We've got some range for you today: Dissecting the recommendation to spend 30% on your housing (and if it's outdated), stories of folks receiving inheritances and homes from their parents, and a social experiment on gender and appearance.

Welcome back to #RichGirlRoundup, Money with Katie's weekly segment where Katie and MWK's Executive Producer Henah answer your burning money questions. Each month, we'll put out a call for questions on her Instagram (@moneywithkatie). New episodes every week.

Reminder: This is not financial advice; we are not certified financial professionals—please do your own due diligence.

Transcript, show resources, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/30-housing-rule.

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If the entire US economy were worth $1,000, a few of those dollars would be driven by music and movies. Of those few dollars, just three people (of whom one is imaginary) were at the helm in 2023, driving 30 cents of it on their own: Barbie, Beyoncé, and Taylor, who together generated around $10 billion in economic value last year. 

But despite this strong showing, women's media is still consistently belittled. Author, culture commentator, and host of the popular Be There in Five podcast, Kate Kennedy joins me to unpack the ways society often delegitimizes women's interests, how pop culture shapes actual culture, and the (financial) power of women's storytelling.

Transcripts, show notes, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/womens-economic-power

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If your loved one keeps making bad money decisions, should you intervene? And if so, what’s the best way to approach it?

Welcome back to #RichGirlRoundup, Money with Katie's weekly segment where Katie and MWK's Executive Producer Henah answer your burning money questions. Each month, we'll put out a call for questions on her Instagram (@moneywithkatie). New episodes every week.

Reminder: This is not financial advice; we are not certified financial professionals—please do your own due diligence.

Transcript, show resources, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/money-intervention.

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Most of our listeners probably know they should be involved in the ~marital finances.~ But very few people, it seems, understand how signing a marriage contract legally changes their financial rights (I know I didn't back when I got married!).

Whether you’re single and considering marriage one day, already happily married, or experiencing divorce, this episode is a must-listen. Content warning: This episode includes stories of intimate partner violence as well as financial abuse.

This is not financial or legal advice—please do your own due diligence, as laws vary by state.

Transcripts, show notes, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/marriage-financial-rights.

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Rich Guy Gavin asks, "Is the 15-year mortgage worth it?" Plus, given how few people can afford them nowadays, Katie and Henah chat through if the 15-year mortgage is dead. We run the numbers, the factors to consider, and some workarounds to make the 30-year mortgage more appealing.

Welcome back to #RichGirlRoundup, Money with Katie's weekly segment where Katie and MWK's Executive Producer Henah answer your burning money questions. Each month, we'll put out a call for questions on her Instagram (@moneywithkatie). New episodes every week.

Reminder: This is not financial advice; we are not certified financial professionals—please do your own due diligence.

Transcript, show resources, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/rgr-15-year-mortgage.

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The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins is financial independence canon. The premise boils down to elegant simplicity: Spend 50% of your income and invest the other 50% in one specific index fund, VTSAX. We ask the Godfather of FI about it all—covering everything from his reliance on VTSAX and the American economy, to managing market crashes, to the debate over homeownership.

Reminder: This is not financial advice; please talk to a certified financial professional and do your own due diligence.

Transcripts, show notes, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/simple-path-to-wealth-jl-collins

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Rich Girl Liz H. wanted to know: "How do I know if I'm too 'liquid?'" Chances are, you probably do have too much in your emergency fund—Katie and Henah chat through mental blocks and reframes to consider, when you might want to save more, and what Katie personally keeps in her own accounts.

Reminder: This is not financial advice; we are not certified financial professionals—please do your own due diligence.

Welcome back to #RichGirlRoundup, Money with Katie's weekly segment where Katie and MWK's Executive Producer Henah answer your burning money questions. Each month, we'll put out a call for questions on her Instagram (@moneywithkatie). New episodes every week.

Transcript, show resources, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/rgr-too-much-cash.

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Low-wage work is more prevalent in the US than any other high-income nation—and we've essentially seen 50 years of stasis in anti-poverty efforts. After reading four different books about why the US has such a difficult time minimizing poverty despite having relative abundance, we deep dive into the main issues that keep the poor in place. We also talk about ways to solve for poverty, like readdressing policy, improving allocations for spending, and more.

Transcripts, show notes, production credits, and more can be found at https://moneywithkatie.com/poverty-in-the-us.

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An Austrian heiress made headlines when she announced she would let 50 strangers decide what to do with $27M USD of her inheritance. Katie and Henah discuss the potential impact of this kind of social experiment, how the lack of inheritance and estate taxes disproportionately support inequality, and why "generational stability" might be worth striving for more than "generational wealth."

Welcome back to #RichGirlRoundup, Money with Katie's weekly segment where Katie and MWK's Executive Producer Henah answer your burning money questions. Each month, we'll put out a call for questions on her Instagram (@moneywithkatie). New episodes every week.

Transcript, show resources, production credits and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/austrian-heiress-experiment

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The abuse of prescription drugs on college campuses has skyrocketed in the last 10 years—and by extension, so too has the intricate ecosystem of college-aged dealers and distribution networks. So today, we're covering a multimillion-dollar fraternity drug ring scandal at the College of Charleston with the investigative journalist, Max Marshall, who covered it in his book, Among the Bros. We talk about power, privilege, and the near-total lack of consequences in this story — and how it serves as a bit of an allegory for the real world.

Need a primer on the various names involved in this story?

Transcripts, show notes, production credits, and more can be found at: https://moneywithkatie.com/fraternity-drug-ring.

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