Personal finance advice is everywhere, but how much of it actually works? A new podcast, Have You Tried Being Rich?, launched September 1 with the goal of finding out. Hosted by financial experts Dria Benjamin and Kristin Geosits, the show takes common money tips—like "stop buying coffee" or "buy assets"—and subjects them to rigorous scrutiny.
The podcast's premise is simple: take the financial advice everyone has heard, strip away the soundbites and success stories, and figure out what survives contact with real life. "Financial advice gets repeated like it applies equally to everyone, and it just doesn't," said Geosits. "Income matters. Debt matters. Housing costs matter. Your obligations, opportunities and stage of life matter." 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 daily purchases can dramatically change your financial future. The hosts explore where the advice came from, why the math can seem convincing, 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, then dig into the messier realities of leverage, rental properties, entrepreneurship, and so-called passive income. Episode 3, "The Pyramid You Can't Climb: MLMs Won't Make You Rich," confronts multi-level marketing. The hosts break down why the MLM pitch is convincing, how recruiting spreads through social networks, and what participant income disclosures reveal.
Each episode ends with the "BS Meter," giving one of three verdicts: "This gets you rich," "This won't hurt," or "You'll die trying." The show isn't about replacing one set of rigid 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. "Simple advice gives people something concrete to do, and sometimes that can be helpful," said Geosits. "The problem is when a useful habit gets presented as the solution to a much bigger financial problem."
The podcast also examines the financial advice industry itself and the incentives that turn complicated decisions into simple rules. "A money tip can be good advice without being the reason somebody gets rich," said Benjamin. "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 and Apple Podcasts. The show's no-BS approach offers a critical look at the promises that dominate personal finance, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking to separate evidence-based strategies from hype.
