Teachers With Money: First In Class

It was Halloween. Jenelle Rawlins' kids were dressed up for trick-or-treating, and Jenelle was at home with a stack of middle school English essays that had to be graded by morning. She let her husband take the kids. She didn't even finish the essays. And that night planted a question she couldn't shake: could she really do this for 30 more years?

Jenelle taught middle school English for 16 years, and talking about books with kids was her dream job. In this episode she shares how a 4:30 a.m. side hustle as a virtual assistant for teacher-sellers grew into Site Crush Studio, her boutique web design business. She's an open book about money, so she walks through exactly how she set a revenue goal, what she didn't expect (hello, health insurance), and how she replaced her full teaching salary in her very first year. Then she celebrated with a trip to London to see Taylor Swift!

This episode covers:

• The Halloween she skipped trick-or-treating to grade essays, and the seed it planted
• Getting up at 4:30 to build a side hustle before her family woke up
• Her $20,000 nest egg goal, and why a safety net mattered so much in a family with one steady income and one that fluctuates
• Offering free work for testimonials, and the three clients who insisted on paying her anyway
• Getting paid to learn Pinterest, websites, and more on the job
• The Michael Kors purse she was embarrassed to carry into school. (The teacher money code is real.)
• Backwards design is project management. Why teachers are secretly great at running client projects
• Website psychology in plain English, and the "me, me, me" mistake on most websites
• How she set her revenue goal by working backwards from her family's budget
• No floor and no ceiling: what changed when her effort was directly tied to her income
• The champagne bottle in her fridge with her next income goal written on it

🍏 The takeaway: the skills you use every day in your classroom already count. Tell one person what you're good at, start a little messy, and celebrate the wins along the way.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Site Crush Studio, Jenelle's web design studio (mid-makeover, so you might see a "coming soon" page!) → sitecrushstudio.com
• Jenelle on Instagram (she's active in the DMs, especially with current and former teachers) → @hellojenellemarie
• The TPT Virtual Assistant Finder Facebook group, where Jenelle found her first clients (and where we first met)
• The Web Designer Academy, Jenelle's community of women web designers, led by Shannon Mattern
• Melina Palmer, whose books and podcast on the brain science behind business got Jenelle into website psychology
• The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• TPT Launch Lab, my 30-day course from your someday dream to a real, open Teachers Pay Teachers store. Code PODCAST takes it to $20 → christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If this one landed, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute, a rating or a quick review on Apple Podcasts helps more educators find the show. 🍏

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Bree is a high school math teacher in the Bay Area, in her eleventh year in the classroom. Early in her career, she started putting $500 a month into a 457(b). A few years later, she learned she was paying about 2% in fees on that account, and that a lower-fee option would cost her about half a percent. She moved her money and kept learning. Today she has nearly $400,000 invested, and she's still teaching.

In this episode, Bree walks Christa through what she learned about her own retirement accounts, so you know what questions to ask about yours. They also talk about what Bree still spends on happily (hello, safari!), how she earns extra income tutoring, and how she went from being afraid to spend to enjoying her life now while planning for later.

In this episode:

• The difference between a 403(b) and a 457(b), in Bree's words, and why she started with the 457(b)
• How a retirement meeting in her own classroom put her in a high-fee account without her knowing there were other providers
• About 2% versus about half a percent: why that gap in fees mattered enough for her to pay a surrender fee and move her money
• The first three things to look up in your own account: which company, what you're invested in, and what you're paying in fees
• 403bwise, the free site with red, yellow, and green light ratings for the providers in your district
• What Bree spends on without guilt (travel, a home she likes, grocery delivery) and where she holds back (her 2015 Corolla is still going strong)
• Tutoring over Zoom at $125 an hour, and the referral tip Christa called a cheat code: coaches want their athletes' grades up
• Being "almost too much of a saver," and what a talk at FinCon taught her about retirees who are afraid to spend
• Why teachers in every state should start posting about money, and why a small audience is a good thing at first

🍏 Takeaway: "The best time to start was 20 years ago, and the second best time to start is now." Pick an amount that feels safe, even $50 a month, and start.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Bree on Instagram: @ritual_finance
• Bree's free 5-day email series, The Teacher Investing Kickstart: ritualfinance.myflodesk.com/teacherinvestingkickstart
• 403bwise, where you can look up the providers in your district: 403bwise.org
• FinCon, the conference for personal finance creators
• TPT Launch Lab, Christa's course for opening a Teachers Pay Teachers store. Podcast listeners can use the code PODCAST at checkout: christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Bree is sharing her own experience, and neither she nor Christa is telling you what to buy. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If you enjoyed this episode, follow or subscribe to Teachers With Money: First in Class wherever you listen, and pass it along to a teacher friend who might be inspired by it.

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

On October 1, Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) announced that Premium Seller membership ends January 1, 2027. A week later, TPT held a town hall webinar for sellers to explain why. I have a TPT store, so I was there. And I showed up with a genuinely open mind! I expected math and a business reason I could respect, even if I didn't love it. I came out shocked.

In this episode I walk through what's changing (with real numbers on a $10 resource), what was actually said at the town hall, how it landed for me, and what I think sellers should know before the December 31 deadline. Not a TPT seller... stick around anyway. If you've ever bought a resource on TPT, this is about the educators you buy from. And no, this is not a "leave TPT" episode. Please keep shopping there.

This episode covers:

• What TPT is, and what changed on October 1, in plain terms
• The $10 math: $8 on Premium today, $7.75 on Exclusive, $5.20 on Basic
• Why the sellers who did the smart thing and built their own websites and memberships are hit the hardest
• Exclusivity usually pays MORE. Brand deals, Audible, and a stock video site show how it normally works.
• Inside the town hall: three reasons, a lot of "fair," and a slide that literally said "unclear"
• The "personal reflection" moment, and why it landed as a lecture
• TPT's new AI policy, plus my own business read on it
• What I'm doing with my store (I haven't decided, and I'm not letting the mad make the decision)
• Should you still start a TPT store in 2027? Yes.

🍏 The takeaway: sellers, use the time between now and December 31. Read the actual Exclusive Seller terms, write down every question you have, and send them to TPT. Everyone else, keep buying from the educators you love on TPT.

Mentioned in this episode:

• TPT's feedback form, where you can send your questions (TPT says they read every message) → ixl.com/feedback/tpt
• The TPT seller town hall recording (October 8, 2026), so you can watch it for yourself. Register at this link to view the replay → Zoom registration page
• TPT's Seller Blog post on the Exclusive Seller membership → sellerblog.teacherspayteachers.com
• TPT's Exclusive Seller FAQs for existing Premium sellers → TPT Help Center
• Audible's royalty model for audiobook creators, my example of how exclusivity usually pays more → acx.com

This episode is my opinion and my experience as a TPT seller. It's for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as legal, financial, or business advice. Please read TPT's terms for yourself and consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If this one landed, follow or subscribe wherever you listen, and pass it along to a teacher friend who sells on TPT (or shops there). 💜

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Keina Newell's Teach For America offer paid about $33,000. Her other job offer paid $50,000, so at first she thought she should decline the teaching job. Then she sat down, ran the numbers, and realized a budget could make the smaller salary work. That budget let her spend years in the classroom doing work her heart was in, and it's the same lesson she teaches today as a financial coach and the founder of Wealth Over Now.

Keina has a line she comes back to again and again: managing your money is a leadership skill. In this episode she makes the case for a budget as a tool for freedom instead of a punishment, walks through the math every teacher on a 10-month paycheck needs to hear, names the kinds of money shame she sees in her clients, and explains why you might be allowed to want a LOT more than you think you are.

This episode covers:

• Why a $17K pay gap almost kept her out of the classroom, and what made her say yes anyway
• Moving to DC for a bigger paycheck... and a $1,500 rent that ate it
• The 10-month paycheck trap: why you should budget for all 12 months, not for the size of your check
• Budgeting for the stuff that makes you roll your eyes (flat tires, haircuts, the holidays)
• Why freedom isn't the same as never looking at your bank account
• When you really do need more money, and why you still need the budget to find out how much
• The Joneses are on TikTok Shop now
• Situational shame, spending shame, and system shame, and why naming them takes away their power
• What she'd tell a teacher who feels guilty charging for her work. It involves your electric company.
• Her own money ceiling, and the question that finally cracked it: what would you create in the world if you made double?

🍏 The takeaway: your salary schedule is fixed, but you still get to lead the money that's coming in. Know your real numbers, budget for the whole year, and let yourself dream a little bigger about what's possible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Keina's Spending Plan → wealthovernow.com/spending-plan
• Her Money Shame series, all about naming the kinds of shame that keep you stuck → wealthovernow.com/money-shame
• Money Files, Keina's weekly podcast → [PASTE LINK]
• Wealth Over Now → wealthovernow.com
• Keina on Instagram → @wealthovernow
• TPT Launch Lab, my 30-day course from your someday dream to a real, open Teachers Pay Teachers store. Code PODCAST takes it to $20 → christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If this one landed, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute, a rating or a quick review helps more educators find the show. 🍏

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Jason Major has worn a LOT of name tags. Radio sales (he calls it the Monday-through-Sunday scaries), then math teacher, math coach, data analyst, assistant principal, and now principal of Denver Elementary in Chicago, in his 11th year. And somewhere in the middle of running an entire school, he wrote a book!

Subplots: Navigating Life as a School Leader opens with a line every educator will recognize: keep kids safe, help them learn, don't let the adults lose their minds. Everything else is a subplot. In this conversation Jason talks about why he built a book, paid workshops, a Substack, and a brand new podcast on top of the principal job instead of leaving to do it. He shares how he landed his first paid speaking gig (fall 2023, and he still can't quite believe it), and why the imposter feeling never fully goes away. His answer to that one is honest in the best way.

This episode covers:

• How one morning of substitute teaching got a radio guy to go back to school to become a teacher
• The line that opens his book, and the 47-checkbox facilities form that proves it
• Zero staff turnover this year (!!) and what he thinks actually explains it
• Why he chose to build a book, workshops, and a podcast alongside the principal job instead of walking away to do it
• How to start presenting: small district PDs first, put your name in, and the district leader who'd offered 2,000 teachers a classroom visit before Jason became the first one to say yes
• Imposter syndrome, moving goalposts, and a trick called cognitive restructuring
• What sustainable pace looks like on a genuinely hard week. (Close all 47 Chrome tabs. Go home.)
• How a 25-page companion guide turned into a real, published book
• What he'd tell his 22-year-old self
• Also: why he answers spam calls. We have questions.

🍏 The takeaway: you don't have to leave education to build something of your own. Jason stayed, and built a book, workshops, and a podcast one small experiment at a time. The imposter feeling came along for the whole ride. That's normal! Put your name in anyway.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Subplots: Navigating Life as a School Leader by Jason Major, on Amazon 
  • Full transparency: I coach Jason and I edited Subplots, and I say so on the mic too. It's still one of my favorite gifts for the principal in your life.
• Jason on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/jasonmajor314
• Subplots on Substack (pickleball open-play rules, spa reviews, and school life, in no particular order) → substack.com/@jasonmajor
• Jason's new podcast → https://open.spotify.com/show/033EFMOqnC5KzwXanBUzks?si=7922a6bf60784c6c
• 750 Words, the daily writing site where Jason kept an 1,100-day streak going
• The Book of Alchemy, the journal-prompt book that shaped the format of Subplots
• TPT Launch Lab, my 30-day course from your someday dream to a real, open Teachers Pay Teachers store. Code PODCAST takes it to $20 → christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

And if you buy Subplots, Jason wants to hear about it. Email him and he'll write you right back.

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If this one landed, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute, a rating or a quick review on Apple Podcasts helps more educators find the show. 🍏

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Jared Nicholson taught high school math and business for twelve years before becoming a financial advisor, and he will tell you the two jobs are far more alike than you would guess. Both come down to explaining something complicated without making anyone feel small, and both come down to genuinely wanting the person in front of you to succeed. He did not grow up planning either career. He took AP calculus his senior year of high school, worked harder than he ever had, and walked away with a growth mindset that shaped everything after it.

Now he is on a mission Christa is fully behind: helping teachers actually understand their money instead of crossing their fingers and hoping it works out. In this conversation Jared makes the case that a pension is a wonderful thing and usually not the end of the story, walks through what to look at first, and takes on the quiet shame a lot of teachers carry about wanting to build wealth at all. His phrase for it is building wealth respectfully, and it might be the most freeing thing in this episode.

This episode covers:

• Why teaching and financial advising require nearly identical skills, and why one firm started asking Jared if he had more teacher friends
• The transferable skills teachers do not realize they have, from presenting six hours a day to being handed a brand new subject and figuring it out
• Where money shame comes from for educators, and why society undervaluing your salary does not mean you have to
• What building wealth respectfully actually means, and why an honest paycheck is nothing to apologize for
• Why your pension is probably not the whole retirement picture, and the questions to ask your union rep or HR right now
• How to research your 403(b) options, because not all providers or fee structures are created equal
• Setting up a systematic savings plan so the money leaves before you can miss it
• The money basics Jared taught high schoolers that most adults were never taught, from account types to credit card balances to housing ratios
• What a fiduciary is and why it matters when you go looking for help
• Why doing one to three good financial things a year is what actually compounds, and how to start this week

🍏 Jared's takeaway for teachers: prioritize a savings plan today rather than waiting another year to feel ready. Whatever the amount, start it now and let the drops in the bucket add up.

Connect with Jared Nicholson:

• LinkedIn: Jared Nicholson, Confluence Financial Partners (LinkedIn is the best place to reach him, and he is happy to answer questions)

If this one hit home, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute, leaving a rating or a quick review on Apple Podcasts genuinely helps more teachers find the show. 💜

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this video belong solely to that author, and not necessarily the firm where they're employed. The information presented herein is not specific to any individual's personal circumstances. These materials are provided for general information and educational purposes based upon information provided to the author and from sources believed to be reliable — we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials. The information in these materials may change at any time and without notice. Any action you take upon the information you've received is strictly at your own risk. Confluence will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of this data. Confluence Financial Partners and its advisors do not offer tax or legal advice. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional. Confluence Wealth Services, Inc. d/b/a Confluence Financial Partners is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply any level of skill or training. Please refer to our Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS for further information regarding our investment services and their corresponding risks. Additional information about Confluence Wealth Services, Inc. is available on the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) website at: www.adviserinfo.sec.gov

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Last week (Part 1) was the monthly recurring bills. This week is my half, and it's the one I've been most excited about!

Part one was my husband, Grant's, territory. Insurance, escrow, internet, the subscription graveyard. One-time fixes you make once and then they just keep paying you back every month while you forget they happened. This week is completely different, because these are things I do every single week. They didn't change what I pay. They changed HOW I spend, which honestly might be the bigger deal.

And the centerpiece is a system I have genuinely never explained out loud before. Here's the conflict it solves: I'm pretty sure I was born a spender. Buying things feels good to me, it hits those little dopamine receptors, and I'm not going to sit here and pretend otherwise. But groceries are an area of my life where I've chosen to be really, really disciplined. So I turned the whole thing into two games. Game one, everything goes in the cart. Game two, how low can I get this bill. Same exact actions, completely different experience. And I swear at least half the secret to enjoying your life is just tricking your brain like that.

In this episode:

• Why I basically never walk into a grocery store
• Splitting my list between Aldi and Walmart, plus a very important detail about who actually shops your Instacart order
• The two-game cart trick, explained out loud for the first time. Game one is a Toys R Us sweepstakes. Game two is brutal. I love both of them.
• What to do if cutting the cart feels sad (split it across two days, that's what I usually do)
• The $2 pickup fee that quietly outgrew the membership that replaces it
• The only two times all year I paid for delivery, and why the convenience tax was absolutely worth it both times
• What Rakuten actually is and how you can get $50 from the get go
• My girl math, in which grocery cash back pays for my Instacart membership. Is that how accounting works? No! Do I believe it? Completely.
• Searching Rakuten backwards to decide WHERE to buy, which is my whole gift-shopping strategy
• A 20% cash back day at Old Navy, plus the category everybody forgets (it's hotels)
• Amazon Subscribe and Save, why I stubbornly refused it for years, and where it actually adds up beyond toothpaste
• A completely unhinged razor tangent. I've been gatekeeping this one for about a decade. 16 razor heads for twenty bucks.
• The Poshmark search that got me a brand new coat for half what it cost on the actual website that same day
• And then the part I really want you to hear: where I happily overspend on purpose, and why the fancy salon and the laundry service are the entire point of all of this

🍏 Here's what I actually want you to take from both episodes: none of this was about spending less. You cut hard in the places you genuinely don't care about so you can spend freely in the places you do. Personal finance is personal. I say it constantly and I mean it. Your list would look completely different from mine, and it should.

🎧 New here? Part one is the bills half. Insurance, escrow, internet, subscriptions, and the exact script for a retention phone call. It has the single most useful thing I learned all year in it.

Everything I mentioned:

• Rakuten (free cash back, and yes I freaking love it) → www.rakuten.com/r/CHRIST281426
  Sign up with this link and you get $50 once you hit the qualifying spend. That's a real number, I've gotten it, so has Grant.
• Dorco razors, the Pace 3 heads specifically. Buy the handle once, then just replace the cartridges.
• Poshmark, for the copy-the-product-title-and-paste-it-in trick
• Instacart and Instacart Plus, which is how I do Aldi pickup
• TPT Launch Lab — from nothing to your first Teachers Pay Teachers product listed and live. Code PODCAST takes it to $20. 

Affiliate disclosure: that Rakuten link is a referral link. You get your $50, and I get a referral bonus too, at no extra cost to you. I say it on the mic and I'll say it here. That kind of support genuinely helps cover the cost of making this show, so thank you. 💜

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

Now go figure out what your salon is. The thing you'd spend on without flinching if you decided it was allowed. Then come tell me! I'm @christajeanjones on Instagram and that is genuinely my favorite kind of DM.

If this one hit home, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute, a rating or a quick review on Apple Podcasts helps more teachers find the show. 💜

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Last spring Christa and her husband Grant went through every single thing that automatically comes out of their account each month. Every bill, every subscription, every auto-draft they set up once and never looked at again. The question they asked about each one was simple: is this really the best we can do. Several months later the answer had knocked hundreds of dollars a month off their expenses, and not one thing they actually love got cut.

This is not a spend-less episode. Christa is openly tired of teachers being told to feel guilty about a coffee or a pack of flair pens from Target while an insurance policy set up in 2019 quietly overcharges them sixty dollars a month. One of those is worth talking about, and it is not the coffee. This is part one of two, covering the big recurring bills, the one-time fixes that keep paying you back every month afterward. Part two is the other half of their money, the day-to-day spending that is entirely Christa's territory.

*Quick correction: I flip-flopped some numbers reading them out loud in this one! Our internet bill went from $105 a month down to $35. The $70 in savings is right, my math on the mic was not. 😅

This episode covers:

• How escrow actually works, and why lowering your homeowners insurance drops your mortgage payment (theirs went down $151 a month)
• The two refund checks nobody warned them were coming, and the cash-flow caveat to know before you switch policies
• Re-shopping auto insurance with a quote aggregator, and the $64 a month it freed up
• Why comparing coverage matters more than comparing price, and how a cheaper policy can quietly cost you more
• The exact words to use on a retention call, including the part where you stop talking and let them answer
• Why the word "retention" gets you to a department with offers the first person cannot see
• Cutting a phone and internet bill by $70 a month, and the lateral trade that made it possible
• The subscription audit that surfaced $113 a month, and why the goal is never to cancel everything
• The two savings Christa calls "kind of cheating," and why she included them anyway
• What her last year in the classroom actually paid after childcare, and why that number is a math problem rather than a personal failure
• Paying off the last of a medical payment plan, and why that one felt different from every other number on the list
• Where to start if you have been avoiding your accounts, and why the bill you dread most is the right one to open first

🍏 The takeaway: almost everything on this list was money already going out the door. Nothing about it made their life smaller. Pick the one bill you feel the most avoidant about, because that feeling is the signal, and go look at it this week. The confidence comes after.

🎧 Part 2 drops next week: the two-game trick Christa plays with her grocery cart that she has never explained out loud, the cash back that pays for her grocery membership, and the resale hack that got her a brand new coat for half price.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Insurify and Simplifi, quote aggregators for shopping insurance in one form instead of six
• 🍏 TPT Launch Lab, Christa's course that takes you from nothing to your first Teachers Pay Teachers product listed and live in 30 days. Use code PODCAST for $20. 

Christa is not an insurance expert, a financial advisor, or a personal finance coach, and says so on the mic. This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If this one hit home, follow or subscribe so you catch part two next week. And if you have a minute, leaving a rating or a quick review on Apple Podcasts genuinely helps more teachers find the show. 💜

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Neva Bowers spent years not looking at her own money. She was twenty-two, teaching high school French, and mostly just trying to survive the school day. Retirement accounts, spending, the future, all of it felt like one more thing she could not carry. So she avoided it. And as she says in this episode, avoiding your money does not mean you stop thinking about it. The bill still shows up. The retirement presentation still happens at the staff meeting. You just feel it in your body instead of dealing with it on paper.

What finally changed things was not a budgeting app or a burst of willpower. It was a group of friends who started a money club. They read books together, worked out what a Roth IRA actually was, ran zero dollar day competitions, and slowly turned a scary topic into a manageable one. That experience eventually carried Neva from the classroom to an MBA at Berkeley to a corporate career in talent development, and then to something she never planned on: coaching other people through their money. Most of her clients are teachers, because as she puts it, teachers have enough stress in their lives and money should not be one of them.

This episode covers:

• Why avoiding your money creates more anxiety than facing it, and what that low-grade stress actually does to your sleep and your health
• How a teacher money club turned personal finance into something social instead of shameful
• The five numbers Neva says everyone should know, and why most of us cannot answer them off the top of our heads
• Why systems beat willpower, and the ten minute automatic transfer that does the heavy lifting for you
• How to bridge the ten month pay gap so summer stops arriving as a financial cliff
• What to do if you are living paycheck to paycheck and there is genuinely nothing left to set aside
• The real difference between a financial coach and a financial advisor
• Why hiring help is not a failure of discipline, and the one kind of person coaching does not work for
• The small first step Neva recommends taking this week

🍏 Neva's takeaway for teachers: the first small step is usually the hardest one, so make it small enough that you cannot talk yourself out of it. Be honest about the numbers, and be gentle with yourself while you look at them.

Connect with Neva Bowers:

• Instagram: @nevathecoach
• Website: nevathecoach.com
• Email: [email protected]

This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation.

If this one hit home, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute, leaving a rating or a quick review on Apple Podcasts genuinely helps more teachers find the show. 💜

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Not every side-hustle story starts in a classroom. Nikol Toteva's starts at the front desk of a language school in the south of France. She has spent nine years as a fractional chief of staff and senior virtual assistant, the right hand who runs the life and business behind a founder, for entrepreneurs across Europe and the US. And the skills the job actually runs on (organizing chaos, managing people, keeping a hundred plates spinning) are the exact ones teachers use before 9am. You just call it a Tuesday.

This episode makes the case that being a virtual assistant might be the most natural side hustle a teacher never considered, then gets practical about it. Nikol breaks down what a VA and a fractional chief of staff actually do, which teacher skills map straight across, how to find your first clients (and where not to waste your time), what to charge, and how AI is reshaping the whole role. Christa adds a teacher-specific on-ramp along the way.

This episode covers:

• What a virtual assistant and a "fractional chief of staff" actually do all day: inbox, travel, events, lead gen, funnels, and being someone's calm in the chaos

• Why teachers are already qualified: managing 30 humans, triaging constant chaos, parent communication, and field-trip logistics is operations work

• The soft skills that matter most (emotional intelligence, reading a room, discretion), and why the tool stuff can be learned with YouTube and AI

• Where to actually find clients: the truth about Upwork now (flooded and underpriced), Fiverr versus Upwork, LinkedIn and Indeed, and referrals as the real engine

• A teacher's on-ramp: the "TPT Virtual Assistant Finder" Facebook group, and offering a few free projects to build a portfolio before you raise your rates

• What to charge: pricing your freelance rate instead of your employee rate, setting aside your own taxes, picking one rate and not negotiating, and using monthly retainers so you can plan

• How AI changed the job: Nikol uses it for 80 to 90% of her work, why "data entry" is no longer a viable side hustle, and how the role is becoming "AI manager"

• Lead magnets, translated for teachers: the "100 free art activities for indoor recess" example, and how the free thing actually works as a business

• Redefining freedom (and permission to start): why "laptop on the beach, $10k a month" is a myth, and why you don't need anyone's blessing to try

🍏 Start this week: Look up what a VA really does, and peek inside the "TPT Virtual Assistant Finder" Facebook group to see the gigs teachers are hiring for right now. You don't have to have it figured out. Just get curious.

Connect with Nikol:

Nikol Toteva (LinkedIn)

Enjoying First in Class? Two quick things help more than you'd think: subscribe or follow the show wherever you listen so you never miss an episode, and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It's the easiest way to help another teacher find us. 💜

🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday.

📩 Real money talk for teachers, in your inbox every Wednesday. Short, free, and everybody’s welcome. Join the Teachers With Money newsletter: https://teacherswithmoney.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=podcast

Come hang:

• Instagram → @teacherswithmoney
• Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones
• LinkedIn → Christa Jones
• Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab
• Got a big dream or project you keep starting and never quite finishing…? The Follow-Through is my six-month 1:1 coaching for edupreneurs and educational leaders who are ready to get it DONE. Apply here: https://tally.so/r/vGkpLl

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.