New Dimes Radio

By New DimesSociety & Culture Business Investing

New Dimes Radio episodes

November 05Meghan Henry on getting help to plan & pay for elder care
The beautiful memory-care facility across the street from Renna's kid's school was $15,000 a month, and that did not include the full-time memory care her mom would need. That's the number that makes the math feel impossible. But the thing that actually changed everything for Renna wasn't a number — it was finding someone to help her make a plan, instead of trying to grit through it alone.
In this episode of New Dimes Radio, cofounders Kristen Brillantes and Renna Al-Yassini sit down with Meghan Henry, a registered nurse and regional manager at National Care Advisors, to walk through how first-gen families actually plan and pay for elder care. Meghan is the person families call to find out what their parents really qualify for — Medi-Cal, Medicare, waiver programs, housing — and how to turn an overwhelming crisis into a plan everyone can follow.
Renna shares her own scramble (her mom's Alzheimer's diagnosis landing alongside two kids starting private school, a disaster-remodel house in year three, and a dad declining in his 80s), how NCA slowed it all down, and the reframe she can't stop repeating: "We pay for all of these benefits. You have already paid for it... these are benefits we are entitled to."
They get into:
why Medicare does NOT cover long-term care and why Medi-Cal is the one payer that does
why marriage alone doesn't give you access, and the power of attorney, will & trust to get in place before a crisis
the "invisible pot of money" guilt that keeps first-gen families from claiming what's actually theirs
how to start the conversation with aging parents, Renna's "alpha daughter" spreadsheet energy, met with Meghan's co-design reframe
what estate recovery, the look-back period, spend-down & in vivo inheritance really mean for your family
and why planning ahead gives you options instead of ultimatums
This is the permission slip. It's the reminder that these are benefits you and your parents already paid into for a lifetime, that you're allowed to ask for help before you break yourself, and that you don't have to navigate a broken system alone.

ABOUT MEGHAN
Meghan Henry is a Regional Manager at National Care Advisors, where she leads and supports a team of nurse consultants across California. She provides guidance on navigating the complexities of federal and state programs, including Medi-Cal, Medicare, Social Security, Regional Center services, waiver programs, behavioral health resources, and housing supports. With more than 15 years of experience as a registered nurse, Meghan brings extensive experience in case management, benefits advocacy, care coordination, and supporting older adults and individuals with complex care needs. Meghan holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing. She is licensed as a registered nurse in California and Oregon, holds a California Public Health Nurse certification, and is a Certified Case Manager.
LINKS + RESOURCES
National Care Advisors — nationwide family care & benefits navigation
Elder Care Dime Lab — Join a 4-week Dime Lab to get your elder care plan built
ABOUT NEW DIMES RADIO
This episode of New Dimes Radio was produced by 8 of Stones LLC. Executive Produced by Kristen Brillantes and Renna Al-Yassini. This episode was mixed and sound-designed by Creative Kubo.
New Dimes Radio is the podcast for progressive first-generation breadwinners — the ones building wealth without a roadmap, holding down their politics and their portfolios at the same time. Hosted by Kristen Brillantes, Berna Anat, and Renna Al-Yassini, with brilliant guests who've figured out how to do this in ways the wealth industry doesn't talk about.
New Dimes Radio is for education and information only. It’s not individualized legal, tax, financial, or medical advice, and benefit rules and figures change often. Talk to a qualified professional about your family’s specific situation before making decisions.
🌐 Website | 📷 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🔗 LinkedIn | ✉️ Substack
(00:00) - "These are benefits we're entitled to"
(00:53) - Welcome + meet Meghan Henry of National Care Advisors
(03:06) - Renna's story: it's never just one crisis
(04:34) - The $15K-a-month shock — per parent
(05:06) - "Grit it out" vs. actually asking for help
(06:39) - How she found NCA (and had no will or POA)
(08:16) - You've already paid for this — you're entitled
(09:46) - Skip probate: get the will and trust done first
(14:00) - Medicare won't pay for long-term care — Medi-Cal does
(15:54) - A broken system and the sandwich generation
(19:30) - Medi-Cal's shifting asset test
(22:17) - The first call and what it costs
(27:24) - Middle income, share of cost, and estate recovery
(33:40) - Gathering the info and letting parents co-design
(39:20) - Choices, dignity, and not being forced
(44:24) - Hourly help: IHSS, advocacy, and case management
(49:11) - Spend-down, referrals, and sequencing with the pros
(51:36) - You don't have to do it alone — where to find NCA
54 min
September 01The W2 Trap: Why First-Gen High Earners Still Feel Broke
You did everything you were told to do. You out-earned everyone who came before you. And you're still the most taxed, most exposed person in the room, handing over 40-50% of your income one year while the ultra-wealthy report a fraction of what they make.
(Yes, the rates are tiered. 37% only touches dollars past ~$752K for a married couple. Plenty of dual-W2 tech, legal and medicine households live in that bracket and stack California on top.)
That's the trap. You did it "right," and it still never feels like enough. As Kristen put it: "when you're the highest income earner in your family, or even generationally, it can never feel enough.”
In the first-ever New Dimes Radio cofounder debrief, Berna Anat, Kristen Brillantes, and Renna Al-Yassini sit down — no outside guest, just the three of them — to name the trap they saw laid bare in Episode 003 with tax strategist Liz Hanley:
why W2 earners get squeezed the hardest
why a dual-W2 household is "very, very exposed" in a way nobody warns you about
who actually funds the government
what legal corruption looks like up close
and how the ultra-wealthy quietly get out of wages and into owning
This one isn't a how-to. It's recognition. It’s why the math feels rigged (because it is), why the anger is correct, and what it looks like to turn that anger into a strategy you build with other people instead of alone at 1am.
ABOUT THIS DEBRIEF
This is a new format for us: no outside guest, just the three New Dimes cofounders — Berna Anat, Kristen Brillantes, and Renna Al-Yassini — pulling apart a previous episode in real time.
This one debriefs Episode 003 with tax strategist and enrolled agent Liz Hanley. Kristen had to miss the Liz recording, so Berna and Renna catch her up on what shook them, what they’re doing about it, and what they’re building for the whole community next.
Listen to the Liz Hanley episode first if you haven’t. Then come back here for the inside monologue.
LINKS + RESOURCES
Liz Hanley (tax strategist & enrolled agent): lizisallbiz.com
Chanise Anderson, Esq. (estate + family lawyer who whiteboards) @thereellawyer | chaniseandersonlaw.com
Renna’s Substack tax series:
The New Dimes US Tax Glossary
Who Funds America? How the Corporate Tax Burden Shifted to Workers
The Most Taxed Worker in America is Likely You
Related New Dimes Radio episodes on tax resistance:
Ep 001 adrienne maree brown — on war tax resistance & being a vector of resource
Ep 002 Jessie-Susannah Karnatz — on financial rage & collective risk
ABOUT NEW DIMES RADIO
This episode of New Dimes Radio was produced by 8 of Stones. Executive Produced by Kristen Brillantes and Renna Al-Yassini. This episode was mixed and sound-designed by Creative Kubo.
New Dimes Radio is the podcast for progressive first-generation breadwinners — the ones building wealth without a roadmap, holding down their politics and their portfolios at the same time. Hosted by Kristen Brillantes, Berna Anat, and Renna Al-Yassini, with brilliant guests who've figured out how to do this in ways the wealth industry doesn't talk about.
🌐 Website | 📷 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🔗 LinkedIn | ✉️ Substack
(00:00) - Cold open
(00:27) - Welcome + our first cofounder debrief
(02:00) - "Shoulders down, she gets it"
(02:46) - Tax protest, it's not what you think
(05:00) - Renna's CPA body count
(08:37) - Why W2 earners get squeezed hardest
(10:19) - Who actually funds the government
(11:32) - How corporations offloaded their bill (the shoe-store con)
(13:48) - Never audited: the Trump tax shield
(15:36) - Okay, we're angry — now what?
(16:54) - Leaving tech: the dual-W2 danger
(18:24) - The real picture (two kids, private school, a moldy house)
(20:34) - Turn your family into a corporation (enter Chanise)
(23:47) - Be in the owning class: a business license at 14
(24:44) - What the ultra-wealthy actually do
(26:20) - Hold it or spend it
(28:49) - $100M made, $30M reported
(30:00) - The $1 salary, the write-off, the Texas move
(34:05) - Renna's questions before the big meeting
(38:53) - The money doula
(41:39) - What we're building (glossary + Dime Vault)
(42:51) - "My first client is myself" → talk loud, talk soon
44 min
July 28Liz Hanley on tax strategies, financial agency & the ultra wealthy
The ultra-wealthy don't sell. That's the whole trick. "They own things. They own stock. They own land," Liz Hanley says. "And so then what they do is they never get rid of the thing. What they do is they borrow against it." Buy the asset, let it appreciate, borrow against it to live AND never trigger the tax. It's the move Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are running while you get killed on your W2.
In Episode 003 of New Dimes Radio, we sit down with our own accountant, Liz Hanley — founder and head accountant at Liz's All Biz — to translate that playbook for the rest of us. Recorded three days after tax season closed, this one goes deep on values-aligned taxes: whether tax protest is actually worth the squeeze (spoiler: the IRS is almost fully automated now), why a Roth might be the wrong move when you're big mad about where your dollars go, the case for pre-tax everything, the tax-free magic of municipal bonds, the S-Corp move that saves 1099 folks real money, and how first-gen wealth builders can start owning assets and borrowing against them at a smaller scale. It's the "buy, borrow, die" strategy made knowable. Because, as Liz says, this is not calculus.
ABOUT LIZ
Liz Hanley (she/her) is the founder and head accountant at Liz's All Biz, a firm she built ~15 years ago after leaving a corporate role at Chanel Beauty as a single mother, because she was tired of making money for people who already had plenty of it. Today her firm serves over 1,000 clients, prioritizing the folks the industry overlooks, and her internal training program has launched Liz's All Biz alumni into a whole network of their own all-women accounting firms. A mother of three and a self-described political junkie, Liz is also a housing advocate who co-founded a New York super PAC for a pro-housing ballot initiative and helps rural communities navigate millions in state and federal affordable-housing funding. She literally cannot stop talking about taxes.
LINKS + RESOURCES
Liz's All Biz website: lizisallbiz.com
Liz on Instagram: @lizisallbiz
New Dimes on Substack: newdimes.substack.com
Concepts mentioned: values-aligned taxes, W2 vs. 1099 tax strategy, pre-tax retirement / HSA / FSA / 529 accounts, municipal bonds, capital gains, asset-based income, the S-Corp "lowest reasonable salary" move, "buy, borrow, never sell"
ABOUT NEW DIMES RADIO
This episode of New Dimes Radio was produced by 8 of Stones. Executive Produced by Renna Al-Yassini and Berna Anat. This episode was mixed and sound-designed by Creative Kubo.
New Dimes Radio is the podcast for progressive first-generation breadwinners — the ones building wealth without a roadmap, holding down their politics and their portfolios at the same time. Hosted by Kristen Brillantes, Berna Anat, and Renna Al-Yassini, with brilliant guests who've figured out how to do this in ways the wealth industry doesn't talk about.
🌐 Website | 📷 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🔗 LinkedIn | ✉️ Substack
(00:00) - - "They never get rid of the thing. They borrow against it."
(00:16) - - Welcome + meet Liz Hanley
(00:24) - - How are you and your wealth doing today?
(00:45) - - The fuckery spiral: why taxes feel disempowering
(00:38) - - Is there such a thing as values-aligned taxes?
(00:00) - - What actually happens when you don't pay (the automated waterfall)
(00:54) - - What "levy" means in English
(00:00) - - Penalties, fees, and compounding interest
(00:02) - - Hot take: most IRS agents are actually trying to help
(00:52) - - Values in your financial strategy, not your tax dollars
(00:51) - - Two paths: W2 girlies vs. 1099 girlies
(00:08) - - W2 is the hardest place to build: pre-tax over Roth right now
(00:04) - - 529s: a Roth for education
(00:26) - - Turning W2 income into asset-based income
(00:26) - - The 40–45% W2 bracket vs. 20% capital gains
(00:53) - - Municipal bonds: the tax-free move the wealthy love
(00:00) - - Making your life a business (and the write-off trap)
(00:07) - - Know thyself: you're the HR, the IT, and the bathrooms
(00:05) - - The heartbreaking call: pay your estimates
(00:16) - - Money shame + finding a CPA you actually vibe with
(00:18) - - What the ultra-wealthy do: buy, borrow, never sell
(00:21) - - "You don't sell your shit. You borrow against it."
(00:00) - - The S-Corp move for 1099s over $100–120K
(00:00) - - Why Liz built Liz's All Biz: education as the whole point
(00:56) - - Where to find Liz + the story behind the name
55 min
April 28Jessie-Susannah Karnatz on financial rage & collective risk
Jessie-Susannah Karnatz is a financial coach, tax preparer, and — her words — a priestess of the egregore of money. She's been tracking the conversation around tax resistance for years. When it went viral, her take surprised people: "A lot of y'all just don't want to do your taxes. And I knew that."
In Episode 002 of New Dimes Radio, host Berna Anat sits down with Jessie-Susannah to untangle the real conversation around financial activism. They dig into what tax resistance actually involves, why resistance energy is highly sacred and shouldn't be wasted, and how your individual money shadow work shows up — for better or worse — in organizing spaces. Plus: diversity of tactics, the risk slider, Sadaka, and why capitalism is a magic spell.
ABOUT JESSIE-SUSANNAH
Jessie-Susannah Karnatz (aka the Money Witch) runs a practice where tax preparation meets shadow work, and financial healing becomes an act of collective liberation. Drawing on nearly a decade as a tax preparer and bookkeeper, and the collected wisdom of her financial coaching, Jessie-Susannah brings capitalism-critical, shame-free education to healers, hustlers, and creatives who are ready to change how they move with money. She believes healing our finances brings blessings to our lives, our lineages, and our communities — and she does that work at every level, from the deeply practical to the deeply spiritual. Jessie-Susannah is the creator of Money Coven and Empress of Fortune, and the voice behind @money.witch on Instagram. Find everything at moneywitch.com.

LINKS + RESOURCES
Jessie-Susannah's website: moneywitch.com
Jessie-Susannah on Instagram: @money.witch
Money Coven (group financial shadow work practice)
Empress of Fortune (1-on-1 coaching container)
War Resisters League (war tax resistance resources)
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
New Dimes Radio Ep. 001: adrienne maree brown
ABOUT NEW DIMES RADIO
This episode of New Dimes Radio was produced by 8 of Stones. Executive Produced by Berna Anat and Renna Al-Yassini. This episode was mixed and sound-designed by Creative Kubo.

🌐 Website | 📷 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🔗 LinkedIn | ✉️ Substack
(00:00) - "Financial decisions made in a collective — there's protection there"
(00:09) - Welcome to New Dimes Radio
(01:37) - Introducing Jessie-Susannah Karnatz
(02:57) - "How are you and your wealth doing today?" (high anxiety wealth check-in)
(04:18) - Breaking Bread: the New Dimes warm-up game
(10:02) - Why Berna wanted Jessie-Susannah on this show
(12:29) - Tax protest and tax resistance: the context
(15:20) - What is tax resistance, actually?
(16:58) - Jessie-Susannah's tax-resistant agnostic framework
(21:29) - adrienne maree brown reference: collective protection vs. individual sacrifice
(23:51) - "A lot of y'all just don't want to do your taxes"
(25:09) - What is financial shadow work?
(26:41) - "Clean up your side of the street" — shadow work in organizing spaces
(27:26) - Budgeting for reparations and Sadaka: moving money in divine alignment
(32:12) - Playing inside the system: Roth, stock market, paying her taxes
(33:57) - Diversity of tactics: the full menu
(34:40) - The risk slider: a map for revolutionary money decisions
(38:34) - "Capitalism is a magic spell"
(41:20) - Where to find Jessie-Susannah: Money Witch, Money Coven, Empress of Fortune
(43:24) - Parting thoughts
44 min
April 15adrienne maree brown on war tax resistance & being a vector of resource
For 13 years, adrienne maree brown didn't pay her taxes — on principle. She was a war tax resister, writing letters to the IRS until the day her bank accounts were emptied (which she found out while trying to buy groceries). That's where this conversation starts. But it's also where it gets interesting.
In the first interview episode of New Dimes Radio, Renna Al-Yassini and Kristen Brillantes sit down with amb to talk about rebuilding financial stability, buying a property that she turned into a safe space for writers in her community, and what it means to be a "vector of resource" — someone through whom wealth can move and multiply, not just accumulate. They also get into inherited money beliefs, the politics of abundance, and Kristen's discovery of the concept of in vivo inheritance a.k.a. the wealth you transfer in your lifetime, not after.
ABOUT ADRIENNE
adrienne maree brown (she/they) is growing a garden of healing ideas. Informed by decades of movement facilitation, somatics, science fiction scholarship and doula work, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Loving Correction as ideas and practices for transformation. adrienne is the NYT-bestselling author/editor of several published texts, a ritual singer-songwriter, co-generator of the Lineages of Change Tarot Deck, and co-creator/host of How to Survive the End of the World podcast with Autumn Brown. adrienne’s latest book Loving Corrections is now available from AK Press.

LINKS + RESOURCES
amb's website: adriennemareebrown.net
amb on Instagram: @adriennemareebrown
Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown
Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown
Grievers by adrienne maree brown
How to Survive the End of the World podcast by adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown
"Composting Capitalism" essay in Women Talk Money
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
Believe in You Money by Jessica Norwood
This episode of New Dimes Radio was produced by 8 of Stones and Philo's Future Media. Executive Produced by Kristen Brillantes, Renna Al-Yassini, and Keisha “TK” Dutes. Kristen Bennett is our producer. This episode was mixed and sound-designed by Erica Huang.

🌐 Website | 📷 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🔗 LinkedIn | ✉️ Substack
(00:00) - Welcome to New Dimes Radio
(10:22) - Introducing adrienne maree brown
(12:10) - Being a first-time homeowner and using the house as a community resource
(14:00) - Asking her military dad for help navigating the process
(19:43) - "I had to stop aiming at poverty"
(20:52) - Growing up between two money worlds: poverty, horses, and pearls
(27:47) - The IRS story: 13 years of war tax resistance and what happened
(32:28) - "Enough is only enough if it can serve the community"
(35:37) - Wills, life insurance, and chosen family as a wealth strategy
(36:50) - Composting capitalism: adrienne's essay in Women Talk Money
(38:00) - "I'm a vector of resource"
(41:43) - Kristen and Renna reflect: in vivo inheritance and what adrienne's wealth activation looks like in practice
48 min
January 10, 2025Start before you're ready
This is our pre-inaugural episode—aka, our messy first attempt at a podcast. Think of it as an unfiltered love letter to starting before you’re “ready” and figuring it out as we go. Grab a front-row seat to our raw co-founder reflections about what it’s been like building the New Dimes Network just two months in bbs.
What is the New Dimes Network?
We help people build a wealth practice that supports you through all that comes with being a progressive first-generation breadwinner. From complex financial decisions to cycle breaking desires, our helps our members move with less hustle & grind and toward a life of gentle ambition.
What’s New Dimes Radio?
This podcast is our weekly(ish) co-founder couch chat where we’re breaking down the highs, lows, and laugh-until-you-cry moments of being first-gen breadwinners—and running a proudly independent, community-funded business in this economy. We’ll also be bringing on brilliant guests to help us unpack everything from financial systems to emotional baggage. Think of it as part group counseling, part guidebook, and definitely part party.
What’s in this episode?
LOL-worthy memories from our first-gen holidays.
How HOT TO GO! became our official soundtrack for first-gen struggles.
Why Berna can’t handle The Devil Wears Prada and Kristen just can’t watch The Bear.
A sneak peek into what we’ve got planned for our New Dimes Network members this January… like a special edition AMA featuring a Financial Therapist who specializes in Family Governance WHAT
What’s been giving us Super Mario Magic Mushroom energy in our first two months of running the Network.
And, a fair warning, lots of heavy breathing because Kristen is cosplaying as podcast editor and engineer. (Sorry in advance for the… auditory intimacy 😅)

Need the Big 3 Numbers Guide we talked about? Get it here.
Support our production fund
We’re scrappy, we’re self-taught, and we’re doing this thing off of hopes, dreams, and screams. But imagine how delicious this podcast could be with actual professionals behind the scenes. ✨ If you’re loving what you hear—or even just rooting for us—consider contributing to our production fund. Your support helps us hire a badass first-gen creative team, level up our storytelling, and make this podcast a sustainable part of our movement. Learn more and support us here.
Got questions?
Have a first-gen breadwinner question you want us to answer in a future episode? 👉 [email protected].

🌐 Website | 📷 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🔗 LinkedIn | ✉️ Substack
✌️ Find Kristen Brillantes on IG and LinkedIn
🙌 Find Berna Anat on IG and LinkedIn
👋 Find Renna Al-Yassini on IG and LinkedIn
(00:41) - First-gen holiday memories
(02:30) - HOT TO GO! becomes our first-gen struggle soundtrack
(06:05) - Berna’s low-key shame campaign plans for her parents
(07:12) - Why Berna can’t handle the Devil Wears Prada and Kristen can’t handle The Bear
(10:44) - A very not exciting experience with a break-in at Kristen’s family food business
(14:01) - Learning that both Kristen’s dad and Renna are litigious people
(15:12) - What else you can expect from New Dimes Radio
(17:10) - January activities in store for New Dimes Network Members
(19:31) - Witnessing our members choose to commit to their own financial care and practice
(23:03) - The Big Three Numbers Guide
(23:48) - Prototyping STFU time
(27:24) - ASMR 👅
29 min

About New Dimes Radio

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New Dimes Radio is the podcast for progressive breadwinners building and activating their first generation of wealth. Hosted by New Dimes co-founders Kristen Brillantes, Berna Anat, and Renna Al-Yassini, this is where real talk meets real action.

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