So Money With Farnoosh Torabi

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about looking for a new job when helping your family during a rough patch, student loan forgiveness programs, filing for bankruptcy and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Hilary Hendershott is a a fellow podcaster and host of the Profit Boss Radio Podcast. The weekly podcast is a fantastic resource for women who want to create success in their financial lives. Hilary's also a Certified Financial Planner and the founder of Hilary Hendershott Wealth Management, which is a leading financial advisory firm for women. She's also given a TEDx talk and was recognized as a Top 40 Under 40 Entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. Hilary is known as "The Investor's Voice of Reason" and regularly contributes to the NBC evening news in Silicon Valley. But before Hilary was so successful, she was tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt and behind on our mortgage. Hear about the wake-up call that saved her and helped her climb out of the hole. Some of us may be familiar with having a fear of scarcity. Hilary can relate to that and she talks about the implications that has had on her financial life. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Dan Ariely is one of my favorite authors on the planet. He's provided me with so much invaluable insight throughout the years, as I've been working in the field of personal finances. He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty. I actually tapped Dan for his expertise just recently for my Oprah column about ways to combat money myths and save better.  Dan and I were two of the keynote speakers at the Northern California Financial Planners Association gathering. Such an honor to be in his company. A little more about Dan: He is a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight and a Chief Behavioral Economist with a new savings app, Qapital. He's a multiple-time TED talker, whose speeches have been viewed millions of times. He is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics. We discuss the pros and cons to technology and the digital age we live in when it comes to personal fi

In this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about saving for your child's college education, purchasing a car while avoiding loans, asking for a raise and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

So many of you have written in suggesting today's guest for the show. Excited to say the Mad FIentist aka Brandon is here. He's a personal finance blogger writing about everything from tax avoidance to investing and on all topics related to achieving financial independence and early retirement. Over at his blog, madfientist.com, he shares tactics for how to become financially independent early on in life so readers can "break away" from full time jobs. He's even got his own podcast, the Financial Independence Podcast, so go check it out after this episode. But first, take a listen... For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Ever feel the uncontrollable urge to spend? I used to do this very expensive thing in college as a way to distract myself from studying. I would go to the 24 hour market below my dorm that sold all sorts of things - food, clothes, accessories, etc. And I would usually buy something. I was killing time by spending money. I was too scared to face my homework so I did the irrational and spent. I spent with emotion.  And thousands of credit card dollars later, I had to find a way to get myself out of debt as a new college graduate. Yay! Today's guest is a recovering spender who, along with her husband, found herself in $40,000 worth of debt. Lauren Greutman is here and she wants to help people going through the same situation. She has a new book coming out soon that you can pre-order now, The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life. In the book, Lauren shares advice on how to curb spending habits and how to get out of debt. We face a lot of financial pressures in today's world, so she t

On this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about establishing credit, opening up a credit card vs a store credit card, preparing a will, online college degrees and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

We've heard so much about the importance of sleep as of late... earlier this summer I had Arianna Huffington on the show talking about the #SleepRevolution. Sleep is trending people. Well, today I have another sleep coach joining us. Christine Hansen is with us all the way from Luxembourg. Last year, she left a career in education and now coaches successful and career driven women, and men, on how to get a solid night's sleep. Waking up refreshed means more energy which means you're ready to take on whatever comes your way both at work and in your personal life. Christine's approach involves no medication and she works to address the whole picture not just one piece of the puzzle. She's an international expert and has been featured in numerous publications including the Huffington Post. In the interview we discuss how does more sleep equate to more money? And how can we get more sleep once and for all? Plus, do the rich have an easier time packing in those precious 8 hours of sleep? For more information visit

Money can be a leading cause of divorce and even after you split, it can continue to be a major source of arguments, especially with children involved. Sheri Atwood knows all about this and has started a company to help divorced parents amicable settle child care payments. She is the founder and CEO of SupportPay,  the first-ever automated child support payment platform that's transforming the complex, time-consuming and stressful process that many families currently face. Believe it or not this problem impacts 300 million parents exchanging more than $900 billion in child support and child expenses worldwide. Sheri, herself, was a child of a bitter divorce who also went through her own break-up several years ago. Now a single mom, she began searching for a better way to exchange and communicate about child support payments with her ex-husband. In 2013 she created SupportPay and today the site boasts some 40,000 members. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

On this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about how the upcoming presidential election will affect our finances, whether you should open up an IRA if your employer doesn't offer a retirement account and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Douglas McCormick is the author of the new book Family Inc.: Using Business Principles to Maximize Your Family's Wealth. In the book, he provides a roadmap to financial security for families with the premise that your family should be run like a BUSINESS. Doug has spent two decades managing money for institutional clients like insurance companies, pension funds, entrepreneurs and high net-worth families. He's helped them grow their businesses to create sustainable long-term value. He's also currently a Managing Partner at HCI Equity, which he also co-founded. Douglas shares why he thinks every family needs a chief financial officer or CFO. And who is best to play this role? With news of UK's vote for Brexit, what does he think that'll mean for our investment portfolios? Plus, the gift he gives his kids every Christmas to help them learn about the financial world. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist and behavioral finance expert. He's the author of a new book that came out earlier this summer, The Laws of Wealth: Psychology and the Secret to Investing Success. In the book he gives readers real and actionable guidance for investors like 'Forecasting is for Weathermen' and 'If You're Excited, It's Probably a Bad Idea'. Daniel also co-authored a New York Times bestseller, Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Investment Management. In our conversation we discuss how, as humans, we can begin to think more rationally when it comes investing. After all, it's not like we're born knowing how. And earning versus saving ... as humans, which are we more capable of doing? You might be surprised. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

On this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh, I answer your biggest questions about considering new career opportunities that offer less pay, top resources for people looking to leave a 9-5 job in order to start a coaching business, cutting back on 401k contributions in order to have more spending money and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Of course you are, that's why you listen to So Money. Today's guest Luisa Zhou is a business coach for aspiring entrepreneurs. She's helping women (but don't worry, men, you'll learn from this podcast, too) create their dream business, career and lifestyle. Luisa created her coaching business while working a 9-5. In just 4 short months she made $106K in sales while still working full-time and built her coaching business into a 7 figure business by month 11. She also created a free Facebook community, Entrepreneurial Women which has almost 12,000 members. In the interview we discuss how do we make the transition to being our own boss while working a 9-5? She speaks in depth about her process. Plus she speaks to some of the failures she made along the way. It wasn’t always perfect. She also shares her best advice for anyone who just wants to know how and where to start. You have an idea, you’re busy with work, maybe you’re even juggling parenting but you really, really want to

Stir-fried donkey anyone? Our guest today would call that delicacy. Andrew Zimmern is here! He is a three-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer and teacher. He's one of the most well-known and knowledgeable personalities in the food world and the creator, executive producer and host of the Bizarre Foods franchise on the Travel Channel. Maybe you've caught it? Andrew daringly eats what few of us would EVER put in our mouths. But his success arrives from a challenging past. While he knew from a young age that he wanted to be in the food industry, his drug and alcohol addictions made him crash and burn. He spiraled out of control, losing his apartment and living on the streets for a year. After his friend intervened, he attended the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. He began washing dishes at a restaurant as he worked through his sobriety. One day when a line cook didn't show up for his shift, Andrew took over his station and within seven weeks was named Executive Chef. He was responsible f

On this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh, I answer your biggest questions about whether or not you should cancel your first credit card from college, pros and cons of peer-to-peer lending, rolling over your 401k account and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Today's guest has some experience raising super successful children. Have you heard of Ramit Sethi or Nagina Sethi Abdullah? They're siblings and both have been on So Money as guests. I'm lucky enough to call them friends, as well. Ramit is an entrepreneur and the New York Times bestselling author of "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" and his sister Nagina is a full-time consultant and the founder of the health and fitness program Masala Body. Believe it or not they have two additional siblings who are just as successful. So today on the show - how the heck do you raise financially successful and happy kids? Mom Neelam Sethi and her husband were featured in a New York Times article, "How to Raise a Financial Wizard." And now Neelam, who is a retired elementary school teacher, is spilling the details with us - for the first time on a podcast. Neelam and her husband immigrated to the US after an arranged marriage in India. They raised her four children in California and sent them all to prestigious universities on a

Jason Nazar is the co-founder and CEO of Comparably, a young website that's trying to make workplace compensation transparent! Want to learn how much you should be getting paid? Of course! We all want that! Jason is here to talk about how he is growing the site to become THE go-to destination for learning about salary and compensation and, simultaneously demystifying our awareness around much we can and should be making. Jason knows how to build successful businesses, as an active tech entrepreneur and investor. Before Comparably, he founded Docstoc, the largest content site to help small businesses which he later sold to Intuit. He also created Startups Uncensored, the longest running and most widely attended tech gathering in SoCal. In the interview we discuss why is it SO hard for us to talk about our salaries? Sometimes, we're more willing to talk about how much we're in DEBT than what we earn. Plus, Jason shares why he always sensed his family was POOR when in reality they were not. And the WRONG moves h

On this week's episode of Ask Farnoosh I answer your biggest questions about tax withholding allowances, medical insurance plans for self-employed people, paying off student loans vs. investing in buying a home and more. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

Sometimes in life a little voice inside tells you, “You need to quit your job immediately, effective now and take on a brand new path.” Today's guest, Wendell Potter, is someone who lived that. Wendell started as an insider in the insurance world. He worked for a big insurance company and had a moral dilemma about it. He believed that he was very much a part of the systemic problem that the healthcare world faces. He made a personal commitment to change his life and to change the status quo. Since then, he’s gone on to be a consumer advocate, a journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. Now his latest book is called, Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It. In that book, he talks about how America has become coin operated. It’s a very timely book given the election, between the combination of wealth and politics. This is creating a corrupt system and we’re not dealing with the most pressing problems. How can we actually move the needle as consumers and as