HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

You know those people on Instagram who are always traveling to fabulous places, making you question a number of things like: How do they make it work? How do they afford it? And why aren’t you doing the SAME thing?! Or is that just us? This week we’re getting all of the answers — and travel savings secrets — from Rachel Rudwall, an Emmy-nominated on-camera host and producer, who has traveled to all seven continents, lived in three countries and journeyed through nearly 70 nations — all on a limited budget. She’s got millions of airline miles and she knows how to use them. In Mailbag, we answer your questions on pensions and other retirement savings strategies. And, in Thrive, how to make the most of your travel rewards credit card.

When you look back at all of the things you haven’t done with your money, or your career, what stopped you? What held you back? Maybe you were scared — of what would happen, of failure, of the reaction of the people you know and love. Although getting over fear may be a goal, there's another way: You could do it scared. So says our guest Ruth Soukup, author of “Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love.”  She walks us through how and why it works. Then, in Mailbag, we answer your questions on where to build your savings to buy your first home and why we have many (!) credit scores. Plus: Summer travelers beware! You now stand a higher chance of getting bumped off your flight. Our advice in Thrive. Have you entered to win two floor seats for the Rolling Stones No Filter Tour this summer?! Enter at https://www.hermoney.com/rolling-stones/!

We’ve had a handful of stellar (and free!) career coaching sessions on HerMoney, and this week we’re building on those learnings with a session with entrepreneur coach Ali Brown. Over the last 15 years, Brown has advised and helped nurture the businesses of many of the women you see today online pulling in millions (sometimes 10s of millions) a year. Learn how to stand out online in 2019 and position yourself as a ‘category of one,’ understand tall poppy syndrome, avoid excellence burnout and master the 80/20 rule with your time. Then, in Mailbag, we answer your questions on how to create a budget in retirement, when young adults should get their first credit cards and how one woman can approach the guilt and embarrassment she feels around her financial success. And if you’re looking to buy a home, and, financially, just can’t swing it? Stick around for Thrive. P.S. We’re giving away two floor seats to almost every stop in the Rolling Stones No Filter Tour this summer, and we want you to win! Enter at https://www.hermoney.com/rolling-stones/!

You’re trying to save more money, but can’t find the spare change. You’re trying to exercise more, but end up making monthly donations to your gym. You’re trying to stop snacking at 4:00pm, but reach for the cookie like clockwork. That last one was exactly what was happening to Charles Duhigg. Intrigued by his personal frustration with breaking certain habits for himself, the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist went on to become an expert on habits — and how to change them — writing two bestsellers, “The Power of Habit” and “Smarter Faster Better,” along the way. With his help, we explore the psychology behind habit formation and discuss his research-backed solutions for long-term behavior change. In Mailbag, we go over how to choose a Roth IRA, a financial planner and how to start investing with your kids. And finally, in Thrive, we’re talking about women rocking it in all professions. P.S. We’re giving away two floor seats to almost every stop in the Rolling Stones No Filter Tour this summer, and we want you to win! Enter at https://www.hermoney.com/rolling-stones/!

“Do you want kids?” Like it or not, it’s a question you’ve probably been asked (many times). No matter what your answer is, having a baby isn’t cheap. It’s about $11,000, on average, and that’s without complications. Run into fertility issues, as many, many women do, and solutions can run into the thousands. Enter FemTech: Companies and products that are looking to tackle fertility, like Ava, a wearable fertility tracker. This week we’re with Ava’s co-founder and president, Lea von Bidder, to discuss all things fertility, including the emotional and financial costs that come with it. In Mailbag, we discuss incorporating tax diversification into retirement planning, fixing errors on our credit reports and understanding our credit score fluctuations. Plus: Balancing kids and career is never easy, but if it seems that men make the transition into parenthood much easier than women — that’s because, well, they do. We discuss why in Thrive.

What's your most limited resource? Money? We get how it can feel that way, but the real answer is time. You can earn more money. You can't get more hours or minutes or seconds...or years.  The latter — particularly as it relates to compound interest, giving your money time to grow — is just one of the things we dive into with the inspiring Grant Sabatier, a proponent of the "Financial Independence, Retire Early" (FIRE) movement, and author of “Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need.” (Note: If you're catching up, we've talked about FIRE in Episodes 145 and 146.) Sabatier shares his recent journey with FIRE and how he went from broke — literally $2.26 in his checking and $0.01 in his savings — to millionaire to financially independent in roughly five years. Oh yeah, and he's in his early 30s. Then, in Mailbag, does going to a more expensive college mean more success? Plus: How to tackle (what feels like) crippling credit card debt. And since we also discuss how to increase our incomes with Grant, we thought it’d be a good time to review some best practices for asking for a raise. Dos and don’ts in Thrive.

Whether you're reading the list of Fortune 500 CEOs and board members, or a roster of members of Congress, the lack of women in numbers is hugely apparent. It provided the impetus for Laura to start her “She Said / She Said” podcast and this week we're digging into how to bridge the gap — for ourselves and for society as a whole. As the 2020 elections draw closer, it's a conversation that can't come soon enough. In Mailbag, fraud alerts vs. credit freezes, and how to say, “no, thank you,” to buying into all of your friends’ side hustles. In this week’s Thrive: What does it mean to short a stock? We discuss.

You've been telling us you want more shows on investing. We listened. This week, we're in conversation with Erin Lowry, who's just out with her new book: “Broke Millennial Takes On Investing: A Beginner's Guide to Leveling Up Your Money.” She did the legwork on everything from opening accounts (what kind?), figuring out what to put in them (stocks, bonds, funds?), how to invest when you want to make an impact in the world and more. In Mailbag: How to handle a rental property that’s underwater, and financial tradeoffs (invest or pay down the mortgage?). And, in Thrive, are you spending more on food than retirement? Time to make some changes.

This week, a lesson in resilience. We're talking with Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe and founder of Know Your Value, and Daniela Pierre-Bravo, her Morning Joe producer. The two have teamed up on a new book, “EARN IT! Know Your Value and Grow Your Career, in Your 20s and Beyond,” inspired by Daniela's journey from DACA recipient/DREAMer, struggling to pay her way through college, to NYC success. It involves Greyhound busses, resume fibs and other details you're going to want to hear — as well as their great advice for positioning yourself to rise in any career. In Mailbag: Can you put a price on happiness and Roth 401(k)s? And, in Thrive, what to do when politics are causing whiplash in your portfolio.

It was a rough week for the markets. Our advice? Instead of checking your accounts (in fact, do yourself a favor and remember, it’s a long-term game), tune into this new bonus show and catch up on past episodes. In this Bonus Mailbag, we discuss the documentation needed for purchasing a home and the decision to tap into an IRA before retirement. Should you ever consider this, and, if so, under what circumstances? Plus: How to find the right financial planner, how to approach paying off six-figure student debt and when to pull money from your savings for your investments? Are you among the many women who have money in savings that should be invested instead? Let’s find out!

Do you have a degree in anticipating other people’s needs before your own? Does your brain house the master to-do list for not just you, but for your entire family? Don your crown. You're a queen of emotional labor — the unpaid and often unnoticed work that many women do to keep their loved ones happy. This week’s guest, Gemma Hartley, made the concept a worldwide conversation with her viral article, "Women Aren’t Nags; We’re Just Fed Up." In this episode, she shares her story, the deets on her book and helpful tips for how to (really) cut back. In Mailbag, we answer your questions on how to invest in Roth IRAs, prioritize saving versus investing, plus the dos and don’ts for downsizing. And, in Thrive, HerMoney editor in chief Kathryn Tuggle (woot!) joins us to discuss best practices for using your professional networks to land your next job.

Just in time for Mother’s Day (Happy Mother’s Day, BTW) we’re speaking with Esther Wojcicki, a leading American educator, journalist, and mother, who raised three superstar daughters, Susan, the CEO of YouTube, Janet, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California-San Francisco and Anne, co-founder and CEO of 23andMe. She’s got simple advice for raising successful people (which clearly works) and a new book that promises "radical results."  In Mailbag, we dive into where you can get the biggest returns on your savings and whether those credit card interest rates can really be negotiated. Plus: Another tax filing season has come and gone. What did the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act really do for your wallet?

Money is a leading cause of stress in relationships, and, consequently, a leading cause of divorce. But not for the McNeely’s. Talaat and Tai McNeely, the couple behind His and Her Money, paid down one partner’s $30,000 credit card debt—and a $330,000 mortgage—together. They tell us how, and, get this: They never fight about money. Yes, we asked for all the secrets. In Mailbag, one listener questions whether achieving a perfect credit score of 850 is actually possible. It is. (It’s not easy, but it is.) We go over how to boost your score, how to build credit for new college grads and how to work through decision fatigue when it comes to your finances. Plus: Venmo recently changed its user agreement to indicate that it may “engage in collection and other efforts” to recover lost monies. Will you be receiving a Venmo from them? We know, very meta. Find out in Thrive.

“Life isn’t about winning. Life is about a journey. Life is about finding your happiness with whatever that genius is that you have." So says Amy Errett, founder and CEO of Madison Reed, the beauty brand that’s challenging industry titans in the hair color space. She walks us through her career highlights and lowlights (ba-dum-bum!), including an unexpected firing that changed her entire perspective on work, family, happiness...and life. Plus, as a VC, she shares her take on the elements that create a successful business. In Mailbag, we discuss what you can do with your 401(k) if you’re leaving your job—and budgeting for charitable giving with donor advised funds. In Thrive, if we’ve learned anything in the past month, it’s that there’s a right way and a wrong way to get your kid into college. But just because you aren’t out there bribing coaches doesn’t mean you might not be making a few mistakes of your own. We discuss.

Did you know that one in two LGBTQ adults associate money with anxiety, which is significantly more than straight, cisgender people who do? That was just one of our important takeaways from the 2019 LGBTQ Money Matters Survey, which was driven by this week's guests, Tobin Low and Kathy Tu, hosts of the Nancy podcast and special series, Queer Money Matters. We discuss their findings, their stories and solutions for the increased costs the LGBTQ community often face when it comes to careers, parenthood, marriage, healthcare and more. In Mailbag, we discuss a hierarchy of how to use your tax return money with debt, emergency savings, retirement savings and family planning all in mind. Plus: Tax filing exemptions for expats. In Thrive, we’re talking about the “Failure to Launch” effect. In other words, what to do when parents are financially supporting their adult children for much longer than they thought they’d be...we discuss!