Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - 4 Money Lessons From the Stars of Selling Sunset

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Selling Sunset isn't just a show about real estate, drama, and outfits... it's a show about money. Over the past few years, Nicole has had four cast members from the Selling Sunset universe on Money Rehab: Jason Oppenheim, Emma Hernan, Mary Bonnet, and Polly Brindle. Today, she's pulling out four moments from those conversations that she hasn't been able to stop thinking about. Jason, one of the most successful real estate brokers in LA, makes a confession you'd never expect from someone who sells homes for a living: renting often beats buying, financially speaking. Mary opens up about the ex-husband who secretly ran up six figures of debt in her name, and the exact tactic she used to rebuild her credit score from scratch. Emma explains why she's turned down millions in outside investment for her company and what she thinks is broken about "Shark Tank culture." And Polly gets brutally honest about maxing out three credit cards, borrowing from friends, and the mindset shift that turned her financial life around. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN  Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠  Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠  Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Here's what Nicole covers today: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 00:15 Four Money Moments From the Selling Sunset Universe 00:42 Jason Oppenheim's Take: Renting Beats Buying 04:48 Mary Bonnet's Secret Debt and Financial Abuse Story 09:07 Red Flags to Watch For Before You Share Finances 12:29 Emma Hernan on Turning Down Millions in Funding 16:47 Polly Brindle: From Maxed Credit Cards to $48M in Sales 21:46 Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions or investments.

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And I know for some people it's a show all about real estate or the drama or the outfits. But to me, it's a show all about money. And you know what? I have had a front row seat. Over the past couple of years, I've had four cast members of the selling sunset universe on money rehab, Jason Oppenheim, Emma Hernan, Mary Bonnet, and Polly Brindel. And today I'm going to be pulling out four moments from those conversations that I have not been able to stop thinking about. My takeaway from my conversation with Jason Oppenheim was unsurprisingly about real estate. But the tip itself was a huge surprise. Here's the thing about Jason.

He is one of the most successful real estate brokers in Los Angeles. He founded the brokerage that Selling Sunset is all about. His firm has about $5 billion in total sales. And when I sat down with him, he said something that put my jaw on the floor because I have never, ever heard a real estate broker admit this. Okay, so let me set the scene for what was happening in the interview. We were talking about renting versus buying. And as you know by now, I do believe that renting can make more sense for some people

than buying depending on your situation. The idea that renting is throwing away money makes me insane. So I was ready for Jason to come for me and argue with me. But he didn't. People come for me so hard when I say that renting is not throwing away money. It's not at all. I never understood that argument that buying and, first of all, renting is, I would argue, is throwing away less money than buying.

Well, because you throw away money somewhere. You give the bank. Yeah, you're either giving it to interest. are you giving it to your landlord? I don't think it... Why don't you just call the bank president your landlord? And then it's the same thing. It's just... It doesn't make sense. I've never understood that.

Throwing away money. I really don't. In fact, when you buy, you are tied down. So you actually have less physical mobility because you're... If you want to move when you're renting, you don't have commissions. You don't have transfer taxes. You don't have to move all the... furniture and goods. I mean, you'd be renting a furnished place. You're much more mobile. That is inherently valuable. And it costs less to rent right now than it does to buy because interest

rates are higher. So yeah, I never understood that. I'm a big believer in renting. There's a, there's a psychological pride of ownership. But if you get it, if you just look at the, financially, no, renting makes more sense than buying and always has. Unless, unless you think that the, that the market is going to appreciate and then buying makes more sense. That's the only reason that you would buy from a purely financial perspective is if you want to leverage your loan because you think that there's going to be market appreciation. And historically there has been market appreciation. But not as much as the stock market. You would be better off buying a house if you think that real estate is going to appreciate even 5% a year. Even if you thought the stock market was going to

appreciate 7% a year. And the real estate was only going to appreciate 5% a year. Then you're better off buying. There are a lot of people. I'd say just about everyone. I'd say 90% of my clients would have been better off renting for the last 10 years than buying. Why? Because they're making no money, because the market's back to where it was eight, 10 years ago. And they didn't have the mobility. They had all the problems with fixing up the house and the stress of fixing up the house. And they didn't and they have to pay commissions to me. They have to pay property taxes. They have to pay mansion tax.

So they would have been better off renting for the last eight years. I mean, that's just a fact. This is a financial fact. So just to sum this up, this is a real estate broker, someone who makes money selling properties telling you that renting is often a smarter financial move. That is the equivalent of a personal trainer telling you that the gym might not be worth your membership fee. Here's his core argument.

The only reason. financially to buy a home over rent a home is if you believe the market will appreciate. And in a market like Los Angeles over the last decade, that bet has not paid off the way most people expected. Now, does this mean you should never buy? Absolutely not. But it does mean that buying is not the one size fits all American dream we've been told to believe. And to have a real estate goat confirm that, that means a lot. Now, the story from Mary Bonnet is a but important one. She told me the story about a previous marriage. Her now ex-husband opened credit cards in her name in secret, ran up close to a hundred thousand dollars in debt,

and left her to come home to a credit score of under 500. She had to file for bankruptcy. This conversation is so important, not just because of what happened to marry, but because of what she did next and what she spotted in hindsight that every woman needs to hear before she finds herself in a similar situation. So you, You guys were romantic partners and then business partners. Is that right? Yeah. And yeah, we got married.

Everything was in my name. I had amazing credit at the time. I was like 8.15 or something like that. So you had all-star credit. I did. Not for long, though. Not by the time that relationship was over. So you guys started a business after you got married.

Yeah. He started it when we were still dating, when we were engaged. But everything had to be in my name. any of the business purchases, stuff like that. Everything had to be in my name because it was because he was foreign. He was from the UK. So he didn't really have much credit. Ultimately, that business folded.

Can you tell that story? Yeah. He took on one big, big job. And that one was not his fault. The guy just stopped paying like all of his. He would just hire subcontractors and then have him do the work and not pay and then get somebody else in. So there were a ton of mechanical liens on the property.

He didn't care. He wasn't going to like sell or do anything. So he just kept doing it. And so we got screwed out of a lot of money. And he took on another big job. We were able to do it. We took out of personal savings to make sure we could pay everybody, stuff like that. He took on another really big job.

It was like a hotel. And I was like, this is not a good idea. That's going to be hard. Well, that one ended up going south. Something got messed up. and it just basically took us down. It was right around that time that things were really struggling between me and him. Like he'd become abusive at that time, started going to therapy, and his dad got sick,

got cancer. And so he was back in the UK. And we just decided, well, let's make a move where he can go be with his dad, restore that relationship. We can make a fresh start. My son was up for it. And so we moved over to England. And you say that's when the finance.

control really started. Yes, yes. So when you go over there, we had to come back and then get our visa because he told us we would get it when we get there, but they don't allow you to do that. We had to come back to the states and then get approved to the end and go back in. But we sold everything here, transferred all the money. So all the money was over in an account for him because they won't let you get a bank account until you have a proper spousal visa. And it took about a month or to for us to get it. So we came back, stayed with my mom, Austin and I, and when we went over there, we'd already transferred the money. We didn't realize, and I never really got any of that money back. And he would be very stingy with it, and I would have to ask for things. And it took a while

before I was able to make my own money. So I started working, make my own money. And then in the meantime, I found out once I came back to the States, that he'd also taken a bunch, just ran up a bunch of credit cards and stuff, got credit cards in my name. Because I closed almost all accounts when I was here. I still had credit cards, but I didn't know. Those were the ones. He opened new credit cards. But since we didn't have an address in the States, I wasn't being notified of anything. I didn't have an address. He just ran up a whole bunch of stuff in my name. So it started with you having to ask for even buying groceries. Yeah. And that's when it sounds like financial abuse started. Yeah.

Which oftentimes goes hand in hand with other types of abuse. I had both. I'm sorry that you went through that. It's okay. I mean, for better or worse, I think the way money is used in relationships affects our confidence and our sense of control. Yeah. Do you remember what that time was like when you lost? control and I won't put words in your mouth, but maybe confidence around money.

I have a money twitch. It's because of this. And I physically get a twitch like where it's something super expensive or something. I was like, and I actually get a like little like twitchy thing like that because I'm urged by it. It's a physical thing because of what it's like just like the trauma from what it happened. For women listening, what kind of red flags now in hindsight, which you use. say that Drew showed you when it came to financial abuse that women should look out for?

The frivolous spending, like where when you see his habits. His habits, yeah, he was not responsible. And he knew there wasn't that much money. He would just buy things that were so expensive over the top where I'm like, you don't need that. Why are you doing that? Unless you have money to burn. Like, why are you buying something so big and so expensive if that's going to break you? And he was like, oh no, I'll just make more. I don't know. And it would just irked me, but I was like, okay, it's not my money because it was before we shared finances. That should have warned me. It was just always pushing the envelope just to be like he would have this like really flashy car and then lived in this little apartment. It didn't add up. It didn't. No, and it was just always trying,

it's like showy stuff. And so he would do stuff that was just not responsible. I think those are really big signs because if he does it then when you guys share some sharing finances it's going to continue except that's also going to be your money it's such an important point and i think oftentimes we justify it and we're in love and we have rose girl glasses on and it's hard to see the signs when you're in the thick of it it is it's very hard and i luckily have recovered from that i keep separate finances like i trust romayne but i have separate finances from remand and i always will We can have one joint account, but I will never let that happen to me again. It was so brutal.

And it took so long to climb out of it. And you can't control somebody else. So I can control me. And I can control my kids. So that's what I'm doing. This is what really sticks with me. The red flags were there before the marriage, the flashy car and the tiny apartment. The habit of spending big money he did not have.

Like she said, if he does it before you share. finances. He will do it after, except now it's also your money. I also want to highlight the tactical choice that she made. After bankruptcy, she started with a secured credit card with a $500 limit. She put everything she could on it and paid it off constantly. And this is so important. She found out exactly when her credit issuer reported to the credit bureaus each and every month and made sure her balance was low before that date. That matters because your score is calculated, on the snapshot of your balance at reporting time. Not your average balance, not your payment history alone.

Timing your payments to hit before the reporting date can meaningfully improve your credit score even when you're rebuilding from zero. One more thing I love about Mary's story is that she got a pre-up before her next marriage. She said something that I want to put on a T-shirt. When you're happy and when you're in love, that's when you decide what's fair. Now, the lesson from Emma Heron is for any entrepreneur, who's thinking about raising capital. Emma is someone the internet has spent a lot of energy underestimating.

Off camera, she has built a multi-million dollar good business and has turned down acquisition offers and outside investments deliberately. Business culture has become so obsessed with the shark tank effect of it all, the VC money, the huge fundraising rounds. But Emma breaks down the flaws with that approach. How have you dealt with the CPG challenges? And what should somebody who's looking at the space know about it? For sure. I mean, I think the CPG space in general is a difficult space to get into. And now there's a lot of companies that are starting up. And then, you know, they're going out of business. And a lot of companies are, you know, they're raising capital right away. And I think that that's fine because we're in that shark tank mentality. But a lot of times when it's not their own money, they're not good with it. And we ran into that with one of the companies that came to us to Copac. You know, they were getting so much money from all these investors. And they weren't allocating it right. And we were thinking in our heads, this was our money.

we would be doing it way different. We'd be much more reserved. Like you just because you have it, you don't spend it. And it is other people's money. And so they ended up shutting down. And a lot of times that is the case. You know what I mean? You have to treat it like it's your own money. I will say, if you're going to go out and you want to do a raise and you want to get money from other people, you have to treat it like it's your own. I think that's only fair. So that's definitely advice that I would give to anyone starting a CPG company. If you want people to invest in your company, then treat the money like it's your own. For me, I bootstrapped everything myself. I haven't taken a penny. I've turned down millions of dollars from people wanting to invest because it was really important for me

to get to a certain point by myself. And I have. I bootstrapped everything from packaging. And when I say like packaging, I am down doing the photo shoot. I have the photographer and I don't hire a food stylist. I cook and do everything myself. So I like being hands on. And I do think that that makes a difference. I love that you say that because I think that the raising money, the shark tank effect has been glorified so much. I bootstrapped my business too. I put in at the time my life savings and I felt every dollar. No, it's so different when you're bootstrapping it yourself and everything is yours. You care more about where the money is going and I think you should always care. So I think if you're going to decide to do a raise, I think you have to treat it like you're bootstrapping it. You know what?

I bootstrapped to my company too. I put in my entire life savings and I'm, I felt every single dollar because it was mine. That's Emma's point. When you're spending other people's money, you spend differently. She watched a company come through her co-packing facility, flush with investor cash, allocating it recklessly, and ultimately it shut down. Meanwhile, she's been building the same way she was since she was a teenager stuffing money in her stock drawer. That does not mean never raise capital.

For some businesses at some stages, outside investment is the right move. But if you do take it, Emma's rule is non-negotiable. treat it like your own money. Your accountability is the exact same, even if the check came from someone else. Now last, but certainly not least, here's what I learned from Polly Brindle. Polly's financial backstory is not what you'd expect from someone on a glossy Netflix real estate show. She moved to L.A. on a visa, went through a four-year divorced, lost all three of her jobs when COVID hit, and maxed out three credit cards. She is so refreshingly honest about that time in her life and a lot of people related to it.

Then she cold emailed Jason Oppenheim before she even had her real estate license. She got hired to pass her exam on the first try. And within a few years, she has closed $48 million in sales. The moment I want you to hear is the one where she talks about what she would tell her past self, because it's a piece of advice that I would have wanted to hear when I was doing my own money rehab. Did you have savings that you were living on? I didn't. I had a lot of debt.

I had a lot of debt. And I was kind of chasing my tail on that. and I very much was head in the sand about that for years. Like I was making all of the hideous financial, you know, mistakes that you probably see an advice against. You know, I had three maxed credit cards and I was like barely paying the minimum each month for years, like four years. And then it just increased over COVID because you weren't making it.

I mean, they were all max. So I was just like, okay, well, I'm kind of fucked. You know, I've kind of, you know, my credit score was horrible. I just, for me, I was very much on autopilot of just like, just pay, just be able to pay rent and my pet insurance. And let's talk about that. You prioritize pet insurance? Yes. My dog has had pet insurance for 11 years.

And I probably went without health insurance for seven of those years. I'd rather him have the health insurance than... It's paid off. I usually advise against pet insurance. I know, but now it's like, I don't want to jinx it. And now it goes up and now he's 11. And so I'm paying like $160 a month and I've never used it. Do you have health insurance?

I do. Okay, good. So it's not like your priority. No, no. But like, you know, with my dog, I've had it for so long. I know that if I cancel it, he's going to break his fucking leg. And I'll be like, shit. Like, I can't cancel it now.

So I'm paying thousands of dollars each year for nothing. And I know it. But I can't cancel it because it's jinx it. And I just can't. So I'm like, okay, fine. So how did you get more credit on your cards if you were maxed out? Or did you take out a personal loan or business? I never did the personal loan, but I borrowed from friends.

I'm not from money. So borrowing from family was never really an option. People definitely. were very kind and lent me money, which I've paid everyone back. That was, you know, definitely something that, that helped me a good few months there to just survive, you know. But I never gave up ever. Like, I was just kind of like, okay, like, this is just for now.

And I'll work it out. I always do. Leave the shame at the door. Like, what's happened has happened, and there's no point. It only makes it worse if you bury your head in the sand, if you're not honest with yourself about your situation. And if you're honest with yourself about that, you know, because we see people pretending that they're something that they're not and that they live this lifestyle. And when you get down to it, it's like you're, you've got to be real, you know. Shame is the most expensive

financial habit that most people have and it only compounds over time. Here's what happens when you're ashamed of your money situation. You avoid looking at it. You don't open the statements. You don't log into the accounts, you pay the minimum and you tell yourself that you'll deal with it next month. Polly did this for years. Most people do. And every month you avoid it, the problem just gets bigger and bigger and the shame gets heavier and heavier. What Polly did and what ultimately turned her financial life around was simple but not easy. She decided to look at the number, even when that number was bad, to stop running from it and to start making a plan. Financial shame is not a character flaw. It's a systemic failure of how we teach people about.

money but the antidote is not more guilt it's more honesty you can't fix what you refuse to see so those are four things that I keep replaying over and over in my head from Jason the rent versus buy debate is way more nuanced than your parents taught you the right answer really depends on your market your timeline and whether or not you actually believe prices are gonna go up from Mary financial red flags show up before the marriage know when your credit card issuer reports to the bureaus time your payments accordingly and also get a pre-up From Emma, bootstrapping builds discipline that outside capital cannot buy.

Treat every single dollar like it came out of your own pocket. And from Polly, try to leave shame at the door. You can't fix what you don't look at. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. Definitely ask your credit card issuer for the statement closing date, not your payment due date. That's the date that your issuer takes a snapshot of your balance and then reports it to the credit bureaus. If your balance is high on that date, your credit utilization ratio spikes and your score usually drops, even if you pay in full a week later. The move is to make a payment a few days

before the closing date, so your reported balance is near zero. Try to do this consistently and your utilization, which makes up 30% of your FICO score will drop. This means that your score will climb, and you'll also unlock better rates on everything from mortgages to car loans to business loans. It's the kind of thing your credit card company will never tell you, but Mary Bonnet figured it out the hard way so that you don't have to.