Ask Farnoosh: Is My Emergency Savings Enough? What if my Income Drops?

Join Farnoosh's newsletter.When does a bad shopping experience deserve a public callout? Farnoosh weighs in on Kelly Clarkson’s mechanical bird brouhaha and the responsibility that comes with an audience. Then, this week’s Ask Farnoosh tackles three money worries: Is six months of emergency savings enough? How do you choose health insurance without an expensive mistake? And what if your peak earning years end before your biggest bills do?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.

Today's episode is for anyone who has ever stood in the vitamin aisle reading about the exact right creatine dosage for a woman "in this stage of life" and thought... okay but where's the aisle for my retirement savings?I'm right in the thick of this myself. Midlife money is basically all I want to talk about lately, because I think we are the forgotten demo. There's an entire industry telling us how to optimize our sleep, our supplements, our skin. But when it comes to actually managing our money at this stage, when the stakes are higher and the runway to retirement is shorter, the advice mostly dries up.So I'm thrilled to have Lindsay Goldwert here. She's the co-author, with Gabrielle Moss, of The Midlife Plot Twist, and she's spent a lot of time talking to women about the money moment we're in right now: the shame, the catching-up, the marriages where one partner has quietly been steering the ship, the total reinvention some of us are doing in our forties and fifties. Lindsay, welcome to So Money.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.

What would you do if caring for a parent meant putting your own financial future—and your kids’—on hold?That’s not a hypothetical. It’s the reality facing millions of Americans right now, including Senator Andy Kim—a father of two, a son navigating his own father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and now, one of the leading voices in Washington pushing for change.Today’s episode is a deeply personal and urgent conversation about the true cost of caregiving in America—financially, emotionally, and systemically.This interview is also a special crossover with The Montclair Pod, my local news podcast, where I co-host alongside Michael Schreiber—who you’ll hear in this conversation as well. Together, we sat down with Senator Kim to talk not just about policy, but about what happens when aging, illness, and money collide inside your own family.Before serving in the Senate, Andy Kim worked in national security and diplomacy, and today he represents nearly 10 million New Jersey residents. But in this conversation, what stands out most isn’t his title—it’s his story.He opens up about his father’s battle with Alzheimer’s, the impossible trade-offs of being in the sandwich generation, and how quickly a family’s financial plan can unravel in the face of long-term care costs.We talk about why so many families are blindsided, what Medicare does—and doesn’t—cover, why long-term care insurance is falling short, and what changes may be coming.Also check out: Caring for Aging Parents with Beth PinskerHow'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.

Can you pause your 401(k) contributions when life gets expensive? This week on Ask Farnoosh: balancing retirement savings with immediate needs, navigating student loans after SAVE, and helping parents who have little saved for retirement. Plus, why some retirees are returning to work, a lawsuit challenging McDonald’s use of AI in pricing, and updates on Book to Brand, MidiCon and So Money’s midlife-focused next chapter.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.

Today I’m joined by Carrie Joy Grimes. founder of WorkMoney(opens in new tab) and the author of the new book The Joy of Money(opens in new tab). She’s a former union organizer who spent years helping workers fight for better wages and benefits while also trying to untangle her own complicated relationship with money — debt, shame, financial anxiety, all of it.In this episode, we talk about why so many women still avoid taking ownership of their finances, how to rebuild confidence after money mistakes, whether homeownership still makes sense, and how to separate what society tells us should make us happy from what actually does.We also talk about the inspiration behind her new book, The Joy of Money, and why she believes financial security is not just about numbers — it’s about feeling safer, freer, and more in control of your life.This episode originally aired on May 13.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.

If you've ever felt like the math just doesn't work anymore, you're doing everything right, still coming up short on your housing payment, groceries, student loans, this episode's for you. My guest, Freddy Smith, spent nearly 20 years acting, including nine of those years on Days of Our Lives, before a business manager, who was supposed to be handling his money, stole it and stopped filing his taxes. Then came the pandemic. He lost the show. He moved to Florida and had to rebuild his finances from zero in a brand-new career. That personal collapse turned into a mission. Freddy started sharing what he was learning about taxes, investing, inflation, and the Fed on TikTok and Instagram, not as an expert, but as someone figuring it out in real time alongside his audience, and that honesty struck a nerve. He's now built a community of two million people in three years, and it's now the subject of his new book, Generation F'd: How Millennials and Gen Z Were Robbed of the American Dream and How We Can Fix Our Futures. In this conversation, Freddy and I get into why he thinks the real crisis for millennials and Gen Z is not financial illiteracy, it's wages that haven't kept pace with the actual cost of living. We talk about his big four: housing, student loans, childcare, and healthcare, why he thinks college needs a hard math test before anyone signs on the dotted line, his wild but genuinely compelling case for how a young person could retire with millions just by investing early, and why he's cautiously optimistic that his generation is about to be the one that finally changes the system. This episode first aired on July 27.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.

This week on Ask Farnoosh, we unpack the latest updates to Trump Accounts, including new workplace contribution options that could make these child investment accounts more appealing for families. We also dive into the rise of "money maxxing"—what this viral trend gets right (and where it goes too far)—plus the surprising economics behind the stay-at-home boyfriend phenomenon.Also on the show: why customer service frustrations are fueling record levels of consumer rage, what Realtor.com's hottest ZIP codes reveal about today's housing market (including why Montclair, NJ, ranks #2), and answers to two listener questions on avoiding common pre-retirement mistakes and deciding where to put your next dollar after you've built an emergency fund and are saving for retirement.This episode originally aired on August 14, 2026.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.

What happens when you've checked all the boxes? The career, the family, the financial success, the home. You've done everything you were supposed to do, and yet something still feels...off.Maybe you're exhausted. Maybe you've become so good at achieving that you don't actually know how to stop. Or maybe, as you move through midlife, you're starting to wonder: Is this really what I want? And who am I when I'm not busy getting things done?My guest today knows this reckoning intimately.Unni Turrettini is an author, speaker and former Wall Street professional whose latest book, Soulware, explores how we can reconnect with ourselves in a world that increasingly rewards productivity, performance and external validation.Unni spent years in high-pressure legal and financial roles, pushing herself so hard that she once physically collapsed at a professional event. But even after building what looked like a picture-perfect life, she found herself questioning why she still felt unfulfilled.Today, we're exploring the difference between healthy ambition and what Unni calls fear-driven overachieving. We'll talk about why midlife can trigger a crisis of identity, how to stop operating in constant survival mode, and why giving yourself permission to work less might actually make you more creative, productive and even profitable.And in a very timely twist, we'll explore how Unni uses AI, including ChatGPT, to help reconnect with herself rather than become even more dependent on technology.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.

If you’ve ever thought about starting a business in midlife, you probably know the idea is often the easy part. Finding the money, the support and frankly the confidence to actually do it? That’s where things get complicated.Today we’re talking about what it really takes to launch and grow a business in your 40s, 50s and beyond, especially at a time when borrowing is expensive and traditional funding can be tough to come by.My guest is Trae Bodge, longtime consumer expert, entrepreneur and co-founder of the Threadneedle Alley Foundation, a nonprofit helping midlife entrepreneurs turn their ideas into sustainable businesses through grants and mentorship.Trae and I talk about where entrepreneurs can find funding right now, including grants that many business owners don’t even realize they qualify for, why applying for every grant you see may actually be a terrible strategy, and how even $5,000 can completely change the trajectory of a small business.We also get into something I think is especially important in midlife: building your own board of advisors. The people who can help you think through the things you don’t know, make smarter decisions and keep you from operating in a vacuum.Plus, Trae shares what she learned after reviewing more than 450 grant applications last year, including the surprisingly simple things that can move your application to the top of the pile.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.

This week's Ask Farnoosh includes Farnoosh's best money moves in her 30's that led to more ease and financial flexibility in midlife. Plus: the cost of dinner and the iced coffee internet wars. Is it OK to bring an iced coffee to work? Check out the WSJ article about the hell that is family dinner planning.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.