What Is Your Money Trying to Do for You?

A seven-week guide to building a financial life that reflects what matters most.

Jun 12, 2026

Over the next seven weeks, I’m going to share a framework that I believe can help almost anyone improve their financial life.

Not a budgeting app.

Not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Not a complicated investing strategy.

A framework.

One built from years of teaching, financial education, countless conversations with adults and students, and my own family’s journey toward financial independence.

My partner and I averaged roughly $53,000 of annual income over the past 25 years. Today, we’re financially independent.

That doesn’t make us special.

It does mean we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what money is, what it’s for, and how it can be used to build a life.

Along the way, I’ve noticed something surprising.

Most people don’t have a money problem.

They have a clarity problem.

They’ve never really been taught how money works.

Think about it.

Nobody hands a child a book and says, “Good luck learning to read.”

Nobody hands a kid a ukulele and says, “Figure it out.”

Nobody hands someone a basketball and expects them to understand the game without instruction.

Reading is taught.

Music is taught.

Sports are taught.

Yet many of us were handed bank accounts, credit cards, student loans, retirement plans, mortgages, tax forms, insurance policies, and a lifetime of financial decisions and somehow expected to figure it all out on our own.

And even then, we’re not learning in a neutral environment.

Every day, thousands of companies are competing for our attention and our money. They want us to buy, upgrade, subscribe, finance, borrow, lease, and spend.

It’s difficult enough to learn a skill when someone is teaching you.

Imagine trying to learn while thousands of voices are shouting conflicting advice in your ear.

The real surprise isn’t that so many adults feel overwhelmed by money.

The real surprise would be if everyone somehow figured it out on their own.

Consider financial literacy education in America.

More states are beginning to require a personal finance course before high school graduation, and that’s worth celebrating.

But think about what we’re talking about.

Money influences where we live, what jobs we take, how we handle emergencies, when we retire, what opportunities we can pursue, and how much control we have over our time.

It’s one of the few subjects nearly every person will encounter every day for the rest of their life.

And our solution is often a single course before graduation.

That’s the best we’ve got.

It’s almost comical.

Then we wonder why so many people feel confused about debt, investing, saving, retirement, and spending.

So rather than assuming you should already know this stuff, I’d like to start somewhere different.

I’d like to start with a few questions.

Over the next seven weeks, we’ll work together to answer them.

Where am I?

Before you can improve your financial life, you need an honest picture of where you stand today.

What truly matters?

What belongs in the category of priorities, and what doesn’t?

What’s holding me back?

What habits, debts, subscriptions, obligations, or assumptions are quietly pulling resources away from the life you’re trying to build?

What makes life worth living?

What are your passions, and how much of your time and money should be directed toward them?

What is enough?

How will you know when your needs are met, your future is protected, and you have enough?

These questions may sound simple.

They’re not.

In fact, I think many financial struggles stem from never having answered them clearly.