Revisiting Jen Sincero’s Wealth Mindset in 2026
Success coach Jen Sincero claims anyone can become rich using her wealth mindset. The American Spinster takes a closer look at her bestselling book, You Are a Badass at Making Money. Does it stand up to scrutiny?
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I discussed some of the ideas in You Are a Badass at Making Money, by success coach Jen Sincero, back in 2019. That was in my post, How to Use Free Time as a Childfree Woman. I updated that post a couple of years ago with a few clarifications and a link to a YouTube video discussing the more negative aspects of the book, which my original review glossed right over.
At the time, I had no plans to return to the book again. However, life threw me a curve ball. After a fruitful career as a professional content writer, I found myself jobless when my department was eliminated. I switched back to freelancing, but after years out of the saddle and now entering a very different professional landscape, I was floundering.
One night, when panic was eating away at my reason, I remembered the audiobook tucked away on my phone. That book was what had helped me get out of my low-paying freelance work and into a good job in the first place, so I figured I might as well give it another listen.
But first things first.
Do you have a potato up your butt?
Or, why you’re not a badass at making money… yet
The video I linked to in my updated original review is “RANT REVIEW: Do NOT Follow You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero.” The video, created by Savy Leiser of SAVY WRITES BOOKS, starts with a conversation between the fictional character Ivy the Boss Babe (a follower of Jen Sincero) and Savy.
Ivy the Boss Babe says, “The first step to becoming more comfortable in your everyday life is to take the potato out of your anus. I know that society tries to tell us that keeping the potato inside of our anus is okay, but the truth is if you want to live a truly comfortable life, you have to take that step.”
After a while of this type of talk, Savy cuts in with, “There is no potato in my anus! Can we move on to the next step please?” When Ivy continues with her meaningless platitudes, Savy says, “Ivy, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. Literally nobody I know has ever had a potato in their anus. You’re just making up problems that don’t exist so that you can solve them easily.”
What the “wealth mindset” really means
The potato in the butt is the idea that we are all pushing money away psychically, afraid that our lives will get worse if we have more money, and that if we just let go of our fear of money and embrace a “wealth mindset,” we can finally allow ourselves to be rich.
It’s a hilarious skit, and it’s honestly on-point. I’ve read Savy Leiser’s book, #SavvyBusinessOwner, and she seems perfectly sensible when it comes to money. So I fully believe her incredulity at this seemingly made-up problem. But the thing is, when I first read Jen Sincero’s book, I did have the metaphorical potato up my butt. Let me explain.
Why was Jen Sincero poor? The answer may surprise you!
In the years since I first read You Are a Badass at Making Money, I’ve realized the reason this self-help book worked so well for me while it seemed nonsensical to others. It was because I was in a similar situation as the author. We were both freelance writers for most of our careers. I was a white, college-educated woman living well below the poverty line, working jobs that barely paid and didn’t utilize my skills, largely because I had personal issues surrounding money and self-worth. Basically, Jen Sincero and I were poor for similar—and uncommon—reasons.
The real reason most people aren’t making money
As I mentioned in my update on the last blog, I want to be so, so clear that generally people are not poor because they don’t know how to be comfortable with money. Poverty is a systemic problem, not a personal one. It’s rooted in injustice under an unfair economic system that depends on a disadvantaged (and usually desperate) working class. Nearly everyone I worked with at low-paying jobs lacked access to better paying jobs (due to a lack of higher education, a lack of affordable childcare, discrimination due to disability, etc.). It wasn’t a psychological block. It was a systemic injustice. I, for the most part, didn’t lack that access. I had simply taken to heart too many bad lessons about money, my competence, and my own worth.
Jen Sincero’s “limiting belief”
At one point in the book, Jen Sincero describes the belief that kept her poor. She realized that she subconsciously believed that if she were financially successful, her father would feel sad and unneeded, as his way of showing his affection was by being a good provider and giving her money.
In her review, Savy Leiser says, “I don’t know how to say this politely, but this is a ‘you’ problem. Most people who don’t have $85,000 aren’t scared of having $85,000 because they’re worried their dad won’t want to give them money anymore.” Savy’s absolutely correct. The fact that Jen Sincero was able to use her advantages (such as an upper-middle class upbringing, a college education, etc.) when she worked through her personal issues around money does not mean that the same would be true for everyone. Or even most people. But as I said, I was in a similar boat.
My personal potato
Growing up, I had a caregiver who believed—for whatever reason (probably projection)—that I was a natural fraud. Because I made good grades in elementary school, they told me I was conning my teachers. If I made money at school by selling handmade key chains, they told me I was scamming my classmates. If I earned money for babysitting, they said I had grossly overcharged, even though it was the parents who set the rate. And because I was young and malleable when this started, I believed it.
Eventually I stopped turning in my schoolwork because I was so ashamed of the way I was fooling my teachers into believing I was a good student. I also stopped charging anyone for anything I did. If an adult tried to pay me for helping them, I refused, feeling like I had somehow deceived them already just by making them think they owed me money for my work.
What the anti wealth mindset can do
When I reached adulthood, this caregiver insisted that my college professors went easy on me, which was the only reason I squeaked by with a degree at all. And though I graduated cum laude, I still partly believed that. And I definitely carried the belief that I did not deserve more money than it took to survive. In my early days of freelancing, I drastically undercharged. And when that left me taking on more work than I could handle just to make ends meet, I took that as confirmation that I didn’t even deserve the pittance I was getting paid.
Some of us do have potatoes up our butts, and they can be pretty tough to remove. So, yes, You Are a Badass at Making Money is a book that only works for a very particular demographic. I just so happened to be in it. Before reading it, I would never have applied for a job that utilized my skills and degree. In fact, when I did apply, I still felt like a horrible fraud. That was in spite of the interviewer asking why I was applying for a position I was blatantly over-qualified for.
What I learned by re-reading 10 years later
The most important things I got out of this book, both the first time I read it and re-reading it now, were…
- not to feel so weird about charging fair prices for my work
- to approach my work with excitement, as though I’ve already succeeded, rather than dread over potentially being outed as a fraud
I’m sure those are obvious for many, but I routinely need to be reminded.
In some ways, the places where I disagreed with the author reassured me almost as much as the parts I was on board with. Charging $80,000 as a “success coach?” Look, you can talk all day long about raising frequencies and working with only the most committed people, but there’s no way I wouldn’t feel gross about it. Compared to that unchecked greed, charging a mid-market rate for an actual product looks fine.
Now I’m a badass at making money, again
At the end of the day, You Are a Badass at Making Money helped me get back into the so-called wealth mindset that says it’s actually a good thing to be paid fairly for one’s work. Not just acceptable, but actively good. I had recently hemmed and hawwed my way out of a job, not because it wasn’t a good fit, but because I felt like I would be taking advantage of a friend if I charged them for my work. But, since I couldn’t afford to work for free, I didn’t accept the work at all. That’s kind of crazy (especially in this economy), but after years of direct deposit, a certain discomfort about invoicing people had crept back into my life. This book helped me cut that out quick.
However, this lovely little self-help book is not without its flaws.
Merriam-Webster? I barely know her!
Disturbing definitions in You Are a Badass at Making Money
Throughout the book, Jen Sincero shares a lot of definitions. This makes sense, as she teaches that our words and thoughts influence our wealth mindset. Unfortunately, she makes these definitions up herself. For example, she defines “power mongering” as “wielding influence in a tyrannical and super mean way.” When it actually means to wield or deal in power.
But Jen decided that holding undue influence or control over other people doesn’t count unless you’re mean about it. That’s a tidy way to avoid what ought to be an essential conversation about the relationship between money and power, as well as whether or not it’s ever acceptable to use your money to gain power over someone else. I understand that such a conversation is beyond the scope of the book, but why bring it up, then? It seems deliberately dishonest.
Re-defining “rich” to suit a success coach
She also provides the following, central definition in chapter 1 — “Rich: Able to afford all the things and experiences required to fully experience your most authentic life.” This wishy-washy definition allows her to insist that rich people are “just people.” They don’t deserve to be judged, because, hey, you can be “rich” and make a modest five figures. Of course, that’s not what “rich” really means. Merriam-Webster defines that word as, “having abundant possessions and especially material wealth.” It means abundant wealth, not whatever you need to have a fulfilling life.
Saying that what the word “rich” really means is to be financially safe paves the way for her to later say that hating on rich people for being rich is wrong. It conflates rich people with people who can afford to live a moderate lifestyle, so we don’t have to deal with uncomfortable questions about how much money and power is too much for one person to hold. I see what you did there, Jen.
Badass? More like bad at identifying systemic inequality
Generally, I disregarded her definitions. In most instances I mentally translated “rich” to mean “financially stable.” I also ignored the entries under “greed” and “corrupt” in the Jen-Sincero Dictionary. In fact, I found myself translating quite a lot. One nugget of wisdom that required such a translation was, “Greed comes from the same lack mindset as poverty.” Maybe I’m just being pedantic, but I don’t think poverty comes from a lack mindset. Poverty comes from wealth hording and systemic disenfranchisement. Hopefully she meant “the poverty mindset,” but whether she did or not, that’s how it rang true to me.
How to read You Are a Badass at Making Money
Typically when I read something, I assume there are elements that won’t apply to me. I grew up long before social media algorithms and the “bean-soup-ification” of content consumption, so when Jen started writing about things that didn’t sit right with me, I disregarded them. I took the parts that were useful and left the rest where they lay. What were the parts that I didn’t vibe with?
In general, I’m fine with the concept of manifesting. I think of that in very plain-jane terms. If you’re aiming at something, you’re more likely to get there than if you were aiming somewhere else. Focusing on where you don’t want to be is a good way to end up there unintentionally. So orienting yourself toward your goals is a good first step in attaining them.
The down side of manifesting—or really, the dark side of it—is that it’s frequently used to excuse excessive wealth or justify misfortune, especially by mega-church pastors and success coaches. It’s much more apparent to me on this read-through that Jen Sincero really does mean it when she advises her readers to do whatever it takes. That absolutely includes taking advantage of people and then justifying those actions by saying that she’s vibing at a higher frequency, and everyone else should just join her there. If we were only “conscious,” we’d all be fine. The implication seems to be that if you become swindled at any point, you just didn’t have the right energy. Sounds like prosperity gospel to me, and I don’t touch that.
Do I recommend this book?
Yes, actually. If you’re like me and most of your financial issues stem from fear, uncertainty, and ignorance rather than from systemic devaluation of your labor, I think you could get a lot of good out of this book. But you’ll need to use a lot of discernment as you go through it. That means deciding for yourself what your wealth mindset will look like. I recommend following the Buddha’s advice to believe nothing that anyone tells you unless it aligns with your own good sense.
Proceed with caution, but do proceed
And if you aren’t sure about something, as long as it doesn’t seem like it will harm anyone, give it a try. The first time I read You Are a Badass at Making Money, I was really struck—in a negative way—by Jen Sincero’s story of cleaning up her image to sell her courses. She had previously been in a hair band called Crotch, and explained that she had to look more professional. I didn’t like that. The idea of putting on a false front seemed so mis-aligned with everything else she was saying about being your authentic self and vibing with Universal Source to attract the life you want. Weren’t there people out there who would like taking lessons from a success coach with an alternative style? I would’ve.
According to Jen Sincero, you’ve got to be willing to do what it takes, and that sometimes includes making yourself more palatable to the people who can hire you. So, although I was leery, I was willing to give it a try. After a little market research, I neutralized myself on important issues and generally tried to come across as more demure and professional. Now, I was never in a hair band and I’m not typically very aggressive in my writing, but even the small changes I made to my online personality felt wrong. So I stopped. I tried the advice, it didn’t work for me, so I left it behind.
That’s what I’d advise you to do if you read this book.
Of course, if you’re looking for practical, down-to-earth advice on getting a business going, I also recommend the aforementioned #SavvyBusinessOwner: A Book for Small Business Owners! by Savy Leiser. I re-read that book during my return to the freelance world as well.
A few last-minute notes, though
In today’s world, where even something as innocuous as viewing a video can earn a creator money, I can’t in good conscience recommend this author without quickly glancing at some of the less favorable things Jen Sincero has done. She has worked directly with multi-level marketing and (in my opinion) shady sales companies, which shouldn’t be a surprise given that she markets herself as a success coach. That’s a mark in the “cons” column for me, but it’s also something that, sadly, quite a lot of people do. However, there’s one other weird thing I feel I should mention.
The Jen Sincero book I assumed was just a joke
When I saw that SAVY WRITES BOOKS had an entire playlist of Jen Sincero’s books, I thought I’d check out her review of The Straight Girl’s Guide to Sleeping with Chicks. I’d seen the title before, but it truly never occurred to me that it was an accurate reflection of the contents of the book. I assumed it was a humorous title to grab attention. I figured the book was probably a portrait of the author as a young woman realizing that she was not straight.
When I watched the video on it, I was flabbergasted by the apparent level of bi erasure and… misogyny? I still haven’t read the book myself, so this is hearsay, and it’s been 20 years since its publication. People can change a lot in that time. I don’t see any evidence that she has changed her views, but hey, you never know. I simply felt like I should mention it so you can look into it for yourself if that’s a concern for you.
My final verdict on You Are a Badass at Making Money
So yes, overall, I do recommend You Are a Badass at Making Money if it sounds like something that could give you the courage and mental shift you need to make positive changes in your life. If you don’t want to give Jen Sincero any royalties, buy your copy used or borrow it from the library. Just because someone does things that don’t align with your moral code doesn’t necessarily mean you can learn from them and turn what insight they have to good.
This book was exactly the encouragement I needed to get past my regression into fear. It’s not surprising, given her work as an online course huckster—I mean success coach—that Jen Sincero is a great motivational speaker. There’s a reason she won an award for her narration. After I read it again, I felt like I had fully shaken off my doubt and fretting and was ready to dive back into freelancing for what I was worth.
Does it sound like this book could help you, too? Order your own paperback copy to find out.
Have you read this book, another of Jen Sincero’s Badass books, or another wealth mindset book by a different author? What was your experience? Would you recommend it? If there’s another book you’d like me to review, please let me know in the comments below.
All images provided by Kaboompics.
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