Gaby Dunn

Did not mark as much of my progress on here, and also I haven't been reading as much because of a job change and Animal Crossing taking up much of my time in the last month, unfortunately.

I've watched Gaby Dunn's videos in the past but have not listened to her similarly named podcast "Bad with Money" though it sounds like this is the physical distillation of lessons learned over several seasons. Dunn takes an autobiographical tack, on her and her family's financial history and how it influenced what "money script" (how we perceive money, spending and saving it, etc.) she has. She applies this to what steps should be considered/taken when at various ages/life situations, like high school jobs, applying for schools, medical debt, etc. This feels aimed at both younger audiences still in school and also our peer group (despite pejorative thinking, Millennials are mostly late twenties/thirties/early forties, and because we started our adult lives in the 2008 financial crisis, we simply don't have access to the same savings potential that prior generations had). Bad with Money is an approachable take on introductions to financial literacy because the system is complex and there's a lot of bad/clueless advice out there from people who try to generalize patterns from their own perspectives to everybody. Personal anecdote may be too much for some readers, but as emphasized in the beginning of the book, financial advice should be contextualized, and it's illuminating when family members are interviewed (prioritizing memories and snappishness no matter the price tag even if it created future problems, for example)

In a capitalist system, money is tied to everything (health, housing, food, transportation etc.) so it's important to be cognizant of the strings even while recognizing that the system is shitty at taking care of its citizens.… (mere)