Everyone's hyped about the new Trump Accounts - free $1,000 from the government for your kids born 2025-2028? Sign me up! But let's talk about what actually happens when you dig into the tax treatment, because... yikes.

In this episode, I break down the double taxation problem nobody's talking about. You put in after-tax money, it grows, and then you get taxed AGAIN when you pull it out. Meanwhile, there are a half-dozen better options sitting right in front of you: 529 plans, custodial accounts, custodial Roth IRAs, even a regular brokerage account.

Here's the deal: If your kid qualifies for the free $1K, take it and move on. If they don't? There's literally no reason to use a Trump Account. Your money will be better off somewhere else.

We'll talk through what Trump Accounts actually are, compare them to the alternatives, and I'll share what I tell my clients (spoiler: it's not "open one immediately").

Chapters:

• What is a Trump Account? (And why it's not a good move for most people)
• The tax problem explained in plain English
• Better alternatives for your kid's money
• Should you take the free $1K? (Spoiler: yes)

Got questions about Trump Accounts? Have you already opened one? Drop me a line, I want to know what you've heard!

Season 2 is here—thanks to my brother Dave Rawat for the fresh music. Let's build wealth that actually makes sense.

In this episode I share why I will never make a "how to budget for your summer vacation" episode, what I actually do instead (including how my family buys one-way tickets to Delhi every summer and wings it from there), and why the thing you actually need to work on probably isn't a spreadsheet.

Also: we hit 100 downloads! Ahh! Thank you for being here.

In this episode, we're talking about why traditional budgeting advice might actually be keeping you stuck - and what to do with that energy instead. If you've built something real, you're earning well, and you're still financially anxious despite doing all the right things, this one is for you. We get into the real opportunity cost of the subtraction mindset, why ikigai is actually a financial framework, and what it looks like to stop making your budget the main project and start making yourself one instead.

The first thing I did this week was eat an Egg McMuffin. And that somehow managed to create a theme that I'll be exploring in this episode.

What happens when we decide to indulge ourselves? What happens when we drop a ball? How do we reconcile wanting to live a rich, full life with the fact that we have responsibilities that demand more of us?

I'm exploring all of that and more today. Be sure to listen to the end where I share the reframe that changed how I think about dropped balls, and why it has nothing to do with what we believe we deserve.

What if the most effective financial strategy isn't a budget? What if it was desire?

This week, I ran an experiment. Every financial decision I made, I asked myself one question first: do I actually want this?

Not should I want it. Not is it in the budget. Just... do I?

What I found was counterintuitive and genuinely useful.

In this episode:
- Why there are three kinds of desire (and only one of them is actually yours)
- The lunch I skipped, the dinner I went to anyway, and the iced tea that changed how I think about spending
- Why forbidden things feel more urgent than they are, and what happens when you stop making them forbidden
- The one-purchase experiment you can try this week

Turns out, tuning into what you actually want isn't indulgent. It might be the most honest money move you make.

Do you feel fine about money - until you actually look at it? Or maybe you have a plan, you trust it, and somehow money conversations still make you tense. You're not broken. You're just missing one piece. This episode is about what that piece is, why it matters more than anything else in your financial life, and what it looks like when all three finally click into place.

Meera took a Pilates class this morning and almost didn't go, because the last time she tried Pilates, six years ago, she hated it. What changed wasn't the exercise. It was everything around it.

In this episode, she unpacks why that matters for your financial life. A better financial advisor helps, but what if the whole model is the mismatch? What if the way mainstream finance was built just... wasn't built for you?

Meera talks about moving from the modalities that felt like boot camp to the ones that actually fit her body (hiking, climbing, lifting) and what it looks like to bring that same permission into your relationship with money. She also tells the story of her doula, Flame, who carried her through both pregnancies with zero anxiety and full support, and asks why we curate every important relationship in our lives except this one.

Your financial life doesn't have to feel like pulling teeth. There's a version of this that actually feels good. And that version works better.

A friend of mine is retired, sold his company for multiple eight figures, and recently told me that the worst place to be financially is between $10 and $100 million. Too much in taxes. Not enough freedom.

I sat with that for a second. Because for most of us, a net worth anywhere near that range sounds like the finish line. But what that conversation revealed is something I see constantly: the finish line keeps moving. For everyone. At every level.

This episode is about that feeling. Where it actually comes from, and how to resolve it. Because the answer isn't more money. It's something more specific, more accessible, and available to you right now at whatever income level you're at.

Four client stories. Four versions of the same gap. One simple framework that closes it.

I was not supposed to be a financial advisor. And I became one for the most unexpected reason: because I realized that money might be the most powerful tool for good, and that most women aren't using it yet.

In this first episode, I'm sharing the origin story: the corporate finance firm, the Strengths Finder results that made my coworkers laugh (connectedness, positivity, belief - apparently more yoga instructor than financial advisor), and the accidental, messy, knees-on-the-earth path that led to building something completely different.

If you've ever felt like money was a world that wasn't built for you — you're right. It wasn't. But something else is.