Same Loose Change, new piggy bank

Why we moved to Substack

Ok, here’s a hypothetical situation:

Let’s say you start a newsletter about a thorny topic like personal finance, because you’re tired of dudes in tight T-shirts dominating the conversation with “How to 10x Your Income.”

You’re tired of good, earnest people feeling like they’ll never get good with money. They think they’ll never be able to buy a house or help their kids with college because of financial mistakes they made in the past.

Now let’s say thousands of people start reading this newsletter and when they come across stories of uncles struggling with debt or busboys buying $3,000 art prints on their lunch break, they are moved to hit reply and share their own stories.

But here’s the sad part of this oddly specific scenario:

Readers couldn’t actually share their stories or learn from each other, because that newsletter was trapped on a platform built to send email blasts about cashmere sweater sample sales, not dialogue about how mother-in-laws should spend their money. I don’t want to sell you a sweater; I want to talk about mother-in-laws.

I started writing Loose Change over a year ago because I know a lot of people worry about money.

For many of us, just thinking about our financial situation is enough to send us into fight or flight with worry and shame.

But the best way to dissolve all that worry and shame is to actually talk about it.

And so today, Loose Change is officially on Substack, a platform designed for writers and readers to have a conversation. Now, all you cool and interesting readers can comment on posts and respond to other people’s comments.

With this transition, I can also send behind-the-scenes posts in which I share what I’m reading, listening to, trends I’m following, and (of course) stories about people being good with money in surprising and unique ways. Plus, all you’ll have to do is head to the comments and to tell me what I should write about next or if you think I’m dead wrong.

Speaking of that… what’s a personal finance topic you wished more people talked about? I might just write about it in a future issue.

As you may know, some Substacks are behind a paywall, but this one won’t be.

We want to foster a community of readers who are getting good with money together; that’s why we’re settling in here on Substack (also my cashmere sweater sample sale business is floundering).

Thanks for being here, and make sure to subscribe for more practical articles on why we spend, save, and think about money the way we do.

I’m very grateful for your readership.

Dan