So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

RSVP for Farnoosh's podcasting workshop next Friday Feb 13 here.In this Super Bowl weekend edition of Ask Farnoosh, she reflects on recent financial headlines and answers listener questions about saving, investing, family planning, and homebuying. She discusses the sharp drop in Bitcoin, rising layoffs, and a weakening stock market as reminders of the importance of maintaining a strong emergency fund and staying financially cautious. In the mailbag, she explains how to save for future goals even without a defined purpose, why entrepreneurs should diversify beyond their businesses when investing, and how prospective parents can prepare financially and create more time flexibility before having a child. She closes with practical homebuying advice drawn from two decades of personal experience, emphasizing that a first home need not be permanent, that buyers should understand their motivations and finances before searching, and that thoughtful preparation leads to more confident decisions in uncertain economic times.

Sometimes making work more fair doesn’t require a sweeping policy change or a million-dollar program. Guest Siri Chilazi is a researcher at Harvard who studies gender equity, workplace behavior, and decision-making. She is also the co-author of the bestselling book Make Work Fair, written with behavioral economist Iris Bohnet.Siri’s work challenges one of the most common assumptions we make about inequality at work — that the problem is biased people who need to be “fixed.”Instead, her research shows that unfairness is baked into systems, processes, and everyday practices — how we hire, evaluate, promote, pay, and even run meetings.In this conversation, we talk about:What fairness actually means — and how it’s different from equality or equityWhy traditional DEI programs often fall shortThe small, evidence-based changes that make the biggest differenceWhat employees at any level can do to create fairer workplacesAnd why transparency and clarity are among the most powerful tools leaders have

Imagine a world where you were no longer expected to compete. That’s the world today’s guest, Ruchika T. Malhotra, invites us to imagine—and to start building.You may remember Ruchika from her last appearance on So Money, when she turned our understanding of imposter syndrome upside down, revealing it not as a personal flaw, but as a systemic one. Her new book, UNCOMPETE: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success, does something equally radical: it questions the very belief that competition is healthy—or even necessary—for success.Ruchika argues that our obsession with rivalry and scarcity thinking has made us anxious, exhausted, and disconnected. She calls for a new framework built on collaboration, abundance, radical generosity, inclusion, and solidarity—principles that might sound soft, until you realize how much they fuel innovation, well-being, and long-term wealth.*This episode first aired on October 29, 2025.*

**This episode is a replay. It first aired on November 7, 2025.**We’re doing something a little different this week. My guest is my friend and financial planner, Georgia Lee Hussey, founder and CEO of Modernist Financial, and together we’re unpacking the Big Beautiful Bill and what it means for your taxes in 2025 and beyond.We explore how this new legislation could impact everyday taxpayers, what it reveals about our national priorities, and how we can each align our financial decisions with our values. It’s a thoughtful and, yes, sometimes political conversation—because as Georgia reminds us, taxes are political.

January always asks big questions of our money—and this one felt especially heavy. In this solo episode, Farnoosh takes a step back to reflect on what the first month of the year has revealed about our finances, our fears, and our priorities. From midlife money check-ins to the idea of “financial coasting,” this conversation is about being honest about where you are—not where you think you should be—and redefining progress as stability, maintenance, and intention.Farnoosh revisits standout moments from January’s most impactful conversations, including a full-circle interview with David Bach, whose Automatic Millionaire helped shape her own financial life, and a candid discussion with Jesse Mecham of You Need a Budget on why being “good at money” has far less to do with income and far more to do with clarity and calm. She also breaks down her recent conversation with college-planning expert Patricia Roberts on the true cost of college, the ROI question families are wrestling with, and how student debt can quietly shape a lifetime.The episode closes with a reflection on the emotional weight of the month and a call for accountability, drawing on recent remarks from Andrew Ross Sorkin about systems, responsibility, and leadership.

College today can easily cost six figures — even at public universities — and yet so many families still feel completely in the dark about how to prepare for it without sacrificing their own financial future.My guest today knows this stress intimately.Patricia Roberts grew up in a low-income household and nearly didn’t attend college at all. A guidance counselor once suggested she stick with her waitressing job instead. But she pushed forward, working multiple jobs, sending money home, earning not just one degree, but eventually a law degree. That education changed her family’s life… but it also came with over $100,000 in student loan debt that took two decades to repay.That lived experience is what fuels Patricia’s passion today. She’s spent more than 25 years working with 529 college savings plans — from helping launch some of the earliest plans at Citigroup to advising families and employers on how to use them smarter, earlier, and with far less fear.In this episode, we break down what 529 plans really are — and what they’re not. We tackle the biggest myths, from “What if my kid doesn’t go to college?” to “Will this hurt financial aid?” to “Is college even worth it anymore?” We also dig into major new changes that make 529s far more flexible than most people realize — including using them for trade schools, certifications, student loan repayment, K-12 expenses, and even rolling unused funds into a Roth IRA.More about Patricia: She is Chief Operating Officer of Gift of College, Inc., where she helps employers improve employees’ financial well-being by offering student loan repayment assistance and matching contributions to 529 college savings and ABLE (disability savings) accounts.Patricia is also the author of Route 529: A Parent’s Guide to Saving for College and Career Training with 529 Plans, a book she wrote with some extra time on her hands during the pandemic to help educate and inspire even more parents.

On this episode of Ask Farnoosh, we kick things off with a very real reminder that homeownership is never just the mortgage. A burst hose, unexpected water damage, and rising insurance premiums spark a broader conversation about the hidden and often underestimated costs of owning a home—and why even “fixed” housing expenses rarely stay fixed. From the mailbag: questions about navigating Parent PLUS loan arrangements while buying a home, how to invest after finally paying off student loans, and whether market uncertainty means it’s time to move money out of U.S. investments.

We are talking today about parenting boundaries, money, and what it really means to raise independent kids in a world that feels more expensive, more anxious, and more overwhelming than ever.My guest is Randi Crawford, a life coach known for her refreshingly no-nonsense approach to parenting teens and young adults, and for helping parents stop over-functioning so their kids can actually grow up. Randy works with families navigating everything from launching kids into college, first jobs, and post-grad life to adult children living at home, financial dependency, and the emotional minefield of comparison culture and social media at the same time.She's a powerful voice for women and midlife. Who are craving reinvention, balancing aging identity shifts, hormones, entrepreneurship, and the emotional labor that so many women carry quietly. What I love about Randy's work is that she brings so much clarity, humor, and compassion without sugarcoating things.Learn more at https://www.randicrawfordcoaching.com/

If you’ve been scrolling listings at midnight, doing mental math on mortgage calculators, and wondering, “Wait…how is anyone actually buying a house right now?” you are not alone.My guest today is Alex Gailey, personal finance reporter at Bankrate, and she’s been digging into the numbers behind America’s housing affordability crisis. Her reporting found something jaw-dropping: the typical U.S. household can’t afford three-quarters of the homes currently on the market. In this conversation, we’re going to break down what’s driving the affordability squeeze — from the “lock-in effect” of homeowners clinging to 3% mortgages, to the widening gap between incomes and housing costs, to the new reality that many buyers are spending closer to 40%+ of their income just to make the monthly payment work.Alex also shares where in the country buyers still have a real shot, what she’s hearing from successful first-time buyers about the real keys to getting in (hint: flexibility, patience, and boundaries), and why renting can be a smart wealth-building move when buying would make you house-poor.Plus: we talk about the rise of unconventional paths to homeownership — buying with friends or family, “house hacking,” down payment help — and what all of this signals about the future of the American Dream, especially for millennials and Gen Z.