Want money advice that you can actually understand? So much money advice ignores who we are, our background, our values, and our emotions. I’ll show you how to be in better control of your money every week, even if you’re just starting out.
😌 We're not always looking for solutions
Howdy,
My partner has taught me many invaluable lessons. One of them is that sometimes when folks talk about their problems, they aren’t necessarily looking for solutions. Sometimes, they just want to talk. They want to be heard.
Lately, a lot of my conversations about with people and money have been like this — folks are frustrated with circumstances outside of their control, higher interest rates, student loan payments resuming, inflation, an impossible housing market, and for my fellow Angelinos, the trickle-down impact from the 148-day-WGA strike.
This week’s episode features a financial expert, who is also an author and speaker. Berna Anat. But unlike my typical conversations with financial experts, we aren’t coming to you with solutions. Instead, we had a very candid, honest, real conversation about our own struggles as creators who make money in an economy that monetizes attention.
So, if you’re struggling with your finances right now, I hope my conversation with Berna helps you feel like you’re not alone.
Your friend,
1.🗣️Money Out Loud with Berna Anat (Weird Finance) In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco talks to Berna Anat (@heyberna) about becoming an influencer in the personal finance space, the complicated relationship between social media as a tool for both earning money and reinforcing scarcity and lack, the various ways influencers can make money, the pitfalls of relying on an algorithm for income and the pros and cons of being paid to be yourself.
2. 👚 Never Acquire Clothes the Same Way Again (The Atlantic) You can transform your relationship to shopping with just a few basic sewing skills.
3. 💔 The 'Capitalism is Broken' Economy (Culture Study) “It’s not the labor force that’s breaking. It’s the economic model.”
4. 🤓 A bookkeeping thing - What is job costing and why is it important for your production company. (HYG Original)
5. 🏡 TikTok’s Landlord Influencers Want You To Stop Being Mad and Start Landlording (VICE) Extremely online landlords are regularly told their jobs are “inherently corrupt” and that they, personally, are "greedy animals.” But they claim their mission is noble—and that they deserve some sympathy too. “If you're mad at landlords, you're probably mad at all capitalism. Because the tomato that you spent 50 cents on also cost five cents. […] I think that people who are chronically ill might feel the same way about their pharmacists.”
6. 😥 How to Deal With Financial Trauma (The New York Times) Experiences like economic hardship or medical expenses can distort people’s feelings and behaviors around money, causing them to sabotage their financial futures.
7. 👔 You Probably Shouldn’t Work at a Startup (Every) “There are a few select cases where startup employment makes sense! But they are so rare, and it’s so easy to fool yourself into thinking a bad opportunity is a good one, that I recommend extreme levels of caution before signing anything that’ll bind you to a fledgling company’s fate.”
8. 🌎 Astra Taylor’s Age of Insecurity (The New Yorker) “Today, many of the ways we try to make ourselves and our societies more secure—money, property, possessions, police, the military—have paradoxical effects, undermining the very security we seek and accelerating harm done to the economy, the climate, and people’s lives, including our own.”
If you have a question you’d like me to answer on the Weird Finance podcast, you can leave me a voicemail at 1-833-ASK-PACO. You can also email me your question by replying to this email or emailing us at weirdfinancepod@gmail.com.
The Nerdletter by Paco de Leon
Want money advice that you can actually understand? So much money advice ignores who we are, our background, our values, and our emotions. I’ll show you how to be in better control of your money every week, even if you’re just starting out.
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