Financial Flipside

Photo via energepic.com on Pexels     Although recession fears and missed earnings expectations have led to job cuts in some industries, the Great Resignation is still going strong: as of the beginning of June 2022, Americans were still quitting their jobs at record rates, and data from the a global survey by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that up to 20% of workers worldwide were planning to quit their jobs by the end of 2022. Further, the Great Resignation is starting to spread to sectors like academia, which have long been believed to be more stable (however far that belief is from the reality of most of the sector’s workers). With all that in mind, we are back with the second half of our Great Resignation episode. This time around we’re talking about factors that influence quitting, lying flat, labor costs, worker-management relations, and where we go from here. We hope you enjoy! Before we get to the show notes: We have a shiny new home! Come over to catch up on all of those older episodes that we

Odds are, you know someone who has moved on from their job recently, whether a co-worker, family member, or friend. Maybe you’ve made a similar transition yourself. If so, you may be part of the Great Resignation, a socio-cultural phenomenon that is baffling researchers and reporters, and which is causing no small degree of anxiety among employers. As we explore in this episode, the reasons that people are leaving their jobs are complex and really get to the heart of why we work in the first place. Also in this episode: life updates,  an inside view of what happens when accountants fire their clients, and we’re working doing some home (read: website) renovations. It’s good to be back!   NB: This one got long, so there’s going to be a part two.  Mentioned in the show:    Flipping the News   The Trump organization gets fired by its accountant, who also declared all of the financial statements it prepared for the organization “unreliable” 2 New York District Attorneys working on the Trump fraud investigati

Photo by Bruno Figueiredo on Unsplash     Taxes took center stage at the Met Gala recently, when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attended the event wearing a white gown with “TAX THE RICH” emblazoned on the back in red. The ensuing discussion was wide ranging, covering everything from the designer’s background to Ocasio-Cortez’s salary and net worth  and the ethics of politicians attending the Met Gala at all. There were even articles that worked the dress into a wider discussion of the Democratic party’s tax plan. Whatever you think about the dress, politicians attending museum galas in general, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez specifically, the message was clear and called attention to a real issue: the fact that the  amount of tax some of us pay relative to the money we make doesn’t seem to add up. Further driving this point home is the recent release of the Pandora papers, the largest release of offshore financial information in history which shows how wealthy individuals from all over

Infrastructure touches every aspect of our lives, from the roads we drive on to the water we drink to the electricity powering the laptop I’m using to type these show notes. Because of this, it’s also one of the areas in which the connection between money and everyday life is the clearest: if part of our country’s (or city’s or state’s) infrastructure falls apart, we often end up paying for it in ways both big and small. Building and maintaining a national infrastructure is also really expensive, which raises questions about who pays for it and what’s worth paying for that have led to a lot of political wrangling and debate (To wit, at one point, there were eight infrastructure bills circulating in Congress). In short, infrastructure is the perfect mix of everything we love talking about on the Financial Flipside (taxes, money, everyday life, citizenship, politics), so it seemed ripe for an episode. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording it (NB: LaTarsha was having audio problems t

Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels   Scarcity was with us long before images of empty store shelves and news stories offering explanations for the absence of yeast or Lysol or Mason jars. In fact, the idea of scarcity has been baked into economics and society to such a degree and for so long (at least in the US; your mileage may vary--L) that we think of everything from toilet paper to money to political power as finite resources to be acquired and closely guarded. On this episode of the Financial Flipside Podcast, we’re talking about scarcity, both the economic concept and how it plays out in our daily lives. Along the way, we’ll discuss sneaker drops, free markets, living wages, human nature, and moments when instinct takes over. We also dedicate our Flipping the News segment to examining the financial aftermath of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.  As always, we want to hear from you: how have your shopping habits changed over the past year? How about your idea of what it means to have enou

A quick note: This episode was recorded on October 31, 2020, before Election Day or any of the subsequent events surrounding the results or the transition process.   Like many Americans in the run up to the presidential election, we had politics on the brain, and our state of mind is reflected in this episode. After a quick check-in, we dive headlong into a discussion of the strong connection between money and politics in the US. First, in our Flipping the News segment, we examine the New York Times’ report on Trump’s tax documents, with brief digressions for beards, scamming, and the Constitution  along the way. For the Main Event, we move beyond the soon-to-be ex-President’s taxes and business dealings to discuss the role that money has always played in US politics and all of the ways that money influences who holds political power. The Electoral College doesn’t meet until December 14, but even after the new administration takes office on January 20, 2021, huge questions remain: why is it so expensive to r

  NB: There were some mic issues in this episode, so you may notices that the audio sounds a little metallic in places. We hope that you'll join us for what we believe is an interesting dive into a complicated topic, sound not withstanding-L   How does one right a wrong, when that wrong forms a crucial part of who you are? How does one right a wrong that you’d rather leave in the past, even while apologizing in the present? Is it possible to address the material consequences of slavery without monetary payments?   The United States has been both wrestling with and dancing around these weighty and other weighty questions surrounding reparations for slavery in some form since the late 18th century. In this episode, we take a look at the history of reparations in the US in particular, examine some of the past and present barriers to reparations,  and discuss what  a national reparations program might look like.  But first, in this episode's Flipping the News segment, we try getting to be bottom of a question th

We’re back, and we’ve come bearing gifts in the form of retooled format (including a new segment!). Join us as we recap a weird tax season, take a look at the storylines that emerged after the Treasury Department finally released data about who received PPP loans, and wrap up our discussion of economic indicators with a deep dive into the stock market.    Do you have money, tax, or small business questions? Did you come across a finance-related news story that you’d like us to cover? Reach out to us at @financeflipside on all social media or email us: info@financialflipside.com. For questions, be sure to let us know whether or not you’d like us to answer on the show. To continue the conversation, join us over on Facebook in the Financial Flipside Group chat. You can also find videos, blog posts, and more interesting stories from the intersection of money and everyday life on our Twitter and Facebook pages, and on the website. Mentioned in the episode:  Flipping the News   The Journal of Accountancy’s summa

Most of the economic news these days is not great: high unemployment, a drop in GDP that brought the US economy’s longest period of expansion to a screeching halt, and of course, the neverending ups and downs of the stock market. Though media sources have already started reporting on “the coronavirus recession” and we’re all feeling the effects of business closures and supply chain disruptions, we’re not technically in a recession. The reason comes down to how we measure economic performance. On today’s episode, we’ll be talking about economic indicators, what a recession is, and why official definitions don’t always match up with our lived experience. We’ll also be discussing some ways to weather an economic downturn, recession declaration or no. We can’t  promise to alleviate any concerns you may have about the economy or tell you what to expect in the coming months or years, but we’ll try to provide some actions that you can take in the present.      Note: we recorded this podcast in early April, just aft

After some time off, a move (L), and a partial pivot  to  video (J), the Financial Flipside Podcast is back!For our first episode of 2020, we thought it would be a good idea to talk about a goal that heads up so many of our lists of New Year’s resolutions: getting organized. Specifically, we’re talking about business systems, those combinations of processes, workflows, and tools that we use to do everything from monitoring cash flow to training employees to literally keeping the lights on.  Listen in for a discussion of our adventures in systematizing, processes vs. workflows, app addiction, and establishing good working relationships between systems and tech.  Oh, and we also shout out some of the tools that help us save time and effort at work. As always, we want to hear from you: What has your experience with creating systems been like? If you find yourself in a perpetual state of “getting organized,” what are some of the barriers keeping you from taking the next step? If you’ve managed to implement and st

Today we’re giving you a peek behind the scenes with an episode about one of our favorite pre-show topics: college sports [note: we’re both dyed-in-the-wool Duke fans. What can we say? The idea of your college as “the mother of your soul” definitely holds for us when it comes to sports loyalties]. This is perhaps the best and the worst time for a discussion about the economics of college sports: on the one hand, basketball and football seasons are underway; on the other, things are moving so fast that we need to use part of the show notes for a news update.  In a move that will likely not surprise you once you’ve listened to the episode, the NCAA Board of Governors made a unanimous decision to extend the right to receive compensation for the use of their names, images, and likenesses  to all college athletes, an about-face from its earlier promise to contest California’s Fair Pay to Play Act. Of course, the NCAA is still a (non-profit) business, so this decision isn’t necessarily an indication of its newfoun

In which we finally get around to recording an episode about Black capitalism. This is a long one, and we have a lot of… thoughts, and feelings. So many feelings. Listen in as we talk about Jay-Z's NFL partnership, Reconstruction, economic anxiety, Booker T. Washington, shadow economies, entrepreneurship, space travel, Kamala Harris’s student loan proposal, self-sufficiency vs. self determination, and much more. Capitalism alone is a complex topic, as is Black people's relationship with it. Consider this episode a way of laying the groundwork for discussions that we will likely return to off and on in future episodes.    Mentioned on the show A note before the show notes proper: Yes, it’s Dooboyz and not Doobwah. We regret the misstatement, which can be charged to late-in the-day fatigue. Speaking of both W.E.B Du Bois and economics, if you have some free time, it’s well worth checking out his painted data visualizations of Black American life in 1900. You can also read more about them here .   On with the

As of May 2019, the average price of a new house in the US was $377,200, a price that will buy you, on average, an apartment’s worth of space for every member of your household. Alongside expanding house sizes and the proliferation of luxury condos is a stark reality: the United States, like many other places in the world, is in the throes of a housing crisis. While there is plenty of physical housing to be had, very little of it is affordable , especially when one takes into account that most people’s wages have remained relatively flat. For example, as of June 2019, there is not a single place in the US or Puerto Rico where a minimum wage job would allow a person to afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment.    Despite what looks like a bleak housing picture, people, especially in the United States, remain invested in home ownership, even if staying in their homes means stretching their salaries or spending hours commuting each week. Why are Americans obsessed with home ownership?  Does the idea of one’s

The first tax season after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was full of surprises. When the IRS published its weekly filing statistics during the last week of tax season , the numbers confirmed what many taxpayers were shocked to see when they finished their returns: namely, that tax refunds were both smaller and a bit harder to come by. The number of refunds decreased by 1.9%, while their size decreased by 1.3% (or about $36--this is a correction from the $55 reported on the show). In this episode we talk about what happened and why, our national love affair with tax refunds, corporate tax avoidance, and why the IRS isn’t pursuing as many investigations despite new data that reveals that more people are cheating on their taxes.   Summary Intro: smaller refunds, unexpected bills JH’s notes from the field: an accountant’s-eye view of tax season How do we explain these changes? Tax refunds: why do we expect them? What are the benefits and drawbacks of receiving one? The number of people and businesses

On December 22, 2018, the US government entered what was to become the longest shutdown in the country’s history, when the  President refused to sign off on a Congressional budget that didn’t include a requested $5 billion in funding for a border wall. The government temporarily reopened 35 days later, but not before damaging the economy and pushing many federal employees and people who rely on government funding social programs to the edge of their own fiscal cliffs.   How and why do shutdowns happen? What, if anything, did we learn from this experience? What can we do to prepare if the temporary funding lapses on February 15th without a budget in place? In this episode: “savings crises,” conference committees, grocery store negotiations, and only slightly less ire about borders than in our economics of immigration episode.   Speaking of which, if you’ve missed any of our previous episodes, you can find them on Apple Podcasts , Google Play, Stitcher., or on our website. Questions? Comments? You can email

As the year draws to a close, a lot of us carving out time between holiday parties and wrapping up projects to make a few New Year’s resolutions. After writing or typing out our lists, we roar into the new year with the best of intentions, armed with gym memberships, apps, and new gadgets. Yet, by the end of 2019, more than 90% of us will have abandoned our resolutio until December, when the whole cycle starts again. In this habit-forming episode, we talk about goal setting: why we succeed, why we fail, and some strategies for making your 2019 resolutions ones we’ll keep. Because we’re a money and finance podcast, and because financial resolutions are incredibly common (one poll taken at the beginning of the year found that saving money was tied with diet and exercise changes for the most popular resolution), we also discuss some things to do to get your finances ready for 2019.   Mentioned on the show:   94% of millennials plan to make financial resolutions 77% of us can work on a resolution for a week, b

Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, and Lyft all began life as startups, and their success has meant that the romance of rapid growth and multi-million dollar exits has permeated not only the world of business but almost every aspect of our daily lives. Popular business magazines draw readers in with breathless company profiles and promises that the morning routine or management style of this or that founder could  transform your business too. Away from the office, television shows like Silicon Valley  and Shark Tank have turned coding marathons and venture capital pitches into appointment viewing.   Where does our collective fascination leave businesses that don’t follow the startup model? Is there any real difference between startups and small businesses? What can startups and small business learn from each other? These are just some of the questions we tackle in this episode. Enjoy!   As always, we want to hear from you: tell us about your startup dreams, adventures in building a strong business culture, or even yo

According to a recent Banrkate.com survey  4 in 10 Americans have side hustles, or jobs that they work in addition to their primary source of income. Another survey of 1,000 Americans from CreditLoan.com found that 15% of side hustlers want to start a business of their own. If the legions of breathless articles about side hustling are any indication, we may be nearing a future in which everyone is living their entrepreneurial dreams and working 50 hour weeks. Today’s episode tackles the hows and whys of side jobs, including making friends with fear, adjusting to irregular income, ethical side hustling, and turning your side hustle into a full-time business. Discussed in this episode: The origins of the term “side hustle” and the aestheticization of poverty The dark side of side hustle mania, embodied in Fivver ads Why are millenials so obsessed with side hustles?  This article argues that it’s  (mostly)  the economy, silly. 4 questions to help you work a side job without getting fired How to start

The human consequences of the current administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy have been inescapable during this summer’s news cycle. Each day seems to bring with it new stories of parents separated from children, inhumane conditions in detention centers, and the stripping away of previously installed protections for asylum seekers and early childhood arrivals in the United States.As people, we found these stories impossible to ignore. As a show about how finance and economics interact with the rest of our lives, we thought  it important to spend some time thinking about the economics of immigration. Specifically, why does so much of the rhetoric about immigration in the US revolve around money and labor? What do the numbers say? What are the effects of framing discussions about immigration in economic terms? Are there alternatives to this sort of thinking, and what might they be? We do not pretend to offer definitive answers or policy fixes, but we hope that this episode leads you to your own fruit

Though it can be hard to imagine when you’re landing your first client, applying for a business loan, or opening a second location, there may come a time when you want to or have to stop being a business owner. That said, your business doesn’t have to come to an end because your time as an entrepreneur does (unless you want it to). There are a variety of ways to keep your company going if you step down, all of which require a plan--a succession plan.   In this episode, we talk about what it takes to plan for the continued existence of your business: what you’ll need, who to involve, and how long it takes. We also talk about exit strategies, startup narratives, the potential consequences of short-term thinking, and one thing you can do now to prepare for the future of your business, whatever that looks like.   As always, we want to hear from you: do you have a succession plan? How do you imagine the future of your business?   Mentioned on the show: What is succession planning, anyway? What are the pillars