239. The Cost of Being Transgender with Ash Perez

Financial Feminist

Her First $100K

How To, Education, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You might think you know the financial cost of transitioning—but what you’ll hear in this episode will completely reframe how you think about money, identity, and survival. In this episode, I spoke with Ash Perez –– Cuban-Korean-Filipino writer, director, producer, and openly trans man who’s sharing what it really takes to live authentically in a world that often doesn’t make room for that authenticity. From top surgery and hormone therapy to lost job opportunities and acne treatments during a second puberty, Ash gets incredibly honest about the hidden, ongoing expenses of transitioning—and why we need to start thinking about them as necessary, not excessive. This is one of the most candid and enlightening conversations we’ve ever had on the show. Ash walks us through not only his journey through gender discovery, divorce, grief, and systemic hoops—but also what cisgender allies often get wrong when trying to support trans folks. If you care about queer communities, want to be a better ally, or are just ready to expand your perspective on what financial security and self-acceptance really look like, tune in. Ash’s links: Website: https://www.2ndtry.tv/ Substack: https://substack.com/@itsashlyperez To get more resources including any freebies mentioned in this episode, head to https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You would not believe how much this trans filmmaker spent on gender affirming care.
0:05.0	And some of what he spent the money on will shock you.
0:07.7	This is a conversation about being transgender that you've never heard before.
0:11.8	And what you're getting wrong as a queer ally.
0:14.3	Let's get into it.
0:15.3	As Perez is a writer, director, author, and producer.
0:18.1	The truth is, does it make you happy to do this?
0:21.8	Even if it's outside of what you've traditionally been told that men or women or non-binary
0:26.1	people are supposed to do or look like, then do that.
0:28.8	And like, eventually you land where you're supposed to be.
0:32.3	A queer first generation, Cuban, Korean, and Filipino American himself,
0:36.1	Ash is focused on telling underrepresented stories
0:38.3	in every genre. He has written for ABC's Home Economics and Free Forms Good Trouble, and most
0:43.6	recently he created New Guy Tri's for Second Try TV, which follows his exploration of manhood
0:48.9	as a newly transitioned man. We know how hard it is to even be where we are. And so I don't know any marginalized person
0:57.2	who doesn't turn around and give back. And yet, how many billionaires don't give any money,
1:03.1	donate any money, don't give a shit? We're talking with Ash today about the cost of being trans.
1:08.0	From his health care to surprising costs he never expected, both financially
1:12.0	and otherwise. We talked about Ash's life before and after transition, and it's one of the most
1:16.2	honest, vulnerable accounts of being transgender and gay awakening that I've ever encountered.
1:22.8	I think I grew up with a lot of judgment because of how I was raised too for women who got surgery
1:28.5	or women who wanted to wear more makeup because, you know, we also, we just make things
	...

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