Most of what costs you money was decided by somebody, and never explained to you.
I write down how the ordinary machinery of money actually works. Why rent outran wages. Why a hospital bill is an opening position rather than a price. Why your raise was smaller than the premium increase that followed it.
What this is
Mostly the answer is not that somebody failed to budget carefully enough. It is that a rule was written, or an incentive was set, by people who will never meet the household it lands on.
So I explain the mechanism. Who wrote it, who it pays, and whether there is anything an ordinary person can actually do about it. Sometimes there is. Usually that part is the bit nobody tells you.
I take no money from banks, lenders or insurers. There are no affiliate links here. Recommending a credit card after explaining how interchange fees work would make everything else on this site worthless.
Free things that might get you money back
Free · No signupThe Hospital Bill Kit
Four letters and the order to send them in. How to get an itemised bill, how to ask for the financial assistance policy most nonprofit hospitals are required to have and almost nobody is told about, and what to do when the bill and the insurance statement disagree.
Open the kit →