On This Episode

The wealth gap between young married couples and their single counterparts has more than doubled since 2010. It’s expensive being single, and inflation is making it even harder to manage rising costs on a single income. This week, Stefanie interviews writer Anne Helen Petersen about the rising costs of being single in America.

Meet Our Caller

“Dawn” is a 32-year-old Iowa-based listener working in the legal field. Between her own desires alongside pressure from her parents and outside voices, Dawn has her sights set on buying a house. However, she’s feeling discouraged by the lack of institutional support and education for single people navigating finances.

Meet Host Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez

Stefanie is a nationally recognized personal finance expert ready to talk work, worth, and money with unapologetically ambitious women. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Oprah Magazine, and Stefanie has appeared on ABC World News, CBSN, Fox & Friends, Fox Business, Bloomberg, The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, and more to share her smart, practical solutions to any money problem.

Meet Our Expert, Anne Helen Petersen

Anne Helen Petersen is an author and journalist. She currently writes for her newsletter “Culture Study” on Substack and previously worked as a senior culture writer for BuzzFeed. Her work has been featured in Vox, HuffPost, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and more.

Advice From the Episode

Whether you see yourself staying single or hope to be partnered later in life, it’s important to “prepare yourself [financially] for the reality of being a single person.” — Anne HelenSeek out communities of support so that you aren’t working through different life scenarios alone. “I think a lot of us right now, whether we acknowledge it or not, are shut out of those traditional mechanisms of care, and the way that we support each other is we actually form community.” —Anne HelenCelebrate your life milestones and accomplishments the way that people celebrate getting married and having kids. —Anne Helen

Download the transcript for this episode.

Subscribe to Petersen’s Substack newsletter “Culture Study”. Follow Petersen on Twitter and Instagram.

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