
And some honorable mentions we recommend, too.
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Katie Gaddy Tossant
Rich Girl Roundup.
Henna
How many books did I just give you? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5678910 under promise.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Over delivered and then two more for.
Henna
Next year welcome back to the Rich Girl Roundup weekly discussion of the Money with Katie Show. I'm Katie Gaddy Tossant and on Monday mornings my executive producer Henna and I use this segment to talk through your questions, your stories and more. Right after a quick break. You want a home soon, but you also want kids someday. So how do you balance both financial priorities? Emma and Tom weren't sure how much they could afford to buy in New York City given that childcare was going to be a major expense one day. But by working with the flat fee CFP at Domain Money, they learned exactly how much they would need to save for a more affordable home and to allow for quality childcare. And get this, if they had stayed their previous course, their original budget would have been overextended by nearly a quarter of a million dollars and instead they're avoiding expensive mistakes and they're set up for long term financial success. If there is a large purchase coming up in your life, you need a financial plan. I started working with an incredible flat fee CFP at the beginning of this and guess what? You can hire her too. Her name is Katie Song at Domain Money. Book a free strategy session with Domain Money and then select Katie or anybody else on her team of CFPs that she has trained herself and your advisor will create a step by step financial plan to help you achieve your goals. All for a one time flat fee. They will answer all of your questions and create a straightforward plan for your life. Start building your financial plan today with Domain Money at moneywithkatie.com Domain Money that's moneywithkatie.com/domain money. I'm a real client of Domain Money via my employer Morning Brew. I receive compensation and have an incentive to promote Domain Money. See Important Disclosures at DMN Mny Co Slash X Before we get into it this week's upcoming main episode is a solo expedition of mine about how we got here and where we go next, and I am keeping that intentionally vague, so you're just gonna have to tune in. All right, onto the roundup. Henna, what is our question this week?
Katie Gaddy Tossant
This week's question came from rich girl Rachel. She said your writing and podcast struck a chord that no other personal finance creator and most I listened to previously did not. Share a lot in common with an almost 27 year old woman early in her engineering career. So go figure. I also love the direction that you've taken in the past year with examining the US Economic system you've been thrown into and the rational and irrational approaches we all take to survive and even thrive in it. I could go on, but you get the picture. I love your work. And you, why did you pick this question, I wonder? You've clearly read a lot of really impactful work this year to inform your writing and podcasts. And as I gear up for the holiday season, my favorite time to cozy up with a book. I would love to know your top three books that either taught you something completely new or changed your mind on something. And this I think we did a similar episode last year about the top books of the year. So it feels fitting that we're. We're doing this again. Doing it again. So where would you like to start?
Henna
Yes, well, first of all, I'm sure you all appreciate that I could have just taken the question and put that in here, but instead I intentionally included the five minutes of praise. So we're all going to sit with that. We're going to let it soak in. Okay, we're good. Yes, that is very kind. And when I was preparing for this, it was very hard to limit myself to three. But Henna, as you said, we did this last year. It was fun. Book recommendations and requests for like a big book club are super popular. So I don't think y'all will mind if I go off the deep end a little bit.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
So we do have moneywithkatie.com books where we keep a list of all the books that Katie has read for the past, I don't know, four years at this point. So if you are curious kind of what she's read at what point in time you can head to moneywithkatie.com books but I guess if you wanted just the tldr, we'll start with the top three. Is it going to be actually three is my question.
Henna
No, it's like nine, but it's fine. Yeah, the book page is starting to resemble a how to for radicalization, but it's fine. Okay, so to focus explicitly on the part of the question where she asks about books that either taught me something completely new or changed my mind, I think there were a couple of standouts. And if you are the type of listener who joins us for every episode and reads every newsletter, none of these are going to surprise you. But I did notice that my favorites and the ones that stuck with me the most were the ones that took a pretty unconventional approach or proposed what I felt like were pretty radical theories. Okay, so the first is Evicted by Matt Desmond, which came out in 2016.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Your favorite sociologist.
Henna
Yes. So if you want to understand the experience of poverty in the United States, this book is a must read. And really, I think every American of voting age should read it. Matt Desmond is my favorite sociologist. If one can have a favorite sociologist who immersed himself in the lives of the people that he was writing about, and he tells their stories in such a clear and unflinching way, that kind of has that bonus effect of really illuminating the systems that keep people stuck. So some. I've read a couple, you know, books about poverty. Some nonfiction books, particularly ones about subjects this devastating, are so dense that they're kind of hard to get through. But because of the choices that he made in the way he tells this story and the framing that he uses of these real people in their actual lives, it just reads like a novel. And I think Evicted is a masterpiece.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
You have a good point in saying that some nonfiction books are so dense that they're hard to get through or they're honestly really painful to experience. But I think in this scenario, it does sound like he wasn't just observing people for a month and then writing an entire book about that. It was more like he really did experience this himself. Is that right?
Henna
Yeah. He grew up in poverty in Arizona. His childhood home went into foreclosure when he was a young adult. And he, I think, just basically saw and experienced housing insecurity firsthand and, like, understood how that changes a person. And so when he started getting, like, scholarships and loans and started to be, I don't know, surrounded by money, surrounded by affluence. He, I think, saw that as being so in opposition to his life up until that point that it really stuck with him and bothered him. Like, the extent to which we tolerate pretty extreme inequality. And as far as I understand it, with the writing of Evicted, he lived in Minneapolis for a year or two, first in a trailer park and then in a rooming house in different parts of the city and became pretty good friends with the people that he was writing about. Obviously, they knew they were participating in the project, like it wasn't a secret. But he was. He did become friends with them and was, like, enmeshed, really, in their lives. And so I think the picture that you get and the perception that you get then of these individuals and the way that he knits their stories, their experiences, their struggles, together with the policies and the systemic failures that have put them in this place was just a really kind of brilliant approach to this problem because you walk away with sort of an understanding of how we've gotten here and you understand just how unjust the process of eviction is and can be and how destabilizing it can be and how anyone who's constantly in that cycle just has such a hard time getting out of it and the sort of profits that come from it. Like, you. You see who benefits from it. And in many cases, it's people that also live in those communities. And, like, becoming a landlord was how they. They themselves broke the cycle. But that you. You sort of appreciate how the only way in which people are, quote, unquote, getting out is by oppressing one another. It is really sad, but it's also extremely moving. And I think it will give people who read it, who might have those, like, commonly held misconceptions about what it's like to be poor, be in a state of chronic resource scarcity. It's like the kind of book that, like, really changes hearts and minds, I think.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Yeah. Well, it also strikes me as something that looks at individual experience and then peels back all the layers to say, no, here's why it's systemic, or here's the policy reasons that we got that this individual person is dealing with this for sure. Which, surprise, surprise, is also the mission statement of our show. So that makes sense. Okay, hit me with. With number two of your. What is it? Most mind expanding books of 2024.
Henna
Yeah. Okay, so number two is Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, which came out in 2023. So Doppelganger is actually about our political environment. But obviously these things are connected. And my reading experience of this book was, like, actually unbelievable. I thought it was one of the most brilliant analyses of the state of our country. And within this, like, very trippy, very original concept that I think about this book probably every other day. I still think about it all the time. So Naomi Klein is a Canadian progressive who is probably best known for her book Shock Doctrine, which came out in 2007, it was about this concept of disaster capitalism and the way that catastrophes and other natural disasters often represent opportunities for people to get very rich. I think we experienced this firsthand during the COVID 19 pandemic. And during this pandemic, Naomi Klein was constantly being conflated online with another person named Naomi Wolf. Naomi Wolf was known for her 1990s book, the Beauty Myth, but over the years, kind of became a frequent contributor to Steve Bannon, the, like, alt right pundit during the pandemic. And she essentially became a conspiracy theorist. So, like, she started out as, like, you know, center left liberal feminist, and then over 20 years, went really deep down this rabbit hole of, like, honestly, like, the birds aren't real stuff.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Oh, okay.
Henna
Really out there conspiracies.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Very normal, very cool.
Henna
And so Naomi Klein writes about this experience of being constantly confused with this other Naomi, and she calls it her trip into the mirror world. And it's kind of about this concept of, like, diagonal politics area where these two alternate worlds have these distorted parallels. Like, the most common example that I could probably point to is like, the Wellness to QAnon pipeline that people might be familiar with. Like the Crunchy to Anti Vax pipeline.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Right?
Matt Gertz
Yeah.
Henna
But this book just completely blew me away. And, yeah, I absolutely loved it.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
I think I was texting you about that joke about how Matt Gertz on Twitter gets tagged constantly as Matt Gaetz and. Well, I'll leave you with that as possibly a doppelganger part two. But I've heard very, very good things about this book. Is it something that you meant to pick up from a political standpoint or you were just like, this is an interesting premise.
Henna
Yeah, I can't even remember why. I. I think I had just. Someone had recommended it to me last year and said it was really, really good. And I don't know what I was expecting when I went into it, but I think in retrospect now and with the outcome of the 2024 election, it has just been a really valuable framework to use. So, like, this idea of areas of intersection where, like, I've wrote about this for the episode that comes out this Wednesday, like, how traditionally it's been kind of a lefty thing to talk about corporate power and to talk about needing to overcome corporate power and, like, the fact that you need labor power in order to do that. But J.D. vance, the Vice president, who was at the time when I was, you know, thinking about this, the vice presidential candidate with Donald Trump he is quoted a lot talking about corporate oligarchs and how he's like very antitrust stance and he's very, I don't know, like an economic protectionist. But it's funny because sometimes when I listen to him I'm like, you sound kind of left dude. Like a lot of his takes that sit very uneasily in the business world and really are at odds with the kind of traditional conservative friendliness toward the business world and big business and corporations. And so to me that's like another example of someone who J.D. vance is like pretty far right, but he at times holds positions that you kind of feel like you're like slipping through the mirror for a second and you're like, wait a second, your anti corporate power.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
I kind of think about, and I think maybe you wrote about this at one point a couple years ago where I feel like everyone is disillusioned with so many different parts of American society, whether it's healthcare or the economy or whatever that each party kind of takes or the left and the right sides but kind of take these roundabout ways of trying to figure out what they think is the problem and how to fix it. And so sometimes they end up at the same solution, but they have like wildly different reasons that they got there or they come up with totally opposite solutions but they're both mad about the same problem. And so I kind of feel like that's what this book reminds me of. And I don't know it. This made me want to add it to my list.
Henna
It's so good. You should definitely read it. I would say my honorable mention for this category of sort of like socio political commentary and analysis would be Sisters in Hate, which is about the women of the alt right and this kind of growing white supremacist movement online and the women that are at the forefront of it or were at the forefront of it. It's interesting because some of the women that were profiled in this book have since defected because they basically could no longer withstand the amount of misogyny that they were subjected to. So that's another interesting one. Little beach read for you. Sisters in Hate.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
I'm sure everybody here thought that they were going to get a nice rom com book to read this year, so.
Henna
Well, hey, if you listen to the end, maybe I'll hit you with some fiction.
Matt Gertz
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Henna
Number three. Okay, for this one, I have a tie. So I'm already breaking the rules of only including three. Technically, I broke the rule 10 seconds ago when I nominated the third book as a runner up. Okay, so here's my tie. The first is Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, which came out in 2018.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Okay.
Henna
Bullshit jobs inspired an essay that I wrote a couple of months ago about decoupling work from income. Now, the wide resonance of this theory, of Graeber's theory that around 40% of jobs in a modern capitalist economy are bullshit and that nothing would change if they went away tomorrow, but that they remain solely because it is more advantageous for the status quo if everybody is working all the time. And the force with which classic markets based media companies like publications like the Economist, for example, the force with which they denounced it, made it a book that I think will stick with me for a long time. His writing style is really, really fun too. Like, he's kind of petty, which I just really enjoy, you know, that meme that's like, I'm not as mean as I could be and people don't appreciate that enough. Like, he, like, he's just funny. But his other book, he has a book called the dawn of Everything that is also on my bookshelf. I haven't reached it in my stack yet, but I did just find Bullshit Jobs to be one of those books that you read it and it kind of like ever so slightly just boop. Like, tilts your ass, tilts the lens that you, like, see the world through. And yeah, I think the fact that it was like widely derided by publications like the Economist is kind of proof that like, okay, there's probably something here. The fact that there are some people that are like really angry about this probably means that there is something to pay attention to.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Yeah, I'm curious if. So the tie that you have for this section, is it related to this same topic or is it that you really had four and you had to shoehorn one in there?
Henna
Mm, I think this is more of a shoehorn, if I'm being honest. It's like, I don't know. All of these books are related to one another. In the, in the grandest sense. But the tie is really just because I couldn't choose between the two. But another one that really stuck with me this year insofar as like fundamentally shifting my perspective is a book called Winners Take all the Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridardas in 2018. Which is a pretty scathing look frankly into the world of the quote unquote elites who believe that the magic of the for profit motive will allow them to solve all the problems of society, all the same problems that other societies look at and go, yeah, we should democratically reach conclusions about how to address these things. And the United States were like, no, there's a startup that can do that. So it's definitely cynical. Yeah, the book is pretty scathing, but I don't think it's without merit. Like, I think that a lot of the examples he uses like, warrant like some cynicism and some anger, but he basically just exposes the hypocrisy and sort of the ethics washing that happens behind the scenes in these rooms full of very powerful, very wealthy people who are not democratically accountable to anybody, but who believe that they alone should be the ones making decisions about how we make the future better. And then, and this is the important part, like ultimately benefit privately from the gains if things work, which I think that's self evident. Why that's not ideal.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Yeah, I mean, you know, I love an. So I'm very happy to see or hear that that he's on this year's list. So I'm curious if you feel like the other books that he's written are ones that you're now adding to your list as well. Or I know you have a pretty tall TBR pile so might have to wait.
Henna
Yeah, I would definitely come back to him. I think he's done some really interesting. But yeah, that one was fire. I can't remember who recommended that to me.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
I think I've recommended that to you for years, but have you read it? I read parts of it for my work because my boss loved that book.
Henna
Oh, okay.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Yeah, it's a great book. And Anand, if you're listening, hit us up. I feel like I know you really well, so I know that even those five books you just named are not going to be the top books of the year. I feel like you have more.
Henna
Those are my top. But I do have more. So I'm going to do my. My more honorable mentions now. Okay. I can't help myself. So another honorable mention that I found myself Returning to a lot and, you know, reading and rereading is Thick, which is a book of essays by Tressie McMillan Cottam, on whom I have a giant intellectual crush. Um, I always come back to her essay about beauty. It's called in the Name of Beauty. And I bet you could find just that essay somewhere online. But I do. I think you should get the whole book and read the entire thing, because it's really good.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Yeah. She is a force. I love her very much. Okay, so what's next? What's coming up the pike?
Henna
Okay, so I just started Age of Acquiescence, the life and Death of American Resistance to Organized wealth and Power. I had this one on my bookshelf for a while, but I had read online that it was super dry and hard to get through. So I was like, oh, I'm gonna read that. No, no, I'm finally getting to it. And I have to say, I think because I was expecting it to be super dry, I've been, like, kind of pleasantly surprised. It's actually. There's, like, some good pacing. It's written by a labor journalist or labor historian, rather.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
It's a glowing review.
Henna
Steve Fraser. Some of these books are pretty dense. It's just, like, a lot of legislation and a lot of theory, and they're not beach reads, you know? But I do find it incredibly interesting. And I think that the. The more that I've learned, the more I enjoy them because, like, I have reference points in order to kind of, like, understand how all of it fits together. But in this book, in Age of Acquiescence, this labor historian, Steve Frazier, compares the first and second Gilded Ages. And he basically says the primary difference between them is that Americans fought back during the first one. And, like, now we're just kind of like, all right, this is what it is. And his, like, main theory is that the reason they fought back at the time was because Americans during the first Gilded Age at the end of the 1800s, could remember a time before capitalism. Like, there were people still alive who, like, lived in a world that capitalism had not totally overtaken yet. And people that are alive today don't know any differently. So it's, like, very hard to imagine, as, you know, a different system. And that's kind of like the crux of what he argues. But I've just started that one, so I don't have too much to report back yet beyond the kind of main premise. And then I have a couple others that are on the list, so a couple listener recommended books that are in my stack still screaming on the Inside, which is a book about the unsustainability of American motherhood. The Exceptions, which is the story of some scientists at MIT who faced pretty astounding sexism and, like, overcame a lot of sexism. And then family values between neoliberalism and the new social conservatism.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Wow.
Henna
Which is about the way the family unit has become central to free markets ideology.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
So very light.
Henna
I realize, like, listing all of these out like this makes me sound like I just read really angry, cynical books. And maybe I do, but recommend. I mean, look how happy I am.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Well, if you want some fiction reads, you can come to me. I feel like you actually did read some fiction this year, so I was really proud of you.
Henna
Thank you. I read the popular stuff, the stuff that everyone was like, you know Sally Rooney.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
I know you read.
Henna
Yep.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Who else?
Henna
Miranda July.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Okay. All fours.
Henna
Right. And Sarah Manguso. Manguso. Liars.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Liars. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Henna
Yep. I love them. So I think it's funny when I read critiques of like, popular novels like that where whenever they get negative reviews, I'm like, really? I found that was delightful. But it's like, because my reference set is like, here's why organized wealth is going to crush us all. So, like, when I read a novel every once in a while I'm like, oh, my God, this is a lovely experience.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Well, if people are depressed from listening to these and want something uplifting, I got ideas. These are great. Thank you for sharing them. I'm sure that there's perhaps one book, maybe two, that you're really excited about next year. I wonder what it could be.
Henna
Well, I'm excited for two books coming out next year, both of which come out on June 10th. Oh, weirdly enough, yes. The first is Bad Company, which is by the journalist Meg Greenwell. It's her highly anticipated book about private equity. And the second is mine. Oh, Rich Girl Nation. Rich Girl Nation comes out June 10th and it has seven chapters that distill my entire financial philosophy within the context of a lot of the things that we talk about on this very show. So I'd say my most anticipated new release is Rich Girl Nation.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
I'm sure there'll be a pre order link that we'll be spamming you with when the time comes. But I'm also very excited to read it. I'm still waiting for my arc. You guys. Still waiting.
Henna
Same, in fact.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Oh, very nice. Well, did you have anything else you wanted to add before we move to, like, a story? A Feedback?
Henna
Nope. How many books did I just give you? She asked for three. I brought one. Two. One, two, three, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Okay, cool.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Ten and then two more for next.
Henna
Year under promise over deliver. All right, what's our feedback?
Katie Gaddy Tossant
So this feedback came from someone who preferred to remain anonymous, but we can call them Megan. And it was in response to our long term disability episode. So if you recall, it was an episode that we did about high earners and an insurance that they sometimes might be missing. So we can link it in the show notes, you can go back and listen to it, but they wrote in and they said I experienced nerve damage in my right hand during pregnancy and navigating the insurance claim was a nightmare. I purchased the policy at age 26 when I was a 4th year dental student and very healthy. And then I initially became disabled while 30 weeks pregnant in 2020. And I did not receive my first disability check until 2022. Principal Insurance Company denied my claim for 18 months due to, quote, insufficient evidence of disability. And the insurance company forced me into a circus of seeing every specialist under the sun and tests to prove that I was experiencing said nerve damage. Unfortunately, all the tests were inconclusive. So I finally ended up seeing a female sports med specialist who experienced similar nerve damage during her own pregnancy. And this is crazy to me, was kicked out of her own surgical residency due to her inability to perform surgeries. So she empathized with my situation and fought hard to provide evidence to my insurance company that I was in fact experiencing this nerve pain in my right hand. And after denying my claim for 18 months, I finally received a payment that backdated to all of the months that they denied coverage.
Henna
Wow.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
So, like Lacey, the woman that we featured in that episode, I had one coverage increase as my income increased. However, unlike Lacey, I was too frugal and decided to decrease my coverage around age 29. My cost of living was way lower than my coverage would have paid out. So I told my agent that he was upselling me and I asked to decrease my coverage and annual premium. He advised me against decreasing coverage, but I was regrettably stubborn and now I have a lower payout than if I had just left my coverage alone. Hindsight is 20 20, but I still regret decreasing my coverage. Luckily, I have a spouse that earns a high income and provides medical benefits for our families, so my monthly payouts aren't crucial for our long term financial costs or goals. I didn't hire a disability attorney like Lacey, but I probably should have because I said Some very strong words to the insurance agents who kept denying my claim. I'm glad I kept appealing the denials instead of giving up. And I can't stress how important this type of insurance is. I was raising a newborn baby the entire time I was fighting with my disability insurance. Becoming a first time parent during COVID was challenging enough, let alone the hundreds of hours I spent on the phone, sending emails and attending mandatory physical therapy, doctor's appointments with different specialists. I should have been able to spend 100% of my time and energy bonding and caring for my baby. But I was stuck grappling with the idea that my career in dentistry was potentially over while simultaneously fighting with my disability insurance. In our convoluted medical and insurance system, it's crucial that we advocate for ourselves. And nobody understands your health more than you do. So you need to keep fighting even if you are facing defeat every step of the way. I naively thought I would never become disabled because I don't participate in extreme sports like skiing, skydiving, et cetera. But mine and Lacy's stories prove that we cannot take our health or our careers for granted.
Henna
This is not the only story, by the way, that we got after that episode aired. I kind of feel like I heard this same thing a couple times in the inbox afterward, which was like, this was my exact experience. I'm so happy I had this insurance. It is absolutely necessary. So just like, I guess, recap the high points of the things that Megan wishes she would have done differently or is saying, like, this is what you got to do. Increase your coverage as your income increases. Yeah, hire that disability attorney and keep appealing the denials. Do not give up.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
That's our health care system in a nutshell.
Henna
So that's why you should read angry books like me.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Well, I did just want to thank Megan. It was funny because Megan who emailed us, like I said, this is not her real name, but she's like, I'm going to give you my pizza name, which is Megan. And I was like, oh, my pizza name is Hannah. So I understand.
Henna
I think you're going to have to explain what a pizza name is.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Oh, it's when people don't understand the name that you're giving them at the counter, so you give them an easier name to understand. So my brother's name is like a more traditional Indian name and he says his name is Sam. So, like, we all have these made up names. So this one, this is Megan's pizza name. This is Meg. Megan is her pizza name. But from one Hannah to one Megan. I understand.
Henna
I'm like, I don't think I get. I think my real name is a pizza name.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Your real name is a pizza name? Do you say Katie and then they.
Henna
Write, 20% of women are named Katie.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Is that true? No, that can't be true.
Henna
The fact that you're, like, not sure if I'm kidding, it kind of proves the point because I was going to.
Katie Gaddy Tossant
Say, like, there's Kathleen, which is your real name?
Henna
I don't know Kathleen. Never met her. Okay, that is all for this week's Rich Girl Roundup. We will see you on Wednesday.
Release Date: December 2, 2024
Host: Morning Brew
Episode Title: The Books That Shifted Our Perspective Most in 2024
In this episode of The Money with Katie Show, host Katie Gaddy Tossant and her executive producer Henna dive into a segment they aptly name the Rich Girl Roundup. This weekly discussion focuses on answering listener questions, sharing personal stories, and exploring essential topics at the intersection of economics, culture, politics, and personal finance education.
The episode centers around a thoughtful question from a listener, referred to as Rich Girl Rachel, who expressed admiration for Katie's ability to resonate with a younger audience navigating the complexities of the US economic system. Rachel's query specifically asks for the top three books in 2024 that have either taught the hosts something entirely new or significantly altered their viewpoints.
Henna enthusiastically responds, expanding beyond the requested three books to share a more extensive list that profoundly impacted her understanding of socio-political and economic issues. Below are the highlighted books, each accompanied by detailed insights and notable quotes from the discussion:
Discussion Highlights: Henna describes Evicted as a "masterpiece" that offers an unflinching look into the lives of individuals experiencing poverty and housing insecurity in the United States. She praises Desmond's immersive approach, having lived among those he wrote about, which lends the book a novelistic readability despite its heavy subject matter.
Notable Quote:
“...he tells their stories in such a clear and unflinching way, that kind of has that bonus effect of really illuminating the systems that keep people stuck.”
— Henna [05:54]
Henna emphasizes the book's ability to "change hearts and minds" by revealing the systemic flaws that perpetuate poverty, making it a crucial read for every American of voting age.
Discussion Highlights: Klein's exploration of political identities and the "mirror world" concept fascinated Henna. She explains how the book delves into the confusion caused by being mistaken for Naomi Wolf, highlighting the blurred lines between progressive ideologies and conspiracy theories in the current political climate.
Notable Quote:
“Naomi Klein writes about this experience of being constantly confused with this other Naomi, and she calls it her trip into the mirror world.”
— Henna [12:11]
Henna connects the book's themes to broader societal issues, such as the Wellness to QAnon pipeline, drawing parallels to how fringe beliefs can intersect with mainstream politics.
Discussion Highlights: Henna lauds Graeber's Bullshit Jobs for its provocative thesis that approximately 40% of jobs in capitalist economies are meaningless. She discusses the book's impact on her thinking about decoupling work from income and the societal implications of maintaining employment for the sake of the status quo.
Notable Quote:
“Bullshit jobs inspired an essay that I wrote a couple of months ago about decoupling work from income.”
— Henna [17:20]
Henna appreciates Graeber's "petty" and "fun" writing style, which makes complex and dense subjects more accessible and engaging.
Discussion Highlights: Henna praises Giridardas's scathing critique of elites who believe that profit motives can solve societal problems. She discusses how the book exposes the hypocrisy and ethics washing prevalent among powerful individuals who lack democratic accountability.
Notable Quote:
“He basically just exposes the hypocrisy and sort of the ethics washing that happens behind the scenes in these rooms full of very powerful, very wealthy people...”
— Henna [20:38]
Henna underscores the book's relevance in understanding the dynamics of organized wealth and power in shaping policy and societal outcomes.
Beyond the top four, Henna shares additional books that left a significant impression:
Sisters in Hate: Explores the role of women in the alt-right and white supremacist movements, highlighting the internal conflicts and misogyny faced by these women.
Notable Quote:
“Some of the women that were profiled in this book have since defected because they could no longer withstand the amount of misogyny they were subjected to.”
— Henna [16:17]
Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottam: A collection of essays with a standout piece titled In the Name of Beauty, which Henna highly recommends for its insightful commentary.
Notable Quote:
“I always come back to her essay about beauty. It's called In the Name of Beauty.”
— Henna [22:34]
Age of Acquiescence by Steve Fraser: A labor historian's examination of American resistance to organized wealth and power, comparing the current era to the first Gilded Age.
Henna shares her excitement for upcoming books set to release on June 10th:
Notable Quote:
“Rich Girl Nation comes out June 10th and it has seven chapters that distill my entire financial philosophy within the context of a lot of the things that we talk about on this very show.”
— Henna [25:36]
In the Feedback segment, Henna and Katie address a heartfelt story from a listener, Megan, who shared her challenging experience with disability insurance. Megan recounted suffering nerve damage during pregnancy, the arduous process of proving her disability to the insurance company, and the eventual approval of her claim after 18 months of denial.
Notable Quote:
“Nobody understands your health more than you do. So you need to keep fighting even if you are facing defeat every step of the way.”
— Megan [28:17]
Key Takeaways:
Increase Coverage with Income Growth: As Megan’s income increased, so did her insurance needs. Henna emphasizes the importance of maintaining adequate coverage.
Persist in Appeals: Despite initial denials, Megan's perseverance led to her eventual claim approval, highlighting the necessity of advocating for oneself within complex insurance systems.
Importance of Support Systems: Megan credits a specialized sports medicine specialist for empathizing with her situation and aiding in her claim approval.
Henna's Commentary:
“This is not the only story, by the way, that we got after that episode aired. I kind of feel like I heard this same thing a couple times in the inbox afterward, which was like, this was my exact experience. I'm so happy I had this insurance. It is absolutely necessary.”
— Henna [29:56]
Katie and Henna underscore the critical role of disability insurance and the importance of not undervaluing its significance, especially for high earners and professionals.
As the episode wraps up, Henna and Katie share their appreciation for the listeners' engagement and encourage continued advocacy and informed financial planning. They tease a forthcoming solo expedition episode where Katie will delve into the show's journey and future directions, maintaining an air of mystery to pique listener interest.
This episode of The Money with Katie Show serves as a compelling resource for listeners seeking to expand their understanding of economic and socio-political dynamics through impactful literature. By highlighting books that challenge conventional thinking and provoke critical analysis, Katie and Henna provide valuable insights that empower individuals to navigate and thrive within complex financial landscapes.
Listen to the full episode on your preferred podcast platform every Monday and Wednesday to stay informed and inspired on your financial journey.