What To Know
- HGTV’s Erin and Ben Napier made candid confessions about their personal finances.
- Ben explained why he lets Erin handle their finances, while Erin broke down their different views on money.
- Ben also reflected on his family’s financial struggles during his childhood.
When it comes to their family’s finances, Ben Napier lets Erin Napier take charge.
“By design, I don’t know how much money we have, and I don’t have access to any of it, because I would be buying things that we don’t need,” Ben joked during a recent episode of the Talk To Me: The Debra Fileta Podcast. “So, it all works out. We’ve had times when we did not have any money, and we weren’t making any money.”
Erin added, “And we’ve always had everything we needed.” Ben agreed, stating, “And we’ve always had more than we needed.”
Erin and Ben rose to fame with the premiere of their flagship HGTV series, Home Town, in 2016. The couple met as college students at Jones County Junior College in Mississippi in 2004 and got married in 2008. The pair share two daughters, Helen and Mae, whom they welcomed in 2018 and 2021, respectively.
On the podcast, Erin credited their different perspectives on money to their childhoods. “Ben grew up differently than I did, but also the same,” she explained. “My dad was a doctor of physical therapy and a chicken farmer. We had plenty. My mom drove a Mercedes. We had a new house. But I wasn’t spoiled. I asked for things, and the answer was always no, which is the exact same way he was raised.”
HGTV
According to Erin, Ben’s family “had to scratch by” and “fought for every penny they had.” She said, “I’m extremely good at watching our finances, making sure we are responsible. And he has a mindset of, ‘It’s just money. None of that matters. None of it matters. All that matters is, like, this is what matters.’”
Ben went on to share, “My dad had one awful thing that happened, and he lost everything financially. And then, 15 to 20 years later, he became a minister and he walked away from everything financially. And so, he had built up this career when he was a young man and there was a bank called a loan. He had a bad year farming, and he lost everything. It was devastating.”
Ben recalled discovering his family’s financial struggles while in school. “The national poverty line at the time was for a family of four, two parents, two kids, on an income of $22,000 a year. Well, I had overheard my dad having a conversation with my grandfather the week before and he said, ‘Well, the churches make it easy. Each one of them gives me $1,000 a month.’ Well, I did the math real quick and I was like, ‘Wow, $24,000 a year. That’s a lot of money for a family of six,’” he said. “And so, at that moment, in that moment in social studies, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we are living below the poverty line. How is this working?’”
Erin provided an explanation, stating, “God always provided.” She added, “And timing, I think, is a huge factor in our family, in our marriage and his parents, and my parents, too.”
Home Town, Season 11, TBA, HGTV