Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

Some of the first signs that money is getting tight don’t show up in GDP reports or the unemployment rate. They show up at the strip club, the dentist’s office, and the Coinstar machine at the front of the grocery store. This week on Networth & Chill, Vivian highlights 12 recession indicators you wouldn’t expect, what each one says about where the money is and isn’t flowing, and how to protect your own finances if you start spotting them in your life. 1. When the fun money disappears: Empty strip clubs, doctors with open appointment slots, why skipped checkups become $20,000 problems, and why your favorite 2000s band is suddenly going on a reunion tour. 2. Digging for cash and borrowing for basics: Repossessed cars reported as stolen, people cashing in their coin jars, buy now pay later for groceries, Grandma heading back to work, and the job scam texts targeting desperate job seekers. 3. The classics, and how to protect yourself: The Hemline Index, why a former Fed chair reportedly watched men’s underwear sales, plus building an emergency fund and a “fun fund,” getting the most out of your library card, and having the money talk with your parents. Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE! Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why do so many of us stay quiet when it comes to asking for more at work? This week on Networth & Chill, Vivian goes solo to break down why negotiation is one of the most powerful money moves you can make, especially for women, and how one conversation can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your lifetime earnings. Whether you’re eyeing a raise, a promotion, or a higher 401(k) match, you can learn to ask for what you're worth. In this episode, Vivian covers: 1. Why negotiation matters: The compounding power of a single raise, why old-school “win at all costs” tactics backfire for women, and how a higher starting salary boosts every raise that follows. 2. What you can actually negotiate for: Salary, health insurance and IVF coverage, WFH stipends, flexible schedules, professional development, equity, retention bonuses, and why you should check your existing benefits first. 3. How to make the ask: Prepping with concrete data, picking the right time, leading with your wins, the power of staying silent after your ask, handling a “yes” or a “no,” and why finding a sponsor (not just a mentor) can change your career. Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE! Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE! Are you actually better off than you were two years ago? With affordability topping every poll heading into the midterms, Vivian sits down with Stephanie Ruhle, banker turned journalist and anchor of Money, Power, Politics on MS NOW, to put the biggest economic promises of the last campaign up against the receipts. They break down which promises held up, what Congress really controls when it comes to your money, and how to protect your finances no matter who wins in November. In this episode, Vivian and Stephanie cover: 1. Your wallet is on the ballot: why a non-presidential election matters to your bank account, what’s actually up for a vote this year, and why so many people feel broke even with the stock market doing fine. 2. The receipts: prices and inflation, gas and energy costs, the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and who gets the refunds, the $2,000 dividend that never arrived, the Fed’s surprise rate hike, and the fine print on no tax on tips and overtime. 3. What happens next: the affordability sleeper issue nobody’s talking about, what could change for your money in 2027, what a divided government means for your finances, and the one money move that makes sense no matter who wins Keep up with Stephanie on Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Ruhle weekdays on MS NOW. Have even more questions? Join the MS NOW Membership, available at ms.now/membership. You can preorder The New Rules: Work, Life, Money, and the Power of Minding Your Business at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-New-Rules/Stephanie-Ruhle/9781668207130 Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE! Tariffs, wars overseas, painful gas prices, and consumer expectations at an all-time low have a lot of people bracing for the worst, and yet the U.S. economy still hasn’t crashed. Vivian breaks down why things haven’t broken yet, what the scary headlines get wrong about recessions, and exactly what to do with your money before the next downturn hits, because eventually, it always does. In this episode, Vivian covers: 1. Why we haven’t crashed (yet): The difference between a recession and a crash, why the economy is cyclical by design, the data behind everyone’s nerves, and how a low-firing, low-hiring job market, a decade of cheap debt, AI investment, and big-spending wealthy households are keeping things afloat. 2. Your recession playbook: Why you shouldn’t pull your investments when the market dips, how big your emergency fund should be right now, which debt to pay down first, the index funds Vivian actually buys, and which industries tend to hold up best when the economy slows down. 3. Your questions, answered: How recessions actually end, whether to buy a home or what happens to your rent in a downturn, if your friend with all cash is suddenly richer than you, where stimulus money comes from, whether it’s a bad time to start investing, and the odds that all your money just disappears. Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE! Political ads are everywhere this time of year, but the people paying for them are a lot harder to spot. Running for office in America can cost anywhere from $1,000 to over $1 billion, and a growing share of that money is legally designed to stay hidden until after the votes are counted. Vivian breaks down elections like an economist would, as a market for attention, trust, and power, so you can figure out who’s bankrolling the people asking for your vote before you head to the polls this midterm season. In this episode, Vivian covers: 1. Following the money: What it really costs to run for office from school board to the White House, the four ways money reaches a candidate, how much you can legally donate in 2026, and how super PACs got so super. 2. Where the money hides: Pop-up super PACs that dodge disclosure until after Election Day, dark money routed through nonprofits, the Supreme Court ruling that just lifted limits on party coordinated spending, and a speed-run of campaign finance history from George Washington’s punch and cider to today. 3. What you can actually do: How to look up any candidate’s donors for free, whether it’s still worth donating if the system feels rigged, first financial steps for running for local office, how other countries handle campaign cash, and whether all that campaign spending is actually good for the economy. Look up candidates financials at https://www.fec.gov/data/ or on https://www.opensecrets.org/ (formerly followthemoney.org) Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices