TW: This episode discusses opiate addiction, stillbirth, miscarriage, and infant loss.

Katie loved her husband through seven years of active addiction, then lost her daughter Ayla at 40 weeks, on her due date. In this conversation, she walks through recovery, repeated loss, the wedding they planned in the middle of grief, and the three boys who came after, including her youngest son's albinism diagnosis.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

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Everyone is talking about the Trump accounts, and honestly, the information out there is all over the place. One video says every kid gets $1,000. Another says run, don't walk, and open one today. So I called Alex, because I was confused too.

In this episode we break down what these accounts actually are, who qualifies for the free $1,000, how to sign up in about 10 minutes, and how they stack up against a 529, a brokerage account, and everything else we've covered. No politics, just the facts, the math, and what it could mean for your kid's future.

Money is emotional. You deserve to feel safe with it.

Connect with us:

Join the Hayters on Patreon for early access, our Wallet Therapy lives, and direct access to Alex on Discord: patreon.com/beckyhayter

Questions, debates, or money confessions: info@forthehayters.com

Love you, mean it.

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TW: birth trauma, medical procedures performed without consent, infant medical emergency, NICU.

At 21, Angelina walked into her first birth expecting it to look like the movies. What she got was a day and a half of labor, decisions made about her body without her, and a newborn daughter rushed to a hospital 45 minutes away. This is the story of what nobody told her, and how she made sure it never happened to her again.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light.

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday!

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: PTSD, suicidal ideation, self-harm, alcohol use, and war.

Tim was told he was stupid before he was old enough to argue, and spent the next thirty years proving he could survive anything: underground cage fights, Special Forces selection, Afghanistan. Then he came home, and the hardest fight of his life started at 2 AM with nobody shooting at all.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light.

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday!

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If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We got Alex and me in the same room for once, in New Jersey for Bex's birthday, and instead of yip-yapping about numbers and the hard stuff, we decided to play a game. Would You Rather, money edition. I thought we'd disagree on everything. Turns out our answers surprised even us.

The catch with Would You Rather is that it feels like there's always an obvious answer, until you actually have to pick. And Alex's analytical brain wanted to ask ten clarifying questions per round, which, honestly, fair.

The Solution:

Money vs. meaning. $300K at a job you don't love or $90K doing work you adore? We get into why your job doesn't have to fulfill your soul, and why chasing that nearly wrecked me.

The dream house myth. Both of us would have said dream house five years ago. After actually living in one, we both went a different way. Turns out house poor is a real thing.

Time vs. money. Fridays off forever or a 20% raise? This is where the sisters split, and it comes down to how close each of us is to financial freedom.

Retirement, memories, and the college question. Retire at 50 or work until 70 at a job you love? Fund your kid's college or your own retirement? We land somewhere that might surprise you.

This one is less a lesson and more a window into how two people with very different money brains actually make decisions. Play along at home.

This week's homework: Pick a few of these questions and ask your partner, a friend, or a family member. Then really dig into how they got to their answer. Money isn't just numbers, it's priorities and the kind of life you want to support. Let us know where you landed, and whether you fully disagreed with us.

Connect with us:

Join the Hayters on Patreon for early access, our Wallet Therapy lives, and direct access to Alex on Discord: patreon.com/beckyhayter

Questions, debates, or money confessions: info@forthehaters.com

Love you, mean it.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: pregnancy loss, medical trauma, premature birth, surrogacy complications.

Sara drove six and a half hours to tell me what surrogacy actually took from her, and it was nothing I expected. This is a conversation about wanting something so badly you'll carry it for someone else, and what happens when your body makes a decision your heart didn't agree to.

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light.

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday!

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters

🔹 Submit your story: info@forthehayters.com

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TW: domestic violence, suicidal ideation, child neglect, miscarriage, addiction.

In Part 2, Kail tells me about the dad she built into a knight in her head, the night in 2019 she wasn't sure she'd take another breath, and the question she still can't put down: am I her?

Interview, narration, and editing by Becky Hayter, with post-production, scripting, and sound design by Emily Nadal.

Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us continue bringing these stories to light.

🔹 New episodes drop every Monday!

🔹 Join our community! patreon.com/beckyhayter

🔹 Follow us on Instagram: @forthehayters

🔹 Submit your story: info@forthehayters.com

🔹 Grab some merch! beckyhayter.com

🔹 A KILLR Network podcast! killrentertainment.com

If you or someone you know needs support, please visit:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988lifeline.org | Call or text 988

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Retirement is one of those topics everyone throws numbers at you about. You need a million dollars. You should have six times your salary saved by 50. You should be maxing everything out. And honestly? It makes me want to close Instagram and pretend retirement doesn't exist.

But here's what Alex helped me understand this week: avoiding it doesn't make the problem smaller. It just makes it harder to fix later. So we're actually digging in.

The Solution:

Start now, not "when you make more." A $500/month contribution at 8% gets you $1.75M if you start at 25, but only $745K if you wait until 35. Same money. The difference is time.

Know your real number. The 80% rule and the 4% rule are starting points, not gospel. We walk through what they actually mean and why your number is more situational than the internet wants you to believe.

Build from multiple buckets. 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, HSAs, brokerage accounts, Social Security. The strongest plans pull from different tax buckets so you have flexibility later.

Avoid the five big mistakes. Waiting for the perfect time, skipping your employer match, staying in cash too long, ignoring healthcare costs, and assuming Social Security alone will carry you.

Plus, we answer a listener question from Emma, who paid off $170K in student loans and wants to know how to prioritize everything at once. Her situation is a masterclass in juggling goals.

This week's homework: Take 10 minutes to check your retirement accounts, your contribution rates, and your employer benefits. That's it. Awareness is always the first step.

Connect with us:

• Join the Live Therapy: Support the show and join our monthly live Q&As at patreon.com/beckyhayter.
• Share your story: Email us at info@forthehaters.com to have your financial scenario featured on the show!
• 
  

Love you, mean it.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.