Shows / For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive is a space where vulnerability is met with strength, and real stories remind us we’re never alone. Hosted by a community of storytellers and listeners alike, this podcast dives into the personal journeys - both beautiful and brutal - that shape who we are. From life-changing challenges to moments of resilience, our guests open up about the experiences that have defined them, in hopes of connecting, healing, and inspiring others. Whether you’re here to…
Episodes
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: My Toddler’s Net Worth Is Higher Than Mine
My kid is just over one and has about $4,000 in a brokerage account. His net worth might be higher than mine. But it turns out that investing for your kids is…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The Girl Who Looked Too Much Like Her Mother
Trigger Warning: This episode includes child physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, self-harm, drug use, teen homelessness, parental mental illness…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Turner Syndrome, IVF, and Waiting on a Calendar
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses infertility, IVF, early pregnancy loss, and a family member's dementia. Yvette married Josh in February 2022, and the…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Is the Market Going to Crash? Wrong Question.
Every time I open my phone, someone is yelling that the market is about to crash. And honestly? I get anxious when money just sits there. Alex is the total…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Rare Disease, Vision Loss & Raising a Daughter With the Same Diagnosis
Trigger warnings: abortion, miscarriage, NICU and infant medical emergency, pediatric surgery, chronic pain, vision loss, panic attacks and alcohol use…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Bows, Hairspray, and Heroin: How a Drunk Driver Took Rachel’s Before
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses traumatic brain injury, drunk driving, substance use and addiction (including heroin), overdose, sexual assault, not…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: My Parents Didn't Save Enough. Now What?
Confession: I took out a personal loan this month. After working SO hard to get where I am, I had to go back ten steps because our old house has not sold and…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
A Marine, Twin Mom, and Trafficking Fighter: Raids, Bottles, and a Top Secret Clearance
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses human trafficking, sexual violence, child sexual abuse and exploitation, organ harvesting, ritual violence against…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Cancer, Chronic Illness & Coming Out Later in Life
Trigger warnings: cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy, hysterectomy and invasive medical procedures, brief discussion of intimacy after surgery, chronic illness…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Lease vs. Buy: Would You Still Want This Car If No One Saw It?
Confession: I have never once walked into a car purchase asking "can I afford this car?" I asked "can I afford this payment?" and called it a day. Turns out…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The Keeper of Secrets: A Marriage Built and Nearly Lost on Hidden Bills
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses financial trauma, debt, foreclosure and eviction, childhood dysfunction, the death of a family member, substance use…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
A Parent Worth Mourning: Justine on Abuse, Surrogacy Loss, and Choosing Herself
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, alcoholism, a disclosure that wasn't believed, pregnancy loss, surrogacy, and…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Credit Cards - Are You Using Them, or Are They Using You?
Credit cards are the topic where everyone has an extreme opinion. Either they're a free travel hack or they're evil and you should cut them all up. Alex's take…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
A Mother, Two Suicide Attempts, and the Marriage That Came After | The Beautiful Disaster
TW: This episode discusses suicide attempts and methods, self-harm, domestic violence and strangulation, psychiatric hospitalization, postpartum depression…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Three Pieces of Salt: A Grandmother’s Fight for Skylar and Gage
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses child death, fentanyl poisoning, overdose, CPR, and suicide in detail. Listener discretion is advised. On a snow day in…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Wallet Therapy: The Bank Said Yes. Should You?
I had to pull cash out of my savings this week to pay for a patio, because apparently some people still only take cash in the year of our lord. So I am feeling…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
32-Year-Old Mom Faces Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
TW: cancer, medical trauma, death of a loved one, grief, body image. At 32, Jess found a lump adjusting a bra she'd bought herself for Christmas. What followed…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Hydrocephalus, Brain Surgery, and Building an Ordinary Life Anyway
Val was diagnosed with hydrocephalus before she was born, and the doctors gave her mom a number and a recommendation. She's 27 now, married, teaching special…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: How Do I Prioritize My Money?
Today’s episode is a little different because Becky is away on her podcast tour, so Alex is flying solo and answering your money questions. From $18,000 in…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Eleven Years Between a Prescription and a Backyard | Lauren's Story
TW: opioid addiction, drug poisoning and overdose, suicide loss, incarceration, newborn withdrawal, loss of custody. Lauren was 16 when a doctor handed her a…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Three Losses, Endometriosis, and Choosing a Hysterectomy at 28
TW: pregnancy loss, infant loss, medical trauma and dismissal, hysterectomy, immigration enforcement and community fear. Yari became a mom at 19 and spent the…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Investing Isn't an Exclusive Club
For the longest time I thought investing was a members only club and nobody sent me the invite. People would say things like index fund and expense ratio and…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
A Small-Town Social Worker, Court, Addiction at Home, and the Year Her Word Was Survive
TW: This episode discusses secondary trauma, child abuse and neglect, substance use and addiction, overdose loss, suicidal ideation, stalking, and a mention of…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The And of It All | Grief, Recovery, and Refusing to Stop
TW: This episode discusses opiate addiction, stillbirth, miscarriage, and infant loss. Katie loved her husband through seven years of active addiction, then…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Free Money for Your Kid? The Trump Account, Explained
Everyone is talking about the Trump accounts, and honestly, the information out there is all over the place. One video says every kid gets $1,000. Another says…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
A Vacuum Delivery: How One Birth Rewrote Every Birth After
TW: birth trauma, medical procedures performed without consent, infant medical emergency, NICU. At 21, Angelina walked into her first birth expecting it to…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The Quiet War: Tim on the Fight That Started When the Bullets Stopped
TW: PTSD, suicidal ideation, self-harm, alcohol use, and war. Tim was told he was stupid before he was old enough to argue, and spent the next thirty years…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Would You Rather: The Money Edition
We got Alex and me in the same room for once, in New Jersey for Bex's birthday, and instead of yip-yapping about numbers and the hard stuff, we decided to play…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Not My Baby: A Surrogate on the Pregnancy She Couldn't Control
TW: pregnancy loss, medical trauma, premature birth, surrogacy complications. Sara drove six and a half hours to tell me what surrogacy actually took from her…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Waiting to Be Chosen: Kail's Part 2
TW: domestic violence, suicidal ideation, child neglect, miscarriage, addiction. In Part 2, Kail tells me about the dad she built into a knight in her head…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: So How Much Do I Actually Need to Retire?
Retirement is one of those topics everyone throws numbers at you about. You need a million dollars. You should have six times your salary saved by 50. You…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The Story MTV Never Told: Kail Before 16 and Pregnant (Part 1)
TW: child neglect, addiction, sexual assault, abortion. You met Kail Lowry at 16, pregnant, on national TV. You never met the girl who came before her. The…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Take Me For What I Am: Em on Coming Out, Losing Her Mom, and Becoming the Parent She Needed
TW: outing, homophobia, sudden death of a parent, complicated grief, body image. Em was outed at 13 — before she ever got to say the words herself — and spent…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Investing for Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind
The second Becks was born, Becky called Alex in a full panic and asked one question: "What account am I supposed to open for him?" Same energy as everyone…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Even If You Have to Crawl | Domestic Violence, Solo Parenting, and Starting Over
Trigger Warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of domestic violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and coercive control. Lauren spent four…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Roth IRAs, HSAs, and the Accounts Nobody Actually Explained to You
Every time someone mentions a Roth IRA, do you nod along and then immediately Google it the second they walk away? Same. In this episode, Becky admits she…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
IVF, Unexplained Infertility & Coming Back to Yourself
TW: Infertility, pregnancy loss references, birth trauma, body image, postpartum hemorrhage, medical trauma. One in six people will experience infertility and…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
You Don't Feel It When You Die: The Difference Between Alive and Living
TW: heart failure, near-death/flatline, suicide loss, domestic abuse, depression. At three months old, Bree was given six months to live. She's 49 now — the…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Free Money on the Table | The 401(k) Match You're Probably Missing
You make decent money. You're contributing something to your 401(k). You think you're good. But what if I told you there's free money sitting on the table —…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Grief, Generational Choke Holds & Choosing Each Other : The Cousin Who Became My Person
TW: parental death, grief, generational trauma, brain surgery, mentions of medical events. Laura and Este grew up in the same massive Italian family — same…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Parenting in Two Directions at Once | Growing Up Early & Caring for the Mom Who Raised Her
TW: parental abandonment, complicated grief, dementia, caregiver burnout, complex family dynamics. Danielle was raised by a single mom with a disability in the…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Money & Relationships: The Friendship Tax, Vision Dates & the 50/50 Trap
70% of couples argue about money more than they argue about chores — and yet nobody teaches us how to actually talk about it. Becky gets real this week…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Loss of Twins at 21 Weeks: Infertility, PCOS, and Finding Joy | Kortney’s Story
Trigger Warning: This episode contains detailed discussions of pregnancy loss, stillbirth, infant death, and postpartum depression. After years of navigating…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Growing Up with an Alcoholic Parent: Starr’s Story
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses parental alcoholism, child neglect, suicide attempts, and graphic descriptions of traumatic death. In this episode…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: The Truth About Debt Consolidation
Most of us treat our credit cards like a safety net, but as Alex points out, the average household is actually trapped under $17 trillion in national debt…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
10 Years for Him, A Life Sentence for Us: Justice for Shawn Stewart
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses fatal car accidents, drunk driving, and graphic descriptions of loss. In August 2023, Brooke’s life was shattered. Her…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The DNA of a Mother: Choosing Love Over Biology
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses miscarriage and the emotional toll of pregnancy loss. "I just wanna kiss a girl. I would never date one." That was the…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: The "Oh Crap" Fund
Is your phone giving you a "pit in your stomach" every time you check your bank balance? You aren't alone—53% of Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 emergency…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
4 Losses, 5 Years: Brittany’s Unfathomable Grief
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains deep discussions of multiple family losses, terminal cancer, and the sudden death of a spouse. "Wait, that’s not what…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The Sailor, The Single Mom, & The 1-Pound Miracle
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses premature birth, traumatic labor, medical intervention for micro-preemies, and birth-related trauma. "Your family…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle
Ever feel like you’re on top of the world on Friday, only to be digging through couch cushions for change by Monday? You aren’t alone—and it’s not just a "low…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
The Uterus Chronicles: Teen Pregnancy, Adoption, and the Cancer Flip
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses teen pregnancy, adoption, and cancer diagnosis. Jamie Shoemaker’s life has never been a straight line. From navigating…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Pregnancy After Loss: When Joy and Grief Coexist
RIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses late-term stillbirth, medical trauma, and postpartum hemorrhaging. "I didn't even have to hear the words. I could read…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: The B Word: How to Build a Spending Plan Without Feeling Punished
Becky has beef with the word budget. It feels restrictive. It feels like failure waiting to happen. It feels like getting grounded. So in this episode of…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
Recovering the Life I Always Should Have Had Through Sobriety
This episode discusses severe alcoholism, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Please listen with care. I sat down with Nicole, a mother of five who lived…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
He Became a Father Overnight: Griff’s Story of Stepping Up for Kylie and Josh
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses the sudden loss of a parent and substance abuse recovery. When Kylie lost her mother unexpectedly in 2024, her life…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Why One of Us is Broke and the Other is a Coach
Welcome to the very first episode of our Wallet Therapy miniseries! Ever feel like everyone else got the "how to be an adult with money" memo except for you?…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
From Sister to Mother: Kylie’s Story of Guardianship & Grief
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses addiction, overdose, sudden death of a parent, and self-harm. When Kylie was 21, she got the call every child of an…
For The Hayters: The Stories We SurviveWallet Therapy: Because Your Bank Account Has Feelings Too
One sister is a professional Finance Coach (Alex). The other... has a shopping cart habit she’s not exactly ready to discuss (Becky). Welcome to Wallet…
- For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive
When "In Sickness and In Health" Happens at 33: Ryan’s Story
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses medical trauma, brain tumors, miscarriage, and infant loss. "I’m going to be strong for you." It’s the vow every…