{"id":270668,"date":"2025-11-19T00:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/270668\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T00:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:45:09","slug":"her-dads-a-financial-advisor-and-she-has-a-masters-in-economics-yet-her-finances-are-such-a-mess-that-an-auditor-asked-her-if-shes-dumb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/270668\/","title":{"rendered":"Her Dad’s A Financial Advisor And She Has A Master’s In Economics, Yet Her Finances Are Such A Mess That An Auditor Asked Her If She’s Dumb"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 26-year-old woman from Austin, Texas, with two degrees in economics and a father who works as a financial advisor, stunned viewers of the \u201cFinancial Audit\u201d show<\/a> when she revealed she spends hundreds more than she earns every month, has no real budget, and didn\u2019t understand that a gig platform\u2019s fees were not tax withholdings, among many other things.<\/p>\n

Reality Hits Hard In Austin<\/p>\n

Paige works at Lululemon (NASDAQ:<\/a>LULU<\/a>), making $17.50 an hour and averaging 30 hours a week. She also walks dogs on the side through Rover (NASDAQ:<\/a>ROVR<\/a>). Altogether, she pulls in around $3,900 a month before taxes, but spends over $5,200.<\/p>\n

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Despite her background, Paige couldn’t explain how much she really makes. \u201cMaybe I just did my math wrong,\u201d she said when her income didn’t line up, and straight up answered \u201cno\u201d when asked, \u201cYou don\u2019t know how much you make?\u201d Even more surprising, she believed Rover was withholding taxes<\/a> from her earnings, to which host Caleb Hammer replied, \u201cWhen have we ever seen taxes being taken from us with the company’s name and the word \u2018fee\u2019 after it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige also admitted to spending $717 on a flight to Switzerland for a ski trip while already deep in credit card debt<\/a>. When asked if she planned to cancel the trip to get her finances in order, she smiled and said, \u201cBut I want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his typical style, Hammer didn’t hold back. \u201cAre you dumb?\u201d he asked after hearing her excuses. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, like, legitimately, are you not smart?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Misguided Priorities And Emotional Detachment<\/p>\n

Paige describes herself as frugal<\/a> but regularly thrifts, dines out, and racks up credit card charges. In one month, she spent over $2,600 on a credit card from her day job income alone, more than she actually earned.<\/p>\n

When pressed on why she keeps overspending, she replied, \u201cI just didn’t realize I was spending so much money.\u201d Hammer told her, \u201cYou have a master’s degree in economics. You’re not stupid. So stop acting like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her budgeting problems are compounded by a $17,000 car loan on a 2019 Subaru Crosstrek, for which she pays about $350 a month. She also has a Chase credit card and a Citi Double Cash card<\/a>, both maxed out, one accruing interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can only spend on a debit card<\/a>. You don\u2019t know how money works. You need to close your credit card,\u201d Hammer told her. \u201cWith your credit card, you just overspend and you\u2019re destroying your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of that, Paige admitted she hadn’t been applying for jobs seriously despite holding a master\u2019s degree. Hammer pulled up her LinkedIn and found very few recent applications and told her that six job applications a week is not even close to enough. \u201cMinimum six a day, 10 a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Retirement And Parental Help<\/p>\n

In a rare bright spot, Paige revealed she has about $15,000 saved in a Roth IRA and 401(k), thanks to earlier contributions and guidance from her dad\u2013five years ago. \u201cMy dad invested it for me,\u201d she said. \u201cSo why were you in a better place at 21 than you are at 26,\u201d Hammer said. \u201cWhat made you regress to a child?\u201d<\/p>\n

She admitted he covers her phone bill and occasionally sends her $100 \u201csweet treat\u201d money when she\u2019s had a tough day, dismissing it as not being a big deal. Hammer said, \u201cHundred bucks is a lot of money. You have no respect for the dollar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammer told her to save $400 per month for taxes, limit grocery spending to $300, cut all non-essential purchases, and close her credit cards. He also told her to start applying for at least six jobs a day if she wants out of retail.<\/p>\n

He gave her a financial score of just 1 out of 10.<\/p>\n

Despite the brutal audit, Paige appeared to take some of it to heart by the end of the episode.<\/p>\n

Read Next: 7 Million Gamers Already Trust Gameflip With Their Digital Assets \u2014 Now You Can Own a Stake in the Platform<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

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Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga:<\/p>\n

This article Her Dad’s A Financial Advisor And She Has A Master’s In Economics, Yet Her Finances Are Such A Mess That An Auditor Asked Her If She’s Dumb<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 26-year-old woman from Austin, Texas, with two degrees in economics and a father who works as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,84845,11963,4176,111407,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-270668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-caleb-hammer","10":"tag-credit-card","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-financial-audit","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}