uniquemarkets.comCONNECT WITH CLAIRE:Instagram: @clairegetspaidWebsite: ladiesgetpaid.comSUBSTACKFind key insights, quotes, and action steps from every episode at https://ladiesgetpaid.substack.com/

What does it actually take to bet on yourself — in a job search, a career change, or building something of your own from scratch?In this episode, I'm joined by Emily Durham, aka Emily the Recruiter, a recruiter-turned-content creator with over 1.6 million followers and the author of Clock In. We get into everything: what's really tanking your job search right now, how to negotiate even in a tough market, what burnout actually looks like when you love what you do, and the mindset shift she calls "functional delusion" — and why it might be the most underrated career tool you're not using.Whether you're job searching, thinking about leaving corporate, or building a personal brand, this one is for you.In this episode:✅ The biggest job search mistakes people are making right now✅ Why referrals matter more than a perfect resume✅ How Emily built a content business while working full time✅ The framework for knowing when it's time to leave✅ Why self-trust is a skill you can actually buildLinks:📖 Clock In by Emily https://emilydurham.org/clock-in📬 This week's Substack — key insights, quotes & action steps: 📱 Follow Emily on TikTok & Instagram: @emily.the.recruiter🎙️ Emily's podcast Clock In: https://emilydurham.org/podcast

She grew up in a household where money was never discussed — just survived. She became a mom at 19, went through a divorce at 24 with $20,000 in debt, no car, and two kids. Then she built one of the most important financial communities for Black women in the world — and had a $170,000 month.

But this episode isn't really about the money. It's about what nobody tells you: that you can be doing everything "right" and still feel broke, stuck, and ashamed — because the system was never designed with you in mind.

Dasha Kennedy, founder of The Broke Black Girl and author of Moving Beyond Broke, joins me for one of the most honest conversations I've had on this show. We talk about financial shame, food deserts, nervous system survival mode, why "broke" is a circumstance and not a character flaw — and what momentum over math actually looks like in real life.

I also get personal about my own experience going from a seven-figure business to $75,000 in debt and food stamps — and the complicated shame of swiping an EBT card while wearing a Cartier watch.

This one will crack something open for you.

🎧 Listen now — and grab all the key takeaways in one place at ladiesgetpaid.substack.com

📚: Moving Beyond Broke: The Power of Perseverance in Personal Finance by Dasha Kennedy is available at all major booksellers. Follow her on Instagram at @thebrokeblackgirl.

📚: ⁠Ladies Get Paid⁠ by Claire Wasserman is available at all major booksellers. Follow her on Instagram at ⁠@clairegetspaid.

You did the free work. You got the testimonials. So why isn't anyone paying you?

This is part two of a real, unedited coaching session with Ellie — a CRM and digital marketing specialist who has done free lead magnet audits for twenty people, gotten genuine feedback, and still hasn't closed a single paid client.

She's been pivoting between niches, trying offers that aren't landing, and wondering whether the whole thing is evidence that she's just not cut out for this. It's not. In this session we figure out exactly what's going on — and what to do about it.

You'll hear us work through why a struggling business doesn't mean you're bad at your work, why the format of your offer matters as much as the offer itself, why the sale always happens on the phone and never in your email, how to go back to warm leads you already have, why your day job is actually investing in your business, and how to manage shiny object syndrome with a real system instead of willpower.

If you have a business that isn't gaining traction, this one is for you.

Go deeper on Substack plus a 7-day plan for how to turn these insights into action steps: https://open.substack.com/pub/ladiesgetpaid/p/stop-spinning-start-building?r=1b87me&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Learn more about working with Claire at https://ladiesgetpaid.com/coaching/

If you've ever frozen when an interviewer asks "why do you want to leave your business?" — this one's for you.

This is a real, unedited coaching session with Ellie, a CRM and digital marketing specialist who started her own consulting business but hasn't gotten the traction she hoped for. Now she's applying for full-time jobs — and every interview goes sideways the moment her business comes up.

What we uncover: she's not telling the wrong story. She just isn't finishing it.

You'll learn how to reframe your entrepreneurial background as an asset, how to use AI to dissect any job description and find the real pain points underneath it, how to build a case study document so you never blank in an interview again, and how to answer the question that keeps tripping her up — without undermining yourself.

This is part one of two. Part two covers why her business isn't converting and how she's going to fix it.

The Substack post for this episode includes a full breakdown of every insight plus a 7-Day Progress Plan: https://clairewasserman.substack.com/

Learn more about working with Claire at https://ladiesgetpaid.com/coaching/

In Part 1 of this coaching session, we did the inner work required to maintain confidence during a job search. In Part 2, we build a pipeline to getting paid now.

Chloe — a Talent Acquisition professional with 15+ years of experience — had already built the bones of a consultancy after her first layoff. A business plan, an LLC, real work. And then after her second layoff, she quietly put it all down.

In this session, we pick it back up together: working through every block, building the offer, and by the end I write her an entire one-page website live in the conversation. We also cover why a side hustle isn't a distraction from a job search — it might be the most strategic thing you can do while you're in one. And why the moment someone pays you, you are in business.

Full website framework, AI tutorial, and 7-day practice plan at clairewasserman.substack.com.

A real, unscripted coaching session with a client I'm calling Chloe — a Talent Acquisition professional with 15+ years of experience who was laid off twice in one year and slowly stopped believing she was still an expert at anything. In Part 1, we don't start with strategy. We start with what's actually in the way: a nervous system in chronic threat mode, an unprocessed wound, and the quiet story that rejection had been telling her about herself. If you've been doing everything right in your job search and still feel stuck, this episode will reframe why — and what actually helps. Part 2 drops next: we build the business.

Companion post + 7-day practice plan: https://clairewasserman.substack.com/p/when-confidence-collapses-how-to

What do you actually want? If that question makes you go blank — this episode is for you.

In this real, unscripted coaching session, I work with a woman who has spent her entire career in service to others and yet can't answer the most basic question: what do I want? What we uncover together is that she doesn't need more clarity. She needs permission.

We cover how to identify your superpower and what's really underneath it, how your core wound connects to your greatest gift, how to build your Thrive List so you stop taking the wrong opportunities, how to stop believing your needs and others' needs are in competition, how to grieve old identities, and how to build a stable base inside yourself that goes wherever you go.

The full key takeaways and 7-day progress plan are available in the accompanying Substack post : https://clairewasserman.substack.com/p/what-do-you-actually-want-a-real