By Spencer Feingold
Actress Chrissy Metz is leading a new campaign to remove the stigma and awkwardness from conversations about money.
The “This Is Us” star partnered with Turbo to launch the #RealMoneyTalk initiative, which is aimed at starting frank conversations about personal finances on social media.
“It is something that we have never really been taught to talk about, and so there is so much shame around it,” Metz said on Cheddar Friday.
The campaign hopes that by sharing, people will realize money problems are ubiquitous and turn to their communities for support and advice.
“Let’s face it, money can be isolating and scary, but you’re not alone,” Varun Krishna, vice president of product at Intuit Inc. ($INTU), which produced Turbo, said in a statement. “Talking about it is the first step to financial freedom.”
In launching the campaign, Turbo conducted a study that found 79 percent of Americans have personal debt and that 51 percent of the public do not talk about money with their friends or family.
The initiative asks social media users to open up about their financial situations and their relationships with money using the hashtag, #RealMoneyTalk.
Metz joined the campaign after sharing her own financial struggles. She famously told the press in 2017 that she had just 81 cents in her bank account when she auditioned for “This Is Us.”
“There was no conversation about money because there wasn’t any money to talk about,” Metz said of her childhood in her own #RealMoneyTalk.
By sharing, participants are automatically entered into a weekly lottery to win $8,000.
The first winner posted: "if I do win the #RealMoneyTalk challenge I am going to of course pay off the remaining debt I am in, then with the left over [sic] balance I have left I will distribute the remaining to my family members who have helped me through that rough patch."
Metz also encouraged people to not find their value or identity in their bank accounts. Let’s “get the bogeyman out of the room,” she said.
For full interview click here.
