Editor’s Letter

Let’s begin with a show of hands: Who balances their checkbook? Anyone? No? How about a 401(k)? If you have a job that actually offers one, do you know what’s in your portfolio? If your current emotional state is clocking in somewhere between confusion and panic, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Over the course of putting together GOOD’s new Money Issue, we discovered that pretty much everything we’ve been taught to believe about work and money is woefully outdated. Nothing against the hard won wisdom of parents and grandparents, but you need a fresh roadmap to charting your financial future.

That’s where our GOOD Guide to Money comes in. From apprenticeship to entrepreneurship, permalancing to crowdfunding, the rules of how, why, and where we work have changed. That means the way we earn, save, spend, and share our hard-earned cash is unprecedented, and vastly different than our parents’ generation. To help us sort it all out, we asked industry pros for the smartest, most innovative approaches to thriving in the gig economy: thinkers like philanthropist Melinda Gates, radical altruist Peter Singer, urban theorist Richard Florida, and designer/technologist John Maeda.

The Money Issue also includes stories of ordinary people who are challenging the economic status quo. In “We R Cute Shoplifters,” staff writer Tasbeeh Herwees explores the bizarre underground world of Tumblr’s pro-Sanders, anti-capitalist teen thieves, while senior editor Greg Nichols follows the rise of a female jockey in the ruthless, money-driven, oddly equitable world of horse racing in “The Longshot.” Contributor Kendra Eash’s “Harry Potter and the Curse of the Student Loans” entertains a bleak future for a certain boy wizard who, like so many of us, has learned that not even a magic wand will make your school debt disappear.

I like to think that GOOD is about bold ideas, smart solutions, and practical advice for living well and doing good. Money has to be part of that equation. I hope you enjoy our latest issue (and wish you the best of luck with balancing your checkbook.)

Nancy Miller

Editor in Chief