Personal finance advice is everywhere: stop buying coffee, buy assets, use good debt, start a business, build passive income. But how much of it actually works? A new podcast, Have You Tried Being Rich?, launched September 1 with the goal of putting these popular tips under a microscope. Hosted by financial experts Dria Benjamin and Kristin Geosits, the show takes a no-BS approach to money advice, stripping away soundbites and success stories to see what survives real life.
The podcast's premise is simple: financial advice gets repeated as if it applies equally to everyone, but it doesn't. Income, debt, housing costs, obligations, opportunities, and stage of life all matter. As Geosits puts it, 'We want to talk about all of that, not pretend there is one trick everyone has somehow been too irresponsible to follow.' Benjamin adds, 'If skipping coffee were the secret, every office break room would be full of millionaires. We're not here to yell at people about lattes. We want to know why some of this advice sounds so good, who it actually works for and what gets left out of the pitch.'
The first three episodes tackle deeply embedded ideas in American money culture. Episode 1, 'Stop Blaming the Latte: The $5 Lie Keeping You Broke,' examines the 'Latte Factor'—the idea that cutting small purchases can dramatically change your financial future. The hosts dig into where the advice came from 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. They look at what the book gets right about cash flow and ownership before getting into the messier reality of leverage, rental properties, entrepreneurship, and so-called passive income. 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 can be so convincing and what participant income disclosures look like once you get past the luxury cars and curated success stories.
What sets this show apart is its refusal to replace one set of rigid money rules with another. Instead, Geosits and Benjamin start with the strongest version of the advice, examine why people believe it, where it can be useful, what the numbers say, and where the argument falls apart. Sometimes the advice survives. Sometimes it needs a very large asterisk. And sometimes it is just financial bullshit with better branding. At the end of every episode, the featured advice faces the show's BS Meter, with three possible verdicts: 'This gets you rich,' 'This won't hurt,' or 'You'll die trying.'
The podcast also examines the financial advice industry itself and the incentives that turn complicated decisions into simple rules that can be repeated in a TikTok, put on a book cover, or sold from a stage. 'Simple advice gives people something concrete to do, and sometimes that can be helpful,' says Geosits. 'The problem is when a useful habit gets presented as the solution to a much bigger financial problem.' Benjamin adds, 'A money tip can be good advice without being the reason somebody gets rich. That's where things get weird. We take one decent habit, give it a cape, and suddenly it is supposed to solve capitalism.'
New episodes are released every two weeks and are available on major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. The show's no-guru, no-shame approach offers a refreshing counterpoint to an industry that often rewards certainty over nuance. By pressure-testing the advice everyone has heard, Have You Tried Being Rich? asks the question that probably should have been asked in the first place: Have you tried being rich?
