Everything We Published on The Purse in October

At the start of this year, I promised myself I wouldn’t write about how crazy busy I was in any of the monthly recaps. It was a prevailing theme throughout 2025, and frankly, it’s a bit tiresome. Also, I’m always busy! So what else is new.

At the start of this month, I attended a party for my dear friend Fran Hauser to celebrate the launch of her new book, Twenty Minutes is the New Hour. In the interview, she talked about how boring it can be when someone just complains about being busy all the time. It’s time to change the conversation.

And so I’ve been thinking about a rebrand. My life isn’t just busy—it’s full. And sometimes, it’s even overflowing. Most of the time, I’m grateful for this fullness—it means I’m really living life.

October 2026 seemed to include a little bit of everything, and at times it was overwhelming. Last Wednesday, I found myself zigzagging between Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Over roughly 12 hours, I edited a newsletter, attended a networking breakfast, revised a branded newsletter, ate lunch with my lovely coworking space colleagues, had a meeting with Alicia, took a train to deep Queens for the wake of a college friend’s father, and then returned to Manhattan to celebrate a friend’s business anniversary.

On the train to Flushing, I was texting with a friend about my overwhelm. “Being in your 40s is not for the faint of heart,” I wrote.

Thursday I spent the day at a conference, and Friday I went to the doctor to address an issue that was stressing me out. (It’s fine!) By the time I wrapped up my last meeting at 2:30 p.m., I was done—even if my to-do list would suggest otherwise. I threw in a load of laundry, reheated a cup of coffee, and watched three episodes of Five Star Weekend. I needed a break.

While it’s not easy being in the thick of midlife, I appreciate that my age and experience help me keep all the craziness in perspective (most of the time). I know when it’s important to show up (birthdays, anniversaries, and funerals, especially) and when it’s OK to sit one out. I know that rest is necessary so that I can shift into high gear when I’m needed most. And, perhaps most important, I know you need to be the village in order to get help from the village. That give-and-take is essential.

On top of all the going and doing and stress and joy and grief, we published a lot of really wonderful stories on The Purse this month. Here are the highlights.

October 2026 on The Purse

Most helpful:

I kicked off the month with our new Financial Clarity Challenge. This series allows me to accomplish a few goals at once: apply what I learned while studying to get my CFP to my own finances and then share my experience with Purse readers in hopes that it inspires them to get their finances in order.

We published two editions of the challenge in October, but don’t stress if you haven’t gotten started yet. Paid subscribers can jump in at any time!

Most underrated:

Honestly, this is one of the first times where I’m struggling to find an underrated story! We published some great stories this month, and you, dear readers, seemed to love them!

But we are slowly building our subscriber list for our new personal finance newsletter, which comes out most Tuesdays and includes the Financial Clarity Challenge (every other week) alongside some really stellar pieces by Alicia on a wide range of personal finance topics, from why it’s costing you money (lots of money!) if you don’t roll over old 401(k)s to how to go about improving your credit score.

If you want to sign up, log into your account and click “manage emails” to determine which newsletters you’d like to receive from us.

Here’s what the email preferences screen looks like.

Most inspiring:

For What It Cost Me, I answered Alicia’s great questions about the process (and related expenses) of becoming a certified financial planner. It still seems cringe to admit that I inspired myself, but longtime Purse reader (and occasional contributor) Joy Archer reassures me that it’s not! So I’m trying to own it!

Most popular:

Both editions of Home Economics were big hits this month! I love that they both featured badass female breadwinners, and I was excited we finally published an entry from Virginia!

I also recently updated the Home Ec form to include a few new categories, after getting some good feedback from readers. They include out-of-pocket medical expenses and financial product fees.

Just a reminder: We’re on a mission to publish Home Economics from every state. We’ve reached 33 to date, but we still need Indiana, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia, to name a few.

You can fill out the form here! (Or send us an email at hello@thepurse.co, and we’ll send you a Google doc with the questions.)

Share your Home Economics!

Best comment section:

I know Alicia and I are always gushing about how great Purse readers are, but you are! And proof is in the very interesting—and civil—conversation we’ve been having about private versus public schools. It’s my favorite comment section of the month!

A close second is the comment section from Alicia’s essay about the death of her beloved cat, Sofia, and the cost of her vet care. You all have shared so many lovely notes with her!

In the weekly roundup we wrote about: the financial guilt of the sandwich generation, the enormous vet bill Alicia faced while trying to save her cat, a new Trump Account update that gives us the ick (I got a lot of reader feedback—good and bad—on this one!), and how to protect your finances in the age of AI.

Paid subscribers enjoyed a new very delicious Meal Plan from a mom based in Rochester, New York; a very fun Home Economics from a breadwinner in the Bay Area; and the second edition of the Financial Clarity Challenge.

Upgrade to paid to enjoy every edition of The Purse!

Alicia and I truly did all the things this month! Here are the highlights:

I had lunch at Union Square Cafe with my Instagram friend and financial expert Emilie Dayan Hill, who was up visiting from Atlanta.
Zelle hosted a very fun ferry ride. It was such a gorgeous day, and I always love a chance to hang out with Adriana Morga, the personal finance reporter at the Associated Press; Oyin Adedoyin from The Wall Street Journal; and Ashley Feinstein of The Fiscal Femme. And I got to meet Maria DeVoto from Ten Dollar Latte IRL!
Alicia and I attended a personal finance journalism conference hosted by The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) at The New York Times. I moderated a star-studded panel that included Mandi Woodruff-Santos of the Brown Ambition podcast; Kara Pérez, author of Money for Change; and Tim Herrera of Freelancing with Tim. We also got to see so many of our favorite personal finance friends, including Matt Schulz, Venessa Wong, Zoe Saunders, and Jean Chatzky. A big thanks to Diane Harris and Beth Pinsker for inviting us!
We had the best morning visiting the Fearless Girl statue and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The field trip was beautifully organized by Dolly Meckler of Scrollodex Studio and Alex Daly at Daly PR. Truly, they thought of everything, from a really interesting tour led by a NYSE historian to a chance to hear from NYSE President Lynn Martin to a visit to the coffee and chocolate grading rooms. And then they sent us home with cookies and a bag full of treats from Russ & Daughter!

I got lunch with Heather Boneparth at the Odeon, where we pretended we were influencers and basically shut down the lunch rush.
I popped into LinkedIn’s Connection by Design event, where the social media platform rolled out a host of new tools for creators. I got to catch up with so many old friends, including Jason Feifer (editor in chief of Entrepreneur), Jessica Cruel (editor in chief of Allure), and Jessica Leibowitz (senior video producer at CNBC).
Alicia traveled to Las Vegas for the Money 20/20 Summit, where she interviewed Alexandra Mysoor (founder of Alix) and Mary Ellen Iskenderian (Women’s World Banking) about the Great Wealth Transfer. She also lost her wallet and won $14 at the slot machines. (Don’t worry, she found her wallet!)
I went to a networking breakfast at Luminary with a team from the 1919 Investment Counsel to talk about women’s big and small financial worries.
Our friends at Good PR hosted a very fun party at Gem Home to celebrate their third anniversary. All the cool people were there!
I attended the Workplace Innovation Now Summit, where I saw so many friends, including Lauren Smith Brody (The Fifth Trimester and Chamber of Mothers), Stefanie O’Connell (The Ambition Penalty), Janna Meyrowitz Turner (Antenna Up), Neha Ruch (The Power Pause), and Corinne Low, who won a $2.5 million grant to fund a new Workforce Futures Lab at Wharton. I’m so inspired by the many smart individuals working in the caregiving policy space, and I took so many notes and met so many people who I hope become future friends.
Alicia published our first article in collaboration with The Washington Post about the financial, emotional, and mental toll that comes with inheriting a home. Shoutout to the lovely Purse readers she interviewed! We will also send this as a separate newsletter soon.
And to wrap it all up, I attended Motherly’s State of Motherhood event and got to see my dear friend Sharon Yi interview Jennifer Garner. Garner was so lovely, and she gave a roomful of mothers a Monday morning pep talk that nearly made me weep!

Beyond all the busy and fun work stuff there were family highs and lows. Ken’s band Be Decent had their record release show! There were also trips to the dentist and the pediatrician, flu and Covid shots, some middle school angst, lots of little league baseball games, and a few rainy Sundays where we did very little beyond watching football. Ken and I celebrated 17 years of marriage this month, and after all these years, I feel pretty lucky that I picked him and he picked me. And not just because he edits all these newsletters!

Coming up in November:

First and foremost, go vote! The general election is Tuesday, November 3, but many states are already offering early voting.
For paid subscribers, I’ll be publishing the next edition of the Financial Clarity Challenge, which will be all about how to take the best advantage of open enrollment at your workplace. (We’ll also be covering open enrollment on the exchange, too!)
Speaking of the challenge, once a month, paid subscribers can join us for a money power hour, where we gather on Zoom and spend some time tackling any financial task we might be putting off. This month, we were a small but mighty crew, and we spent the hour working on a range of to-dos, from finding a new cell phone plan (yes, that was me!) to working on a job search to tackling the first task of the Financial Clarity Challenge. In November, we’ll be meeting at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, November 13. You can sign up here!
We’ve got a newsletter coming from CFP and Purse friend AJ Ayers, on the eve of the publication of her new book, Creative Money: New Financial Rules for Artists, Creatives, and Misfits. (Pre-order it!)
We’ll also have new editions of Meal Plan and a Travel Guide for paid subscribers!
Alicia is traveling to San Francisco for work and fun, and I am traveling to Mexico City with Ken just for fun. Please share your best recommendations in the comments!

Behind the scenes:

When I went to pick up my name tag at the WIN Conference last Thursday, the organizer asked me if I wanted the “press” label or the “creator” label. “Oh, I don’t know,” I stammered. “This question of whether I’m a creator or a journalist is causing me to have an existential crisis!”

This was at least the third time in October that the question of whether I am a “creator” or something else has come up. And I really am feeling some angst about it.