Personal finance advice often arrives as a set of simple rules: skip your morning latte, buy assets, start a side hustle, join a multi-level marketing opportunity. But a new podcast, Have You Tried Being Rich?, is asking a different question: does any of it actually work? Launched September 1 and hosted by financial experts Dria Benjamin and Kristin Geosits, the show takes familiar money tips, strips away the success stories, and tests them against real-life numbers.
The podcast matters because it pushes back on an industry that rewards certainty and sells simple solutions to complex problems. As Geosits noted, advice gets repeated as if it applies equally to everyone, but income, debt, housing costs, and stage of life all shape what is possible. Benjamin added that if skipping coffee were the secret, every office break room would be full of millionaires. The hosts do not simply debunk; they first present the strongest version of each idea, then examine where it helps and where it falls apart.
The first three episodes tackle deeply embedded beliefs. Episode one, "Stop Blaming the Latte: The $5 Lie Keeping You Broke," challenges the "Latte Factor" and the notion that small purchases are the main obstacle to wealth. Episode two, "Rich Dad, Poor Advice," examines Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad and the messier realities of leverage, rental properties, and so-called passive income. Episode three, "The Pyramid You Can't Climb: MLMs Won't Make You Rich," looks at multi-level marketing pitches and what participant income disclosures reveal. Each episode ends with a "BS Meter" verdict: This Gets You Rich, This Won't Hurt, or You'll Die Trying.
By focusing on the incentives behind money content—books, courses, algorithms, and Lamborghinis in thumbnails—the show highlights how financial advice can sound smart without being the thing that makes someone wealthy. It is not about replacing one rigid set of rules with another, but about separating advice that changes outcomes from advice that merely sounds good. New episodes are released every two weeks and are available on platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The show's approach offers listeners a way to think critically about the financial guidance they encounter daily, making it a timely addition to the personal finance landscape.
