What Belle Burden’s “Strangers” Teaches Us About Money and Marriage, with Lacy Garcia

Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers has become the book of the year, and one of its biggest wake-up calls is how little Belle, an Ivy League–educated corporate attorney, knew about her own family’s finances. I asked Lacy Garcia, founder of Willow, to come back on Duologue to talk about why that experience is so common, even for smart, capable women, and what every one of us can do about it.

We get into the numbers behind women and financial confidence, how to prepare teens and young twentysomethings with healthy money habits that will carry them into their marriages and partnerships, why talking about money before and during marriage isn’t unromantic, how a prenup can be a framework for honest conversations, and the questions you should be asking about your accounts, insurance, beneficiaries, and more. Lacy also walks us through her Every Woman’s Checklist, which you can find on the Duologue Substack.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Why Strangers struck a nerve

(00:09:20) The numbers on women and financial confidence

(00:13:30) Raising financially literate kids and young adults

(00:38:53) Money conversations before and during marriage

(00:42:02) Prenups as a framework for honest conversations

(00:46:50) Trusts, separate property, and transparency

(00:51:39) Do you know what your spouse earns?

(00:56:25) Takeaways and Every Woman's Checklist

This episode is for informational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice. Please talk with a qualified professional about your own situation.