For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive

My kid is just over one and has about $4,000 in a brokerage account. His net worth might be higher than mine. But it turns out that investing for your kids is only one small piece of setting them up, and I had never once thought about protecting Becks’ identity. I even skipped identity protection when I added him to my benefits this year. So Alex and I are getting into what parents overlook, starting with the stuff that doesn’t cost much. We also have some big news: For the Hayters Foundation is officially live, and Wallet Therapy is now part of it.
The Solution
Oxygen mask first: Paying off debt and saving for retirement come before investing for your kids. The free stuff can start now.
Money talks at every age: What to teach little kids, elementary and middle schoolers, teens, and young adults, without trying to raise tiny financial experts.
The allowance debate: Why basic household chores might not earn a paycheck, and how bonus jobs can teach cause and effect.
Honest without the anxiety: Try “that’s not what we’re choosing to spend our money on right now” instead of “we can’t afford that because we have too many bills.”
Credit freezes for kids: How to mail the three credit bureaus, what documents you need, and what a freeze can and can’t protect against.
Authorized users: How adding your kid to a credit card can give them a head start, and why you should skip it if you’re still struggling with credit card debt.
Life insurance basics: The questions to ask if something happened to you or your partner, plus the difference between term and permanent coverage. Part two is coming with beneficiaries and estate planning.
This week’s homework
Choose one money habit to start practicing with your kid, like swapping out “we can’t afford that.” Then start a simple checklist for the rest and work through it over time. You don’t have to do it all in one weekend. No kids? Send this to someone who has them.
Connect with us
Patreon: patreon.com/beckyhayter
Email: info@forthehayters.com
Learn more about the For the Hayters Foundation, volunteer, or look into our open board seats at forthehayters.org.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trigger Warning: This episode includes child physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, self-harm, drug use, teen homelessness, parental mental illness, and strong language.
Liz's story doesn't start with a fact. It starts with a few different versions, all told by a mom who doesn't always tell the truth. By nine, her mom was gone. By 15, her mom told another woman she could keep Liz if she got to keep the car. By 16, Liz was out on her own with a black trash bag and a Lion King pillowcase.
She's my neighbor and my chosen family, and I thought I knew her story. I didn't know half of it. In this episode, Liz walks through a childhood shaped by abuse, a parent who made up whole lives, a dad she loved and lost and found again, and the friends who ended up raising her. She's blunt, she's funny, and she gives grace to people who probably haven't earned it.
This is a story about who gets to tell your story, and what happens when you finally take it back.
For The Hayters is a podcast that normalizes hard conversations. Listener discretion is advised.
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 Sunday!
🔹 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

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

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses infertility, IVF, early pregnancy loss, and a family member's dementia.
Yvette married Josh in February 2022, and the plan was simple: start a family. After the wedding, her period never came back. It wasn't stress. It wasn't pregnancy. It was Turner syndrome, a chromosomal condition usually diagnosed in childhood. Yvette found out at 34, along with the news that her ovaries had already failed.
In this episode, Yvette talks about the family explanation that kept anyone from looking closer, the answer that was sitting in her chart unflagged, and what it really costs to build a family when the usual way isn't an option. She opens up about donor embryos, the conversation she had to have with Josh, and what it's like to keep hoping on a timeline she doesn't control.
For The Hayters is a podcast that normalizes hard conversations. Listener discretion is advised.
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 Sunday!
🔹 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

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

Every time I open my phone, someone is yelling that the market is about to crash. And honestly? I get anxious when money just sits there. Alex is the total opposite. She’s over here stressing about pulling money out of savings for a lanai she literally saved for. So this week we finally asked the question everyone’s whispering: is the market going to crash? Spoiler: nobody knows. Not Alex, not the guy on TikTok, not even most professional fund managers. The better question is what YOU are going to do when it happens.
The Solution
Correction, bear market, crash: what those scary words actually mean (10%, 20%, and “oh no”).
Panic selling is two bad bets: you have to time getting out AND getting back in, and selling turns a temporary dip into a permanent loss.
Time horizon is everything: if you don’t need this money for 30 years, today’s drop isn’t your emergency.
Your emergency fund is your crash pad: cash on hand means you’re never forced to sell at the bottom.
Sometimes it’s not the market, it’s your portfolio: if a dip has you losing sleep, your mix might be too aggressive for who you really are.
Keep contributing: sticking to your plan during a downturn means buying at lower prices.
Plus a listener question from a 38-year-old with $250K who wants to move it all to cash, and a detour to a stock market bar in Barcelona where the drink prices crash too.
This week’s homework
Open your investment account and run the 30% test. Multiply your balance by 0.7 and write that number down. Then sit with it. Would you panic? Would you sell? Would you stop contributing? If the honest answer scares you, adjust your plan now, not in the middle of a crash.
Connect with us
Join the Hayters on Patreon for early episodes, a monthly Wallet Therapy Live, and direct access to Alex: patreon.com/beckyhayter
Got a money question for Alex? Email us at info@forthehayters.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trigger warnings: abortion, miscarriage, NICU and infant medical emergency, pediatric surgery, chronic pain, vision loss, panic attacks and alcohol use, parental infidelity and anger, family estrangement.
Bree was born visually impaired. By the time she was five, she'd had six or seven eye surgeries. For twenty-two years, nobody could explain why her body worked the way it did: the cataracts, the glaucoma, the hole in her heart, the dental problems dentists had never seen before, and the daily pain she assumed everyone had.
At 22, genetic testing finally gave her a name for it: oculofaciocardiodental (OFCD) syndrome, a rare genetic disorder she could pass on to her children. For someone whose biggest dream was to be a mom, the answer didn't feel like relief. It felt like one more thing to grieve.
Bree talks about growing up with a mom who fought for her at every turn and a dad who mostly wasn't there, the losses that came before her daughter, a NICU stay nobody could fully explain, and what it's like to sit on the other side of the exam table now, advocating for a little girl who shares her diagnosis.
For The Hayters is a podcast that normalizes hard conversations. Listener discretion is advised.
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 Sunday!
🔹 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

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