So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Jesse Mecham, founder of YNAB (You Need A Budget), returns to So Money to discuss his new book, Never Worry About Money Again, a thoughtful guide to reducing financial stress by changing the way we think about money. Rather than focusing on budgeting tactics or investment strategies, Jesse argues that lasting financial confidence begins with answering one powerful question: What is your money for?We also discuss how to raise financially curious kids, why earning more doesn't automatically eliminate money worries, and how learning to embrace trade-offs can transform the way we spend, save, and live.In this episode, we learn:Why making more money often doesn't solve financial anxiety.The one question Jesse believes everyone should ask before creating a budget.How to build a spending plan that reflects your values—not just your bills.The surprising expense most people happily cut once they become more intentional.Why it's okay—and healthy—to change your financial priorities over time.How to talk to children about money without passing down fear or shame.What Jesse learned from writing (and completely rewriting) this book.Why even the founder of YNAB occasionally worries about money—and the exercise he uses to regain perspective.Jesse's thoughts on AI, financial advice, and where money management is headed next.

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.

Feeling financially stretched? When you’re trying to save, pay off debt, prepare for a possible layoff and help family, figuring out what to prioritize can become its own source of stress.Following my appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, I’m expanding on the questions we prepared for the segment, including everything we didn’t have time to discuss on television.We explore:Savings versus debt: Where should your next dollar go, and how does the answer change if your job feels uncertain?Emergency funds: Is six months of expenses really a rule? How to set a starting goal you can actually reach.Job insecurity: What to find out now about severance, health insurance and your household expenses.Retirement contributions: When a temporary reduction may make sense and how to plan for restarting.Investing and borrowing: The risks of relying too heavily on employer stock and what to consider before taking on another loan.Helping family: How to support adult children or aging parents without jeopardizing your own stability.Plus, a look at the midterm elections through a personal finance lens and an update on the So Money reboot. I’ve recorded my first conversation in the new studio, and we went straight into breadwinner fatigue. Yes, the woman who wrote When She Makes More has additional thoughts.

Is the “safe” choice still serving you, or just keeping you somewhere familiar?In midlife, taking a risk can feel like volunteering for another problem. You have bills, responsibilities, and a future you’ve worked hard to protect. But staying in a job, a place, or a plan you’ve outgrown comes with its own costs.Economist Allison Schrager joins Farnoosh to explore how to take thoughtful chances when you have more to lose. Allison is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the author of Worth the Risk: The Seven Myths That Keep Us from Taking the Chances We Need to Take.Farnoosh shares why her advice for midlife is to “be mobile,” inspired by her immigrant parents’ willingness to move toward opportunity. Together, they examine what that advice means when changing direction involves a paycheck, health insurance, caregiving, or retirement savings.Topics include:Why you haven’t aged out of taking risks, and how experience can become an advantage.How to distinguish a familiar choice from a secure one.What to consider before changing careers or starting a business.The difference between feeling uncomfortable and being unable to afford a risk.How to test an idea before making a major commitment.Why the reward worth pursuing might be more time, flexibility, or freedom.Learn more about Allison and her book at allisonschrager.com.

What would change if we paid as much attention to how we spend our time as how we spend our money?Fran Hauser joins me to explore that question. A former media executive, owner of Bedford Books and author of Twenty Minutes Is the New Hour, Fran challenges us to ask how much time something deserves before deciding how much time to give it.In midlife, that question gets especially personal. We’ve spent years becoming capable, dependable and very good at getting things done. The reward? More things to do. Fran’s approach offers a way to reconsider those commitments and make room for the work, relationships and experiences we actually want.Our conversation explores:The four habits that quietly consume our time: padding, perfectionism, people-pleasing and procrastination.Why some tasks deserve your A game, while others can survive a perfectly respectable B or C.What opening a bookstore in eight weeks can teach us about deadlines, clarity and starting something new.The cost of always being the reliable one, including the resentment that follows an unwanted yes.How to decide when to spend less time, pay for help or stop doing something altogether.Where AI can help, and how to avoid filling every saved minute with more workLearn more about Fran and her book at franhauser.com.

This week on Ask Farnoosh, we're tackling one of the biggest money questions of all: When can I retire?Inspired by a viral Instagram reel about repeatedly refreshing a retirement calculator in hopes of finding financial freedom, Farnoosh breaks down how to determine your retirement readiness—and why retirement may not be the right goal at all. Instead, what if the goal is optionality?In this episode:Why so many Gen Xers are obsessed with retirement calculatorsHow to calculate your "freedom number"The 4% rule explained simplyWhy Social Security may be worth more than you thinkHow home equity changes the retirement equationFour retirement personality typesPractical ways to move your retirement date closerWhy burnout—not retirement—may be the real issuePlus:Farnoosh weighs in on the controversy surrounding Belle Burden's bestselling memoir Strangers following a recent New Yorker investigation.An update on the new Trump Accounts program, including why Farnoosh believes it could become one of the most powerful wealth-building tools for children.Related Listening:Retiring on Social Security Alone

Today's episode is sponsored by Bank of America. To learn more about BofA Rewards and see where you land, head to bofa.com/bofarewardsWelcome to So Money, everyone. You know the loyalty economy when you see it. Airlines have status tiers. Your grocery store has a rewards app. Hotels want you to hit the next level of points before your trip. But did you know your bank could be another place to unlock exclusive benefits? I didn’t until now, and here's the part that got my attention: Access is changing. More banking customers than ever now have access to real rewards, and the kinds of benefits available to them are expanding, too. If you haven't looked at what's available to you lately, it's worth a review.My guest today has spent her career inside that shift. Shikha Narula is Managing Director and Head of Consumer Deposit Products and Rewards at Bank of America. Before this, she led US consumer lending products at American Express, and spent 16 years at Citi in cards and marketing. So she's watched this industry rethink, again and again, what it actually means to reward a customer for sticking around.In our conversation, we're going to talk about The forces actually reshaping banking right nowWhat that means for how we should evaluate our own banking relationship andShikha will walk us through BofA Rewards, which launched this year and represents a pretty different approach to who gets rewarded and for what. By the end of this episode, we’re going to walk through a bank check in that takes less time than waiting for your coffee, and it could be worth real money that you don't even know you have access to.

Love is beautiful. But love is not a financial plan.What happens when you're the breadwinner in your marriage? When your aging parents haven't saved enough for retirement? Or when protecting your financial future means having some pretty uncomfortable conversations with the people you love most?This week, I'm joined by Jannese Torres, creator and host of Yo Quiero Dinero, author of Financially Lit, entrepreneur, and one of my favorite voices on women's financial independence.Jannese is no stranger to challenging traditional expectations around money and relationships. She's the breadwinner in her marriage, runs a real estate business with her husband, and is a passionate advocate for prenups and financial boundaries. She's also navigating something many of us in midlife can relate to: the growing realization that our parents may be counting on us for financial support.We get into the messy intersection of love, money, marriage, and family obligations, including Jannese's remarkable experience of getting divorced for just $500, thanks in part to financial protections she put in place.And we explore what it really means to build generational wealth. Spoiler: Sometimes the greatest financial gift you can give your children is making sure they'll never have to support you.In this episode, we discuss:Why love isn't enough: The financial conversations every couple should have, especially when one partner earns significantly more.The case for prenups and postnups: How Jannese protected her investments and business during divorce, and why these agreements aren't just for the wealthy.Being the female breadwinner: How to navigate traditional gender expectations and build an equitable partnership.Working with your spouse: What Jannese learned about trust, money, and stepping back while investing in a house-flipping business with her husband.When your parents have no retirement plan: How to set financial boundaries without abandoning the people you love.Raising financially independent kids: Why funding your own retirement may be more important than paying for every dollar of your child's college education.Redefining generational wealth: The lessons, examples, and financial confidence we pass down matter just as much as the money.A powerful takeaway from Jannese:"The most generous form of wealth that you can give your kid is a financially independent parent."More about Jannese TorresJannese is the founder of Yo Quiero Dinero, a personal finance platform dedicated to helping women build wealth and achieve financial independence. She's the author of Financially Lit and is working to bring a new financial empowerment conference to Puerto Rico in 2027, creating space for women, especially first-generation wealth builders, to have honest conversations about money and opportunity.Follow Janesse: IG @yoquierodineropodcast | https://yoquierodineropodcast.comLearn more about her fundraiser for DiversiFI, a financial freedom conference created for Latinas and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, to Puerto Rico in fall 2027.******This episode of So Money includes a paid partnership with Google Workspace with Gemini. Farnoosh takes us behind the scenes of how an episode goes from an initial idea to a conversation ready for the mic. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini and try it free for 14 days at https://goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.