Personal finance advice often sounds convincing, but does it actually make people wealthy? A new podcast, Have You Tried Being Rich?, launched September 1 with the goal of putting popular money tips on trial. Hosted by financial experts Dria Benjamin and Kristin Geosits, the biweekly show takes a no-BS approach to examining the financial advice that dominates American culture.
The premise is simple: take the advice everyone has heard, strip away the soundbites and success stories, and figure out what survives contact with real life. As Geosits explains, "Financial advice gets repeated like it applies equally to everyone, and it just doesn't. 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."
The first three episodes tackle three deeply embedded ideas: spend less, think like the rich, and become your own boss. Episode 1, "Stop Blaming the Latte: The $5 Lie Keeping You Broke," examines the "Latte Factor" and whether cutting small purchases can dramatically change financial futures. Episode 2, "Rich Dad, Poor Advice," takes on Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad and the "think like the rich" advice that followed, exploring the messier realities of leverage, rental properties, and passive income. Episode 3, "The Pyramid You Can't Climb: MLMs Won't Make You Rich," breaks down why multi-level marketing pitches are so convincing and what participant income disclosures reveal.
Each episode ends with the show's BS Meter, which delivers one of three verdicts: THIS GETS YOU RICH, THIS WON'T HURT, or YOU'LL DIE TRYING. The goal is not to prove all advice wrong, but to separate advice that changes outcomes from advice that merely sounds good. "A money tip can be good advice without being the reason somebody gets rich," Benjamin says. "We take one decent habit, give it a cape, and suddenly it is supposed to solve capitalism."
This matters because personal finance content has become a massive industry that rewards certainty, often selling simple rules that ignore individual circumstances. By pressure-testing these claims, the podcast offers listeners a more nuanced understanding of what actually builds wealth. New episodes are released every two weeks and are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
