Stories
Before the move.
Most tax stories don’t begin with a tax return. They begin earlier—with a new job, a side payment, a house, an investment, a business idea, a move, or a child.
Money Meets Tax follows Evan and Daisy Park, a California couple building careers, businesses, a family, and eventually wealth—one decision at a time.
Evan likes numbers, comparisons, and finding the most efficient way to do things. Daisy, an interior designer, is more interested in what money can make possible than in optimizing every dollar.
Their story begins simply: two W-2 jobs, a Los Angeles apartment, some savings, and a life they have intentionally built around the two of them.
Then Evan receives $4,800 for helping a former coworker.
One decision leads to another. A side project becomes a business. They buy a house. The house becomes a rental. Careers change. Daisy begins building something of her own. And after years of believing they would remain a family of two, Jiwoo arrives.
The characters are fictional, but the financial decisions and tax problems are drawn from situations people face every day. Because tax rarely begins with a tax return. It begins with the decision that came before it.
Meet Evan & Daisy Park
Two people. One life. A thousand little decisions.
Evan plans. Daisy creates. They don’t always see money the same way—but every decision belongs to both of them.
Episodes
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About a year after changing jobs, Evan realizes his old 401(k) is still there. Moving it turns out to be easier than deciding where the money belongs.
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Evan and Daisy open a 529 for Jiwoo, then realize the harder question isn’t whether to save for her. It’s how much of that money they want to commit to one future use.
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A new design referral gives Daisy a reason to find two uninterrupted workdays each week. Hiring help with Jiwoo seems simple enough, until Evan realizes that paying someone in their home may also mean becoming an employer.
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Almost a year after turning their Anaheim house into a rental, a tenant’s renewal email forces Evan and Daisy to ask a question they had never really answered: if they did not already own the house, would they buy it today?
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Daisy’s design work has outgrown the dining table. Turning the spare room into a real workspace seems simple enough, until Evan discovers that working from home and having a deductible home office are not the same thing.
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A client meeting, two showrooms, and one vendor turn Daisy’s “small project” into an entire day on the road. The mileage may create a tax deduction, but first it shows her something more important: how much time the work actually takes.
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Jiwoo discovers a drawer full of financial documents, prompting Evan and Daisy to realize how much of their household information only one of them knows. What starts as organizing paperwork becomes a conversation about beneficiaries, guardianship, and planning for the people who might someday need it.
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An unexpectedly larger paycheck leads Evan to realize he has already reached his annual 401(k) contribution limit. What initially feels like extra money raises a different question: whether contributing too quickly could affect his employer match.