The Best Life Podcast · Danny-J Johnson & Jill Coleman

Ep. 620: The Single Tax

April 1, 2026·32 min·2 clips

Travel costs more alone, rent is the same on one income, and singleness is treated as a pause — not a milestone — so there are no registries, no gifts, no acknowledgement.

It starts with teeth. Dani and Jill do the very Best Life thing where a dentist check-in turns into x-rays, quarterly cleanings, and self-diagnosing in the chair. Then the real topic lands. So much social attention, money, and gift-giving still goes toward the same traditional milestones. Weddings get gifts. Babies get gifts. The hosts are asking why the people they care about outside those lanes should get less celebration. Dani makes it personal. She would rather spend on milestones for people she actually loves than keep following gift etiquette for someone barely in her life. Jill is right there with her. Brandon's award at his alma mater becomes the clean example: people showed up, spent the money, and treated it like a real life event. To them, that should be normal. The old celebration ladder, with marriage and kids at the top and everything else treated as optional, feels tired. They pull back a little. More people are staying single by choice, more people are choosing not to have kids, and the rituals around support have not really caught up. Then the money part hits. The single tax is not only emotional. It is practical, because living on one income can make even a middle-class life feel hard to reach. Keith's firefighter world makes that plain. Jill talks about families with huge mortgages and firefighters working 10 to 15 overtimes a month just to make the numbers work. That is not exactly easy comfort. Even in a two-person family, the pressure can be heavy when one partner stays home with kids. So the single person's problem gets sharper. Without a second income, ordinary adulthood can cost more and still get less public celebration. Their point is simple enough: keep the weddings and baby showers, but stop acting like those are the only life moments worth showing up for.

As heard by us

A chatty look at how single life can feel expensive, emotionally and financially.

The episode moves from everyday life-admin talk into a broader look at what it can cost to build a life on one income, with gift etiquette and milestone spending as the clearest examples.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When you're paying the solo premium on money, gifts, and everyday life.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Best Life Podcast