The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009

Being broke is a math problem

A free weekly email. One number off a paycheck the size of yours, worked all the way out, so you can check it yourself.

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One email a week. One click to leave.

Here is one, worked all the way out

Say you carry $1,000 on a credit card and pay only the interest. Nothing else changes. You buy nothing new.

Interest paid on a $1,000 credit card balance at 25.17%, paying interest only
A balance you carry$1,000
Average credit card rate25.17%
Interest after one year$251.70
Times 3 yearsx 3
Interest paid after 3 years $755.10

That is 39 hours of work at $18.95 an hour, which is the middle wage for people 16 to 24 on a 40 hour week. Three years of carrying $1,000 costs you a week of your life, and at the end of it you still owe $1,000.

Where these numbers come from

  • 25.17% is the average credit card APR. Forbes Advisor weekly, 2026-06-29. The Federal Reserve measures a narrower thing, the average rate on the accounts actually being charged interest, and gets 21.52% (Federal Reserve G.19, February 2026). At that rate the 3 year number is $645.60. Both are here because both are real.
  • $758 is the median usual weekly earnings for full-time workers age 16 to 24. BLS Usual Weekly Earnings, Q2 2025.
  • Rates read 2026-07-19.

What lands in your inbox

  1. 01

    The number

    One figure, with the source and the date it was read. Never a figure with nothing behind it.

  2. 02

    The line

    What that figure means on a paycheck the size of yours, in one sentence.

  3. 03

    The math

    The arithmetic, written out, so you can check it instead of trusting me.

  4. 04

    The mechanism

    Why the money moves that way. Not a tip. The rule underneath the tip.

  5. 05

    The move

    One thing to do this week. If it takes longer than an evening, it does not go in.

No motivation. If a line still works with the number taken out of it, it does not ship.

Four calculators. Run your own numbers

These are already live. Each one asks you for what you actually have and gives you back one number.

Who writes this

Kou. 20, in Tracy, California, studying business and finance and building this whole system in public. That means you see the sources, the arithmetic, and the parts that are not finished yet.

You will not see a bank balance or a portfolio screenshot here. 4 of 5 Gen Z finance creators I counted prove they are worth listening to by showing you their own money. This one proves it by showing you the arithmetic, which you can check without trusting me at all.

Counted from the 20 largest Gen Z-focused finance accounts across TikTok and Instagram, 2026-07.