Why Is It So Hard to Talk About Money? (Ep. 81 Replay)

No Stupid Questions

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What’s the connection between conversations about money and financial literacy? Could the taboo against talking about your salary be fading? And why did Angie’s teenage daughter call Vanguard to learn about I.R.A.s?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi NSC viewers! Some members of our team are a little under the weather this week,
0:04.8	so we're sharing one of our favorite questions from the NSCU archive.
0:08.5	Stay tuned to the end of the show to hear thoughts from listeners on last week's episode
0:12.9	about the unique conversations people have on airplanes. We'll be back next week with a brand
0:18.4	new episode on Super Agers, people who remain physically and mentally healthy into their 90s and beyond.
0:25.6	Wait, is this a trick question? I'm Antelda Duckworth. I'm Stephen Dubner. And you're listening to
0:34.7	no stupid questions. Today on the show, why is it so hard to talk about money? I think the best
0:42.4	advice would be to make podcasts because this is where the big cheeses happen and people. So much money.
0:50.0	Okay, why don't we try something new? I'll start. Ready? Okay, go. Angela, read me a question right now.
0:59.4	Stephen, here it is. Hi, Stephen and Angela, why is money so hard to talk about?
1:05.7	Oh, this is not from you. This is a listener question. See how I intuitive that?
1:09.6	You're so clever. This is from Naomi. I'm recently working on a project about improving people's
1:15.5	financial literacy. During the process, my teammates and I started talking about our financial
1:21.1	journeys. And we realized we had so many similar financial questions or issues that we never
1:27.7	talked to anyone about. And here's the question for us, Stephen. Why is it so hard to talk about your
1:33.6	money problems or even if you're financially secure, so hard to share advice or talk about your
1:39.7	finances with others? You're sincere and loyal listener, Naomi. Good question, Naomi. I once
1:46.8	set out to write a book about this very topic. It was called Money Makes Me Happy, Perenthesis,
1:53.8	except when it doesn't. And this book was inspired by behavioral economics the early days. But
2:02.8	also, I just observed that there are these big topics that everyone says you shouldn't talk about
2:09.2	in polite company. There's religion, there's politics, there's sex. But it struck me that money
2:14.6	was another topic that we shied away from. So I spent a couple of years reporting on all these
	...

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