145. “Am I a bad mom if we can’t do a $7k Disney trip?”

American healthcare is commonly known to be in a deplorable state, costing 18% of GDP while underperforming in quality among developed nations. Changing the situation systemically also seems intractable—passing new regulation is a political landmine, and costs continue to rise without a clear winning strategy.

American Sickness unpacks how US healthcare got to this state. It examines the competing interests of the major blocs in healthcare - hospitals and doctors, pharmaceuticals and devices, and insurers. Written by a Harvard-trained doctor and New York Times reporter, this book clarifies how deeply entrenched the interests are and why it’s so difficult to change anything.

Your Money or Your Life guides you through 9 steps to reach financial independence—not having to work for money. Unlike other personal finance books, this book is about more than budgeting. Rather, it’s about changing your entire relationship with money and, consequently, living a more meaningful life. You’ll learn to think of money as “life energy”—the time and energy you dedicate to paid work—and use this new mindset to align your spending habits with your values, purpose, and dreams.

You don’t have to choose between saving money and enjoying your life. Transforming how you think about money is the key to having both the life you want and the money to achieve and maintain it. In the 9-step program, you’ll learn to pay down your debt, generate passive income, simplify your life, and retire early.

Nearly 85% of Americans plan to travel this summer, meaning you can expect big crowds, long lines, and high prices at popular destinations. In this article, we’ll give some tips for avoiding crowds and major travel snags, and for staying on a budget.

In Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, psychologist Lindsey Gibson dispels the myth that “parents know best,” revealing the damage that emotionally neglectful parents can do to their children. Gibson explores key features of emotionally underdeveloped parents and how their behavior impacts their children. She also provides strategies to help adults who suffered childhood emotional neglect turn their relationship with their parent from toxic to tolerable, and develop healthier emotional connections with others.

Gibson is an adult psychotherapy and personal growth counseling specialist. She wrote Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents to help survivors of emotional neglect free themselves from dysfunctional relationships with their parents and find emotional fulfillment.

In this guide we’ll look at traits of emotionally underdeveloped parents, coping mechanisms children employ to survive emotional neglect, challenges that those children face in adulthood, and strategies they can use to heal and move forward. We’ll also provide additional viewpoints on living through and moving beyond childhood emotional neglect.

Author Jordan Peterson argues that modern secularism and reliance on science has left a void in answers to important existential questions: What is the point of living? Why do bad things happen to good people? What am I supposed to do to make myself happier? 12 Rules for Life addresses these questions and gives a set of life principles to live by. Learn why you should stop telling lies to others and yourself, why you should stop doing things you know are bad for you, and how to pursue what is truly meaningful for you.

Discover invigorating insights on navigating complex relationships with The Mel Robbins Podcast. In an enlightening episode, Mel Robbins introduces her transformative "Let Them" theory, a beacon for those entangled in the emotional web of trying to control the uncontrollable. With an array of callers—from those bearing the weight of their parent's gambling addiction to families steeped in conflict—Mel Robbins elucidates the theory's pillars of emotional detachment and personal accountability, offering a mantra for regaining composure amid chaos.

Delve into personal stories entwined with Mel's empathetic guidance, which ranges from the familial peacemaking woes of Daniel from Los Angeles to the autonomous assertions of Jennifer from Baltimore, who navigated criticism while pivoting her career from teaching to novel writing. More than just a method for relational conundrums, the "Let Them" theory emerges as a powerful strategy for psychological liberation and self-empowerment. As speakers share their journey of implementing this philosophy, Robbins reveals how reassessing personal narratives and embracing authenticity can lead to a profound reinvention of one's life and relationships.

How you handle your finances determines whether you succeed in life. In the Total Money Makeover, radio talk show host and author Dave Ramsey lays out simple steps for freeing yourself from debt and setting yourself up for success: following a monthly budget, buying only what you can afford, eliminating consumer debt, saving for emergencies, investing for retirement and your kids’ college education, and paying off your mortgage. Intended for everyone—from high earners to people thousands of dollars in debt—Ramsey’s common-sense principles put you in control of your money and your life.

Many people feel helpless when it comes to managing their money. They’re consumed by debt or worry that they'll never be financially secure.

In The Barefoot Investor, Scott Pape offers guidance and a 10-step plan for how to manage your money so that you eliminate debt and build wealth. Though the plan is written for an Australian audience, the basic principles are universally applicable. Starting with establishing regular date nights with your significant other to discuss finances, then covering reducing debt and buying a home, the steps in this book will help you make informed money decisions.

Does thinking about your personal finances make your palms start to sweat? If so, you’re not alone. The sheer amount of information out there about managing your finances is overwhelming, especially for people in their 20s or 30s who are just starting their financial journeys. Ramit Sethi is a self-taught expert in personal finance whose goal is to help you cut through the noise of conflicting and overly technical financial advice, get past your own hang-ups around money, and take small steps toward a “rich life”—whatever that looks like for you.

In this summary, you’ll learn how to use credit cards wisely, choose the right bank accounts and investment accounts, plan out your spending, and ultimately create a financial system that grows your money automatically.

Romantic comedies always seem to end when the relationship begins, but what happens after?

While there's no guarantee of happily ever after, the authors of Eight Dates argue that there's a secret to a healthy, long-lasting relationship—make time for your partner and stay curious. Eight Dates is a resource for building a stronger relationship with your partner by committing to learning about who they are and who they're becoming, starting with eight powerful dates.

The book is a collaborative effort by two married couples: John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman, who founded a research institute focused on building strong relationships and preventing divorce, and authors Doug Abrams and Rachel Carlton Abrams.

In this guide, we’ll explain why weekly dates are important for sustaining a strong relationship and provide a roadmap for eight dates you can go on with your partner. We’ll supplement the authors’ recommendations with advice from other relationship experts, including Amir Levine and Rachel Heller (Attached), Esther Perel (Mating in Captivity), and Gary Chapman (The 5 Love Languages).

What’s the secret to a happy marriage? That’s the question relationship researcher John Gottman (along with co-author Nan Silver) answers in The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work—a step-by-step blueprint to cultivating a happier, emotionally fulfilling marriage. Gottman’s expertise stems from his research at the Love Lab, a laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle devoted to deciphering the secrets of happy couples.

In this guide, we’ll explain why becoming genuine friends with your spouse is essential to your marital happiness and how you can improve your marital friendship by following four principles. Then, we’ll describe how fighting can increase your risk of divorce—and which relationship behaviors Gottman relies on to predict divorce with 91% accuracy. We’ll also share Gottman’s three principles for learning to handle conflict effectively. Along the way, we’ll compare Gottman’s advice to that of other relationship experts and share further strategies to implement Gottman’s suggestions.

In Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, self-made millionaire T. Harv Eker reveals the difference between the way rich people and poor people think and feel about money. Eker argues that these thoughts and beliefs impel you to take actions that either move you toward financial success or away from it—if you’re not happy with the state of your finances, it’s because your unproductive thoughts and beliefs about money hold you back from the financial success that you want. According to Eker, you can dramatically improve your finances by taking conscious control of your thoughts and adopting a rich attitude that will inspire you to take new actions that lead to your financial success.

In this guide, we’ve reorganized Eker’s ideas into three distinct parts that walk you through his philosophy and give you actionable advice on developing a richer mindset. Additionally, we include research underlying why people often fail to meet their financial goals and actionable ideas from other self-improvement authors, financial authors, and psychologists.

Most of us assume financial success depends on education and intelligence. But in The Psychology of Money, finance expert Morgan Housel presents an alternate hypothesis: The key to financial success lies in understanding human behavior. Housel posits that when you understand how emotions and beliefs influence your financial decisions, you’ll make better financial decisions.

In this guide, we compare Housel’s advice with that of other finance experts and supplement his ideas with concrete recommendations. You’ll learn why people fail to achieve financial success and what’s behind your desire for money. You’ll also learn what to include in a financial strategy, how to create one you can follow for decades, how to follow it through those decades—and how to pay attention to the information you need to do so.