Brooke Averick and Connor Wood don’t hold back. The dynamic duo behind Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast are known for keeping it real — whether it’s gabbing about pop culture moments or divulging their real (and oftentimes very silly) inner thoughts. Now, the two are partnering with Intuit to talk about the realities of “lifeing” after graduation.
“I think the thing about the two of us is that we’re very transparent about not really knowing what we’re doing, especially in terms of adulting, and I think that’s something that some people might feel some shame around, but they definitely should not,” Averick tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “So we are here to have those conversations out loud, and make sure people know that you’re not supposed to know what you’re doing in your 20s. No one prepares you for it, and we’re very open about that fact. And we’re very happy to partner with Intuit to help those new grads understand that you are not alone, and we’re all in this together.”
According to Intuit’s 2026 Life-ing Report, the top financial stressor for the Class of 2026 is covering necessities like rent and groceries and view the cost of living as the top barrier to financial stability. Averick and Wood are absolutely aligned on this. Averick found that when initially searching for a place to live, the high cost of rent — debatably, the most essential expense — was a surprise. “[When] apartment hunting, for the first time, I was like, ‘What do you mean, rent is over $1,000?’ The concept of three zeros at the time just felt really big, and I couldn’t understand how a basic human need would have three zeros.”
It was $10 for a sandwich — that was what I was making per hour.
Connor Wood
For Wood, it was the cost of food, specifically for a singular meal. “The first time I felt adulthood was the first summer I had an office job,” he says. “I didn’t have access to a kitchen — I couldn’t prepare lunch or anything, so I had to go buy lunch with my coworkers, and it was $10 for a sandwich — that was what I was making per hour. I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m trading an hour of my life for a sandwich. This is like a sci-fi movie; my time is worth my sustenance.’ It was scary.”
As the classic saying goes, knowledge is power — and one thing that can help ease financial stress is to be educated on the topic. According to the Intuit 2026 Life-ing Report, 61% of people wish their college had required financial literacy courses to graduate, and 55% said they would even pay extra for financial literacy workshops. Averick and Wood agree that learning about finances ahead of time would have made things easier for them. “I think for me, investing was like, ‘Oh, I’ll hit an age where it will just happen.’ … It’s like, totally, I’m going to invest, you know, the same way I’m going to get married and I’m going to buy a house,” Wood says. “[This goes for] savings too, like for my 401k, I don’t know where it is, I have one somewhere … All these things that people talk about with so much certainty, I don’t know when we were supposed to have gotten that pamphlet or whatever.”
Once I learned that your 20s are supposed to suck, I just felt a lot better.
Brooke Averick
Adding to the pressure is the feeling that everyone else has it figured out. According to Intuit’s report, 63% say social media makes them feel more financially insecure and 64% feel financially behind compared to their peers. Averick wants to remind new grads that’s not the case, and that your 20s are the time where you are supposed to be learning and growing. “Once I learned that your 20s are supposed to suck, I just felt a lot better,” Averick says. “Everyone is going through the exact same thing, and then I was less hard on myself for feeling what I was feeling, because everyone else is feeling it too.”
Even with the massive amount of expenses that come with being an independent adult, there are ways to balance these bills while also having a fulfilling social life in your 20s. “I just had hacks, because going out for me was a non-negotiable. That is what I look forward to,” Wood says. “We would pay attention to when happy hours were, and we actually nailed it week by week, where we had food for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We had Taco Tuesday and it was dollar tacos. Then we went to trivia on Wednesdays, and it was like $2 burgers. So, we did things like that where we kind of hacked the system and routed ourselves in that way. We were still socializing and going out without breaking the bank. You just have to put some effort into securing the system.”
Plus, being an adult isn’t all bad! There are quite a few perks. “I forget that I can just eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and no one’s stopping me, Averick says. “So if I wanted to go get ice cream at 11 a.m., I can. You can just exercise your free will in any way that you want, which is really cool. The art of treats is not lost on me.”
Averick and Wood are also prime examples of pivoting in your early career until you find the path you want — even if it doesn’t match what you studied in college. Averick started out as a preschool teacher and Wood worked in tech. “I remember feeling so stuck when I graduated, feeling like my first job was forever and that this career path is forever. But just reminding yourself that you have free will and that you are not stuck, you have agency, you can do whatever you want — it is a nice reminder,” Averick says. “It feels like your job and what you do for work is the point of your life when you graduate, and it’s just not, in my humble opinion. There’s so much more to life, so try to take some of the pressure off of your career.”
Wood agrees, drawing on his own experience as a 20something. “It’s fun to look back and be like, ‘I can’t believe I was doing that, and now I’m here.’”