So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

You’ve been asking for this episode, and today I’m finally pulling back the curtain on my own financial plan.

Consider this a very special edition of Ask Farnoosh — except this time, you’re asking the questions about my money.

For roughly 15 years, much of my financial life was on cruise control: automate the investing, save for retirement, fund the kids’ accounts, maintain the emergency fund, repeat. But midlife has me asking a different set of questions. Am I still saving the right amount? Could I invest a little less and spend more on my life today? How much do we actually need for retirement? And, gulp…should I consider an annuity?

My financial planner Maggie Johndrow of Johndrow Wealth Management joins me to reveal what we discovered after putting my entire financial picture under the microscope — including where I may have been over-saving, why we’re rethinking my SEP IRA strategy, and how we’re balancing retirement security with enjoying life now.

Then Maggie’s colleague Colette Ward joins us for an annuities crash course: what they are, why their reputation has changed and when they may—or may not—make sense.

It’s my Midlife Money Checkup. And hopefully, it inspires yours.

Reach Maggie at maggien@johnddrowwealth.com
Reach Colette at colette@johnddrowwealth.com
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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We're taught our whole working lives to save. Nobody teaches us how to stop.

That's the blind spot my guest today has spent the last several years staring down. Jean Chatzky has been one of the most trusted voices in personal finance for as long as I've been in this business, and she just published what she says is the best of her fourteen books, because it's solving a problem she's actually living through herself.

Her new book is called The Forever Paycheck, and it's about the moment nobody plans for: the day the direct deposits stop and you're left staring at a lump sum that has to somehow last the rest of your life. Turns out most of us are terrible at this. Even people who did everything right, who saved diligently for forty years, freeze up when it's time to actually spend the money. Jean found that people with guaranteed income streams spend nearly twice as much as people sitting on identical savings, and that confidence to spend is tied to better health and longer life.

We get into why our brains treat a shrinking balance like a loss even when it's working exactly as intended, what she's doing with her own money at 61, and the uncomfortable math behind long-term care that almost nobody wants to run.
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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

What does it mean to build wealth when you don't come from money and when getting ahead financially isn't just about you?

My guest today is Maria Melchor, founder of FirstGenLiving and author of the new book Always Have Enough: How to Build Wealth When You Don't Come From Money.

Maria grew up in a Mexican immigrant family, at one point undocumented in the United States, watching her parents piece together everything from paychecks and government benefits to food bank boxes to make ends meet. As a kid, she saw classmates get cars when they got their driver's licenses while she was waiting for the legal status that would eventually allow her to work, and fully participate in the financial system.

Maria would go on to attend Yale, and after graduation found herself earning more at 22 years old than her parents had after decades of incredibly hard work. Which brings to the forefront a complicated question: What do you do when you're the one in the family who suddenly has access to opportunity? ? How much do you owe yourself? How much do you owe the people who helped you get there? And when can you finally say, "I have enough"?
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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

Big changes are coming to So Money in 2027. Farnoosh opens the episode with an early preview of what’s ahead, including a more video-forward format and a sharper focus on the intersection of midlife and money — the season when careers, kids, aging parents, health, relationships and financial priorities are all shifting at once.
She also reflects on the life and legacy of Gloria Steinem, who died this week at 92, and shares a personal story about once finding herself just a few seats away from Steinem on an Amtrak train — and regretting that she never worked up the courage to say hello.

Then, Farnoosh looks at the latest jobs report and weighs in on a debate sparked by Armchair Expert: If one adult child becomes wealthy while another struggles financially, should parents leave them different amounts in their will? Farnoosh shares why she leans toward equal inheritances, with thoughtful exceptions for significant needs.

In the Ask Farnoosh mailbag: Jay in Denver recently got married and wants to know how he should rethink his life insurance as he plans for children. Tamara in Los Angeles inherited her mother’s 401(k) and wants to understand her options for transferring, investing and eventually withdrawing the money. And a listener who was recently laid off asks whether COBRA is worth the cost or if shopping for coverage on the health insurance marketplace could be a better move.
Plus, Farnoosh shares resources on Trump Accounts and explains why major life changes are often the right time to revisit your entire financial plan.

Gloria Steinem — NYT never-before-seen 2008 interview: Watch the New York Times video. The Times released the previously unseen interview on September 3.
Trump Accounts — July 10, Episode 2007: Ask Farnoosh: Should I Open a Trump Account?
Trump Accounts — August 14, Episode 2022: Trump Account Updates, Money-Maxxing and Stay-at-Home Boyfriends
Robin Wigglesworth — Episode 2029: The Bond Market Explained: What It Means For Your Money
Joseph Moore — Episode 2030: How to Get Rich: 300 Years of Money Lessons
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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

My guest today owns land on the moon.

And somehow, that is not even the most interesting thing about his approach to money.
Joseph Moore is a historian and professor who spent years studying how Americans have tried to get rich over the last 300 years — from land speculation and market bubbles to stocks, crypto and today’s biggest investment trends.

And after all that research, he came to a pretty provocative conclusion: a lot of the financial advice we hear over and over again may not actually be the best way to build wealth.

So Joseph decided to test history for himself. He created a cryptocurrency. He systematically shorted Jim Cramer’s stock picks. He studied how investors behaved through centuries of booms and busts — and used some of those lessons in his own portfolio.

Along the way, he became a millionaire.

His new book is How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (and Didn’t).

Today, we’re talking about what 300 years of history can teach us about getting rich, why he says diversification alone won’t make you wealthy, how to recognize hype before it’s too late, and the money advice he thinks far too many of us blindly follow.
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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