Personal finance advice is everywhere, but how much of it actually works? A new podcast, Have You Tried Being Rich?, launched on September 1 to answer that question. Hosted by financial experts Dria Benjamin and Kristin Geosits, the biweekly show takes common money tips—like cutting small expenses, thinking like the rich, and starting a business—and examines whether they hold up under scrutiny.
"Financial advice gets repeated like it applies equally to everyone, and it just doesn't," said Geosits. "Income matters. Debt matters. Housing costs matter. Your obligations, opportunities and stage of life matter. We want to talk about all of that, not pretend there is one trick everyone has somehow been too irresponsible to follow."
The first three episodes tackle three deeply embedded ideas in American money culture. Episode 1, "Stop Blaming the Latte: The $5 Lie Keeping You Broke," examines the so-called Latte Factor—the idea that cutting small daily purchases can dramatically change your financial future. The hosts explore where the advice came from, why the math can seem convincing, and the difference between encouraging better spending habits and blaming a $5 purchase for larger financial problems.
Episode 2, "Rich Dad, Poor Advice," takes on Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad and the "think like the rich" advice that followed. The hosts look at what the book gets right about cash flow and ownership before digging into the messier realities of leverage, rental properties, entrepreneurship, and so-called passive income. As Benjamin noted, "If skipping coffee were the secret, every office break room would be full of millionaires."
Episode 3, "The Pyramid You Can't Climb: MLMs Won't Make You Rich," goes after multi-level marketing. The hosts break down why the MLM pitch is so convincing, how recruiting spreads through social networks, and what participant income disclosures reveal once you get past the luxury cars and curated success stories.
Each episode ends with the show's "BS Meter," which assigns one of three verdicts: "This Gets You Rich," "This Won't Hurt," or "You'll Die Trying." The goal is not to prove all popular advice wrong, but to separate advice that actually changes financial outcomes from advice that merely sounds good.
"Simple advice gives people something concrete to do, and sometimes that can be helpful," said Geosits. "The problem is when a useful habit gets presented as the solution to a much bigger financial problem."
The podcast is available on major platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, with new episodes released every two weeks.
