Get Money with Kristin Wong
In honor of Women’s History month in March, I’m focusing all of my podcasts this month on women and their accomplishments. I am excited about today’s guest, because she literally helped establish my blogging career and she didn’t even know it. Today I’m talking to Kristin Wong, who has written everything from TV shows to personal finance articles and has now written a book called Get Money: Live the Life You Want, Not Just the Life You Can Afford. She joins me today to talk about her journey and why writing about personal finance suits her best. We had a lot of fun recording this show and I hope you enjoy it.
What are we drinking?
Kristin — Paloma (tequila with grapefruit juice)
Shannon — Woodbridge Mondovi wine
Podcast Notes
Shannon Kristin linked to and quoted Shannon’s blog article “Are You Financially Sexy” and shared it on Lifehacker, almost four years ago, and Shannon’s stats went through the roof.
Kristin has written about money, career, dating, and relationships, and always goes back to writing about money. She started writing for JD Roth on his blog Get Rich Slowly, and he let her write about whatever money topic she wanted.
Kristin always wanted to be a writer. She lived in Houston, and worked for Halliburton writing manuals on how to use drilling tools. This experience gave her the confidence to write about money topics.
As Kristin grew up, her parents read personal finance books and taught themselves how to better their financial situation.
Kristin moved to L.A. to write for television, and she wrote for Netflix, Fox digital, and did some comedy writing. This type of writing was very technical and Kristin felt that she could be more creative writing about money. She chose to switch from writing for television to writing about money and had to get over what other people thought of her.
Shannon faced the same thing when she left Merrill Lynch to start the Financial Gym, because she had to get over what other people thought of her.
Shannon talked about financial companies and insurance companies whose goal is to sell clients their products. She explains whole life insurance policies and the only time it makes sense to buy one.
Once Kristin started writing about money on Get Rich Slowly, other people asked her to write for them. She eventually wrote for Lifehacker, NBC News, and several others. Her friends then started asking her to teach them about money and she thought about writing a book so she could give it to them to read. About three years ago, Kristin started writing everything down and she used that information to write a book.
Kristin proposed the book to a couple of different agents and was turned down. One agent that turned her down told her she didn’t think she would be able to write a book. Kristin went back and changed her proposal and found an agent that was interested and published her book Get Money.
Kristin and Shannon talk about the Real Housewives and hotel cable TV.
It was important for Kristin to have a balance to reach people who are in tough financial situations and not so tough financial situations. She didn’t want people to feel left out or bad when they read it. Kristin gamified the information to make it more interesting and engaging. The book will be released on March 27, and Kristin will be at a book signing at Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue in NYC on March 28.
Shannon talks about her podcast and supporting women. Shannon started this podcast because she saw a video at FinCon about personal finance podcasting and it was all men. Her friends dared her and she tried it.
TAKEAWAY: We should make money, and getting better at managing it, something that is fun and not a chore. We talk about mindset shifts around money all the time and making money fun instead of tedious should be a mindset shift we all make.
Random Three Questions
If you were to write another book, what would you write it about?
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If you were to win one million dollars, what would you do with it?
Connect with Kristin
Twitter: @thewildwongBook: thegetmoneybook.com
If you need someone to help make money fun, I hope you’ll reach out to my team at the Financial Gym. We have clients achieving their dreams every day that they never could have realized on their own. You can schedule a free call here to find out more. No matter where you are in your financial journey, my financial trainers can help you get where you want to go. So head over to or send friends to financialgym.com/friends to sign up today!