Disrupt Your Money: Liberation through Financial Education for Marginalized Business Owners

Meg K. Wheeler
  • 4.5 (19)
  • Investing

Disrupt Your Money, hosted by Meg K. Wheeler, is the unapologetic money podcast for the people the financial industry was never built for — and the people building something better anyway.  We give you the tools to reclaim your financial power, disrupt inequitable systems, and build generational wealth that lasts. Expect blunt tactics, sharp sarcasm, and zero sympathy for the institutions that rigged the game. Our mission is simple: help you use your money to disrupt the status quo and build an equitable future. SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS HERE equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast

  1. Feb 17

    You Are Not Crazy: Money, Power, and Staying Human in Authoritarian Times

    Some days it feels like the whole world is on fire and everyone in charge is insisting it is just a warm glow and you should smile more. If you have been wondering whether you are overreacting to the news, the policies, the creeping cruelty, this episode is here to remind you that you are not crazy. In this episode of Disrupt Your Money, Meg talks about what it means to live, work and make money in a time when authoritarian vibes are not just history book material. She dives into how economic fear is used to keep people quiet, and why so many of us feel exhausted, gaslit and tempted to shut it all out just to function. You will learn how to name what is happening without drowning in it, how to set emotional and financial boundaries that protect your nervous system, and how to use your money as one small tool for staying human. ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 You Are Not Crazy 00:44 What Authoritarian Times Feel Like 02:01 How Money And Power Interlock 03:18 Economic Fear As A Control Tactic 06:09 Protecting Your Nervous System From The News Cycle 07:36 Money Boundaries In Unstable Times 09:03 Building Community And Mutual Aid 12:18 Small Money Moves As Acts Of Refusal 14:07 Finding Your Role In The Bigger Fight 16:02 Holding Joy And Grief At The Same Time 18:11 One Next Step To Stay Human And Resourced 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode: 👉 Local mutual aid networks and community care groups 👉 Community legal and advocacy organizations in your area 👉 Call Your Representatives – weekly scripts to contact your lawmakers → https://callyourrepresentatives.substack.com/ 👉 Equitable Money Project resources for values based money planning 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step:  Ready to make your money match your values and stay human in the middle of all this. Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    14 min

  2. Feb 10

    Money Talks: Dismantling the Taboo of Talking About Money to Build Generational Wealth

    Most of us were taught that talking about money is rude, dangerous or selfish. So we keep quiet, guess in the dark and then blame ourselves when things feel hard. In this episode of Disrupt Your Money, Meg digs into how that silence around money actually serves the systems that benefit from our confusion, not us or our communities. She looks at the family stories, cultural expectations and shame scripts that keep us from asking questions, sharing real numbers or telling the truth about what things actually cost. From money talks with partners and kids to community money circles, this episode is all about using your voice to build generational wealth on purpose. ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 Why Talking About Money Feels Taboo 02:03 How Money Secrecy Protects Systems 03:27 Naming Shame and “I Should Already Know This” 05:10 Starting Money Talks With Family and Partners 07:22 Simple Scripts For Low Drama Money Conversations 09:36 Bringing Kids Into Age-Appropriate Money Talks 11:04 Community Money Circles and Sharing Resources 13:19 Talking About Inheritance and Generational Wealth 15:42 What To Share, What To Keep Private and Safe 18:03 One Small Money Conversation To Try This Week 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode: 👉 Money dates with partners, friends or yourself 👉 Community money circles and peer support groups 👉 Simple net worth and spending trackers you will actually use 👉 Equitable Money Project tools for values based money planning 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and start the conversations that build generational wealth? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    17 min

  3. Feb 3

    Who Gets to Be “High Net Worth”? Redefining Wealth for Our Communities

    Who decided “high net worth” starts at a certain dollar amount in an investment account, and why do so few of those definitions include us in the picture? In this episode, Meg takes apart the idea of being “high net worth” and asks a bigger, better question instead: what does wealth actually mean for our communities? She looks at how the financial industry use labels like “mass affluent” and “HNW” to decide who gets access and support, and how those labels were built on stolen land, unpaid labor, and generations of exclusion. Then we zoom in on what it looks like to define wealth on your own terms and build a version of “high net worth” that includes safety, support, and community. You will walk away with practical steps to measure what matters, set your own “enough” number, and build wealth that actually serves you and your people. ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 Who Gets to Be “High Net Worth” 00:42 How The Industry Defines Wealth 02:11 The Racial And Gender Wealth Gaps Behind Those Labels 04:05 What Those Labels Decide For You 08:00 Redefining Wealth For Our Communities 09:27 Beyond Dollars: Rest, Safety, Support And Time 13:12 Setting Your Own “Enough” Number 15:06 Building Community Wealth, Not Just Individual Wealth 17:02 Aligning Prices, Boundaries And Goals With Your New Definition 19:10 Reflection Prompts And Your Next Small Step 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode: 👉 Net worth tracking tools and simple spreadsheets you will actually use 👉 Community banks and credit unions in your area 👉 Mutual aid funds and community care networks 👉 Equitable Money Project resources on values based money planning 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and build a version of wealth that actually includes you and your community? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    15 min

  4. Jan 27

    Building Wealth Without Selling Out: Aligning Profit With Purpose

    When you picture wealth, what do you see? If it’s a tug-of-war between “take care of my people” and “don’t sell my soul,” this episode is for you. In this episode of Disrupt Your Money, Meg digs into what it really means to build wealth without selling out—especially when you care deeply about justice, equity, and community.  You’ll learn how to align your prices, partnerships, growth plans, and even your definition of “success” with your values. This isn’t about being a martyr or being perfect—it’s about building sustainable, values-driven wealth that supports you, your people, and the world you’re trying to change. ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 Rethinking What Wealth Really Looks Like 01:01 Building Wealth with Integrity (Not Martyrdom) 03:18 Step One: Know Your Numbers with Transparency 04:11 Step Two: Choose Values-Aligned Partners & Mone 05:02 Step Three: Rethink Growth Beyond “Bigger Is Better” 06:13 Money as a Political Tool & Voting with Your Dollars 07:18 Define What Wealth Means to You 08:34 The Compounding Power of Values + Money Alignment 11:28 Invitation: Build Wealth Your Way—Without Selling Out 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode: 👉 Community banks & credit unions 👉 Grassroots organizations and mutual aid funds 👉 Values-aligned vendors, partners, and clients in your own ecosystem 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and build wealth without selling out? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    13 min

  5. Jan 20

    Credit, Capital, and the Catch-22s: Accessing Money in a Biased System

    Trying to grow a business when you can’t get to the money you need? That’s not a personal failure—that’s a design feature of our financial system.  In this episode of Disrupt Your Money, Meg talks about access to capital: who gets approved, who gets shut out, and why “just build your credit” is a lot more complicated (and biased) than it sounds. Meg walks through the receipts on how banks, credit scores, and venture capital decide who’s “worthy” of funding—often before anyone even looks at your business. Then she shifts into strategy: how to build business credit on purpose, where to find community-based capital (like CDFIs, co-ops, and community rounds), and what it looks like to push for fairer systems while still surviving inside the current ones.  ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 Access to Money vs. “Merit” 01:23 What the Data Says About Funding Gaps 02:23 Venture Capital & Double Standards 05:23 Strategy #1: Learn How Credit Really Works 05:43 Building Business Credit on Purpose 06:00 Strategy #2: Community Capital, CDFIs & Relationship-Based Lending 06:42 Strategy #3: Co-ops, Community Rounds & Lending Circles 07:33 Getting Your Business “Lend-Ready” (Separation, Records, Support) 08:26 The Thin Credit File Catch-22 09:15 Policy, Advocacy & Pushing for Fair Lending 10:21 Building Credit and Community as Acts of Disruption 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode: 👉 Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey (funding gaps by race & gender) 👉 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) & mission-driven lenders 👉 WeFunder – community round / crowdfunding platform for small businesses → https://wefunder.com/ 👉 National Urban League → https://nul.org/  👉 Latino Economic Development Center → https://www.ledcmetro.org/ 👉 Association for Enterprise Opportunity → https://aeoworks.org/ 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and help build new paths to capital? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    12 min

  6. Jan 15

    Burn It Down or Build It Up? Navigating Systems That Weren’t Built for Us

    If you’ve ever been told “if you can’t beat the system, join it” and felt your whole body go NOPE—this one’s for you. Meg digs into a hard truth: most of the systems we move through every day—money, tax, healthcare, education, “justice”—were never designed to make space for us. They were designed to protect wealth, maintain power, and then gaslight us into thinking our struggles are personal failures instead of predictable outcomes of a rigged game. In this episode, you’ll hear how that rigging shows up in credit scores, redlining, business funding, healthcare premiums, and student loans—and what it really means to “burn it down” versus “build something better.”  ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 The System Was Never Built for Us 01:35 The Economy Built on Stolen Land & Labor 02:42 Playing a Rigged Game: Credit, Banking & Redlining 03:00 Entrepreneurship Under Biased Systems 04:53 Healthcare Costs, Premium Tax Credits & the Price of Freedom 06:48 Mutual Aid, Co-ops & Building New Systems 07:59 What You Can Control vs What You Can’t 08:41 Our Own Systems: Lending Circles, Rest & Ethical Wealth 10:52 Anger as Sacred Fuel & Building What Comes Next 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode: 👉 Mutual aid networks & community care 👉 Cooperative business models & community banks 👉 Worker-owned companies, credit unions & local businesses 👉 Informal lending circles, bartering & community markets 👉 Community investment funds, universal healthcare, debt forgiveness & fair lending as policy goals 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and help build the next system, not just survive the old one? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    13 min

  7. 12/16/2025

    DIY or DIE Trying? The Double Standard of Entrepreneurship

    When you hear “DIY entrepreneur,” what do you picture? Because somehow it’s scrappy and admirable for some people, and reckless or “unprofessional” for others. In this episode of Disrupt Your Money, we’re unpacking the double standard baked into entrepreneurship: why marginalized business owners are expected to bootstrap forever, learn everything themselves, and “just Google it,” while others are encouraged (and funded) to outsource, scale, and get support early. We talk about how the glorification of DIY culture is deeply tied to capitalism, white supremacy, and respectability politics, and how it quietly keeps people underpaid, overworked, and burned out. This isn’t about shaming DIY paths (we’ve all been there). It’s about naming the system, reclaiming choice, and deciding when DIY is empowering—and when it’s a trap. Because building equitable wealth shouldn’t require you to suffer, struggle, or do everything alone. So grab your tea and let’s disrupt the lie that you have to DIY your way to exhaustion to be taken seriously. ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 The Myth of Entrepreneurship 00:40 The Harsh Reality of Self-Employment 01:33 The Double Standard in Entrepreneurship 02:39 The Challenges Faced by Marginalized Entrepreneurs 03:54 The Inequity in Access to Capital 04:38 The Cultural Pressure and Systemic Barriers 06:51 Redefining Success in Entrepreneurship 09:57 Building Businesses on Your Own Terms 11:02 Collective Entrepreneurship and Solidarity 13:17 Call to Action: Support Equitable Entrepreneurship 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode:  👉 Wealth is Resistance Action Kit – use your money as a tool for change → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and navigate this new tax law on your own terms? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    15 min

  8. 12/09/2025

    The Big Beautiful Tax Bill Breakdown: What Small Biz Owners Need to Know

    In this episode of Disrupt Your Money, we pull back the curtain on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA)—the shiny new “tax relief” law that’s being sold as a gift to families and small business owners… while quietly shoveling billions toward corporations and high-income households. Spoiler: the marketing doesn’t match the math. Meg walks through what actually changed in OBBA. From the SALT cap drama to the child tax credit tweak, she shows you who really wins and who’s getting crumbs. Instead of just doom-scrolling headlines, you’ll learn how to make this law work for you where it can, understand where it falls short, and use that clarity as fuel—not shame.  ⏱️ In This Episode: 00:00 Introduction: Why this new tax law matters for our communities 01:43 Breaking down the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) 05:20 “Win” #1 – The 20% pass-through (qualified business income) deduction 06:25 “Win” #2 – Standard deduction changes 07:18 SALT cap drama 11:05 How OBBA boosts the Child Tax Credit a bit while adding new earnings requirements that shut out the lowest-income families 16:57 New itemized deduction for auto loan interest 22:36 Healthcare on the line 26:36 How OBBA funnels most benefits up the income ladder while giving temporary crumbs to everyone else 28:12 What to do with this information 30:47 Final recap: what to watch in 2025–2029, how to use the small wins without falling for the spin, and staying politically awake without burning out 🔗 Mentioned in This Episode:  👉 Wealth is Resistance Action Kit – use your money as a tool for change → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit 💬 Connect with Us: 🌐 Website → https://equitablemoneyproject.com 📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/equitablemoneyproject 🎧 Podcast → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast 🚀 Your Next Step: Ready to make your money match your values and navigate this new tax law on your own terms? Download our free Wealth is Resistance Action Kit → https://equitablemoneyproject.com/kit

    35 min
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4.5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Disrupt Your Money, hosted by Meg K. Wheeler, is the unapologetic money podcast for the people the financial industry was never built for — and the people building something better anyway.  We give you the tools to reclaim your financial power, disrupt inequitable systems, and build generational wealth that lasts. Expect blunt tactics, sharp sarcasm, and zero sympathy for the institutions that rigged the game. Our mission is simple: help you use your money to disrupt the status quo and build an equitable future. SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS HERE equitablemoneyproject.com/podcast

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