Sponsored by Tiller - your financial life in a spreadsheet, automatically updated each day. Try Tiller free! |
Hi friend,
It’s hard not to feel like any financial gains, whether it’s from wage increases or having more savings on hand over the pandemic, have been steadily undermined by the rising cost of living, increased interest rates, and the general vibe shift caused by recent tech layoffs.
Whenever the economy feels particularly unpredictable and chaotic, people turn to financial experts for help. While I continue to encourage everyone to remember that each of us as individuals has agency and can act in our best interest, with each passing year, it’s harder and harder for me not to turn my gaze toward the idea that coming together collectively is a way to multiply our power.
My friend and television and film writer, Roja Gashtili highlighted this theme with this gem she dropped during her interview on my podcast:
“I grew up with parents who had such left-wing ideology, even as they succumb to capitalism because America is very seductive. They always laugh when I say that they don't agree. But the point is, I still grew up with this idea that we have collectively more power than they do. The whole trick for them is to make us feel like we don't. Obviously, the more that we think that we don't, the more hopeless we feel, the more they're winning. But all I'm saying is it's just a mentality shift. Instead of all this like self-care and like “me, me, me” sort of wellness stuff, what if the mentality shift was us coming together? I think we could really affect a lot of change, which it's just a small but very profound shift.”
Your favorite finance friend,
|
|
|
|
1. 💸Unpacking the Seductive Power of American Consumerism and the Culture it Creates (Weird Finance) In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco talks to Roja Gashtili about their mutual obsession with power and money, being first generation, the myth of meritocracy, especially when it looks somewhat successful, the financial anxiety that comes along with pursuing writing, the amount of generosity and wealth it takes to do that, nepo babies and why we’ve seen such an uptick on “eat the rich” movies. This episode also features a segment called Slow and Steady with Leo, where Leo Aquino (@queerandtranswealth), an award-winning author, poet, and anti-capitalist personal finance expert, shares their poetry alongside their grandfather's.2. 👛 Should You Buy From A Thrift Store If You Can Afford Not To? (Vogue)3. 🎬 The Oscars Were Invented To Break Up Hollywood Unions: The True, Surprising History of the Academy Awards (Vanity Fair)4. 🤓 A Bookkeeping Thing - Do You Need to Pay Quarterly Taxes? (HYG Original)5. 💲 What to Do With Your Money—and Your Life—in a Wild New World (Bloomberg) From buying real estate to getting a new credit card, answers to perplexing questions in a time of economic weirdness.6. 🏃 This Isn’t What Millennial Middle Age Was Supposed to Look Like (The New York Times) “Many people said they felt they couldn’t be having a midlife crisis, because there was no bourgeois numbness to rebel against. Rather than longing for adventure and release, they craved a sense of safety and calmness, which they felt they had never known.”7. 📰 Please stop calling it the ‘newsletter economy’ (On Substack) “The trend that Substack is part of is not a newsletter trend, or even the much-hyped creator economy. We are part of a seismic shift in the media economy that is all about writer and creator ownership and independence. […] This subset of the media economy is thriving. It is entirely different to what some people think of when they talk about a ‘newsletter economy.’”8. 🌿 Give Me the Full Immersive! (Curbed) Submitting to the maximalist spectacles that are encroaching on real museums’ turf. “The immersive van Gogh exhibit, it looks like maybe a pleasant place to visit, but it doesn’t feel like it’s altering the cultural palate. […] But it’s also establishing a kind of benchmark. It’s popular. People are paying money to see it, so artists have to work harder to do something weird and interesting and experimental to be part of it. Refik is an example of this, and I’m excited to see how other artists go beyond, or mess with, or subvert this moment.”
|
|
|
If you have a question you’d like me to answer on the Weird Finance podcast, you can leave me a voicemail at 833-ASK-PACO. You can also email me your question by replying to this email or emailing us at weirdfinancepod@gmail.com.
|
The Nerdletter is written and curated by Paco de Leon and a tiny editorial support team. Please consider several ways you can contribute to this important mission –
an inclusive conversation about money, finances, and capitalism for Creatives.
We can't do this work without you.
Thanks for being part of the crew and reading this far. Peace. |
|
|
|
Our home office is located in Los Angeles, California, the traditional lands
of the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples. We acknowledge with gratitude the traditional
custodians of this land and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.
|
|
|
|
You received this email because you subscribed to The Nerdletter, a weekly newsletter.
You can unsubscribe at any time. Or, you can buy some sweet merch here.1920 Hillhurst Ave # 1089, Los Angeles, California, 90027, United States of America ©The Hell Yeah Group 2023
|
|
|
|
