244. JVN on The Financial Wake Up Call That Changed Everything

Financial Feminist

Her First $100K

How To, Self-improvement, Education, Business

4.7 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2025

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when a cultural icon known for spreading joy and glam realness opens up about their most personal financial struggles? In this episode, I sit down with the one and only Jonathan Van Ness aka JVN for a raw, vulnerable, and hilarious conversation about money trauma, impulse spending, and the financial wake-up call that changed everything. From their first money memory at Bath & Body Works to navigating money as a public figure living with HIV, JVN shares how they went from financial avoidance to agency—with a little help from our past conversations. We dive deep into how queer joy is not just resistance, but a vital tool for survival, why financial literacy is crucial for marginalized communities, and what it really takes to heal your relationship with money. Plus, you'll hear Jonathan’s tips for luxury bag resale (you'll want to take notes), the emotional weight of growing up without financial guidance, and how they've transformed their entire financial life, mindset, and self-worth. Tune in! JVN’s links: Website: https://jonathanvanness.com/ Hot & Healed tour: https://jonathanvanness.com/tour/ Book: Let Them Stare: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/let-them-stare-jonathan-van-nessjulie-murphy? variant=43252198768674 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	If you're someone who's been ignoring your money and expecting your financial problems to just
0:03.8	solve themselves, this episode is for you. We are talking today to the iconic Jonathan Van Ness.
0:10.3	Whether I've made like 40,000 a year or what I've made in these last few years, the impulsivity
0:15.1	and like the resistance to budgeting, that was there then and it was there now. We're talking
0:19.4	impulse shopping, luxury bags, financial trauma, budgeting breakdowns, and
0:23.9	queer joy.
0:24.5	In one of the most deeply personal and transparent conversations he's ever given.
0:28.7	So like the whole system is really fucked up because the last thing someone should be
0:32.7	worrying about is like acquiring their pills.
0:35.0	Jonathan and I have a refreshingly honest conversation about personal growth,
0:39.0	about healing from money trauma and joy as a form of resistance.
0:42.5	This is why I'm so passionate about politics and I talk about it so much and living with HIV
0:46.1	is like in my 20s, the HIV social safety net like saved my life.
0:50.1	From their earliest money memories and hint,
0:52.5	spending all of the money at Bath & Body Works is involved, to navigating financial overwhelm at the height of famous success.
0:59.0	JVN opens up about how they went from financial avoidance to agency.
1:02.5	I was like eight decisions away from being like episode one in Schitt's Creek, but not tax evasion, just impulse spending.
1:07.0	So like you change my life.
1:08.5	They share how my advice, which is kind of fucking insane,
1:12.0	change their entire framework around money and their entire relationship with their personal
1:16.2	finances and why it's never too late to get started. Along the way, we're talking luxury
1:20.1	bag reselling. We're talking about surviving the chaos of social media and why financial
	...

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