After decades of trying to make it as an actor and comedian in Hollywood, Claudette Powell felt deeply unfulfilled. So she set her sights on a radically different life -- one that required her to pay off nearly $150,000 of debt. When she finally wrote that last check, she took a vow of poverty and entered a convent. 

But leaving behind her material life wasn’t as simple as it sounded. This week: how paying off debt was only the beginning – and how money still finds a way to complicate life within convent walls.

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Hanna Sanborn was a single mom with newborn twins, struggling to find affordable childcare. Her best friend, Bryer Rossi, was burned out at work and looking for a way out. One day, Hanna floated an idea to him: “What if you quit your job and took care of my babies?” 

What started as a running joke between friends turned into a lifeline that changed their lives and the way they saw each other.

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“This Is Uncomfortable” returns with four brand-new episodes about life and how money messes with it.

This season: Two best friends, struggling with work and unaffordable child care, come up with an unconventional solution that reshapes their relationship. A woman walks away from a Hollywood career to take a vow of poverty. Our “Money Fight” series is back, following a couple whose search for a dream home turns into a power struggle. And in our new advice series, "Work Drama," we tackle your uncomfortable work questions on toxic offices and pay discrepancies.

New episodes drop starting May 1.

“This Is Uncomfortable” will be back in your feeds with brand new episodes in May, and in the meantime, we’re sharing the first episode of “Unlocking the Gates,” a series from Marketplace and APM Studios hosted by special correspondent Lee Hawkins. He tells the story of how the Minnesota suburb he grew up in went from being a place where the housing market was inaccessible to Black families to one where many Black families found economic opportunity. And it all started with a nighttime business deal.

Hard to believe, but we’re celebrating 10 seasons, and five years, of  “This Is Uncomfortable”! In this special episode, we’re pulling back the curtain to reveal the show’s origins, the biggest lessons Reema’s learned along the way and our favorite money tips from expert guests. Plus we’ll hear from you, our listeners, about the insights that have stuck with you through the years. 

We’ll be back with a new season in 2025! For special content and updates on what’s next, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Last spring, Jay Benedith and Ben Williams matched on a dating app and quickly hit it off. But just a few weeks into their budding romance, a Venmo request started to raise questions about their future together. What happens when your partner’s approach to money clashes with yours? Can nickel-and-diming jeopardize a connection? 

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This week, we’re sharing an episode of another podcast we think you’ll love. “Notes From America With Kai Wright” is a show from WNYC Studios about the unfinished business of our history, and its grip on our future. In this episode, Wright interviews choreographer Bill T. Jones about his groundbreaking dance performance “Still/Here.” Jones shares his reflections on creating such an essential piece of performance art amid the AIDS epidemic and while grieving his own partner, what he learned from spending time with the “survivors” who inspired it, and how “Still/Here” has evolved for a new generation of audiences.

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What does it mean to make a living from death? From a young age, Joél Simone Maldonado was fascinated by mortality, leading her to a career as a funeral director, embalmer and sacred grief practitioner. In the final episode of our miniseries on grief and money, Reema Khrais talks with Joél about her profession: the tough conversations around money, the toll it takes on her mental health, and why she advocates for more cultural competency in death care. Also, Joél offers tips to financially prepare ourselves for the inevitable, and Reema reflects on the personal impact of her recent experiences with loss. 

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In the early 90s, Mike Perry found himself in a tough spot. He was living a carefree life when he was asked to take in a black mutt named Wisdom. What began as a reluctant favor evolved into something much deeper — a bond that would reshape Mike’s financial future, even long after Wisdom was gone.

This week, as part of our miniseries on grief and money, we explore how our love for pets shapes our financial decisions. Mike’s journey with Wisdom takes him from heartbreak to an unexpected windfall. And then later in the episode, we ask: is there such a thing as spending too much on our pets? Reema Khrais talks with Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams about the emotional and financial costs of caring for a beloved pet in their final days.

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While sorting through her father’s belongings after his death, Amanda Petteruti came across a collection of locked toolboxes. What she discovered inside made her rethink what she knew about her family’s finances and left her with unsettling questions about her dad: Why had he spent so much money on this secret hobby? Why was it now Amanda’s burden to handle? And how do you find closure with someone once they’re gone? 

This episode is the first of a three-part miniseries exploring the intersection of money, grief and loss. 

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