The whole point of It Doesn’t Make Cents is to look at different ways to do money. There are so many different strategies you can use to manage your finances.

So we asked some friends what they do with their money—and you might be surprised at how it’s a little different.

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* Sarah Li-Cain

* Miranda Marquit

This season, we’ve looked at debt from a different perspective. So often, we believe that debt = bad. Even worse, our society often views it as a moral failing. The reality is that debt is sometimes necessary—and it can even be a tool to help you better your finances. Listen to our season wrap up with more perspectives on why debt may be a necessity.

Some of the things we bring up include:

* How the rich use debt to borrow and spend using stocks and other assets as collateral and to avoid selling anything and reducing taxable events

* Our propensity to consider what rich people as superior while doing the same thing as a poor is considered inferior or “trashy”

* How the financial order of operations might work for some people, but can be overly prescriptive and doesn’t always work if you run into a problem

* Much of the “regular” personal finance advice works best if nothing goes wrong for 20 years

* Concerns that prescriptive finance a la Dave Ramsey is making its way into some schools

* There’s a lot of “financial porn” out there that glorifies strategies that are inaccessible to most people, even though those they feature are outliers

Financial strategies that include debt

We featured a few people who shared their stories of how debt is necessary in some cases, including some of their own stories of using debt as a financial tool:

* Brynne Conroy

* Tiffany Grant

* Dustin Heiner

* Deacon Hayes

And don’t forget to check out our recommended resource from Dana Miranda of Healthy Rich, Dealing with debt without shame.

Consider supporting us by upgrading to a paid subscription here (so we can continue to keep doing this work)

Or, for a one-off donation, buy us a refreshing beverage on Ko-fi.

And make sure you check out our websites as well:

* Sarah Li-Cain

* Miranda Marquit

In the last 20 years, tuition costs have soared in the U.S. In-state tuition at public universities has increased about 158 percent during that time. Long gone are the days that our boomer parents reminisce about, you know, when you could work for a summer and save up enough money to cover tuition for a full year of school.

Many of us, especially Gen Xers like me and millennials were told to go to school and get a good job. Even with student loans, our parents told us it was worth it. Surely we'd get good jobs and be able to pay off the student loans with ease. So let's take a look at student loans. Let's talk about the realities of where we are right now and how it's okay. If you don't plan to pay off your student loans early or even at all.

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This episode dives into personal loans and how they can be helpful for managing cash flow and how sometimes debt is a lifeline for some folks who need a leg up.

We cited information about debt, specifically student loans. Here’s where we got it:

* Lending Tree personal loan statistics

* Credit card trends before and after the pandemic (Government Accountability Office)

* Bankrate personal loan rates

* Bankrate credit card rates

* Reuters reports credit card debt topping $1 trillion

* Clever survey results: people using credit cards for necessities

* New York Fed household debt

Consider supporting us by upgrading to a paid subscription on itdoesntmakecents.com (so we can continue to keep doing this work)

Or, for a one-off donation, buy us a refreshing beverage on Ko-fi.

And make sure you check out our websites as well:

* Sarah Li-Cain

* Miranda Marquit