Introducing: What We Spend
episode
Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities
11 min
1 speaker
1 chapter
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Hi everyone, it's Margot. On Campus Files, we dive into the complicated realities of life at American colleges and universities, and bring you the stories that often go unspoken. Today, I'm excited to share a preview of a new Odyssey Original podcast called What We Spend. This series also explores a topic that many of us tend to avoid, personal finances. Each episode follows one person over the course of a week, documenting the ways money influences their daily choices. People from all over the country and all walks of life share how much they earn, how much they spend, and the thoughts and emotions they have along the way. In today's preview, we meet Kelly, who's navigating life under the weight of student loan debt.
To hear the full episode, search What We Spend on your favorite podcast platform. You know how you always want to know about everyone else's money? You do, right? Like, you'll see someone buying something you want or taking some amazing vacation, and you think, how can they afford that? Or you meet your friend's new girlfriend, and she has some very impressive job, and you think, how much money does she make? I think when it comes to money, even if you don't want to admit it, we're all a little nosy. But I don't know, I actually think that's good. I think we should be talking about money more. And all the ways, big and small, that it impacts our lives. On this show, we are actually going to do that. We are going to go somewhere that we almost never get to go.
Deep into the heart of someone else's finances. Here's how this is going to work. Each week, I'm going to introduce you to a new person from somewhere across the country. And they are going to tell us everything about their finances. How much they make, how much they want to make, what they worry about, or if they don't worry at all. And then for one week, we'll follow them through their daily routine. Every day, they'll record an audio diary with all the nitty gritty details of how they're spending their money. I mean, the coffees, the groceries, the rent that's due, the car accident that suddenly upends, everything. And after that, we'll talk about what the week brought up for them, what it's made them feel.
Because whatever you're buying or not buying or saving or spending, at the end of the day, money is always about more than your balance. I'm Courtney Harrell, and this is What We Spend.
How much school debt do you have? I have $150,000. I had more. I had $300,000 after my master's. I had a great uncle pass away who was an artist and my parents chose with their share of that that they would help pay off all my private loans. And so that was a crazy night. I remember pressing submit on $150,000 payment and just being like, holy shit. And they were like, yay, doesn't that feel so much better? And I was kind of like, It feels like 50% better and it still feels like I have still $150,000 of debt. This is Kelly. I turn 32 in one week and I live in Salt Lake City. Kelly is one of the 42.8 million Americans who has student loan debt. And also, like a lot of her generation, she wants to buy a home and have a baby, and she's trying to figure out if it's possible to make all that work.
Kelly married her husband about a year ago, and eight months ago, the two of them moved from Tennessee to Salt Lake City, Utah. Ben is an engineer for a software company. Kelly's a director of client experience at a medical spa. And she's also an online mental wellness coach. I used to be a therapist. And for lots of reasons I'm not right now, but I will always have therapy or coaching in my life. And I will probably go back to that full time at some point. Kelly is paid hourly, but she makes about 50K a year. And Ben makes about 78k. That's before taxes and health insurance. Together, that puts them just under the average income for married couple families in Salt Lake City. How would you describe your relationship with money?
Consuming. Oh. I would describe it as all-consuming, yeah. The thing that keeps, like, coming to mind is, you know, when someone has, like,
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Chapters
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