So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Farnoosh recaps a webinar on navigating money conversations with loved ones, then dives into the week's financial news: the Fed holding rates steady, what Apple and Microsoft earnings mean for your index funds, and a landlord's "work from home fee." Then, she tackles two big listener questions: how to find and pay for a financial planner (flat fee vs. retainer vs. AUM, and what "fee-only" really means), and why a perfect credit score doesn't guarantee you the lowest mortgage rate.
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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This episode is brought to us by Back Market, the world's largest pure-play premium refurbished tech marketplace. Back Market's mission is to make refurbished tech the mainstream choice, by extending the life of devices, fighting electronic waste, and challenging today's throwaway culture.

On today's show we sat down with Lauren Benton, General Manager of Back Market in the US, to talk about the real cost of family tech - and how to bring it down. To learn more, visit BackMarket.com

Apple just raised prices on several products (up to $300 more on certain MacBooks and iPads), and analysts expect the iPhone to see a hike this fall too. So the timing couldn't be better to rethink how we're spending on tech.

Here's what we learn:

Why "refurbished" doesn't mean what most people think it means, and how devices are quality-checked before they're ever resold.
Where the real savings are: specific numbers on phones, laptops, tablets, and watches.
The hidden costs in your tech budget that have nothing to do with the device itself.
How to know when it's worth trading in an old device instead of letting it collect dust in a drawer.
What to prioritize (and skip) when Back-to-School shopping collides with these new Apple prices.
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever felt like the math just doesn't work anymore, that you're doing everything right and still coming up short on rent, groceries, and student loans, this episode is for you.

Freddie Smith spent nearly twenty years acting, including nine years on Days of Our Lives, before a business manager who was supposed to be handling his money instead stole it and stopped filing his taxes. He found out when the IRS came looking for three years of back payments, with interest and penalties on top. Then came the pandemic. He lost the show, moved to Florida, and had to rebuild his finances from zero in a brand new career.

That personal collapse turned into a mission. Freddie 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. That honesty struck a nerve. He's built a community of two million people in three years, and it's now the subject of his new book, Generation F*cked.

In this conversation, Freddie and I get into why he thinks the real crisis for millennials and Gen Z isn't 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 an 18-year-old 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.
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Ask Farnoosh, I'm reflecting on a memorable visit to the Today Show with my daughter, Colette, and how exposing kids to new experiences can shape their futures. That conversation leads into one of the smartest long-term wealth-building strategies available to parents: putting your child on payroll—legitimately—and using earned income to fund a Roth IRA.

I also unpack fascinating new research linking chronic financial hardship to long-term brain health, discuss Senator Andy Kim's proposed Healthy Kids Act, explore why modern baby registries are shifting from "stuff" to services, and share lessons from a Washington Post column on what people consistently misunderstand about retirement.

Then, in this week's listener question, I help a family navigate an emotionally complicated financial crossroads: a potential $500,000–$800,000 inheritance, a home renovation, IVF, a recent layoff, and the challenge of deciding which priorities deserve the biggest investment. Together, we explore why the most valuable outcome isn't simply growing wealth—it's creating more choices.

Referenced: Senator Andy Kim on So Money.

Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's show covers the ins and outs of LLCs and S-Corps and how to determine which one (or both) is best for structuring your business. The guest is Hannah Cole, creator of Sunlight Tax. You can visit Sunlight Tax for resources mentioned in today's episode.

This episode was originally published May 13, 2024.
Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.