True Money Stories
Americans weigh in on financial shame
The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans
Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them.
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Paying Off Twice Your Student Loan
Earlier this summer, a Canadian reader, Kristen, voiced the “Unpopular Opinion” that she’s “tired of hearing about people’s student loan…
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'School Loans Weren’t Just a Choice; They Were a Necessity'
Mary in Pennsylvania has a new and crucial perspective to share: This is in response to the recent…
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'Taking on Student Loan Debt Is a CHOICE'
A refreshing reader dissent from Kirsten Campbell: I know this is an Unpopular Opinion, but I’m tired of…
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'Everybody's Strugglin', and It's Tough'
That quote comes from Brian Brunjes, the local butcher and friend of Neal Gabler, who wrote our May cover story,…
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Jeff Keacher / Flickr / nimon / Shutterstock ... Need Cash Fast? Ask Reddit
A subsection of the link-sharing site is helping borrowers with bad credit get emergency loans.
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A Sense of Community College
Reader Dave teaches at a community college, and he crafted a recent class around our current cover story: …
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'Best to Be Prepared for the Worst'
Our latest reader story of fiscal conservatism in the face of uncertainty comes from an African American woman in Birmingham,…
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Steve Marcus / Reuters The Circles of American Financial Hell
There’s no escaping the pressure that U.S. inequality exerts on parents to make sure their kids succeed.
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A Tax Day Much Worse Than Yours
A reader writes: I’d like this to be anonymous, please. Tomorrow, it will have been a month since…
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Susana Vera / Reuters Why Financial Literacy Will Not Save America's Finances
The problem with Americans’ household budgets isn’t that people are too dumb to save, but that the system asks too much of them.
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Opting Out of Coastal Madness to Live a Low-Overhead Life
For some, abandoning expensive urban centers would be a huge financial relief.
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'The Demoralizing Process That Job Searches Have Become'
A reader, Les, takes stock of our series so far: I principally want to say thanks for your…
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'Widowed People Are Invisible in This Society'
That’s the core sentiment of this reader’s note. Patricia adds, “I didn’t fully realize that widows were a target [for…
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'I’d Leave Him If I Had the Means'
That’s how this reader describes her husband and how trapped she feels because of his financial recklessness: I…
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What If All Americans Started Saving From Birth?
Michael Sherraden, the director of the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, read our cover story…
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Brian Snyder / Reuters The Two Contradictory Ideas Many Americans Have About the Economy
How do people reconcile a belief in individual autonomy with nationwide wage stagnation?
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A Natural Born Fiscal Conservative
Another anonymous reader uses the Notes space to tell her story of financial struggle—and perseverance: I was born…
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'With Enough Money Saved, You Can Tell Them All to Piss Off'
Or other variations: That tip comes from Atlantic reader and fiscal conservative Lori Miller, who offers a…
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Selling Sex to Avoid a Financial Crisis
That’s what this reader did, in part, and she’s not ashamed of it: I didn’t realize how lucky…
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'Credit Is a Double-Edged Sword'
When it comes to middle-class financial woes, Mehrsa Baradaran, a law professor and author of How the Other Half Banks,…
