The Money Issue: Magically Adjusted Gross Incompetence

Welcome to Season 10 of All the Feelings, where your hosts Pete Wright and Tommy Metz III take you on a guided tour of that weird liminal space between “I should know better by now” and “Why does filling out a W-2 feel like a personality test written by Kafka?”In this premiere episode, the subject is Money, starting with the slow-burning crisis of homeownership. Tommy—staunch apartment loyalist and occasional demon extractor—wonders if owning property is still the pinnacle of adult success, or just another gatekeeping tradition propped up by 1940s mortgage policy and peer pressure from ghosts. Pete, long-time homeowner and accidental handyman, walks us through the real cost of grass, siding, and painting things that no landlord will pay for.Then, it’s Tax Time: the annual gauntlet where America’s adults cosplay as accountants and hope they don’t accidentally confess to fraud. If you’ve ever had to Google “What is MAGI?” and gotten answers involving sorcery or the Nativity, this episode is for you. Pete recounts his annual ritual of fiscal shame and digital form-filling dread, and Tommy offers a scathing comparison between the IRS and the HOV lane—both of which function primarily through fear.Along the way, we explore the emotional toll of systems that are designed to be opaque, the quiet panic of feeling unqualified to do basic grown-up things, and why the true cost of adulthood might just be your confidence. Spoiler: No one really knows what they’re doing. Even Einstein.🌐 Links & Notes

• Become a Feeling Friend and support the show
• History of the Window Tax (yes, it was real and yes, it was that dumb)
• IRS.gov: Tips to help taxpayers reduce tax-time stress