Courtesy of Mary & PipMary Holland Nader knows you’re probably stressed about your bank account. “When people hear the word ‘finance,’ their hairs immediately stand up, cortisol is released, and they’re like, ‘I need a whole day to manage this,’” the 28-year-old says. “We want to keep our head in the sand. It’s so much easier not to look.”She gets it because she’s been there. Despite spending her postgrad years working as an analyst on Wall Street, the Love Thy Nader star didn’t know how to use her credit cards or max out her retirement accounts for most of her 20s. “Sometimes I’m embarrassed, because I should be the one that didn’t make a single mistake. But I was just a girl,” she says. Now older and wiser, she’s trying to help others become more informed. Nader’s app, Mary & Pip, officially launches Oct. 15, and it’s an all-in-one platform to help you manage your money without pretense or judgment. For $15 a month, you can access your accounts in one place and get personalized advice on saving, investing, and more. The app also includes a weekly money ritual to help you build solid financial habits. “It’s built for the girls and anyone who doesn’t know where to start with their financial journey,” she says.It’s been a longtime passion project for the second-eldest Nader sister. Season 1 showed her early days of playing around with the concept, and despite her siblings roasting her, the audience’s reaction inspired Nader to keep going. “When Season 1 aired, so many people were like, ‘Where’s Mary & Pip?’ I obviously didn’t have an app yet. So I started hosting events, talking to people, and building the product.”Below, she teases the updates to come in Love Thy Nader Season 2 — including more tea on Mary & Pip’s creation process — and shares her biggest pieces of money advice.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesElite Daily: Congrats on launching Mary & Pip! Tell me what you’re most excited about with this platform.Mary Holland Nader: What I’m most excited about is changing the conversation around money from something that you need to manage to something that’s incorporated into your everyday routine. The platform feels very calm — there are no graphs at all — and we incorporated behavioral science to give it a really human feel. We’re not trying to make you day-trade or bet your whole life on who’s going to win Love Island. We’re trying to help you change the narrative from “money is stressful” to “it doesn’t have to be.” It’s a really fun, unique challenge to demystify something so stale. ED: We saw some of the early creation process on Love Thy Nader Season 1. What has it been like to grow this project in front of the world?MHN: It’s scary, honestly. I’m not going to lie. Usually, especially in something as regulated and stringent as finance and tech, people wait until a product is perfect to release it. But in Season 1, I was just pitching to people and didn’t think anyone would resonate. You saw all my sisters were like, “What the f*ck is this? Change your idea.” The past year has been about building for what’s missing in the market. In Season 2, you’ll see we finally have a beta version of the product, and my family is testing it and giving us real-time feedback.Sometimes I go into these investor meetings or talk to people from my past on Wall Street, and they’re like, “You pitched this on a reality show, and it’s going to be successful?” I’m like, “Yes, because most people who build finance apps are men who don’t understand the consumer.” I feel like it’s a unique advantage, but also really scary because no one’s done it before.“It behooves the industry for people to be silent and alone in this conversation. So eff them, we’re starting a new chapter.”ED: What is the No. 1 question that you get asked by young women about finance?MHN: “Where do I start?” I always say start by opening your accounts. You need three accounts to set yourself up for a financial foundation: a high-yield cash account, an investment account, and a retirement account. The most dangerous phrase that I hear is, “I’ll do it later.” By pushing it off, you’re losing out on so many benefits of starting early. You can put $1 in the account, but if it’s open, it’ll be there when the money comes.ED: Have you made any money mistakes that you wish you could go back and warn your younger self about?MHN: One, not paying off my credit card. I was paying off the minimum amount due instead of the statement balance for a while, and I had to cough up all of my savings a couple of years into working once I realized. Now every week, I’m paying off as much as I can. Also, I wish I focused more on maxing out my retirement account. When you’re in your 20s, you’re like, “F*ck a retirement. I’m living forever. I don’t need to worry about that.”I just wish I’d built habits earlier. For so long, I avoided my bank accounts, but I wish I had realized I’m not being chased by a lion, and it would serve me better to check in. If I’d romanticized my money routine earlier in my 20s, who knows how much I would have invested and where I’d be now? ED: You’re a big advocate for financial transparency. Why is that important to you?MHN: Money is such an isolated topic, and it is that way for a reason. Corporate America doesn’t let you talk about your bonuses so that they can screw you. The credit card companies don’t want you saying, “Pay your full statement balance,” because then they won’t make money. The industry benefits when people stay silent and alone in this conversation. So eff them, we’re starting a new chapter — talk about money with your friends. Sometimes there’s a sense of competitiveness among women, but it only hurts us if we don’t talk. All boys do is compare what they’re trading and doing, and if we did that, then we could have more seats at the table. I hope Mary & Pip creates more normalcy around the subject because it’s definitely a lonely one to navigate alone.ED: Are you the voice of wisdom about money to your sisters?MHN: I try to be. I mean, when they listen to me. You’ll see [in Season 2] we sometimes do money rituals together. Their attention span on this subject is much shorter than mine — you saw I couldn’t even keep their attention for the pitch in Season 1. But my goal is to see if I can make this app cater to them so they enjoy using it. They can do it on a plane, in St. Barts, on a boat, topless swimming. If they can do this ritual anywhere, then I’ve won.This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
