Growing Up Poor: When 'Good' Money Advice Doesn't Apply

Chelsea sits down with Jessica Oudbier to talk about her struggles with PTSD, fighting for disability money, growing up poor, and building a life without most of the financial tools we're expected to have.

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[Biiku_]

Hello, I'm Jessica Oudbier. Thank you so much for all of your kind words of encouragement and kindness. I was unsure how my interview would be recieved.

[sira]

« When in doubt, take a nap » is the best advice I’ve ever heard on this damn internet

[albshel]

"We're all one head injury away from becoming monsters." Sheesh, never looked at financial and life planning that way, but that's so real.

[amymonemontoya]

It's rare to get to meet someone who makes you feel "she's just like me!" I resonated so hard with her trauma and humorous sarcasm, I'm crying. Thank you for bringing her on and sharing her story! People need to sees that people like us exist!

[Verasabri]

Appreciate your videos! I’m 54 and younger generations should know there’s no shortcut to acquiring wealth, but there are ways to go about it. Fellow millionaires don’t tell the poor/middle class they need the knowledge of finance coaches to help build their wealth. If anyone here needs a good coach, here’s it..

[mccolk]

I would love to read a book by this guest or have a Part 2 interview. She is so down-to-earth, self-aware, intelligent, funny, and sarcastic. Loved this conversation!!

[lahnnabell]

I really appreciate how vulnerable this guest was willing to be. She could be truly saving so many people from getting into a bad situation or preventing them from giving up on themselves. I work with people all day, every day and it this guest reminds me that I need to give myself grace when I am having trouble functioning at an optimum level and that I need to extend that grace to others when they need it. Excellent content.

[monicafein]

"When I am well enough is when I can fight for myself for when I am weak" 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

This is such a great description of the struggles in fighting for your own mental health care. To be strong enough in a fixed moment to fight for your mental health, makes it hard for other people to imagine you ever struggle. But the truth is, that one moment is just wish more people could understand that.

[LiteraryLDawn]

I’m incredibly grateful for this episode - so much of financial advice and online information is focused on individuals who didn’t come from broken or abusive homes or aren’t disabled. My parents transferred their poverty and poor financial behaviors and I’ve had to drag myself out of that cycle by my nails it feels like. Having a partner who came from a “normal” family it’s so stark how much further down the path of financial stability they are than I am which can make me feel so much shame. This episode was so incredibly validating and normalizing for me.

[danielle]

This is by far my favourite guest and favourite conversation that I have seen on this channel. I really respect Jessica, you are honest, straightforward and are the most down to earth and realistic American I have heard on a podcast. I really wish you all the best and hope being on this podcast brings something good into your life

[LoquaciousPint]

Chelsea, you handled this conversation with such grace and kindness i truly appreciate it. I am a former service member with so many mirrored struggles as Jessica. Thank you for giving this conversation a platform and handling it with such care. Thank you so much to your whole team. And thank you, Jessica for sharing your story 🤍

[Mrkeritaville]

This is why I've always felt like we need several different genres of financial advice.

Some "hacks" those of us at the very bottom do to survive (get that sex work money as amazon gift cards so that SSI can't see it in your bank account, be in line at the ebt office at 6am or you wont be seen, make your disability more visible and act dumb for the ssi judge, not too dumb or theyll assign you a payee....) would make ordinary folks blanch... or it would confuse them.

[rbrindle]

My husband became disabled in 2006 from COPD. He loved to work, defined himself by work, and we needed his income. It took us several years of his trying part-time work, only to have some sort of medical crisis happen each time before we realized that being unable to work consistently is the definition of disability.

[l.m.]

Looking forward to this one- this is such an important topic and a perspective that often gets overlooked in our society. Thanks, Chelsea and to your guest for sharing.

[niebieskimotyl]

There's a lot of wisdom there, especially these things:
1) Securing financial resources for the future, to not be dependent on other people.
2) Not marrying and having kids young.
3) Not having kids just for the sake of having family.

[thefinancialdiet]

For anyone who would like to read more from Jessica, you can find her website here!


Thank you for the lovely response to our conversation.

-C

[ericabarnes]

My first and last reaction to this interview are both “Wow.” The vulnerability that Jessica came to this conversation with was amazing. I appreciate everything that she shared and I’m glad to know her story. She is definitely saying out loud a lot of what people are thinking. And that’s good. We should say more of those things out loud.

[stevegeorge]

First off, I think she would be an amazing stand-up comedian because she's equal parts hilarious and tragic in an extremely human way. Second, a lot of this is going to stick with me. "We are one head injury away from becoming monsters."

[DemureSpectabilis]

Fantastic interview, Chelsea! Thank you for giving us a chance to hear Jessica’s perspective and advice on navigating tough decisions in succession and keeping our eyes on our personal end goals. I’m so sorry that she was put through all that she’s been through, but I so appreciate you giving her an opportunity to share her story!

[Emmzilla]

This episode hit so close to home. I was disabled but working and almost done with my doctorate when I got completely sidelined by Long Covid in 2022. Everything she talks about with finding your people is spot on as well as the difficulty in getting the people making decisions to understand what things are like when they can’t see.