Earlier this year, a Credit Karma report found that slightly fewer than half of millennials and Gen Z (45%) are “obsessed with the idea of being rich,” compared to a rate of around 27% of the total population.

So, that’s awkward! *laughs nervously* Then again, it’s not altogether surprising—and while Credit Karma connected this finding to money dysmorphia (so-named for body dysmorphic disorder, in which you fixate on a perceived physical “flaw”), I wonder if money disorientation might be a more accurate description.

🫠 Because as the survey and most of the surrounding reporting pointed out, we often learn about “normal” aspirations from media—and today, it’s not unusual for one swipe to put Container Store-fueled conspicuous (over)consumption on full display while the next reveals statistics about the housing affordability crisis.

But I was skeptical that the root cause could be chalked up to the TikTok bogeyman. A distorted perception of your station in life is a critical ingredient in the primordial soup of capitalism—it’s what makes us spend and strive. In this framework, contentment is a problem.

We're exploring all the ways money dysmorphia manifests in today’s episode—and what to do about it.

Your two favorite childless cat ladies are back this week with a care work cost breakdown and a heavy dose of vibes. The care work conversation is tricky, because it’s easy to slip into “referendum on someone’s highly personal choices” territory (so naturally, we recorded ourselves talking about it; what could go wrong?). Depending on which childcare option you choose—from becoming a stay-at-home parent to hiring a live-in nanny—the average monthly costs range from $1,000 to $4,000.

Having spent upward of $10,000 over two years on cancer treatments for our pup Georgia, this episode of The Daily about how and why veterinary care has become so prohibitively expensive was an illuminating listen. My first order of business was angrily Command-F-ing the transcript for the words “private equity” (bingo), but that’s not the whole story—veterinary care has advanced in a big way, and with more sophisticated treatments comes more expensive care.

​​Sometimes it feels like the classic neoliberal critique of social ills (“because capitalism”) is so obvious it no longer needs to be stated explicitly, so when I started reading this essay (itself a critique of Jonathan Haidt’s blockbuster new book, The Anxious Generation) and it was all, “There’s only so much individuals can do without systemic support!” I was almost like, Duh, assuming that was the extent of her conclusion. But the second half—about the writer’s time in Germany—was compelling in a way that most of these essays (including my own) aren’t.

In today’s issue of the US health insurance system interfering in women’s health outcomes, it turns out mammograms are only effective in detecting breast cancer approximately 30% of the time in dense breast tissue. Apparently, MRIs are more effective imaging tools for up to half (!) of women, but they cost more, so guess how willingly insurance companies condone this swap! Hint: basically never!

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• Senior Web Product Manager — Mockingbird: Up to $172k, remote with equity and unlimited PTO (5–10+ years’ experience). Thanks for the recommendation, Rich Girl Allie!
• Communications Manager — Eventbrite: Up to $137k, remote (6+ years’ experience)
• 🩲 Social Media Specialist — tomboyx: Up to $70k, hybrid in Seattle
• Senior Operations Manager — Lime: Up to $122k plus bonus and equity, based in Chicago (3+ years’ experience)