Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, inventor, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood poses for portrait session at Noir In Festival on December 6, 2017 in Milan, Italy.

Even the most successful people have faced money woes. That includes Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood, best-selling author of "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Alias Grace." Atwood worked as a teacher after graduate school and wrote on the side. Following the publication of her early novels "The Edible Woman" and "Surfacing" in the early 1970s, she was able to quit her job and pursue writing full-time. As her career began to take off, Atwood realized she'd be fine financially. She'd get by. Yet money stayed top of mind. "I've never stopped worrying about money," she tells Wealthsimple. Although her own finances are in order, "Now, I worry about money for other people and I worry about income inequality. It makes for a very unhappy society."