So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Latest Episodes:

1889: The Economics of Style and Fashion: How to Find Quality in a World of Cheap Clothing Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

If you’ve been shopping lately, you’ve probably noticed — clothes cost a lot more than they used to. Inflation has hit fashion hard, but the quality? Not so much. From fast fashion to high-end brands, shoppers are wondering: why are we paying more for pieces that don’t seem to last?

To help us make sense of it all — and learn how to shop smarter — I’m joined by stylist Amy Salinger, founder of StyleMethod®. (Catch me on her podcast!)

Self-taught and style-obsessed, Amy built her career on the belief that great style isn’t innate — it’s intentional. Her signature method has helped hundreds of clients align how they look with who they truly are, across all body types, lifestyles, and life stages. After more than a decade working one-on-one with clients in New York City, she took her business fully online, bringing expert styling support to high-achieving people everywhere.

Through StyleMethod®, Amy helps clients reclaim their reflection — with shoulders back, chin up, and confidence fully activated. Because as she puts it, great style isn’t about trends or impressing others — it’s about showing up for yourself.

Today, we’ll talk about the real reasons fashion prices have skyrocketed, how to think about cost per wear, and Amy’s best tips for saving money on style — from end-of-season sales to discount treasure hunts and wardrobe investments that actually pay off.

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.

1888: How to Close The Financial Brain Gap with Kara Loewentheil Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

New York Times bestselling author of Take Back Your Brain, Kara Loewentheil, unveils her proven strategies for closing the “brain gap,” and how women can reclaim their financial confidence in a patriarchal society.

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.

1887: Ask Farnoosh: Should I Move My Money Overseas? Oct 03, 2025

Show notes

This week's questions: Should I move my money overseas if I'm worried about immigrant rights? Should I divide my dad’s $100,000 (currently in a basic bank account) among savings, high-yield savings, and investments, and should I remarry my current boyfriend, knowing I would lose my ex-husband’s Social Security benefits?

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.

1886: The Psychology of Negotiation: What Every Woman Needs to Know Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was this: you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. It’s true, but for many of us — especially women — negotiating can feel loaded, intimidating, even risky. The fear of backlash is real.

My guest today knows this better than anyone. In fact, a failed negotiation early in her career — one that ended with her being escorted out of the building — changed the course of her life and career. Since then, she’s made it her mission to equip women with the strategies to negotiate successfully without the penalties.

Joining me is Kathryn Valentine, CEO of Worthmore Strategies, whose work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company.

Today, she shares the research-backed tools and scripts that can help all of us — whether we’re asking for a raise, a promotion, or even more flexibility at work — get to “yes” while sidestepping the backlash.

More resources:

Kathryn's 76 things you can negotiate - www.76things.com

Her negotiation bootcamp - https://worthmorestrategies.com/courses

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.

1885: The Rich Girl Manifesto with Katie Gatti Tassin Sep 29, 2025

Show notes

My guest today is one of the most vibrant and necessary voices in personal finance today. Katie Gatti Tassin is the founder of the wildly popular Money with Katie platform and host of the podcast by the same name. She's back on the show with a brand-new book that is as bold as it is brilliant: Rich Girl Nation.

This isn't your average money guide. Katie weaves sharp analysis, real-world context, and her signature wit into a manifesto for financial independence — especially for women navigating the beauty tax, the motherhood penalty, workplace politics, and a world where financial systems weren’t exactly built with us in mind.

We discuss why the first chapter is called “The Hot Girl Hamster Wheel,” how investing in yourself early can pay off big, and why financial independence isn’t just about retiring early—it’s about having options.

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.

1884: Ask Farnoosh: Interview Strategies, High-Yield Savings Accounts, and Home Buying Advice Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

Farnoosh kicks things off with life updates—juggling the whirlwind of September as a parent, launching The Montclair Pod (now a finalist for a prestigious Signal Award (vote here)), and coping with a double hit of bank fraud that forced her to shut down an account and rebuild her banking setup.

Farnoosh also shares important personal finance headlines:

Doctors vs. Insurance Companies: New prior-authorization rules delaying basic care.
Amazon’s $2.5 billion FTC settlement: Millions of Prime subscribers may be eligible for refunds.
Iron Hill Brewery closures: A beloved East Coast restaurant chain, tied to her own family memories, shutters permanently.

In the mailbag, she tackles listener questions on:

Whether to open multiple high-yield savings accounts for different goals like emergencies, annual expenses, and travel.
The best ways to start saving for a child’s college education—including 529 plans, gifting platforms, and Roth IRAs.
How to ace a financial services interview at age 23 without licenses yet—focusing on passion, relatability, research, and asking smart questions.
Dividing money between an emergency fund, retirement, and a down payment on a home.
Strategies for intermediate savings goals like marriage or travel within 10 years, and how to balance risk vs. safety in those investments.

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.

1883: Fraud-Proof Your Money: The New Rules for Keeping Your Bank Accounts Safe Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

If you’ve been following along, you know that I recently experienced fraud in my own business checking account — a gut-wrenching ordeal where thousands of dollars disappeared overnight because someone got hold of my routing number. The bank caught it, but the disruption and stress were very real. And I’ll be honest: even as someone who spends her life thinking and talking about money, I almost missed the warning signs.

Which is why today’s conversation is so important. We’re heading into the fall and holiday season — peak time for identity theft and online scams. Fraudsters know we’re distracted, busy, spending more, and often less vigilant.

To help us all stay one step ahead, I’ve invited back Martha Underwood, founder of Prismm. Martha and her team are on the frontlines of protecting our financial identity and legacy. She’s here to share the latest scams to watch out for — from PayPal “micro-deposits,” to spoofed IRS texts, to sophisticated AI voice fraud — and, most importantly, the concrete steps we can take to guard our money, our families, and our peace of mind.

Charlotte Cowles on Losing $50k to a Scammer

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.

1882: Shame, Status and the Struggle for Financial Confidence Sep 22, 2025

Show notes

Money is never just about money. It’s identity, history, and how we see ourselves in the mirror. Today, we’re joined by psychotherapist Holli Rubin, whose work sits at the intersection of mental health, body image, and financial wellbeing. She specializes in life transitions and women’s mental health, and she’s advised organizations from Deloitte to wealth management firms on the psychology of money and confidence.

In our conversation, Holli unpacks why so many women carry shame and doubt around money, how early messages about worth, care work, and “who earns” shape our financial confidence and why self-worth gets tangled up with net worth. We also explore her nuanced link between body image and money: the ways appearance and status cues can mask (or magnify) our inner stories about value, security, and belonging. And crucially, she offers practical ways to move from awareness to action, especially in midlife when careers, relationships, and health are all in flux.

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.

1881: Ask Farnoosh: Fraud Scares, Fed Rate Cuts, and Investing Baby Steps Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s Ask Farnoosh, Farnoosh opens with a personal story about a $5,000 fraud attempt on her business checking account—and what she learned about staying vigilant. She then breaks down today’s biggest money headlines: the Fed’s recent interest rate cut, why U.S. credit scores just saw their sharpest drop since 2008, shifts in the housing market, and why groceries and rent are still stubbornly high despite easing inflation elsewhere. Farnoosh also answers a wide range of listener questions from investing to estate planning.

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.

1880: The Cost of Ambition: Affording Goals Without Burnout Sep 18, 2025

Show notes

What happens when ambition—the very quality that’s supposed to fuel our success—ends up making us sick?

My guest today, Amina AlTai, knows this firsthand. On a sweltering July morning in New York City, she got a call from her doctor that changed everything: if she didn’t head to the hospital immediately, she was just days away from multiple organ failure. The cause? Years of overwork and overstriving, rooted in her experience as the child of immigrants, navigating a post-9/11 workplace with an Arab name, and feeling she had to be the hardest working person in the room to matter.

That wake-up call set Amina on a journey of healing and reinvention, eventually becoming an executive coach to senior leaders and women around the world. From her work and her own life, she’s come to see that ambition isn’t the enemy—but the way we relate to it can be. In her new book The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living, she introduces us to two kinds of ambition: the painful kind, driven by wounds like rejection or injustice, and the purposeful kind, rooted in truth and wholeness.

We’ll talk about how to spot the difference, how to break free from the “painful ambition” that leaves us exhausted and disconnected, and what it looks like to redirect that drive in ways that nourish us, support our communities, and bring lasting fulfillment.

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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