HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Latest Episodes:

$100k Used to Mean You’d Made It. Now It Barely Covers Groceries. Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

$100,000 used to mean you'd made it. Today, in some cities, it barely covers groceries — and there's a real reason that gap feels so wide. This week, Jean sits down with Mark Hamrick, Chief Economic Analyst and writer of The Hamrick Brief, to unpack why the official numbers so often miss how people actually feel about their money.

Mark recently built his own economic measure, HAPI (the Hamrick American Prosperity Index), designed to answer one question: are people actually getting ahead, or just running in place? Plus, Mark shares the one economic "skill" he believes matters most in this moment of nonstop change — and how to build it, even if it doesn't come naturally.

In this episode, you'll learn:

What HAPI measures, and why Mark built it as the mirror image of the Misery Index
Why real wage growth — not just unemployment — is the number that actually predicts how "ahead" people feel
The real odds of a recession in the next 12 months, according to economists

Want to make sure you never run out of money, no matter what’s happening in the economy? Pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck.

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Ep 539: Why Retirees Are Too Scared to Spend Their Own Money (And How to Fix It) Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

You saved. You invested. You did everything right. So why does spending your own money in retirement feel so terrifying?

This week, Jean sits down with Terri Fiedler, President of Retirement Services at Corebridge Financial, to dig into why the spending side of retirement is so much harder than saving, and what you can do about it right now.

They cover:

The "retirement paradox": why 60% of retirees whose assets have grown still can't bring themselves to spend
Why guaranteed lifetime income is the single biggest confidence booster for retirees
The three questions everyone should be asking five to ten years before they retire

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Corebridge Financial's decumulation research: corebridgefinancial.com/decumulation
Jean's new book: The Forever Paycheck
HerMoney's conversation with Dana Anspach: The Retirement Phase Nobody Talks About

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Is a Vitamix Actually Worth $600? A Consumer Reports Expert Answers Your Biggest Home Spending Questions Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

You know that feeling when you're staring at two versions of the same appliance and have absolutely no idea which one is actually worth it? Today we're getting some answers.

Jean Chatzky sits down with Tanya Christian, Senior Home and Appliance Writer at Consumer Reports, for a special mailbag episode answering your real questions about the stuff you actually want to buy, or are wondering if you should.

In this episode:

Is a Vitamix actually worth $600? (And when to buy one if you want it)
Should you ever buy an extended warranty?
What actually matters when choosing a mattress
The truth about "cooling" pillows and sheets

Links mentioned:

Subscribe to Bread and Butter by Consumer Reports.

Send your mailbag questions to: mailbag@hermoney.com

Pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck

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Ep 538: The Four-Day Workweek Is Real – So Why Don’t We Have It Yet? Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Every few weeks, another tech titan promises to hand us our time back. Jamie Dimon says a shorter workweek is coming. Elon Musk says AI will make work optional. Bill Gates is predicting two-day workweeks. Sounds amazing, except we don't actually need AI to get there. The research proving a shorter workweek works has been sitting in front of us for over a decade.

This week, bestselling author and veteran journalist Joanne Lipman joins Jean Chatzky to unpack the gap between what these executives are promising in public and what they're actually demanding from their employees in private.

In this episode, Jean and Joanne cover:

Why the same executives predicting an AI-powered leisure future are also the most insistent on five-day, in-office weeks
What over a decade of four-day workweek research shows about productivity, revenue, and burnout
Why new technology almost never reduces our workload

Preorder Jean's new book: The Forever Paycheck is your guide to building a secure, steady income stream in retirement.

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Four Women Get Honest About Retirement Planning, Financial Peace, and the Money We Leave Behind Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

Do you have enough? And how do you even know?

In the third and final episode of HerMoney's series with AARP, From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, Jean Chatzky and her roundtable tackle the biggest question in personal finance — what does financial security actually feel like, and how do you build something that doesn't just sustain you, but actually gives you peace?

Hannah Williams sold her business and walked away with a life-changing payout, and has never been more stressed.
Viviana Vazquez recently hit $100,000 in investments and says she already feels like she has enough.
Ashley Parker thinks about what would happen if she suddenly had to make it on her own, and making sure she always could.
And Carly Roszkowski shares the AARP data that keeps her up at night: 65% of women 50 and older don't feel confident about retirement, and nearly half of those still working have less than $50,000 saved.
Jean also introduces a concept that changes everything: decumulation.

This is the third and final episode of From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, a three-part series in collaboration with AARP exploring women's financial lives across generations, from your first job to retirement and the legacy you leave behind. If you haven't listened to episodes one and two yet, go back and start there; this conversation builds on everything we've covered.

Jean Chatzky's new book, The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money, is available for pre-order now and publishes September 8, 2026.

Whether you're looking to save money, manage debt, or prepare for retirement, AARP has resources and tools to help you prepare for your financial future to reach your goals. Get started at www.aarp.org/retirementreadiness.

Want to calculate your FIRE number? We recommend this calculator from our friends at NerdWallet.

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Ep 537: Why Your Medical Bills Are Bankrupting You and What You Can Do About It Today Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

Your doctor isn't the enemy. So why does it feel like you're fighting them, and losing?

This week, Jean Chatzky sits down with Dr. Jordan Grumet to talk about his explosive new book The Healthcare Heist: How Physicians and Patients Can Unite to Transform Healthcare. As a hospice physician who spent over two decades watching families drown in paperwork and impossible bills, Jordan has a clear-eyed diagnosis of what's actually wrong with American healthcare.

Then, Lacy Garcia, founder and CEO of Willow, joins Jean to tackle the financial decisions women put off the longest…updating your estate plan, moving money out of savings and into investments, and protecting yourself financially no matter what life throws at you.

If today's conversation left you wanting more Doc G, you're in luck. Jordan has been on HerMoney twice before, once to talk about how to find your purpose, and once to dig into the money regrets people share at the end of their lives.

Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck, is your guide to building a secure, steady income stream in retirement.

Find a vetted fiduciary advisor at hermoney.com/findanadvisor.

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The House of Cards: What Happens to Your Money When Life Blows Up the Plan Jul 17, 2026

Show notes

Did your life turn out exactly the way you planned it? Nobody says yes. Not one person.

In the second episode of HerMoney's three-part series with AARP, From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck,

Jean Chatzky gets personal, sharing that at 40, she was fired, got divorced, and lost her father all in the same year. And the women around the table don't hold back either.
Ashley Parker reveals she was in the bottom 5% of earners on The New York Times politics team, and nearly doubled her salary the moment she left.
Hannah Williams shares the terrifying moment her veteran husband had a dental emergency with no insurance and no options.
Viviana Vazquez opens up about being the financial safety net for her entire family, including a $10,000 out-of-pocket dental bill for her mom.
And Carly Roszkowski talks about her husband's mid-life career pivot, and what it really means to become the breadwinner.

Together, they tackle the financial trade-offs that millions of women face every day — stepping back from work, carrying the mental load, navigating the sandwich generation, and trying to build a safety net when life keeps pulling the floor out from under you.

This is episode two of From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, a three-part series in collaboration with AARP exploring women's financial lives across generations, from your first job to retirement and the legacy you leave behind. Go back and listen to episode 1 in the series here!

Jean Chatzky's new book, The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money, is available for pre-order now and publishes September 8, 2026.

Whether you're looking to save money, manage debt, or prepare for retirement, AARP has resources and tools to help you prepare for your financial future and reach your goals. Get started at aarp.org/planningforchange.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep 536: AI and Your Money: What It Can Do, What It Can't, And Where It Could Get You Into Trouble Jul 15, 2026

Show notes

What happens when you let AI run your life? In her book, I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything, award-winning journalist Joanna Stern chronicles her yearlong experiment integrating AI into every aspect of her day-to-day, from healthcare and money management to household chores and, yes, even an AI-powered massage therapist.

On this episode of the HerMoney Podcast, sponsored by LIMRA, Stern joins Jean Chatzky to share the most important lessons she learned, and to dig into how AI can genuinely help you with your money, as well as where it can still lead you dangerously astray.

Listen in to hear them cover:

The biggest ways AI can help you save both money and time
Why one of Stern’s biggest money-saving AI experiences started in a dentist chair
The key things to watch out for when you’re letting AI help with your finances

For more on how AI can (and can’t) help you with your money – especially when it comes to planning for retirement – check out this guide from LIMRA.

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From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck: How Women Can Build Wealth at Every Life Stage Jul 10, 2026

Show notes

In the first episode of our three-part series with AARP, Jean Chatzky brings together four women across four generations- Gen Z creator Hannah Williams, Zillennial entrepreneur Viviana Vazquez, Millennial journalist Ashley Parker, and Gen X financial expert Carly Roszkowski- for an honest, freewheeling roundtable on building wealth across every life stage.

They cover why the old financial playbook (get a job, buy a house, retire comfortably) doesn't work the way it used to, why younger women are investing earlier than any generation before them, the real cost of homeownership today versus a generation ago, and what women of every age get wrong about Social Security.

Topics include:

Why Gen Z calls the 9-to-5 a horror movie
The credit card mistakes nobody warns you about
Walking away from a stable paycheck to build something of your own
The truth about Social Security's future
The financial habits each woman wishes she'd built earlier

This conversation is part of a three-episode series, From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, in partnership with AARP, exploring women's financial lives across generations, from your first job to retirement and the legacy you leave behind.Jean's new book,The Forever Paycheck, is your guide to building a secure, steady income stream so you can age on your own terms and actually enjoy the retirement you've worked so hard for.

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Ep 535: Mid-Year Investing Reset: SpaceX, AI Stocks, and What to Do With Your Portfolio Before 2026 Is Over Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

On today’s episode, Jean sits down with Marta Norton, Chief Investment Strategist at Empower, for an honest, clear-eyed mid-year markets check-in. Marta has a point of view that many of you will find refreshing: that politics belongs at the Thanksgiving table, not in your portfolio. And she's here to tell us exactly why.

In this episode, we cover:

The AI concentration risk hiding inside your index funds, and what it means for your money
Anthropic, OpenAI, the wave of mega-IPOs coming our way, and what everyday investors need to know
Marta's best case and worst case scenarios for markets in the second half of 2026

And if you're thinking about how to make your money work harder for you in retirement, be sure to pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck, your guide to building a secure, steady income stream that actually lets you enjoy the retirement you've worked so hard for.

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