So Money With Farnoosh Torabi

I'm busting out my French on today’s episode. This week I’m releasing two interviews with two extraordinary self-made female online entrepreneurs, both happen to be students of Ramit Sethi’s Zero To Launch course, which by the way, I’m working my way through as we speak and it’s phenomenal. Hopefully it’s going to get me to where I want to be in the next few months launching my course.I had the opportunity to stop by Ramit’s epic Forefront Event earlier this fall. It’s an event where he invited some 500 of his disciples and fans from all over the world to join him in New York for a weekend of connecting, events, adventure. And by the way, I had Ramit on the podcast earlier back when I was first launching, in fact episode 85. Check out that interview; very cool. I’ve also had his sister Nagina on the show, his mom Neelam. It’s a very exceptional family.My first one-on-one from the forefront event, you’re going to hear her today is Géraldine Lepère and she is the CEO of Comme une Francaise, an online program th

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about lowering your available credit line, refinancing student loans in favor of a variable interest rate and more.For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

Charisse Conanan is a financial wellness expert but has a lot of experience as well starting businesses. She is going to take us behind the scenes of what has been like for her specifically raising capital, working in the very busy, crowded, competitive FinTech space, which is really hot right now.A little bit more about Charisse, she once worked at JP Morgan and from there saved up enough money to begin her own business. She co-founded a company called Smarteys and the business actually shut down after a few years and so we’re going to talk about what brought her to that point, what it was like running a tech startup and now, she’s a financial wellness expert taking all that experience. She’s combined it with a CFA, and so she’s going to share advice that she also lends to her blog, Charisse says, where she merges her passion for entrepreneurship investing and all things finance.For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

Are you bored at work? Feel like you’re destined for more or something totally different? Like, you’re job is not so money. Today’s guest knows all about this and can help. Jenny Blake, is the author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, helping you find the next great thing by building on your existing strengths. Her motto: “Change is the only constant…So let’s get better at it!”A little bit more about Jenny... In her former life, she spent five years at Google on the training and career development teams. Now, Jenny runs her own business as a career and business consultant and speaker.For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

Today marks So Money's 500th episode! Can you believe it? To celebrate, I'm sharing the 6 pieces of advice that's made me richer from previous guests including Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Barbara Stanny, Jeff Steinmann, Tim Gunn and Christine Hassler.It's also an Ask Farnoosh day so I answer a few of your questions including how to find a good tax preparer, what recourse you have if a doctor inappropriately charges you for a bill and how closing a credit card will affect your credit score.For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

By now you’ve heard of the expression #GirlBoss. It’s the title of Sophia Amoruso’s NYT bestselling book and soon to be Netflix series. (By the way, catch us gabbing on her podcast about money, life and earning millions your 20s.)Well, increasingly you might be hearing about the Mom Boss movement led by Nicole Feliciano, the CEO of Momtrends and author of the new book, "Mom Boss: Balancing Entrepreneurship, Kids and Success."Nicole’s got the inside intel on how moms can launch businesses while spearheading a household. How to structure your life so you don’t go NUTS and advice from some of the top female entrepreneurs in this country for how to be a proper Mom Boss. Full disclosure: She interviewed me for the book and my experiences and deep thoughts are sprinkled throughout it!For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Does the thought of money make you sick? Does it make you sad? Happy? Overconfident? Indifferent? Our emotions can run rampant when it comes to the top of personal finance and helping us today get to the root of those emotions is financial therapist Bari Tessler. Bari is also the founder of The Art of Money,a global year-long money school with three stages Money Healing, Money Practices and Money Maps. She has a brand new book The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness. We discuss the teaching from her new book and how she, herself, struggled with money on her way to becoming the teacher and mentor she is today. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about lifestyle changes that come with taking a pay cut, securing a private loan for your college education, travel hacking and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

I stumbled upon Rachel Mansfield on Instagram. She tagged me in a picture…Not what I was expecting to see when I saw the photo…I was tagged in a photo of a a grain-free salmon burger topped with avocado…the caption described the burger’s ingredients and then said, “Now back to binge listening to Farnoosh Torabi’s So Money podcast. I am obsessed! Guys, this photo got over 5,000 likes. Curious, I then clicked on her profile and almost fell off my chair. I saw she had over 100,000 followers and was... well is... a BIG deal. From there we struck up a friendly conversation, only to learn that less than a year ago she’d been fired from her job because her employer thought her social media presence was a conflict of interest. At that time she had only a small fraction of the followers she has today….And rather than scurry to find another job she decided, at the ripe age of 26, to venture out on her own. She turned her side-gig of food blogging into a full time job and since then, she's worked with top brands in the

As you know I’m working with one of my favorite financial tools – Mint.com – writing weekly for the blog. As part of our partnership I had the awesome chance to sit down with Intuit’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Al Ko when he was visiting in NYC a few weeks ago. The site’s come a very long way since 2006 when it first launched. Al and I discuss some of the changes Mint’s experienced over the decade, the challenges consumers continue to face when it comes to money management and the $400 purchase in college he calls his So Money moment! More about Al: He joined Intuit in 2006, working in a number of product management, corporate development and leadership positions throughout the company. During his tenure, Ko has cultivated his knowledge of the global financial services ecosystem, and is keenly aware of the financial challenges facing individuals and businesses. Prior to Intuit, Ko worked as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, advising clients on strategy, organizational ef

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about strategizing to save money for grad school, maximizing your savings, my thoughts on the best budgeting apps and online safety and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Many of the questions I get for Ask Farnoosh are about student loans and student loan debt. It's a problem that's plaguing our country and with the rise of inflation, looks like it might get worse before it gets better. Today's guest has an incredible story of her own where she got out of $81,000 in student loan debt - both undergrad and graduate loans. Her story was, in fact, named one of the top five most inspiring personal finance stories of 2015 by Yahoo! Finance. She chronicled her journey on her award-winning blog Dear Debt and now inspires readers to break up with their own debt in a pretty fun way... by writing their own breakup letter to debt and sharing it on her website. Melanie also turned her story into a book, Dear Debt: A Story about Breaking Up with Debt. Melanie frequently contributes to news outlets and publications including Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Oprah and more. When she's not running her blog, she works as a freelance writer and event planner. For more information visit ww

Are you one of those people who relies on technology to help track your spending and pay your bills in a timely manner? Perhaps you're using the software Quicken? Well today the company's CEO, Eric Dunn is joining me on So Money. He's been an avid user since 1985 and was with the company since it's early days - even writing some of Quicken's early code! He joined Intuit, Quicken's previous owner, back in 1986 as employee #4. Over the course of his 20 years at Intuit he served as CFO through the 1993 IPO and merger with ChipSoft, was the first general manager of the Quicken business and was Intuit's first CTO. In 2000,Eric retired from Intuit to pursue a second career in technology investing. He was first an angel investor and then a General Partner at Cardinal Venture Capital. Eric has expertise serving on the board of directors at dozens of companies, including 5 public companies. Earlier this year, he became the CEO of Quicken Inc, the standalone private company, after teaming up with H.I.G. Capital which b

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about which debt you should tackle first, breaking your lease in favor of a more affordable rental, refinancing your mortgage and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Kute Blackson is a charismatic visionary and transformational teacher. He was born in Ghana, the son of a Japanese mother and Ghanaian father, who was a spiritual leader and healer. Kute began speaking to his father's congregation at just eight years old and by 14 was ordained to his father's ministry. But he knew that wasn't his life's calling. Instead of staying with the church, he went on to pursue his dream in the spiritual and self-help space. He's created his own method called "Liberated Living." He has a trademark transformation experience where he offers clients a one-on-one trip to India for 14-days and a group process called "Boundless Bliss - The Bali Breakthrough Experience." He takes clients on an intense journey to face their deepest fears and emerge reborn. Earlier this year he came out with a book, YOU.ARE.THE.ONE, which is a reflection of his thoughts, teachings and stories to help individuals access their true power. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Want to learn how to get pretty much anything you want? Negotiating well is one of the tenets of being SO MONEY so to that end I’ve invited one of the world’s TOP persuasion strategists Bushra Azhar. She's going to give us her secrets to how she's been able to persuade even the most stubborn people and companies. Bushra consults with top companies like Pepsi, Unilever and Ernst & Young, as well as smaller firms to help executives persuade their bosses and to get companies to persuade their customers. And it all comes down to psychology. We’re get a PSYCH 400 level crash course today, so grab you’re your pen and paper! Some fun factoids about Bushra: She was the youngest Vice President of a bank at just 24 years old and was the only women "at the table." She began working in consulting when she moved to Saudi Arabia where they have very strict laws pertaining to women. She's not allowed to drive, open a bank account or leave the country without the permission of a guardian. Yet, she managed to build her busine

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about maintaining a good credit score here in the U.S. if you live abroad but want to keep an active credit profile in the States, my best financial advice for people who make good income but through unstable jobs, how to prepare financially if you don't plan to get married and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

It's no secret that social media has been taking over our lives inn good ways and bad. For example, while social media can be a great way to share useful information, it can also be a huge TIME suck. According to recent research Americans are checking their Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts a whopping 17 times a day. That translates into at least once every waking hour, if not more. And one of the adverse affects of this, besides losing time, is that we can become ENVIOUS of other people’s lives. It’s hard not to scroll Instagram and once in a while think, "Wow that person lives a perfect life! I wish that were me!” And I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of buying a pair of shoes I saw on Instagram – immediately! All this to say that social media can be COSTLY. And our guest today wants to help. She is RACHEL CRUZE. She was on the podcast once before on Episode 29 and is BACK to talk about her new book, "Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want." In our conve

Imagine growing your income 10 times over in just a few short years? Maybe even working fewer hours along the way? Today's guest has done just that, as the founder of New York Book Editors. Natasa Lekic founded the company three years ago after working at a publishing house and wanting to break free from a firm she describes as a "sinking ship" and working overtime earning $50,000 a year. NY Book Editors caters to a sweet spot in the ever evolving publishing world. It's a company that provides editorial services and courses for authors and authors-to-be. The company's editors are veterans of the publishing industry and have worked with well-known authors from Stephen King to Paulo Cohelo to former So Money guests Arianna Huffington and James Altucher (he's been on So Money not one but two times!). In the interview we discuss Natasa's rise to success came with some insecurities around money. She shares how she overcame those fears and the strange connection to her great grandfather that gave her all her answer

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about having multiple accounts for different spending and savings purposes, opening an investment account for nieces, paying off debt vs. putting money into savings and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.