enRICHed: volume 182
happy aapi month besties
Sunday May 17, 2026
Volume 182
Hi besties!
Nothing exposes people faster than money…One minute everything is fine, and the next thing you know someone is fighting over a Venmo request, splitting up friendship group expenses like it’s a hostage negotiation, or expecting you to bankroll their bad decisions in the name of “being supportive.” Financial drama has a way of turning even the closest relationships messy REAL quick.
So naturally… It was time for another round of “Am I The A**hole? Finance Edition” on Networth & Chill.
This week, I’m reacting to your wildest money dilemmas and giving my completely honest verdicts on who’s actually in the wrong. We’re talking inheritance drama, relationship debt disasters, destination wedding tension, friendship resentment, family guilt trips, and all of the emotionally charged money situations nobody prepares you for. Because the truth is, personal finance is never just about numbers… It’s about boundaries, expectations, guilt, resentment, and figuring out how to protect your financial future without torching every relationship in your life.
If you’ve ever been stuck wondering whether you’re being generous, getting manipulated, or accidentally becoming the financial villain in someone else’s story… This episode is definitely for you.
New episodes of the podcast drop every single Wednesday so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE or follow Networth and Chill wherever you get your podcasts!
As a reminder:
HYCU, pronounced haiku: how the news impacts you and your wallet, aka How You Can Use
The Prosperitea: think discount codes, non-boring finance articles, sales, and personal links from the week. The fun stuff 😉
We love your comments, but please remember to keep it positive! And don’t take investing advice from anyone who isn’t your registered financial advisor!
Now that you’re up to speed, let’s get you enRICHed.
Flipping On Federal Fuel ⛽️🚙
So we’re all annoyed about gas prices right now, and the blame is largely being thrown to President Donald Trump, whose approval rating has been dropping faster than a Tower of Terror ride. So he’s got a new idea to try and win unhappy voters over: temporarily lifting a federal fuel tax for five months, which would cut prices for our pump refills until November.
Congress still needs to approve pausing the gas tax, and the last time that happened was almost a century ago. Right now, there’s support from both parties, but even if it is approved, there’s still a question of how the war on Iran and global tariffs will continue to hit our wallets. There’s a chance that gas companies will still try and pass extra sneaky costs onto us — because their taxes are added on at refinery or import centers, not at gas stations.
If you’ve ever checked your receipt closely, we pay a small tax whenever we hit the gas station. Right now it’s about 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel, which we’d no longer have to pay if that’s on pause. On average, a gallon of gas is costing us about $4.50 right now, which is 44% more expensive than a year ago. There’s no doubt that we need a solution to all of this as soon as humanly possible, because we cannot keep living like this. Inflation has hit a three-year high, and our costs are only climbing up by the day.
Five months is an important detail in all this, because Trump’s not throwing out that timeframe for the love of the game. A fuel tax embargo for five months would bring us into November, when the 2026 midterm elections are going to happen, and Republicans and Democrats are going to be running heated campaigns to win critical House seats that will determine all of our lives. So President Trump wants us to remember him and his allies as the heroes who cut down prices rather than the villains who raised them, even though they are the people who are raising them. This is not about actually bringing affordability into our lives. Because once that five months is over, who’s to say how our budgets will hurt again?
HYCU; If you need 35 gallons to fill your tank, you’d be saving about $6.44 every time, which is definitely not nothing. There will be bigger impacts if the fuel tax is paused, though. The tax is currently used to maintain other driving-related infrastructure, like repairing roads and public transportation (bus systems, train lines, et cetera). The government receives about $17 billion in revenue from that tax. So if the fuel tax is paused, it could mean roads getting left in worse condition, or public transport options getting cut, which would significantly impact people who rely on public transit to get to work.
An Interest-ing School Subject 📚💰
The One Big Beautiful Bill act is coming for your tuition payments now. Starting on July 1, the Trump administration is introducing student loan caps that will cut off how much certain majors can borrow.
Here’s the details: Aspiring nursing students, teachers, social workers, and therapists can now only borrow $100,000 total for their higher education; other degrees like medicine and law now have a $200,000 loan cap.
It’s not just undergrad students who will be feeling the burn: the bill will also eliminate the Grad PLUS loan program — which lets students borrow the full cost of an advanced degree, regardless of major — which many students used to patch over the previous loan cap of $138,500.
Average tuition for four-year public medical schools are about $298,000, and more than $408,000 at private ones, per Association of American Medical Colleges data — meaning the new caps would only cover half or less of the total cost. Experts in the health industry also say they’re particularly worried about the effects on the current healthcare worker shortage, since high debt will surely turn some people off from joining the sector.
HYCU; So unless you have the money to pay out of pocket, many students will be forced to turn to the private loan market, which guarantees higher interest rates and fewer protections for borrowers. Federal student loans almost always have the lowest interest rates — and that is still useful for majors who aren’t being impacted by the new caps. But there are still tricks to pay off your loans smarter! Make sure you tell your lender to put any payments above your minimum requirement towards your principal (a.k.a., what you actually borrowed), and refinance if/when you find a loan with a meaningfully better rate, so you pay your debt off sooner while spending less on interest.
Presidential Playdate 🇨🇳🇺🇸
Well, the stock market boomed as President Trump made his way over to China for a historic meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping — the first meeting between the two countries in almost a decade. Why does everyone seem to care so much about a presidential playdate? Well, let me explain the details of this meeting for you.
There are five big topics on the table: the Iran war, Taiwan, artificial intelligence, US–China trade, and fentanyl. Most of them are about our longstanding beef with China — the tariff war that happened when Trump attempted to impose a 140% levy on them and they immediately withheld exports of rare earth minerals we need; the US accusation that China is supplying Mexican cartels with the ingredients to make fentanyl; plus, the aggressive AI race going on right now — but the others are things that they want from each other. Specifically, Trump wants China to broker peace talks with Iran so the Strait of Hormuz can reopen, and we can stop blaming him for our high prices. China wants the US to stop selling arms to Taiwan and generally supporting their independence.
To sweeten the deal, Trump showed up with a caravan of CEOs in tow, including Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and Tim Cook, who he said were there to “pay respects” and build business. The response was optimistic — Xi told them that the door for business in China will “open wider,” a sign that not only are companies interested in sinking deeper into the Chinese markets, but China is ready to host more American industry in the country.
HYCU; Right now, Chinese vessels are allowed to travel through the Strait with no problem, which means their gas prices are pretty much normal. If this meeting goes well, this could mean that we’re looking at a higher likelihood of peace with Iran, and the possibility of our oil prices going back down once the Strait of Hormuz is open again. As for trade, a successful summit could mean that the government lifts or lessens the tariffs on Chinese-imported goods, which means, well, kind of everything. That’s just a possibility — not a guarantee. But even the potential of this future is causing the stock market to shoot upward. It’s a better souvenir than a postcard.
Carol says: “Thank you for sharing your knowledge and story. l’m semi-retired at 70 years young and have unfortunately trusted the wrong people with investments in the past and got hoodwinked(I’m being polite). My question is: with the market being at all time highs for many good companies should I wait for a pullback or jump in? Buy index funds or individual stocks? I cannot afford to take much risk at this point. I also need to buy a home soon. I know you are focused more on younger women but my generation of women got absolutely no financial education nor did we have access to information. Thank you so much for taking the time and asking us what we need help with.”
Hi there! First off, I’m so sorry you went through that experience with untrustworthy advisors. Unfortunately, you’re not alone in that story, and it takes real strength to dust yourself off and get back in there.
At 70 with a home purchase on the horizon, your situation calls for a conservative approach. The golden rule here is that money you need within the next 2-3 years shouldn’t be in the stock market at all, regardless of whether it’s at all-time highs or not.
For your home purchase funds, keep that money in high-yield savings accounts or short-term CDs where it’s completely safe and accessible. Current rates are still decent, with some accounts offering around 3-4% APY, which beats letting cash sit in a regular savings account.
For any longer-term money you want to invest, index funds are absolutely the way to go over individual stocks. At this stage of life, you want broad diversification without the risk of picking the wrong company. Think of index funds as owning tiny pieces of hundreds of companies instead of betting on just a few. Much safer, especially given what you’ve been through.
About market timing… even the pros can’t consistently predict pullbacks. If you’re going to invest, consider dollar-cost averaging: putting smaller amounts in regularly over several months rather than one big lump sum. This smooths out the bumps.
Given your timeline and risk tolerance, you might also want to look into target-date funds designed for people already in retirement, or a simple mix that blends cash preservation and growth. Wishing you the best of luck out there!
Want to be featured in our Question Bank section?
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SEE YOU IN THE COMMENTS BESTIES
Thanks for all your great advice. Really appreciated