Susan's Scoop Would you still work if 95% went to taxes? If the government took 95% of your wages for income taxes, would you still go to work? What about 70%? Or 50%? (Surprisingly, rates north of 50% actually can happen to self-employed U.S. residents in places with high state/local taxes!) Since tax day was yesterday, I thought it would be interesting (fun?!) to take a deeper dive into the psychology behind paying taxes. I recently was invited to speak at an event for the Black Women in...
14 days ago • 3 min read
Caitlin's Corner Your Life, on Oil Whether you've been tuning into the news or not, by now you've inevitably heard about the US-Iran conflict, and what it means to the global oil supply. Perhaps you hadn't heard of the Strait of Hormuz until last week. Maybe this whole time, you've optimistically thought: So many countries, including the US, have invested in alternative energy sources throughout the decades- so we should be more insulated to hits in the oil supply. Or: I'll budget for more...
21 days ago • 4 min read
Susan's Scoop Granny's Getting Rich! The Great Wealth Transfer to Women There’s a really intriguing phenomenon happening right now; Baby Boomers have amassed great wealth, but the males are now dying off and older widowed women are set to come into over $40 trillion dollars over the next two decades. As Caitlin discussed in her newsletter last week, these are women who have historically been left out of the money conversations. These women couldn’t open their own bank accounts until the...
28 days ago • 4 min read
Susan's Scoop Is "Dying at Your Desk" a Valid Retirement Plan? I was out with a family friend recently when he casually mentioned that “one of my coworkers just died at his desk at age 84 – that’s my retirement plan too.” I’m sure I looked taken aback (I unfortunately have one of those very expressive faces that gives everything away 😬), and then stammered, “well, you are contributing to a retirement plan anyway, right?!” I’m guessing you know what the answer to that was. (No). This friend is...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Caitlin's Corner Can the AI Takeover Democratize Portfolio Management? There is a lot of fear right now about what AI is doing to human work. I don't know anyone who feels entirely immune. We don't know what our world will look like in less than 5 years, and it's rare that we feel that level of uncertainty at such a large scale. But I want to tell you about a piece of research that made me genuinely hopeful, because it highlights something I've been paying a lot of attention to: AI is already...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
Susan's Scoop Will healthcare costs wipe out your wealth? If you’re starting to get grey hair and achy knees like me, the news that “Dawson” (James Van Der Beek) passed away recently after his cancer battle may have hit you especially hard. But the controversy that followed was even sadder; his wife had to start a GoFundMe to raise funds to pay off their medical debts and support their 6 children, despite his fame and success. This got me to thinking – if they had stayed in California rather...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Caitlin's Corner The Economy Feels Broken. The Market Disagrees. Last month during our Free Wealth Wednesdays session on the 2026 market outlook, without intending to, Susan and I kept repeating the same thing (almost annoyingly, but we couldn't not say it): We are living in a K-shaped economy. If you’ve found yourself thinking: “Everyone I know feels squeezed.” “Groceries, housing, insurance are all relentless.” “Why does the stock market keep rising?” “Why are spending reports still...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Susan's Scoop Let's Talk Portfolios I’m currently on my way back from Greece, a country I surprisingly have never visited (we found off-season plane tickets to Athens for $500 from Austin!). It’s funny how aging has flipped the script for me: I want to travel more now, fully aware that the window for comfortably schlepping through airports and cobblestone streets won’t stay wide open forever. Meanwhile, my husband Brian is instead becoming more of a homebody. (This may have something to do...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Caitlin's Corner Super Bowl Hot Takes ...With Some Estate Lessons There’s a tired stereotype that women are “too emotional” to make big, strategic decisions, especially when money, power, or legacy is involved. I've known for a long time how wrong that is, and I've seen firsthand how women tend to be the ones to have to make those tough decisions. Sunday's Super Bowl reminded me of just how wrong that stereotype is. The Seattle Seahawks are owned by a trust created by Paul Allen, the late...
3 months ago • 5 min read