Nicole Spector

Mon, Jun 2, 2025, 11:00 AM5 min read

“The truth hurts!” is the kind of puerile retort we’re used to hearing in elementary school scrimmages and on trashy daytime talk shows. Yet, sometimes, this is a pretty spot-on sentiment. Scientific research has found that hearing the truth really can be hurtful. But it’s also usually necessary for growth. And this applies to our financial lives as much as, if not more than, anything else.

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In her more than 15 years of working in the personal finance space, Rachel Cruze has found that there are some money truths, or lessons, that especially rub people the wrong way. Here are the six things that Cruze teaches about money that folks hate to hear about the most.

No financial expert wants you to go out and buy a new car if you can’t afford it, but Cruze runs extra conservative here. She disapproves of anybody buying a new car if they have a net worth under $1 million. Many people don’t like her take, but it’s worth hearing out. New cars depreciate rapidly the instant you drive them off the lot. And they just keep plummeting in value over time.

“If you have the margin to be able to take that financial hit and it’s not a big deal in your world overall, then that’s OK to do,” Cruze said.

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We all know that credit cards can hurt us if we’re not careful, but we may not recognize just how careful we need to be. And we may not realize that credit card companies are constantly coming up with ways to seduce us into spending more. Think travel points and cash-back rewards. Cruze advises people to stay away from credit cards entirely — advice people tend to find is unrealistic or overly aggressive. But honestly, most people aren’t paying off their credit cards every month, even though they know they should be. Additionally, a no-credit-card life is a pretty peaceful one.

“When you choose a life without debt, not only mathematically are you not sending your income to banks instead of keeping your income and investing it for yourself, there’s also an emotional aspect:When you have autonomy over your money completely … there is a level of peace that comes with that,” Cruze said.

We all know that money problems or differences can bring irreparable damage to a marriage. Some people feel that maintaining fairly independent financial lives in a marital union is the best move to keep the peace, maintain order and stay in their own lane as best they can. Cruze thinks this is a bad idea and advocates for combining checking accounts with your spouse. Those who are in favor of keeping things separate are not fans of Cruze’s input here.