HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

You asked, we listened: This week we're talking about divorce — an important topic for all women whether you’re single, engaged or married. That's why we brought in one of our go-to sources, divorce expert Stacy Francis, who recently wrote a white paper about the many financial challenges women face during and after divorce — based on first-hand research with 150 women. We discuss her surprising findings (e.g. many women feel most confident in their abilities to handle money when we're single) and offer some advice on how to deal with divorce if it happens (or you suspect it might). In Mailbag, we cover your questions on balance transfer offers, investments for women in their 70s and how to prioritize retirement savings when paying off student debt. Then stick around for a brief discussion on financial infidelity in Thrive — have you committed it?

Don't get us wrong, we love talking about money — but we love talking about dating and relationships, too. And the two intersect in more ways than you might expect — which is why we decided to follow our hearts and invite a matchmaker on the show. This week we're with Meredith Golden, former psychotherapist and founder of Spoon Meet Spoon, which specializes in dating apps. We learn how matchmaking is big business in the U.S. and how dating in general can add up to big bucks for you. We talk dating in the digital age, which apps are right for you, how to present yourself online and how to save money along the way. In Mailbag, Kelly and I discuss the idea of marrying someone's debt, annuities and how much we spend on skincare and cosmetic products. (Yikes!) Join us and share HerMoney with a friend who needs this advice.

Calling all nice girls — yes, you! We're diving into the conflicted relationship women have with being nice — especially in the workplace — with the ultimate nice girl (and our new girl crush), Fran Hauser. She's out with her first book, "The Myth of the Nice Girl: Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming a Person You Hate." It's important, because it's a fine line to walk. When you're nice, you can be seen as weak or ineffective. When you're assertive, you're bitchy. It sounds like a lose-lose, but Fran says it doesn’t have to be. She's proof that you can be nice and successful simultaneously and she's here to teach us how. In Mailbag, Kelly and I cover your questions on Roth IRAs for teens, umbrella life insurance policies for families and why you don't touch a 401(k) before retirement. In Thrive, we talk about price protection on credit cards. Is this benefit soon to be a perk of the past? We discuss.

Is history repeating itself when it comes to your money? Neither your savings nor debts are heading in the right directions. You still don't understand how your 401(k) is invested and you can't seem to get yourself to tackle the other money items on your list. Well — and we mean this in the nicest way possible — maybe it's you. That's what human lie detector and life coach Lauren Handel Zander tells us. The author of "Maybe It’s You: Cut the Crap, Face Your Fears, Love Your Life," helps us figure out not just what we want out of life, but how to get there — and it all starts with getting honest with ourselves about money, careers, health, relationships and more. In Mailbag, Kelly and I answer your questions on how to raise credit scores and how to ask for a pay bump when you know someone at the company is leaving. And, in Thrive, we discuss how Venmo and PayPal have new competition in the peer-to-peer payment space. There’s an app called Zelle that could either be a great way to pay back friends — or an excellent way to get scammed. Are you using it?

How do you feel about what you're doing with your time? Is it shaping your world — or the world in general — in a way that makes you feel good? Do you feel like you're having an impact? And, if not, how can you go about shaking that up? That's the topic we tackle this week with Facebook's Head of Groups and Community Jennifer Dulski. She's out with the new book, "Purposeful: Are you a manager or a movement starter?" She helps us answer that question and shares some of the steps and leadership skills necessary for taking an idea from germ to impact. And she helps us fine tune your pitch to get others to support your purpose financially. In Mailbag, we discuss merging finances with partners and how to shop for health insurance when you have a disability. Plus, now you can ask your Amazon Alexa which credit card you should get? The bigger question though: Should you be asking her? We discuss.

There are many things women are better at than men, but taking care of our health isn’t necessarily one of them. A study from ZocDoc shows that when we’re sick, roughly 66% of us would rather wait it out than make a doctor’s appointment (only half of men say the same, by the way). We’re also more likely than men to put off preventative care. Sometimes we do this for financial reasons...sometimes because we just don’t want to go. That's why it helps to have a doctor you like, one you can talk to and one you want to go out to lunch with after your appointment. And since so many of you aren’t talking with your own doctors, we thought maybe you’d like to talk to Jean's longtime OB-GYN and friend, Dr. Rebecca Brightman. We cover costs and considerations for women's health in your teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. Kelly and I answer your questions on how to manage an income when a big portion of it is a bonus — and what you can do with an excellent credit score. And if you’re married and just got promoted, you may have just doubled your odds of getting divorced. We're not kidding. We discuss the (infuriating) research in Thrive.

Here's a scary stat: In 10 years, 50% of today's occupations will be extinct. Not a good mic-drop moment. That's why, when it comes to our careers, it's time to start thinking like a futurist. Executive coach Liz Bentley is here to get our heads in the game. We discuss the importance of knowing your audience, asking for feedback and how both will help you constantly evolve. We also talk about failure and why Liz thinks it's so great: "...it means you're going for something that's bigger than you." Mailbag starts out with story time. You get to hear how Jean was "the worst assistant ever" and how she met her husband, Eliot. (Kelly apologizes in advance for her various degrees of laughter.) We answer your questions on getting college grads ready for the job hunt and considering tax implications for hiring a personal assistant. And since we were on the subject of taxes, we close with news you need to know for your paychecks in 2018. Because of the new tax law, you might've noticed a bump in your take-home pay. Before you celebrate, listen to this Thrive.

"Freeze your eggs. Free your career." That was the headline on an April 2014 cover of Bloomberg Businessweek featuring this week's guest, Brigitte Adams. While egg-freezing had long been a proposed (and provocative) way to have it all, this put the practice under an international spotlight. But as Adams, who went on to found Eggsurance, an egg-freezing education site, tells us, things don't always go according to plan. She gets granular on the process and educates us on the emotional, physical and financial costs. Then, in Mailbag, we transition from questions on egg freezing to questions on credit freezing (we swear we didn't plan it this way), SEP IRAs and using your children's 529s for yourself. Then stay tuned for a special Hayden Helps on student loan refinancing.

Talking about money can be awkward. Talking about death can be awkward. Talking about them in the same conversation? Don’t even get us started. That’s why we invited Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, authors of the website and now book, "Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome." And that's exactly where we start. We discuss grief, family dynamics, inheritances, wills, the importance of having good executors and what to say to people when it feels like there are no right words. Kelly and I answer your questions on HSAs, post-divorce retirement considerations and preparing college grads for managing money in the real world. We close with the importance of protecting the stay-at-home spouse — financially, of course. We tell you how. Have you tried listening to HerMoney on your Amazon Alexa yet? Get the skill enabled here (https://amzn.to/2v0G7So), rate, review and then let us know in the Mailbag entry on JeanChatzky.com. Kelly will add you to the invite list for our *Private* HerMoney Facebook group.

Does women + Investing = Fear? It might, according to some new research our guest, Libby Leffler, brings to the show this week. Libby, who was Sheryl Sandberg's business lead during the time Lean In went from a kernel to a full-fledged movement, is now VP of Membership at SoFi. She gives us her take on how to get more involved with your investments (and why it's so important), and shares the best advice Sandberg ever gave her. Then, Kelly and I answer your questions on when to cash in a whole life insurance policy, how to rollover retirement accounts and how to pay down debt and build an emergency savings at the same time. Oh — and in case you haven't heard — HerMoney is now a skill on Amazon Alexa! You can enable it here: https://amzn.to/2v0G7So.

We're keeping the #EqualPayDay conversation (which is everyday for us, btw) going with Kate White, author of The Gutsy Girl Handbook: Your Manifesto for Success. She's got some new and surprising advice for the best way to negotiate for more...and it flies in the face of everything we've ever heard. Plus, we dish on why you need to be facile enough to reinvent and how being a good girl can hold you back — with work and money. Kelly and I answer your questions on credit repair services, Facebook scams and tax deductions with the new code in mind. And attention Amazon Alexa users! We're a Skill now! That means when you say: "Alexa, Open HerMoney Radio," you'll have access to the latest episodes. Enable the skill here (https://amzn.to/2v0G7So). Even better, please rate us and leave us a review. The more reviews, the more likely Amazon will feature us in the Skills Store. Email me at Jean@JeanChatzky.com if you do and Kelly will add you to the invite list for our soon-to-launch *Private* HerMoney Facebook Group. If you like the conversation here, you'll love the conversation there.

No offense to any of our other guests, but Sheila Nevins might be our favorite. The longtime executive producer and President of HBO Documentary Films has spent years telling other people's stories. But in this episode she opens up about her own. We have a no-holds-barred conversation on what it was like to be a career-driven woman in the 1970s, the #MeToo movement, her relationship with money (she wants to blow a bundle at Missoni, but something's holding her back), her feelings about aging and that aforementioned facelift. And if you want more of Sheila (like we do — in fact, we cut Thrive for a longer convo with her), you can check out her best selling humor book, You Don’t Look Your Age… and Other Fairy Tales. We didn't cut your questions though! We close with Mailbag: How much do you need to save before you start investing? And how can couples who have different tolerances for debt compromise? Kelly and I discuss both and more. Join us!

No matter where you are in your financial life, you'll be able to relate to Cait Flanders' story. After paying off $30,000 of consumer debt in two years — and upping her savings game — she found herself shopping, and shopping, and shopping some more, because she never addressed why she got into debt in the first place. Her solution? A two-year shopping ban during which she discovered her spending was more emotional than anything else. In her book, The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store, she chronicles her journey and teaches us to hack our shopping habits for the better. Also, Kelly and I answer your questions on short-term and long-term investment decisions — and how to lower your credit card's interest rate. Stick around for Thrive, because it's spring cleaning season. We'll talk about what you need to keep and what you need to shred as you declutter this tax season.

No matter what you've heard, 30 isn't the new 20, and 40 isn't the new 30, especially when it comes to work, relationships and your finances. It's time to start approaching each year — and each decade — more intentionally. This week we're diving into why this is true with the therapist every millennial (including Kelly) wishes she had on speed dial, Dr. Meg Jay, author of The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter And How to Make the Most of Them Now. Dr. Jay teaches us how to take control, reduce our anxieties and build "identity capital" (trust us, you need it). In Mailbag, we help a woman broach the conversation of having more financial say with her controlling husband. And if you're one of the many who've wanted to throw rotten tomatoes at MoviePass' customer service (or lack thereof), we've got you covered. We put Hayden on the case and she came back with a direct line for everyone.

Originality is a muscle. It's a skill. In this podcast, you'll learn how to become an idea machine — and put your best ideas to work. That's just one of the takeaways from our conversation with Adam Grant, organizational psychologist, Wharton's top-rated professor, bestselling author and host of the new TED original podcast "WorkLife." We dive into his surprising research on originals, including the fact that they are more likely to procrastinate, more likely to play it safe and just as likely to feel the same fear and doubt that the rest of us do. In Mailbag, we cover how to raise kids who want to be investors — and why you need a cohabitation agreement if you're moving in with the LOYL. Finally, in Thrive: You may not be getting the bargains you think you are...