This week’s episode holds two complex truths simultaneously: That sometimes, the answer is working harder, and other times, the answer is policy, interdependence, and community. Sure, individual responsibility is important—but when we try to solve complex, collective problems with individual exceptionalism, we create a recipe wherein quality of life for all but a select few worsens over time.

Our individual wealth accumulation and experience of personal finance do not exist in a vacuum—they exist within the context of the economic policy decisions and cultural norms of our time.

You can work on your metaphoric swimming and freestyle upstream for as long as you’ve got the energy to do so, but the strength of the current is outside of your control.

Usually, we talk about your swimming. Today, we’re talking about the current. This episode features an interview with Rebecca Walker, activist and author of Women Talk Money.

Listen now on your favorite podcast player, or catch the discussion on YouTube!

“Even with men doing more parenting than before, the majority of women are still left facing the well-rehearsed motherhood-versus-career dichotomy. But it’s not a dichotomy; it’s a socially organized choice masquerading as a natural one.”—Laura Kipnis

A few weeks ago, I betrayed my better judgment and found myself wandering innocently into the comments section of a Wall Street Journal article about the wage gap. This particular article posited that the wage gap opens relatively early in a career, examining salaries for male and female students only a couple of years after they crossed the graduation stage at institutions like Georgetown Law. Its findings will be unsurprising to most young women working in male-dominated fields: Even after only a year (or three) in the workforce, there was an observable and consistent gap in pay. They found that—in roughly half the programs studied—the men’s earnings outpaced women’s by around 10% or more after three years in the workforce.

The article’s colorful comments section (1,400 strong) was populated most emphatically by Pauls, Kevins, and Tonys offering up explanations for why women are paid less than men. The split between (a) people refuting that the wage gap exists at all and (b) those who were justifying its existence was roughly 50/50, so rage-scroll at your own risk.

My favorite commenter, though, had to be Stephan, who—in an effort to dismiss the statistical significance of the article at hand—inadvertently hit the nail on the head:

“My experience as an engineering manager is that men worked longer hours. I managed a group of 9 men and 8 women. The women had kids to deal with. Their husbands/boyfriends didn’t do the kid stuff.”

Hm.

Another commenter named Julie put the entire team on her back with the most incredible refuting one-liner of all time:

“Odd, the inequity in parenting.”

This is where things got juicy, because then commenter Darren piped up. I don’t think you’ll believe this actually happened if I just copy/paste it, so instead, I’ll share a screenshot that I took for posterity (you know, so I can show my daughter someday when she’s running for president).

Keep reading to see how this unfolded (and the complicated, Girlboss-y quagmire that’s often posited as the solution).

Jamie Fiore Higgins (on her experience as a manager at Goldman Sachs) on the Armchair Expert podcast. One hour and 50 minutes of the sound of red flags flapping in the wind.

Workshopping my “Pick Me Bro” theory. I might be spending too much time online, but I think I’m onto something with this one.

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Well, my friends, the time has come—we’re almost done with a couple months of development and testing for the 2023 Wealth Planner, and boy, did she get an OVERHAUL.

Sign up for sneak peeks, 15% off at launch, and other free resources.