Teachers With Money: First In Class

From Credit Card Debt to Financial Confidence — A Teacher's Story with Rose Mendonca

If you're a teacher carrying credit card debt right now — the kind that sits in your chest at 2am — this episode is for you. Rose Mendonca is a 26-year educator, school counselor, and the founder of Teacher Talks Money, a financial education platform built for teachers by a teacher. She climbed out of credit card debt on a teacher's salary, paid off her mortgage years ahead of schedule, and built her platform without ever leaving the classroom. Rose's story is the spine of this conversation. The credit card trap she fell into as a first-gen college student. The merged-household debt she and her husband carried into newlywed life. The five to seven years of consistency it took to get out. And the single habit that did the most heavy lifting: automation. Plus the three steps Rose teaches educators to go from a $36,000 salary to a million dollars, the number one retirement mistake she sees teachers make, and why she believes every teacher should open a Roth IRA — even while still in debt. This episode covers: • Rose's debt story: the credit card trap that started in college, the merged-household debt of early marriage, and the five to seven years of consistency it took to climb out • The first move that did the heavy lifting: automation, and the specific weekly cadence Rose used to turn $50 a paycheck into seven figures • Rose's counterintuitive take on debt vs. investing: why she tells every teacher (even those in serious debt) to open a Roth IRA and start funding it with $50, before clearing the credit card balance • The 403(b)/457 conversation: how to find what your district offers, the fee question that quietly costs teachers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the bad actors to watch out for • The pension myth: why "my pension will cover it" is the number one retirement mistake Rose sees teachers make • Building Teacher Talks Money while staying inside education — proof that financial confidence doesn't require leaving the work you love 🍏 Books mentioned in this episode: Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin · Clever Girl Millionaire by Bola Sokunbi Connect with Rose: @teachertalksmoney [https://www.instagram.com/teachertalksmoney/] (Instagram) linkedin.com/in/rose-mendonca [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-mendonca] (LinkedIn) teachertalksmoney.com [https://teachertalksmoney.com] Rose Mendonca is the founder of Teacher Talks Money and offers financial education and coaching. Always consult a licensed financial professional before making significant financial decisions. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney [https://www.instagram.com/teacherswithmoney/] Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones [https://www.instagram.com/christajeanjones/] LinkedIn → Christa Jones [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christajeanjones/] Start your Teachers Pay Teachers store in 30 days → TPT Launch Lab [https://christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab] This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Side Hustles for Teachers: Why You Shouldn't Need One — and Why You Deserve One

If you're a teacher and you're tired — bone-deep, paycheck-to-paycheck tired — this episode opens with the sentence you need to hear: it's not your fault. The math hasn't been mathing for a long time. The system that's supposed to support the people who shape every future generation has been quietly underpaying you for decades. And then it pivots. Christa names what most teachers have been told to keep quiet about: you were never supposed to be broke, wanting wealth doesn't make you ungrateful, and building a side income is not selling out. It's surviving. It's thriving. It's refusing to wait for the system to catch up. This episode covers: • The teacher pay gap by the actual numbers — 27% less in weekly wages than other professionals with comparable degrees, and the gap widening (not closing) over the last decade. • The script teachers were handed and never asked for — "teachers don't do it for the money" as a personal ceiling on what you're allowed to want. • Why side hustles aren't hustle culture — the difference between grinding yourself into burnout and building something on your own terms that gives you breathing room, choices, and a real safety net. • The counterintuitive truth — a side hustle can give you energy BACK, not just take it. And for a lot of teachers, it's the thing that actually makes staying in the classroom sustainable. • A first taste of what's coming on the show — real teachers building real income streams (TPT, tutoring, curriculum writing, coaching, consulting, content) without leaving the classroom they love. 🍏 If this hits home, share it with a teacher who needs to hear "it's not your fault" today. That's how this grows — teacher to teacher. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney [https://www.instagram.com/teacherswithmoney/] Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones [https://www.instagram.com/christajeanjones/] LinkedIn → Christa Jones [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christajeanjones/] Start your Teachers Pay Teachers store in 30 days → TPT Launch Lab [https://christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab] This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Career Growth for Teachers Who Want More Options: Teacher Career Cheat Codes with Courtney Johnson

Courtney Johnson is a career content creator, personal brand strategist, and the author of Career Cheat Codes. She's also Christa's personal brand mentor, business coach, and the person who helped her build the thing you're listening to right now. In this conversation: why teachers should work louder (not harder), and the smallest possible step toward building a personal brand. Plus: cringe mountain, why receiving compliments is the same muscle as receiving money, and Courtney's exact starter pack for anyone who wants to start posting online but doesn't know where to begin. This episode covers: • The case for working louder: why staying visible matters more than staying late, and how teachers can practice it without feeling like they're bragging. • Cringe mountain: the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and why everyone who's already up there had to climb it themselves. • Career advice that actually translates for teachers: most of it assumes a corporate ladder. What the cheat codes look like when your path isn't a ladder. • Receiving compliments → receiving money. Why one is the practice muscle for the other, and what teachers can do this week to start. • The personal brand starter pack: pick one platform. Post one time a week. For one year. That's it. Connect with Courtney: @courtlynnjohnson (Instagram) [https://www.instagram.com/courtlynnjohnson/] @courtlynnjohnson (TikTok) [https://www.tiktok.com/@courtney..johnson] Courtney Johnson (LinkedIn) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylynnjohnson/] Career Cheat Codes (Penguin Random House) [https://www.amazon.com/Career-Cheat-Codes-Unconventional-Unfiltered/dp/0593840054/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1F2HVYHADBBQW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.A4aOyZ70enp7-Umpb_J46dYiRRz9sy1tYSUAO_X0Qmbr8gjbc1UJtRL0j1FDoG2c92cZrjDBKKwEoWYNV1u5zeJb1jU2n-dEsdbfqJ7OFyUXOmKw_uTfcBaMqmp9JHThfRlS2mRnMBALBJ0cpUgTOj2V86KfbWnU-hji73AJGR-SsZKputu04cUi6V6p6fTRhIfopI-l_0KJARE4Gx2oR9bZ4K0RasUv-i3Xk2uC6Hw.P1fEmr6Jc2QkI4uqoYF5xSVA_jL3FgGSTP_reZknSuo&dib_tag=se&keywords=career+cheat+codes&qid=1778553401&sprefix=career+cheat+codes%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-1] 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney [https://www.instagram.com/teacherswithmoney/] Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones [https://www.instagram.com/christajeanjones/] LinkedIn → Christa Jones [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christajeanjones/] Start your Teachers Pay Teachers store in 30 days → TPT Launch Lab [https://christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab] This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

First-Gen Millionaire on a Teacher Salary — with Davy Yap

Davy Yap is a full-time middle school teacher in California. She's also on track to retire at 45 as a millionaire on a teacher's paycheck. As a teacher who got specific about money and made moves most teachers haven't been told they're allowed to make. In this conversation, Davy walks through the actual plan: the high yield savings accounts that pay you 3-4% instead of 0.02%, the retirement accounts many teachers haven't opened, the earning streams she built outside the paycheck. And the mindset work that made all of it possible, including unlearning the “money is bad” wiring most of us absorbed without realizing. This episode covers: • Davy's path from default-saver to wealth-builder, and the specific moves teachers can copy • High yield savings accounts (HYSA): what they are, why Chase and Bank of America are quietly costing you, where Davy keeps her money instead • The reframe that lifts the entire ceiling: there's a cap to saving, no cap to earning • Davy's three side income streams (focus groups, content + brand deals, digital products) and how she actually built each one, including the brand deal she landed at 4,000 followers and the one Instagram bio detail that unlocked it • Money guilt for teachers who talk publicly about money: how Davy navigates the haters, the affirmations practice that rewired her thinking, and the book that started it all (Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker) • Why being a great teacher and building wealth are not mutually exclusive 🍏 Millionaire Mind affirmations playlist (mentioned in this episode): Listen on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/track/3qwyDYmNHcAaYbCQ8KZXRb?si=841c24dfee9b4d55] Connect with Davy: Davy on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/davy.yap/] Davy on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@davyyap?lang=en] Davy on Substack [https://substack.com/@davyyap] 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney [https://www.instagram.com/teacherswithmoney/] Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones [https://www.instagram.com/christajeanjones/] LinkedIn → Christa Jones [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christajeanjones/] Start your Teachers Pay Teachers store in 30 days → TPT Launch Lab [https://christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab] This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

How to Start a Teachers Pay Teachers Store: Breaking Through the Excuses Holding You Back

Christa waited ten years to open her Teachers Pay Teachers store. Ten years of “I’ll do it this summer” and “the market is probably too saturated.” Sound familiar? In this episode, she dismantles the three biggest lies keeping teachers from starting — and replaces them with frameworks you can actually use. Plus: the Olipop vs. Coca-Cola strategy for finding your niche, the Liquid Death approach to standing out with style, why Cringe Mountain is the only path to the Land of Cool, and a 15-minute exercise you can do right now to find your first product hiding in your own files. This episode covers: • The originality myth: why “someone already made it” is not the reason you think it is (and what Steal Like an Artist taught Christa about good theft vs. bad theft) • The saturation myth: two brand strategy frameworks (Olipop vs. Coca-Cola and Liquid Death) that show you exactly how to find your corner in a crowded market • The time myth, Cringe Mountain, and the garden: the honest conversation about where your hours actually go, why waiting to feel ready is a trap, and the metaphor that takes the pressure off perfectionism • The 15-minute resource hunt: a concrete exercise to find your first TPT product hiding in your Google Drive right now 🍏 FREE TPT Store Optimization Checklist [https://docs.google.com/document/d/19jhk9-1Ac_TWziJ7i74ACI5CgZ_vjIxowPfQnr1234o/edit?usp=sharing] 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney [https://www.instagram.com/teacherswithmoney/] Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones [https://www.instagram.com/christajeanjones/] LinkedIn → Christa Jones [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christajeanjones/] Start your Teachers Pay Teachers store in 30 days → TPT Launch Lab [https://christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab] This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.