Stories about Personal Finance
These stories teach personal finance through narrative fables. Each one features a curious high-school hero who notices something wrong in the world around them, asks a skeptical question, and finds a retired insider willing to explain the math plainly. Read them in any order.
See the full Story Ideas catalog for the scaffolding behind each fable.
The Unlikely Revolutionary: How "Saint Jack" Changed How We Invest
The Magic Curtain: A Tale of Selection Bias in the Investment World
The Monthly Payment Mirage
The Monthly Payment Mirage — Riya's older brother brags about his "only $329/month" SUV, but he can't sleep. A retired dealership finance manager shows her why dealers sell payments and shoppers should buy total cost.
The Minimum Payment Trap
The Minimum Payment Trap — Jamal watches his cousin Dez drown under $4,200 on a store card while paying only the minimum. A former bank collections agent shows him the 23-year payoff clock hidden in "just 2% a month."
The Crypto Whisperer
The Crypto Whisperer — A TikTok influencer promises 8% per month. Maya watches classmates panic when withdrawals freeze. A retired SEC examiner teaches her to ask where the yield actually comes from.
The Buy-Now-Pay-Later Quicksand
The Buy-Now-Pay-Later Quicksand — Devon's friend Priya stacks six BNPL plans across Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm. A consumer-protection lawyer shows them the hidden running-total math that splits a bill without shrinking it.
The Overdraft Cascade
The Overdraft Cascade — A $4 coffee triggers $140 in overdraft fees overnight for Leo's sister. A retired bank branch manager explains opt-in defaults and the posting-order trick.
The Dream-School Debt Trap
The Dream-School Debt Trap — Sophie gets into an $78k/yr private college and feels guilty for even questioning it. A veteran school counselor runs the Net Price Calculator and shows her what a $2,185 monthly loan payment looks like at 26.
The Subscription Swamp
The Subscription Swamp — Kai notices his dad is always tired and anxious about rent. A retired accountant walks them through an audit of 41 auto-renewing subscriptions totaling $389 a month.
The Match I Left on the Table
The Match I Left on the Table — Amara's cousin opts out of her 401(k) because she "needs the money now." A retired HR director runs the numbers: a 5% employer match, compounded for 40 years, is worth over half a million dollars.
The Payday Loan Carousel
The Payday Loan Carousel — Tariq watches his neighbor roll over a $400 payday loan six times. A legal-aid attorney translates "$15 per $100 every two weeks" into a 391% APR.
The Meme-Stock Stampede
The Meme-Stock Stampede — Hana's classmates chase a "rocket" stock hyped on Reddit. When it crashes 72%, one friend stops coming to school. A retired portfolio manager teaches her to read a 10-K.
The Urgent Text Message
The Urgent Text Message — Nora's grandmother nearly clicks a fake USPS redelivery text. A retired fraud investigator teaches the five-second pause — and the one question that defuses every scammer's only real weapon.
The For-Profit College Promise
The For-Profit College Promise — A glossy ad claims "95% job placement!" Emilio's uncle graduates $62k in debt with no work in his field. A community-college advisor teaches Emilio to read the denominator hidden behind every percentage.