About

Poorer Than You is a safe, no-shame place for low-to-moderate income millennials to learn and discuss money. Sound boring? How about this: Poorer Than You is the site for you if…

• You want to be rich someday, but you don’t know where to start.
• The weight of debt is crushing you, and you want it gone.
• Mainstream financial advice always seems to leave you out in the cold.
• You are suffering from financial shame and need someone who understands.
• You’ve seen your parents or other people in your life struggle with money, and you don’t want that to happen to you.

Topics include credit cards, savings, budgeting, earning more money, evaluating job offers… from big financial decisions down to small ones, from the latest news to time-tested advice.

This site offers no “get rich quick” schemes (sorry!), but the goal here is to put you in a better financial position. Don’t you want to enjoy life, instead of fighting with money problems?

Poorer Than You has been mentioned in the New York Times, CNBC, in international press (which Stephanie can’t read because she doesn’t know Spanish), Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational. Stephanie has spoken at personal finance conferences and events with organizations such as The Financial Diet and Women’s Personal Finance, and has been a guest on numerous podcasts including The Stacking Benjamins and So Money. Stephanie was thanked in the acknowledgments of the book X-Men and Philosophy (which has nothing to do with this site, but is awesome).

Who is Stephanie Kibler?

Stephanie is now a 30-something wife and mother of two rambunctious little kids, living in Northern Virginia. She got her personal finance stripes via trial-by-fire: nothing teaches you to manage your money like running out of it and having to drop out of school! Nine months of hard work, saving, and learning about personal finance got her back into school – blogging about it the whole way.

College ended for Stephanie in 2009, bringing on a whole new set of financial challenges to write about. In 2010, Stephanie landed a job at her dream company and a year later, got her dream job of digging through spreadsheets at that company. But in early 2014, she was laid off from the dream job at the dream company, and had to start fresh from there. She spent a short time as a Registered Investment Advisor Representative (note: Stephanie is not currently licensed and does not claim to be, see the disclaimer below) before deciding that being on the phone was never going to be a great fit for her and moving on to other jobs that were more fun and involved far fewer phone calls.

Stephanie’s posts on this site are a blend of personal stories and articles – you get the benefit of learning from her mistakes, while also getting the Cliff Notes version of the ridiculous amount of financial literature and discussions she’s had over the years. Stephanie achieved her goal of $100,000 in savings (having started with $40 in 2007) in 2018 at the age of 32, and is now working on reaching Financial Independence so that she never has to work again (if she doesn’t want to). Follow her struggles and achievements by subscribing to the site via RSS or email updates.

Stephanie also crushes fossils & spreadsheets with her bare hands (for her day job), enjoys everything geekdom (especially video games and movies), and may in fact be the oldest person whose parents met online (1985 on CompuServe).

Disclaimer: Stephanie is not a financial adviser. In fact, even if she were, all advice should be taken with a grain of salt. She does not know the financial intricacies of your particular situation and cannot give complete advice, and therefore is not responsible for your actions. All actions taken based on this site are at your own risk.

Who is Stephonee?

A rose by any other name… Peter Parker when he’s your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man… Stephonee is Stephanie Kibler when she’s on social media. Or anytime that she needs to differentiate herself from all the other millennials named Stephanie/Stefanie/Stephany. (She’s even used the “Stephonee” moniker at work when there was an overabundance of Stephanies!) Find Stephanie as Stephonee on Twitter and Instagram (well, @stephoneek on Instagram because she didn’t join the gram until late in the game, okay?).

What is Making Do?

The Making Do project is a Poorer Than You initiative to support low income, unemployed, and underemployed folks by paying them – specifically, paying them to share their personal money stories through writing, photography, and art to be shared here on the Poorer Than You blog. Learn more about Making Do to find out how you could be paid to contribute, or how you could support the cause.

Who is Moriah Chace?

Our Managing Editor for Making Do, Moriah Chace graduated with a bachelor’s degree in professional writing from William Jessup University, where she did her thesis project on E.B. White and the craft of personal narrative. Since then, she has edited a hodgepodge of fascinating projects including a science fiction fantasy young adult novel, a literary journal, and several how to guides. Most recently, she was on staff as the editorial assistant at Government Technology.

Moriah is excited to work on the Making Do project and help low income writers hone their craft. The project is very close to her heart since she’s passionate about helping disenfranchised communities have better access to financial resources and loves talking all things money at moriahchace.com.

When she’s not working, you can find her practicing latte art or training for triathlons with her dog, and pursuing a master’s in civil engineering that will allow her to help make public transportation more affordable.

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