Welcome to Just Read Hannah 👋
Hi there, and welcome to the first ever edition of Just Read Hannah, my email newsletter where I get a bit more in depth about all the things I make videos about on @just.ask.hannah!
If you signed up, you’re probably a lot like my IRL besties - smart, hard-working, and wondering “did everyone else get a memo about money and investing that I missed?” Well, you didn’t. There is no memo. And the fear, intimidation, and resulting avoidance is hurting middle-class people (especially women) everywhere. But no worries, I’m here to help.
My goal is to demystify money and inspire you to take control of your financial life (and every other part of your life, too!)
Here's what's inside today:
👋 Intro to me, Hannah!
📈 The only investment you really need (and the math behind it)
💬 A question from the comments
🙋♀️ First, hi, I'm Hannah
For the handful of subscribers who aren’t my real-life friends who support every crazy thing I ever do: I’m a 37 year old former Wall Street analyst turned and Hollywood executive, who now spends her time sipping iced americanos and making TikTok videos. #AmericanDream
Since I was a kid, I’ve been passionate about investing (I was 14 years old watching CNBC - I know, lame.) Four years on Wall Street taught me I didn’t actually want to work in finance, I just wanted the freedom that building wealth could provide. Another decade in other corporate jobs taught me I didn’t actually want to work in general - who knew!
Because of some of the financial decisions I’ve made over the years (including literally using my lunch money to buy index funds at 16 years old), I’m in the incredibly privileged position to be able to focus on my real passion - helping people accomplish their goals, remove their fear around finances, and live happier, more fulfilling lives.
This new life direction is a fairly new one (I left my corporate job in January of 2026), but the feedback I’ve received so far is incredibly motivating, and I can’t wait to find new ways to connect and help. Thank you again for subscribing - you’re in on the ground floor! Now onto the good stuff…
💰The only investment you really need
For long-term investing (think 10+ years, retirement, etc.) there really is only one investment that makes sense - stocks. Over every single long-term period, the data has shown time and time again that investing in businesses (aka stocks) yields higher returns than every other major asset class, including bonds, gold, and real estate.
This is one of my favorite charts in investing. It shows the returns of stocks vs other major investment securities like bonds, bills (short-term treasuries), gold, and the US Dollar, over 200+ years. The average annualized return of stocks is ~7% (after inflation), and that includes the crash of the Great Depression, the dot-com bubble crash, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and every other stock market downturn over the history of the US equities market.
From the book “Stocks for the Long Run” by Jeremy Siegel
So clearly, the stocks are your best bet for long-term returns. So how do you invest in stocks? Well you could buy individual stocks, like Tesla or Apple, but then you run the risk of one of those stocks tanking permanently. While stocks as a whole have earned ~7% per year, plenty of individual stocks have performed horribly, or even gone to zero (bankruptcy).
So how can you invest in stocks without the risks associated with individual companies? Index Funds, baby! Honestly, they’re brilliant. You essentially buy one “stock”, like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTI), and you instantly own virtually every major stock in the country. And the fees are remarkably low. VTI, for example, charges 0.03% annually, or $0.03 for every $100 you invest.
In my normal, non-retirement investment account, I own roughly an even split of VTI (US), and VXUS (International). In my retirement accounts, I keep it even simpler. I buy one fund: VT. VT is just the whole world in a single package, US and international already combined. One fund, set it, forget it, go live my life.
(Quick note, because I mean the "friend" part: this is what I do, not a personalized recommendation for you. Your situation is yours. Do your own research before you buy anything.)
💬 From the comments
Every issue I'm going to pull one question from the comments or my DMs and share my answer here. This question was on my video about index funds:
Question: I so appreciate your video and especially the message that its not that complicated. That honestly always stopped me from even going into the topic at all. I would like to ask you if you could offer an option that is similarly simple but focused on ethical, sustainable practice. Would love your input
☺️ Grateful
If you made it this far, I’m obsessed with you and want to be best friends for life.
In all seriousness, thank you so much for taking the time to open this email and for giving my thoughts the time of day. If you have any feedback, questions, ideas, or just want to say hi, please reply to this email! You are literally the reason I’m taking the time to do any of this.
Until next time,
Hannah
P.S. Have a friend who you think could benefit from this kind of thing? Consider forwarding this email, or even just mentioning my account to them. It would mean the world to me 🫶🏻