People still go to work, pay their bills, and try to save money. But they are losing faith in the idea that hard work leads to stability, homeownership, retirement, or upward mobility. And that has consequences not just for the individual, but for the wider society.
In this week’s episode of the Collapse Life podcast, Hanna Horvath — financial planner and writer of Your Brain on Money — joins us to explore what life looks like when the social contract has frayed.
We discuss why younger generations are drifting toward what she calls “financial nihilism,” how social media has distorted expectations around wealth and success, and why the rise of sports betting, crypto speculation, and instant gratification culture may be more about hopelessness than greed.
The conversation also examines something deeper: how prolonged economic uncertainty changes the way people think about time itself. When the future feels inaccessible, people stop planning for it and focus instead on surviving the present.
This broad-ranging chat is one of the more interesting conversations we’ve had recently — particularly for anyone trying to understand not just what’s happening economically, but how that impacts psychology and culture as well.
