Episodes

  • Introducing: "What We Spend"
    May 27 2025

    From our sponsor: Imagine if you could ask someone anything you wanted about their finances. On “What We Spend,” people from across the country and across the financial spectrum are opening their wallets — and their lives — to tell you everything: What they make, what they want, and — for one week — what they spend.

    Show more Show less
    2 mins
  • "You'll never be ready to buy a home"
    May 22 2025

    When newlyweds Chantal and Travis Lisback started searching for their dream home in Seattle, they weren’t entirely on the same page. Chantal was eager to settle down as soon as possible, while Travis was more comfortable waiting a few years. As the search dragged on, what began as a shared dream started to feel more like a standoff.


    This week, a story about how a big life decision can bring to light the money and communication issues you didn’t know were there. Plus, later in the episode, Chantal and Travis sit down with financial therapist Aja Evans to unpack what’s happening beneath the surface, and how to approach money fights with more care and intention.


    If you liked this episode, share it with a friend!

    Show more Show less
    37 mins
  • Work Drama: Your questions, our advice
    May 15 2025

    Ever wrestled with a work problem and didn’t know where to turn? We’ve got you. In our new advice column, “Work Drama,” we try to find answers to your sticky work situations.


    This week, “This Is Uncomfortable” host Reema Khrais is joined by career coach and podcaster Mandi Woodruff-Santos to unpack your workplace problems -- from messy, toxic bosses to dealing with salary negotiations.


    Got workplace drama you need help dealing with? Shoot us an email at uncomfortable@marketplace.org to tell us about it, or call ‪(347) 746-4848‬ and leave a message.


    If you liked this episode, share it with a friend!

    Show more Show less
    27 mins
  • New Nun Syndrome
    May 8 2025

    After decades of trying to make it as an actor and comedian in Hollywood, Claudette Powell felt deeply unfulfilled. So she set her sights on a radically different life -- one that required her to pay off nearly $150,000 of debt. When she finally wrote that last check, she took a vow of poverty and entered a convent.


    But leaving behind her material life wasn’t as simple as it sounded. This week: how paying off debt was only the beginning – and how money still finds a way to complicate life within convent walls.


    If you liked this episode, share it with a friend!

    Show more Show less
    40 mins
  • Will you be my nanny?
    May 1 2025

    Hanna Sanborn was a single mom with newborn twins, struggling to find affordable childcare. Her best friend, Bryer Rossi, was burned out at work and looking for a way out. One day, Hanna floated an idea to him: “What if you quit your job and took care of my babies?”


    What started as a running joke between friends turned into a lifeline that changed their lives and the way they saw each other.


    If you liked this episode, share it with a friend!

    Show more Show less
    37 mins
  • "This Is Uncomfortable" is back May 1
    Apr 24 2025

    “This Is Uncomfortable” returns with four brand-new episodes about life and how money messes with it.


    This season: Two best friends, struggling with work and unaffordable child care, come up with an unconventional solution that reshapes their relationship. A woman walks away from a Hollywood career to take a vow of poverty. Our “Money Fight” series is back, following a couple whose search for a dream home turns into a power struggle. And in our new advice series, "Work Drama," we tackle your uncomfortable work questions on toxic offices and pay discrepancies.


    New episodes drop starting May 1.

    Show more Show less
    2 mins
  • “Unlocking the Gates” on housing and economic opportunity
    Mar 6 2025

    “This Is Uncomfortable” will be back in your feeds with brand new episodes in May, and in the meantime, we’re sharing the first episode of “Unlocking the Gates,” a series from Marketplace and APM Studios hosted by special correspondent Lee Hawkins. He tells the story of how the Minnesota suburb he grew up in went from being a place where the housing market was inaccessible to Black families to one where many Black families found economic opportunity. And it all started with a nighttime business deal.

    Show more Show less
    24 mins
  • How it all began: celebrating 10 seasons!
    Oct 24 2024

    Hard to believe, but we’re celebrating 10 seasons, and five years, of “This Is Uncomfortable”! In this special episode, we’re pulling back the curtain to reveal the show’s origins, the biggest lessons Reema’s learned along the way and our favorite money tips from expert guests. Plus we’ll hear from you, our listeners, about the insights that have stuck with you through the years.


    We’ll be back with a new season in 2025! For special content and updates on what’s next, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Show more Show less
    33 mins
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup