So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Latest Episodes:

2038: The Hidden Cost of Being "Too Much" Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

How much of what you want for your life is actually yours — and how much of it has been negotiated around one very powerful question: What will they say?

What will your family say if you make more money? If you become too successful? If you leave the safe job, start the business, move away, ask for more, speak up — or simply decide you want something different?

My guest today, Denise Soler Cox, has spent years thinking about this, particularly through the experience of high-achieving Latinas who can find themselves caught between two competing messages: You’re not enough. But also? Don’t become too much.

Denise is a filmmaker, speaker and now the author of What Will They Say? Confront Cultural Taboos and Discover Your Inner Power.

And this conversation goes places.

We talk about the cultural scripts that can make ambition feel almost like betrayal. Why being taught not to ask too many questions can eventually affect everything from your career to your relationship with money. Why so many women are financially self-taught. And Denise gets remarkably candid about her own finances — including what happened when a thriving speaking business tied to corporate diversity initiatives began disappearing, tens of thousands of dollars at a time.

We also talk about being a breadwinner, taking up space, reclaiming your name and identity, and perhaps most importantly, learning to trust yourself after years of being taught to look outside yourself for permission.

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.

2037: Rates Are Going Up. Now What, Farnoosh? Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

Big changes are coming to So Money. Farnoosh shares more about the show’s 2027 evolution into a weekly, video-first podcast focused on money in midlife—and why the overwhelming response from listeners has reinforced her decision to go deeper on the financial questions that emerge in our 40s, 50s and beyond.

Then, it’s time for the news. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in three years, and Farnoosh breaks down what the move could mean for your credit cards, HELOCs, mortgages, savings and even the job market. Plus: why higher rates make this an especially important moment to review your debt, credit score and emergency savings.

In the mailbag, Farnoosh offers an order of operations for a listener wondering whether to prioritize paying off high-interest debt, building savings or continuing to invest. And a parent asks how to teach teenagers about investing. Farnoosh shares ideas including custodial Roth IRAs, investing tools for kids and some of her favorite resources for raising financially savvy teens.

The So Money midlife feedback form: https://www.jotform.com/form/262556781257063

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.

2036: The "Hell Yeah" Rule for Work, Money and Doing Less Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

What if the secret to getting more done isn’t doing more, but getting ruthless about what you stop doing?

My guest today, Mike Allen, has a pretty simple test for figuring out what stays and what goes. In fact, you just heard it: “Hell yeah.”

If someone asks you to take on the project, go to the thing, have the meeting, make the commitment, and your reaction is anything less than hell yeah? Mike says that might be your answer right there.

And listen, as someone who has spent a lot of her career saying yes, building, adding, producing, optimizing, I needed this conversation.

Mike Allen is the co-founder of Axios and previously co-founded Politico. He’s also the longtime journalist behind the daily Axios AM and Axios PM newsletters. His new book, Simplify: Do 50 Percent More with 50 Percent Less, co-authored with Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz, is essentially an argument against what they call toxic complexity.

Because here’s the irony: AI was supposed to make our lives easier. Instead, we have more content, more choices, more decks, more emails, more things we could be doing. And Mike’s argument is that unless we get intentional about what deserves our attention, technology is just going to help us create more noise, faster.

Their framework is three steps: Confront what you’re doing. Delete what doesn’t matter. Amplify what does.

We talk about why complexity can actually feel comforting, how to declare “meeting bankruptcy,” what a simplified financial life might look like, and why figuring out what is enough may be one of the most important things you can do with your money and your time.

And I end up applying Mike’s advice to my own business in real time, including some changes I’m making to So Money in 2027.

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.

2035: The Psychology of Self Worth, Money and Success Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

What if the thing standing between you and more success, more money, even better relationships…isn’t a lack of opportunity?

What if it’s your ability to actually believe you’re worthy of what comes your way?

My guest today is Dr. Marisa G. Franco, a psychologist, TED speaker, professor at the University of Maryland and New York Times bestselling author who has an incredible gift for taking complicated psychological research and making it feel deeply personal — and useful.

You may know her from her bestselling book Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends. Her newest book, Worth, goes even deeper, exploring how our sense of self-worth gets formed, how it shapes our relationships and choices, and how we can begin to change it.

We talk about how the way we learned to connect with people as children can follow us into adulthood — showing up not only in our friendships and romantic relationships, but in how we earn, spend, invest and take risks with money.

We get into why some people actually feel worse when good things happen to them. Why telling yourself “I am rich, I am loved, I am amazing” might actually backfire. And some fascinating research suggesting that education, wealth and other advantages can only take us so far if we don’t have the self-worth to capitalize on them.

And maybe my favorite takeaway: becoming more secure isn’t about eliminating all of your insecurities. It’s about being able to recognize them without letting them run the show.

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.

2034: Ask Farnoosh...About Farnoosh: My Midlife Financial Plan, Unveiled Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

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 maggie@johndrowwealth.com

Reach Colette at colette@johndrowwealth.com

Disclosure: Index annuities are insurance contracts that, depending on the contract, may offer a guaranteed annual interest rate and some participation growth, if any, of a stock market index. Such contracts have substantial variation in terms, costs of guarantees and features, and may cap participation or returns in significant ways. Any guarantees offered are backed by the financial strength of the insurance company, not an outside entity. Investors are cautioned to carefully review an index annuity for its features, costs, risks, and how the variables are calculated.

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.

2033: How to Build a Forever Paycheck in Retirement Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

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.

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.

2032: How to Get Rich Without Leaving Your Parents Behind Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

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"?

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.

2031: Ask Farnoosh: Leave More Money to the Child Who Needs It Most? Plus: COBRA, Life Insurance & Inherited 401(k)s Sep 04, 2026

Show notes

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

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.

2030: How to Get Rich: 300 Years of Money Lessons Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

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.

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.

2029: The Bond Market Explained: What It Means For Your Money Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

If you’ve been following the financial news lately, you may have noticed something unusual: the bond market is getting a lot of attention.

After a year of tariff shocks, interest-rate whiplash, tax policy changes and persistent questions about inflation and the national debt, bonds have moved from the financial pages into the broader economic conversation. And whenever markets get nervous about where the economy, inflation or government borrowing may be headed, attention tends to turn pretty quickly to the bond market.

Because this isn’t just Wall Street inside baseball.

The bond market influences the interest rate on your mortgage. It influences how much the federal government pays to borrow money. It affects companies trying to finance everything from infrastructure to AI data centers. And it can offer some important clues about how investors are feeling about inflation, growth, recession risk and even the creditworthiness of the United States.

So perhaps it’s time we understood bonds a little better.

And I have to admit, after more than a decade of hosting So Money, I don’t think we’ve ever dedicated an entire episode to them.

Today, we are fixing that.

My guest is Robin Wigglesworth, one of the financial journalists who has been covering these markets up close for years. Robin is an editor at the Financial Times, where he leads FT Alphaville, its influential markets and finance blog. He’s also the author of Trillions, his acclaimed history of the index-fund revolution and the rise of passive investing and ETFs.

His new book is called A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World, and it comes out September 22.

And I should emphasize: this is not a book about how to build a bond portfolio.

Robin has written essentially a people’s history of the bond market — and somehow made bonds genuinely entertaining. The story begins in Venice in 1171, takes us through Amsterdam and the development of modern finance, and brings us to America and Alexander Hamilton, whose decisions about government debt helped establish the creditworthiness of the young United States.

Robin’s larger argument is that we tend to think the stock market is the star of the financial system, when really the bond market is the foundation underneath it. In fact, as he tells me in our conversation, bonds are the “bedrock that the entire house rests upon.”

We talk about what the 10-year Treasury yield can tell you about the economy — and why it matters more to mortgage rates than many people realize. We talk about America’s nearly $40 trillion national debt and the big question: At what point does all of this borrowing actually become a problem?

We also get into something I found fascinating: bonds have quietly financed some of the biggest transformations in modern history. Railroads. Canals. Telecommunications. The internet. And now, potentially, the enormous buildout of artificial intelligence.

There are also fraudsters, scoundrels and some truly wild financial schemes along the way — including one man who essentially invented an entire country so he could sell its bonds

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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