So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Take Farnoosh's midlife survey

What if the retirement you’re saving for isn’t the life you actually want?

This week on Ask Farnoosh, we unpack a story about Gen X’s willingness to “blow up” their lives—from downsizing to moving overseas—to make room for more freedom. Plus, a closer look at a headline about retirement savings at age 84, what those numbers really tell us, and this week’s mortgage-rate news.

Then, three questions adapted from public Reddit conversations:

I inherited $25,000. Should I pay off debt, invest—or enjoy some of it? How to prioritize competing goals, weigh a nine-percent car loan, and make a thoughtful decision without making a joyless one.
We want to pay our nieces’ and nephews’ college tuition. What if one doesn’t go? Setting clear expectations, supporting different paths, and understanding a useful gift-tax distinction.
Someone sent me money through Zelle by mistake. Why shouldn’t I just send it back? Sending a new payment doesn’t undo the original transaction—and that difference could leave you paying for someone else’s fraud.
Stories discussed
Upworthy: Gen X is redefining what retirement means
FinanceBuzz: Average retirement savings of 84-year-old Americans — The cited figures cover households age 75 and older with retirement accounts, rather than specifically all 84-year-olds.
Freddie Mac: Weekly mortgage-rate survey archive

Mailbag sources and resources

The inheritance question
Original Reddit discussion
Investor.gov: Paying off high-interest debt
Investor.gov: Making the most of a lump-sum payment
The college-gift question
Original Reddit discussion
IRS: Gift-tax guidance, including the educational exclusion
The Zelle question
Reddit: Why are some Zelle payments reversible?
Related Reddit discussion: An unexpected $500 payment
Oregon financial regulator: “Payment sent by mistake” scams
Zelle: Reporting fraud or a scam

Have a money question or a midlife decision you’re wrestling with? Visit SoMoneyPodcast.com and click Ask Farnoosh.
How's midlife going? Fill out Farnoosh's survey and help shape the podcast in 2027.

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You’re not ready to retire. But you might be ready to stop working—and living—the way you have been. How do you figure out what you can afford to change?
Farnoosh welcomes certified financial planner Sara Stanich, founder of Cultivating Wealth and author of Crossroads: A Financial Fable for Women Navigating the Decisions, Transitions, and Pivots of Peri-Retirement.

Sara calls this stage “peri-retirement”: the stretch when your relationship with work, money and identity begins shifting, even though retirement may still be years away. Her book follows four childhood friends navigating caregiving, divorce, career burnout and entrepreneurship—and the financial decisions that come with each.
The conversation explores why midlife calls for a different financial playbook, one that makes room for both future security and a better life today.

Topics include:
What peri-retirement means and why it can begin earlier than you expect.
How to assess whether you can afford a career change, lower income or more flexibility.
Why earning good money doesn’t always translate into feeling financially secure.
Balancing support for children and aging parents with your own needs.
Rebuilding financial independence after divorce.
Why Sara chose fiction to tell these money stories.
A five-year vision exercise to help clarify what you want next.

Learn more:
Explore Sara’s work at Cultivating Wealth.
Find Crossroads and accompanying resources at crossroads-book.com.
How's midlife going? Fill out Farnoosh's survey and help shape the podcast in 2027.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can you afford to retire—and what do you want life to look like when you do?

Financial advisor and former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Dan Goldie joins Farnoosh to discuss his new book, The Retirement Answer: The Six Key Decisions Every Retiree Needs to Make, and the financial and emotional decisions that shape life after full-time work.

From growing up with a single mother facing financial insecurity to navigating his own early exit from professional tennis, Dan shares the experiences that inform his approach to helping people plan for their futures.
In this episode:

How to figure out what you need for retirement beyond the intimidating headlines.
Social Security timing and the tradeoffs of waiting to claim benefits.
Opportunities to boost retirement savings in midlife.
Why Dan favors flexible withdrawals over a rigid application of the 4% rule.
How to prepare for changes in identity, purpose and daily routine.
Why retirement can be a gradual transition, including consulting or part-time work.
How's midlife going? Fill out Farnoosh's survey and help shape the podcast in 2027.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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When does a bad shopping experience deserve a public callout? Farnoosh weighs in on Kelly Clarkson’s mechanical bird brouhaha and the responsibility that comes with an audience. Then, this week’s Ask Farnoosh tackles three money worries: Is six months of emergency savings enough? How do you choose health insurance without an expensive mistake? And what if your peak earning years end before your biggest bills do?
How's midlife going? Fill out Farnoosh's survey and help shape the podcast in 2027.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is for anyone who has ever stood in the vitamin aisle reading about the exact right creatine dosage for a woman "in this stage of life" and thought... okay but where's the aisle for my retirement savings?

I'm right in the thick of this myself. Midlife money is basically all I want to talk about lately, because I think we are the forgotten demo. There's an entire industry telling us how to optimize our sleep, our supplements, our skin. But when it comes to actually managing our money at this stage, when the stakes are higher and the runway to retirement is shorter, the advice mostly dries up.

So I'm thrilled to have Lindsay Goldwert here. She's the co-author, with Gabrielle Moss, of The Midlife Plot Twist, and she's spent a lot of time talking to women about the money moment we're in right now: the shame, the catching-up, the marriages where one partner has quietly been steering the ship, the total reinvention some of us are doing in our forties and fifties. Lindsay, welcome to So Money.
How's midlife going? Fill out Farnoosh's survey and help shape the podcast in 2027.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.