How to get better at money, with Carrie Joy Grimes

What It Covers

Carrie Joy Grimes, founder of WorkMoney — a nonprofit serving 9 million Americans — explains how personal financial struggles, two decades of union organizing, and the COVID-19 pandemic shaped a scalable platform helping working and middle-class families earn more, save more, and spend less through education, collective bargaining, and curated partnerships.

Key Questions Answered

• •Money Psychology First: The primary barrier to financial progress is emotional, not mathematical. Grimes identifies "avoidance behavior" — refusing to open bank statements or check balances — as a defense mechanism against confirming a negative self-narrative. Recognizing the emotional trigger behind impulsive spending (stress, lack of joy) is the prerequisite step before any budgeting system works.
• •Foundational Financial Sequence: Follow this specific order before pursuing any investment: build a $1,000 emergency fund first, eliminate all credit card debt second (no investment reliably outperforms credit card interest rates), accumulate three to six months of living expenses third, then direct remaining funds into tax-advantaged retirement accounts like 401(k), 403(b), or IRA.
• •Tax-Advantaged Accounts Over Speculative Assets: Maxing out 401(k), 403(b), and IRA accounts before allocating money to crypto, individual stocks, or real estate speculation produces better risk-adjusted returns for most people. Speculative markets require deep industry knowledge and sustained time investment that the average person lacks, making tax-advantaged compounding the higher-probability wealth-building path.
• •Collective Bargaining as Consumer Strategy: WorkMoney's model uses 9 million members as negotiating leverage to secure discounted rates on everyday expenses. Their new bill negotiation service, MoneyFinder (moneyfinder.com), currently handles cable, internet, and cell phone bills, charges nothing upfront, takes a commission only on savings achieved, and has averaged $400 saved per negotiation completed.
• •Reframe Your Money Identity: Grimes traces her financial turnaround to a single mindset shift — replacing "I am bad at money because I am poor" with a deliberate choice to behave as someone capable of managing money. Writing down income versus fixed expenses (a basic budget) and successfully repaying a $100 debt created the behavioral feedback loop that unlocked subsequent financial progress.