February 18, 2026 • 26 mins
Personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi shares the best money goals
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's episode is going to be a longer one part
of the series where I interview fascinating people about how
they take their days from great to awesome and any
advice they have for the rest of us. So today,
I am delighted to welcome Farnush to Robbie to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Farnush is a personal.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Finance expert, host of the So Money podcast, author of
many books, including A Healthy State of Panic and psych
Yourself Rich.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So Farnush, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Thank you, It's so great to be here and reconnect.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I'm excited to chat with you again. Why don't
you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, I am.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
For twenty over twenty years, I've been working as a
financial journalist and content creator educator. I started as a journalist,
but really the work has expanded to all sorts of
care communication around financial literacy. I have a podcast as well,
I've written books, I speak, and I'm also a wife
(01:08):
and a mom.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I I you know, I'm not doing it all, but
not all the time.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
But you know, over the years, it's accumulated.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, how old are your kids now?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
They are eight and eleven?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Gotcha, boy, girl boy.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And we are recording this in January, where those of
us on the East Coast are.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Preparing for a giant snowstorm. Apparently.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, I just got back from the grocery store.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I thought I was ahead of it. I was like
everybody else.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Everyone's there, everyone's there.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I got there before all the water and meat was gone, though.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, although it's slightly in today.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I mean, if your kids will have virtual school the
Monday or whatever, it's it's gotten a little easier as
they get older, right, well.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
It's gotten in some ways easier, but you know, I
miss the days where they together would play well together.
They are getting more on each other's nerves, so the
yelling and the screaming has intensified when they're all under
one roof. And so we also need to go to
the wine store before the blizzard arrives.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
That's on art, getting salt, gas in the car and
wine for you know that when that inevitable need arise.
So how did you wind up in the personal finance business?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Oh my gosh, Well, I studied finance at Penn State.
That was my degree. That was my intention, was to
go in and be a finance person, working in a
finance department or a Wall Street maybe even. But pretty
quickly into that degree studying at Penn State, I realized,
you know, well, I like the idea of this, I
(02:41):
like the stories behind this. I like studying companies and
corporate structure. I love storytelling. I've always loved storytelling. I've
always been drawn to journalism and being on a stage
even and like the creative side of work and life.
And I thought, is there a away for me to
not abandon this? You know, I want to use what
(03:03):
I've invested so far and finish the degree, but maybe
do a pivot that isn't such a hard right, And
I realized, you know, it was around two thousand and two,
and we had a lot of scandal in the financial world.
Wall Street was becoming main street news. We had a
lot of white collar crime, and I don't know, I
(03:24):
just felt like CNBC was becoming a thing, and I
felt like there was a market now for financial journalism
more than ever before. So I thought, maybe there's a
way to combine what I'm already studying at Penn State
with journalism. So right after Penn State, I entered into
the Columbia's a journalism program for graduate school and really
(03:44):
just hit the ground from there. There were a lot
of people like me at the time who were consciously
trying to do this at least and so that I
will I will say that contributed a lot to my
early success, just kind of like knowing what you want
to to do early on, didn't know if it was
going to stick, but I ended up loving it. And
even within the personal even within like the whole financial
(04:07):
reporting world, finding a niche within that was important, and
for me it was personal finance. It wasn't so much
following the crooks in the business world. That was definitely
someone else's job, but not for me. It was like
just trying to help people with their money, trying to
help people dissect their retirement plans, and especially young people
(04:29):
and women, because I felt like that was a very
underserved market.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, and so you've done a lot of different iterations
of that. I mean, you've you know, done TV, you've
done print, You've done all sorts of different things for that,
and so you've seen a lot of different people's lives
I'm curious, what is a money goal you would like
to see more people set.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I would love to see more people believe that they
can be wealthy. I know that so many of us
are just trying to get to zero, and that's understandable.
We have a an incredibly huge debt crisis in our country,
led by student loans and of course credit cards, and
just the idea of getting to a day where you
don't have debt is the dream come true for so
(05:11):
many of us, and I really want us to push
that goal further, especially again for women. I think that
we've often been sold this narrative of like complacency right,
and also to have someone else take care of our
financial life for us, and I want us to be
more aspirational in our financial lives. And if that means,
(05:32):
you know, making more money, clearing our debt and then
making more money, I want that for everybody. I want
more people to feel more empowered around their finances, to
feel more in control around their finances, and also to
just be more curious about it too, to ask the questions.
Money is still such a taboo topic and it keeps
us from keeps us from playing big, and that's that's
(05:57):
what I want. That's what I want for everybody.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Well, and especially to talk about this with women, I
feel like a lot of the literature and stuff aimed
at women is more focused on the frugality part of it,
like don't waste your money on expensive handbags or something
like that or whatever for stereotypically buying, but not so
much about like, you know, you have a life you want,
here's what you need to do to make sure that
(06:21):
you can produce this life that you want for you
and your family exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I remember leaving college and even for me, someone again
who studied finance and was raised to really feel independent
and want that independence, early on, I was like, wow,
you know, when will my life start? And I realized
it's like now. And I don't know if it was
a it was me being a woman or what, but
I do I sense it in my female friends in
(06:48):
my twenties, where we almost felt like our lives couldn't
really start until we met someone, you know, and maybe
it was like the guy who would come and like
support us and would have the bigger salary and then
our dreams would come true and then we could finally
buy the house and then we could finally have the kids.
And I want to tell women like, you know, your
life starts now and you're in charge, and it's you're
(07:11):
driving the ship, and the earlier that you can start
to figure out how to support yourself and invest in
your future. Look, you know, your prince charming or your
Princess charming may come still and that's great, Like have
that also be a goal, but not to be the
only goal. And sometimes we just wait for that and
at the expense of losing out on our independence and
(07:34):
our financial future.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Absolutely, well, we're going to take a quick ad break
and then I will be back with more from Varnish
to Rabi. Well, I am back talking with Furnish to
Rabbi was a personal finance expert host of these So
Money podcast So interestingly, you know you've, I said, you've
(07:57):
went through all these different iterations in your career, the
different kinds of personal finance journalism.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
We've done with it, you know, making a brand for yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And I saw that one of the things you do
in addition to personal finance work is coaching people on
personal branding. I wonder if you could talk a little
bit on that. Is there something you wish you had known,
like when you were starting out about building the brand
that is Furnishe.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, I think that I felt like someone had to
give me permission to put myself out there and believe
in myself. Like I gosh, I always felt like I
had to and I, you know, arm myself with more credentials.
You know, there was a moment in my career, despite
the fact that I had been doing what I was
doing for a decade and I had all this experience
(08:43):
helping people, all these I had books, I was like,
maybe I should get a license in financial planning because
then people will take me seriously. And sure, maybe that
is something credible to do, but that's a whole different
career path. But for some reason, I thought like I
(09:03):
need this because otherwise I'm going to miss out on
more speaking opportunities and people won't take me seriously. And
I still hear this from especially women who are educated experience,
They have clients, and they are worried that they're not
going to get press or the media won't care about
their story or won't want to feature them as experts
because they don't have say, ten thousand followers on Instagram,
(09:27):
or they don't have already a huge track record in
the press, and so we're always like getting in our way.
We're always finding excuses for why we're not that special,
and I'm here to say, like, you have it, you know.
It's like we it goes back to what Cheryl Sandberg
said and lean in. Like when men apply for a job,
(09:50):
if they can qualify for about thirty percent of the
of the bulleted requirements for the job, they're going to
apply For women, it's like I need to have all
of the I need to qualify for everything before I
will put myself in for possible, you know, before I apply.
So I see that in the entrepreneurial world as well,
(10:13):
where we are our biggest enemies, sometimes we are our
biggest critics.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
And why, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Maybe it's just the imposter syndrome, which I know is
also like a fabricated thing too, But I read up
against that and I still see that now in my
clients and I'm just here to tell them, like, you
have what it takes. And if you want evidence of that,
look at the people who are being featured online. You know,
if you're looking for exposure and press, and that's what
(10:40):
I often help them with is like getting out there
more right, getting more eyebos on their work.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I mean practically, like I was saying, Okay, well I
have this expertise and I want to put myself out there.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Like you should be just reaching out constantly, like thinking
about you know, story angles, like what would you recommend?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
First?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
It's about a couple of things. One is what is
your expertise? What do you want to help people with?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And what are the three to five things big ideas
that you have, the counterculture ideas maybe that you have,
or maybe you see something in the news and you're like,
I want to have a I want to share an
opinion about that and root it in my expertise. But
also who's your audience, because you don't want to be
pitching everywhere, Right, There's probably like three to five outlets
that make the most sense for you. Sometimes it is
(11:25):
general news, but sometimes it's a very niche outlet, publication,
a trade magazine. So it's doing a lot of that
homework first to kind of understand where your audience is
hanging out and what is your goal for this press?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Is it just to get out there, to get out
there and get those you know, those press labels on
your website, which is definitely fine. Like in the beginning,
that helps to boost your credibility, but after that, what's
the goal, right, Is it to have people find you
and have those people ultimately come work with you? Is
it to promote your book, is it to promote your workshop?
(12:02):
Whatever it is. So maybe that it's catering what you're
putting out there to that so that it aligns with
what product you're selling or service you're selling. So that's
kind of the the algorithm, so to speak. And then
the pitch, right, it's figuring out who is behind that
media outlet on the receiving end, and then creating an
(12:25):
authentic relationship first with that person. I don't often say
like cold pitches are fine, they work, But if you
can find a way to first make a connection with
this person that has nothing to do with selling anything
to them, I find that that's always playing the long
game in other words, is always a great strategy. But
(12:45):
of course, if you have something immediate on your to
do list, like you have a book that you want
to see you know, you're selling, I get that, but
I find that building those bridges really do pay off.
And these days everybody's online, right journalists online. The other
way you could do it is just write your own articles.
A lot of places take contributor pieces, so that's another
(13:07):
thing that I coach people on how to do that,
how to write for those publications and get them in
the right hands.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Absolutely sounds good. Well, what does a day tend to
look like for you right now?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
As you're managing you know, your many parts of your business,
your different hats you're wearing.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Well, lately it's a lot of staying local to my
neighborhood here in Montclair, New Jersey. I used to travel
to New York more often. I used to live in
New York City, but during COVID we moved to the suburbs,
about fifteen miles outside of the city. This is a
big commuter town. But I started a local podcast about
(13:44):
my town. So that, in addition to the personal finance
work has taken over a lot of my sort of
business career time, and so I'm really tethered to, you know,
being here. I've become suddenly like a local journalist again.
My day is pretty much, you know, mornings is doing
the school rush, you know, getting my kids off to
(14:04):
the bus and that starts around six thirty am. We
live in a magnet school district, so we have six
seven elementary schools. We don't have like a neighborhood school
that we go to, so my kids get on the
very early bus to go, you know, to the school uptown.
And then after that it's usually getting a workout in
(14:25):
and then it's starting work and then work, work, work, work,
work until probably four thirty five, with some breaks to eat,
maybe get a stretch in meetings, sometimes going in and
out of the house. You're working from home, right, so
it's like putting in a load of laundry, putting in
a load of dishes. I'm a neat freak, so I'm
(14:47):
constantly tidying up. It's a problem, probably takes a lot
of time out of my day. I can't help it. But
also I feel like it makes me more focused, and
I need those resets. I need, like to constantly reset.
I'm pretty good at powering through work, but I do
need those quick little resets, whether it's getting up and
getting a drink of water, getting up and just putting
(15:09):
in a load of you know, the dishes, and then
coming back and then powering through another hour of work.
So I know that about me. And then once my
son comes home from school around two thirty, he's pretty
self sufficient. He's eleven, he does his homework. He knows
not to bother me, but I won't lie. Like dinners,
we like to have a family dinner, but not always
do I make it. I think probably I get about
(15:32):
forty to fifty percent of the week is a home
cooked meal, and buy home cooked, don't. I'm not fancy
about it. It's usually like three or five ingredients, and
the other days we're ordering. And that is just because
neither one of us really enjoys cooking and it's convenient.
So you know, I'm not proud of that, but that's
(15:54):
just how it's working out right now. And that's my weekday.
I mean, sometimes I go into the city, but seldom
really I try to. And when I do go into
the city, it's like I want to stack the day,
try to really get in, make it productive, get in,
get a haircut in, get a media hit, in a meeting,
and be back before dinner. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Well, I'd love to hear that a personal finance expert
is okay with ordering dinner.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
If that's the thing that makes life for me.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
You bridget for it. It's you know, and we also,
you know, we what we really want to try to
do is have the family dinners, you know, and if
that means we have to order in, because that's the
quickest thing to do to be able to have that
family dinner, because then at six o'clock, my daughter has
to go to basketball. And if that, you know, I'm
really it's about priorities. Right In the long run, I
(16:45):
think I'm going to be less upset about the fact
that I maybe overspent a little bit on eating out,
and I'll be more happy that we got to eat together.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
All Right, Well, we're gonna take one more quick ad break,
then I'll be back with more from Furnish to Rubbie. Well,
I am back talking with Fernush to Robbie, who is
a personal finance expert host of the so many podcasts
plus a local one about Montclair, New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
What's the name of that one, The Montclair Pod?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
The Montclair Pod.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Okay, So for my listeners who are interested living in Montclair,
New Jersey, or who are otherwise drawn, c're curious Mount
Claire curious, you can listen to that. So you've been
talking a little bit about things that make you more productive,
like taking little breaks during the day. I'm curious if
there are any other strategies you use to make yourself
more productive.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Well, I have been picking up the phone and calling
instead of text and email, and you know sometimes when
you're For example, I have a co host on the
Montclair Pod, Michael. We've known each other for twenty five years.
We share a brain at this point. He lives in town,
and it's partly why this podcast has been so successful.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Lease gen X.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
I am right on the cusp, and I find that
the gen xers love to talk on the phone. He
will call, and it's a little it's gotten a little
taking use getting used to for me because I've been
a big Texter. He will call, he will FaceTime sometimes
in call and it's very like put off, putting sometimes
because if you're not used to it, and but it's
it's actually been really good because a phone call you
(18:24):
can get so much done in fifteen minutes. Then trying
to like explain something over eighty texts and then you know,
it's also distracting if you're trying to manage dinner time
with your family. So it's just like taking that ten
minutes to have the phone call. And it's just easier
multitasking too. You can put it on audio. So that
(18:47):
analogue hack has been actually a great productivity thing for me,
and I really thank my gen X friend for incorporating
that into my workflow.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
For reminding you that you can in fact use your
phone as a phone. Yes, yes, I know, it's crazy,
crazy enough. What does your planning process look.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Like my planning process, Well, we have my husband.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I have a shared Google calendar, and I have multiple
calendars within the calendar. So there's my work calendar, but
even within my work calendar, I break it out to
my podcast calendar. There's a personal calendar for me. It's
all color coded. There's the Montclair pod calendar, there's the
share calendar with my husband. I share a calendar with
(19:32):
my work husband, Michael, and so I know what he's
up to. And that's kind of how I stay aware
of everyone's whereabouts, including my own. And when everyone says
how do you book so many guests on your podcast?
I have two guests per week. Do you have a booker?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Like?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
How does it work?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
I say, I have a scheduling link. I send this out.
People choose their own dates, but I block dates on
that scheduling calendar so that I give myself, you know,
basically peace during the week. So I'm not doing podcasts
at all times. So the podcasts are sort of reserved
for certain days of the week and even just certain
(20:12):
blocks during the day.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So I try to budget.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
The different things that I'm doing during the week, and
I try to do nothing on Fridays. I really try
to have not that I'm doing nothing on Fridays, I
should say, I take that back. No calls on Fridays,
no big meetings on Fridays that keeps me at my desk.
I will go out and have meetings. I might have
coffee with a friend on Fridays. I like to use
(20:40):
Fridays and really starting on Thursdays, Thursdays and Fridays to
go out of the house and see people in person locally,
because Monday through Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Is a real mad dash.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
We publish the Montclair Pod on Thursdays, so it's a
lot of work tethered to my desk Monday to Wednesday,
and then Thursday Friday, I like to just kind of
get out and get some fresh air.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, and actually see Montclair. Yeah, precisely.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So what is something you have done recently to take
a day from great to awesome?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, I'm really proud of this.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I on a Sunday, my best friend was in town
from Philadelphia. She was in New York, actually not even
in Montclair. And you know, I already said I don't
love going into New York unless.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I have to.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
And she was in town and she said, do you
want to hang out today? And it was a Sunday,
and you know, my kids are a lot Sundays are busy,
and I said sure, And my husband's great, he's not
gonna but even still, you know, I think as a
parent with growing kids, you do feel like it's a
(21:49):
lot like to take to take yourself away from that life.
And then but I was so happy to do it.
I just I took I didn't even go on a train.
I drove, which is unlike me. I always like to
take the train. But I was like, I'm just going
to drive. I'm going to drive into the city. And
then I realized, actually, how easy this is. I should
do this more often. I saw her, I got parking
(22:09):
on the street. I felt like I'd won the lottery,
and then I went and we just did a little
you know, window shopping. We had a nice lunch, be
caught up, and it's just a reminder, especially in midlife,
how important your relationships are, outside of your family, your friendships.
My friend and I, Kate, we've been friends since the
first day of college, and.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I need that, she needs that. We all need that.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
And it would have been such a shame if I
had said no, and I could have easily said no
and she would have understood. I think we all kind
of understand how life can get at this stage. But
I was so happy that I did. And of course
I came home to a little bit of a mess,
but that's okay. You just spend They will survive, Everyone
(22:54):
will survive.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah. No, I mean I was terrified of driving into
New York for ages, and then I did and I
was like, oh, yeah, people do this all the time
and they're not better drivers than I am.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
So no, it was actually, you know, Sundays can be
hit or miss going into the city. There can be
during specially.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
During great or something exactly.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
We've gotten stuck in so much traffic. I do have
some PTSD driving into the city on weekends. But I
checked the traffic. Nothing seemed to be going on, and
like I said, I got free parking on the street.
It was unprecedented good as you can get with stuff
like that. Yeah, it does take a day from great
to awesome when you're parking is free, so furnish.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
What are you looking forward to, Well.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I'm really looking forward to making local news great again.
And you know, you read about so many local papers
shuttering and just media in general is having a really
rough road. And I started my career actually in local news.
We don't even really talk about that, but even with
(23:55):
the financial news path that I've been on, I started
doing that locally. I worked at New York one News
as a business news producer, talking about the local economy
and small businesses. And I've done a kind of a
full circle now and now I cover everything. I cover
education and restaurants and all that. But I really love
doing it through a podcast. I think it's people are listening,
(24:20):
people are engaged again. It's really a validating, a validating exercise.
And we won an award last year for like one
of the best local podcasts in the country, and so
we're just hoping to build on that momentum, and I
don't think I can. We're nowhere near abandoning the personal
finance business that I've built, But I do think I'm
(24:42):
building something where in ten years, I can, you know,
step into this, perhaps full time, and maybe even have
it be a legacy business. It's not about me, this
Montclair Pod. It's really about giving back to the community.
My daughters eight, and she said, will this still be
around when I'm in high school? Because she's into it.
She wants to contribute. And I'm excited for that. You
(25:04):
didn't ask about. You asked about probably this year what
I'm excited about. But I'm excited about this being something
that my kids can participate in. I don't think they
want to take over the So Money Podcast, but I
think they'd be into the Montclair Pod.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Excellent, excellent furnish. Where can people find you?
Speaker 4 (25:17):
You can find me on the so Many Podcasts, so
Many Podcasts dot Com three days a week and as
well if you are in the Essex County area in Jersey,
the Montclair Pod. We actually have a majority of our
audience outside of Montclair.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
People who list I still want to know where ye are,
Like Montclair is doing, We think there's a.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Park slopers in Brooklyn who are often the ones moving
here and they want to know.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, exactly awesome, Well, Furnish, thank you so much for
joining us. Thank you to everyone for listening. If you
have feedback on this or any other episode, you can
always reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
(26:23):
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's episode is going to be a longer one part
of the series where I interview fascinating people about how
they take their days from great to awesome and any
advice they have for the rest of us. So today,
I am delighted to welcome Farnush to Robbie to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Farnush is a personal.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Finance expert, host of the So Money podcast, author of
many books, including A Healthy State of Panic and psych
Yourself Rich.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So Farnush, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Thank you, It's so great to be here and reconnect.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I'm excited to chat with you again. Why don't
you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, I am.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
For twenty over twenty years, I've been working as a
financial journalist and content creator educator. I started as a journalist,
but really the work has expanded to all sorts of
care communication around financial literacy. I have a podcast as well,
I've written books, I speak, and I'm also a wife
(01:08):
and a mom.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I I you know, I'm not doing it all, but
not all the time.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
But you know, over the years, it's accumulated.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, how old are your kids now?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
They are eight and eleven?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Gotcha, boy, girl boy.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And we are recording this in January, where those of
us on the East Coast are.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Preparing for a giant snowstorm. Apparently.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, I just got back from the grocery store.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I thought I was ahead of it. I was like
everybody else.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Everyone's there, everyone's there.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I got there before all the water and meat was gone, though.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, although it's slightly in today.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I mean, if your kids will have virtual school the
Monday or whatever, it's it's gotten a little easier as
they get older, right, well.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
It's gotten in some ways easier, but you know, I
miss the days where they together would play well together.
They are getting more on each other's nerves, so the
yelling and the screaming has intensified when they're all under
one roof. And so we also need to go to
the wine store before the blizzard arrives.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
That's on art, getting salt, gas in the car and
wine for you know that when that inevitable need arise.
So how did you wind up in the personal finance business?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Oh my gosh, Well, I studied finance at Penn State.
That was my degree. That was my intention, was to
go in and be a finance person, working in a
finance department or a Wall Street maybe even. But pretty
quickly into that degree studying at Penn State, I realized,
you know, well, I like the idea of this, I
(02:41):
like the stories behind this. I like studying companies and
corporate structure. I love storytelling. I've always loved storytelling. I've
always been drawn to journalism and being on a stage
even and like the creative side of work and life.
And I thought, is there a away for me to
not abandon this? You know, I want to use what
(03:03):
I've invested so far and finish the degree, but maybe
do a pivot that isn't such a hard right, And
I realized, you know, it was around two thousand and two,
and we had a lot of scandal in the financial world.
Wall Street was becoming main street news. We had a
lot of white collar crime, and I don't know, I
(03:24):
just felt like CNBC was becoming a thing, and I
felt like there was a market now for financial journalism
more than ever before. So I thought, maybe there's a
way to combine what I'm already studying at Penn State
with journalism. So right after Penn State, I entered into
the Columbia's a journalism program for graduate school and really
(03:44):
just hit the ground from there. There were a lot
of people like me at the time who were consciously
trying to do this at least and so that I
will I will say that contributed a lot to my
early success, just kind of like knowing what you want
to to do early on, didn't know if it was
going to stick, but I ended up loving it. And
even within the personal even within like the whole financial
(04:07):
reporting world, finding a niche within that was important, and
for me it was personal finance. It wasn't so much
following the crooks in the business world. That was definitely
someone else's job, but not for me. It was like
just trying to help people with their money, trying to
help people dissect their retirement plans, and especially young people
(04:29):
and women, because I felt like that was a very
underserved market.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, and so you've done a lot of different iterations
of that. I mean, you've you know, done TV, you've
done print, You've done all sorts of different things for that,
and so you've seen a lot of different people's lives
I'm curious, what is a money goal you would like
to see more people set.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I would love to see more people believe that they
can be wealthy. I know that so many of us
are just trying to get to zero, and that's understandable.
We have a an incredibly huge debt crisis in our country,
led by student loans and of course credit cards, and
just the idea of getting to a day where you
don't have debt is the dream come true for so
(05:11):
many of us, and I really want us to push
that goal further, especially again for women. I think that
we've often been sold this narrative of like complacency right,
and also to have someone else take care of our
financial life for us, and I want us to be
more aspirational in our financial lives. And if that means,
(05:32):
you know, making more money, clearing our debt and then
making more money, I want that for everybody. I want
more people to feel more empowered around their finances, to
feel more in control around their finances, and also to
just be more curious about it too, to ask the questions.
Money is still such a taboo topic and it keeps
us from keeps us from playing big, and that's that's
(05:57):
what I want. That's what I want for everybody.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Well, and especially to talk about this with women, I
feel like a lot of the literature and stuff aimed
at women is more focused on the frugality part of it,
like don't waste your money on expensive handbags or something
like that or whatever for stereotypically buying, but not so
much about like, you know, you have a life you want,
here's what you need to do to make sure that
(06:21):
you can produce this life that you want for you
and your family exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I remember leaving college and even for me, someone again
who studied finance and was raised to really feel independent
and want that independence, early on, I was like, wow,
you know, when will my life start? And I realized
it's like now. And I don't know if it was
a it was me being a woman or what, but
I do I sense it in my female friends in
(06:48):
my twenties, where we almost felt like our lives couldn't
really start until we met someone, you know, and maybe
it was like the guy who would come and like
support us and would have the bigger salary and then
our dreams would come true and then we could finally
buy the house and then we could finally have the kids.
And I want to tell women like, you know, your
life starts now and you're in charge, and it's you're
(07:11):
driving the ship, and the earlier that you can start
to figure out how to support yourself and invest in
your future. Look, you know, your prince charming or your
Princess charming may come still and that's great, Like have
that also be a goal, but not to be the
only goal. And sometimes we just wait for that and
at the expense of losing out on our independence and
(07:34):
our financial future.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Absolutely, well, we're going to take a quick ad break
and then I will be back with more from Varnish
to Rabi. Well, I am back talking with Furnish to
Rabbi was a personal finance expert host of these So
Money podcast So interestingly, you know you've, I said, you've
(07:57):
went through all these different iterations in your career, the
different kinds of personal finance journalism.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
We've done with it, you know, making a brand for yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And I saw that one of the things you do
in addition to personal finance work is coaching people on
personal branding. I wonder if you could talk a little
bit on that. Is there something you wish you had known,
like when you were starting out about building the brand
that is Furnishe.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, I think that I felt like someone had to
give me permission to put myself out there and believe
in myself. Like I gosh, I always felt like I
had to and I, you know, arm myself with more credentials.
You know, there was a moment in my career, despite
the fact that I had been doing what I was
doing for a decade and I had all this experience
(08:43):
helping people, all these I had books, I was like,
maybe I should get a license in financial planning because
then people will take me seriously. And sure, maybe that
is something credible to do, but that's a whole different
career path. But for some reason, I thought like I
(09:03):
need this because otherwise I'm going to miss out on
more speaking opportunities and people won't take me seriously. And
I still hear this from especially women who are educated experience,
They have clients, and they are worried that they're not
going to get press or the media won't care about
their story or won't want to feature them as experts
because they don't have say, ten thousand followers on Instagram,
(09:27):
or they don't have already a huge track record in
the press, and so we're always like getting in our way.
We're always finding excuses for why we're not that special,
and I'm here to say, like, you have it, you know.
It's like we it goes back to what Cheryl Sandberg
said and lean in. Like when men apply for a job,
(09:50):
if they can qualify for about thirty percent of the
of the bulleted requirements for the job, they're going to
apply For women, it's like I need to have all
of the I need to qualify for everything before I
will put myself in for possible, you know, before I apply.
So I see that in the entrepreneurial world as well,
(10:13):
where we are our biggest enemies, sometimes we are our
biggest critics.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
And why, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Maybe it's just the imposter syndrome, which I know is
also like a fabricated thing too, But I read up
against that and I still see that now in my
clients and I'm just here to tell them, like, you
have what it takes. And if you want evidence of that,
look at the people who are being featured online. You know,
if you're looking for exposure and press, and that's what
(10:40):
I often help them with is like getting out there
more right, getting more eyebos on their work.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I mean practically, like I was saying, Okay, well I
have this expertise and I want to put myself out there.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Like you should be just reaching out constantly, like thinking
about you know, story angles, like what would you recommend?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
First?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
It's about a couple of things. One is what is
your expertise? What do you want to help people with?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And what are the three to five things big ideas
that you have, the counterculture ideas maybe that you have,
or maybe you see something in the news and you're like,
I want to have a I want to share an
opinion about that and root it in my expertise. But
also who's your audience, because you don't want to be
pitching everywhere, Right, There's probably like three to five outlets
that make the most sense for you. Sometimes it is
(11:25):
general news, but sometimes it's a very niche outlet, publication,
a trade magazine. So it's doing a lot of that
homework first to kind of understand where your audience is
hanging out and what is your goal for this press?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Is it just to get out there, to get out
there and get those you know, those press labels on
your website, which is definitely fine. Like in the beginning,
that helps to boost your credibility, but after that, what's
the goal, right, Is it to have people find you
and have those people ultimately come work with you? Is
it to promote your book, is it to promote your workshop?
(12:02):
Whatever it is. So maybe that it's catering what you're
putting out there to that so that it aligns with
what product you're selling or service you're selling. So that's
kind of the the algorithm, so to speak. And then
the pitch, right, it's figuring out who is behind that
media outlet on the receiving end, and then creating an
(12:25):
authentic relationship first with that person. I don't often say
like cold pitches are fine, they work, But if you
can find a way to first make a connection with
this person that has nothing to do with selling anything
to them, I find that that's always playing the long
game in other words, is always a great strategy. But
(12:45):
of course, if you have something immediate on your to
do list, like you have a book that you want
to see you know, you're selling, I get that, but
I find that building those bridges really do pay off.
And these days everybody's online, right journalists online. The other
way you could do it is just write your own articles.
A lot of places take contributor pieces, so that's another
(13:07):
thing that I coach people on how to do that,
how to write for those publications and get them in
the right hands.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Absolutely sounds good. Well, what does a day tend to
look like for you right now?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
As you're managing you know, your many parts of your business,
your different hats you're wearing.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Well, lately it's a lot of staying local to my
neighborhood here in Montclair, New Jersey. I used to travel
to New York more often. I used to live in
New York City, but during COVID we moved to the suburbs,
about fifteen miles outside of the city. This is a
big commuter town. But I started a local podcast about
(13:44):
my town. So that, in addition to the personal finance
work has taken over a lot of my sort of
business career time, and so I'm really tethered to, you know,
being here. I've become suddenly like a local journalist again.
My day is pretty much, you know, mornings is doing
the school rush, you know, getting my kids off to
(14:04):
the bus and that starts around six thirty am. We
live in a magnet school district, so we have six
seven elementary schools. We don't have like a neighborhood school
that we go to, so my kids get on the
very early bus to go, you know, to the school uptown.
And then after that it's usually getting a workout in
(14:25):
and then it's starting work and then work, work, work, work,
work until probably four thirty five, with some breaks to eat,
maybe get a stretch in meetings, sometimes going in and
out of the house. You're working from home, right, so
it's like putting in a load of laundry, putting in
a load of dishes. I'm a neat freak, so I'm
(14:47):
constantly tidying up. It's a problem, probably takes a lot
of time out of my day. I can't help it. But
also I feel like it makes me more focused, and
I need those resets. I need, like to constantly reset.
I'm pretty good at powering through work, but I do
need those quick little resets, whether it's getting up and
getting a drink of water, getting up and just putting
(15:09):
in a load of you know, the dishes, and then
coming back and then powering through another hour of work.
So I know that about me. And then once my
son comes home from school around two thirty, he's pretty
self sufficient. He's eleven, he does his homework. He knows
not to bother me, but I won't lie. Like dinners,
we like to have a family dinner, but not always
do I make it. I think probably I get about
(15:32):
forty to fifty percent of the week is a home
cooked meal, and buy home cooked, don't. I'm not fancy
about it. It's usually like three or five ingredients, and
the other days we're ordering. And that is just because
neither one of us really enjoys cooking and it's convenient.
So you know, I'm not proud of that, but that's
(15:54):
just how it's working out right now. And that's my weekday.
I mean, sometimes I go into the city, but seldom
really I try to. And when I do go into
the city, it's like I want to stack the day,
try to really get in, make it productive, get in,
get a haircut in, get a media hit, in a meeting,
and be back before dinner. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Well, I'd love to hear that a personal finance expert
is okay with ordering dinner.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
If that's the thing that makes life for me.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
You bridget for it. It's you know, and we also,
you know, we what we really want to try to
do is have the family dinners, you know, and if
that means we have to order in, because that's the
quickest thing to do to be able to have that
family dinner, because then at six o'clock, my daughter has
to go to basketball. And if that, you know, I'm
really it's about priorities. Right In the long run, I
(16:45):
think I'm going to be less upset about the fact
that I maybe overspent a little bit on eating out,
and I'll be more happy that we got to eat together.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
All Right, Well, we're gonna take one more quick ad break,
then I'll be back with more from Furnish to Rubbie. Well,
I am back talking with Fernush to Robbie, who is
a personal finance expert host of the so many podcasts
plus a local one about Montclair, New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
What's the name of that one, The Montclair Pod?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
The Montclair Pod.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Okay, So for my listeners who are interested living in Montclair,
New Jersey, or who are otherwise drawn, c're curious Mount
Claire curious, you can listen to that. So you've been
talking a little bit about things that make you more productive,
like taking little breaks during the day. I'm curious if
there are any other strategies you use to make yourself
more productive.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Well, I have been picking up the phone and calling
instead of text and email, and you know sometimes when
you're For example, I have a co host on the
Montclair Pod, Michael. We've known each other for twenty five years.
We share a brain at this point. He lives in town,
and it's partly why this podcast has been so successful.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Lease gen X.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
I am right on the cusp, and I find that
the gen xers love to talk on the phone. He
will call, and it's a little it's gotten a little
taking use getting used to for me because I've been
a big Texter. He will call, he will FaceTime sometimes
in call and it's very like put off, putting sometimes
because if you're not used to it, and but it's
it's actually been really good because a phone call you
(18:24):
can get so much done in fifteen minutes. Then trying
to like explain something over eighty texts and then you know,
it's also distracting if you're trying to manage dinner time
with your family. So it's just like taking that ten
minutes to have the phone call. And it's just easier
multitasking too. You can put it on audio. So that
(18:47):
analogue hack has been actually a great productivity thing for me,
and I really thank my gen X friend for incorporating
that into my workflow.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
For reminding you that you can in fact use your
phone as a phone. Yes, yes, I know, it's crazy,
crazy enough. What does your planning process look.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Like my planning process, Well, we have my husband.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I have a shared Google calendar, and I have multiple
calendars within the calendar. So there's my work calendar, but
even within my work calendar, I break it out to
my podcast calendar. There's a personal calendar for me. It's
all color coded. There's the Montclair pod calendar, there's the
share calendar with my husband. I share a calendar with
(19:32):
my work husband, Michael, and so I know what he's
up to. And that's kind of how I stay aware
of everyone's whereabouts, including my own. And when everyone says
how do you book so many guests on your podcast?
I have two guests per week. Do you have a booker?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Like?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
How does it work?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
I say, I have a scheduling link. I send this out.
People choose their own dates, but I block dates on
that scheduling calendar so that I give myself, you know,
basically peace during the week. So I'm not doing podcasts
at all times. So the podcasts are sort of reserved
for certain days of the week and even just certain
(20:12):
blocks during the day.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So I try to budget.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
The different things that I'm doing during the week, and
I try to do nothing on Fridays. I really try
to have not that I'm doing nothing on Fridays, I
should say, I take that back. No calls on Fridays,
no big meetings on Fridays that keeps me at my desk.
I will go out and have meetings. I might have
coffee with a friend on Fridays. I like to use
(20:40):
Fridays and really starting on Thursdays, Thursdays and Fridays to
go out of the house and see people in person locally,
because Monday through Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Is a real mad dash.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
We publish the Montclair Pod on Thursdays, so it's a
lot of work tethered to my desk Monday to Wednesday,
and then Thursday Friday, I like to just kind of
get out and get some fresh air.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, and actually see Montclair. Yeah, precisely.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So what is something you have done recently to take
a day from great to awesome?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, I'm really proud of this.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I on a Sunday, my best friend was in town
from Philadelphia. She was in New York, actually not even
in Montclair. And you know, I already said I don't
love going into New York unless.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I have to.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
And she was in town and she said, do you
want to hang out today? And it was a Sunday,
and you know, my kids are a lot Sundays are busy,
and I said sure, And my husband's great, he's not
gonna but even still, you know, I think as a
parent with growing kids, you do feel like it's a
(21:49):
lot like to take to take yourself away from that life.
And then but I was so happy to do it.
I just I took I didn't even go on a train.
I drove, which is unlike me. I always like to
take the train. But I was like, I'm just going
to drive. I'm going to drive into the city. And
then I realized, actually, how easy this is. I should
do this more often. I saw her, I got parking
(22:09):
on the street. I felt like I'd won the lottery,
and then I went and we just did a little
you know, window shopping. We had a nice lunch, be
caught up, and it's just a reminder, especially in midlife,
how important your relationships are, outside of your family, your friendships.
My friend and I, Kate, we've been friends since the
first day of college, and.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I need that, she needs that. We all need that.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
And it would have been such a shame if I
had said no, and I could have easily said no
and she would have understood. I think we all kind
of understand how life can get at this stage. But
I was so happy that I did. And of course
I came home to a little bit of a mess,
but that's okay. You just spend They will survive, Everyone
(22:54):
will survive.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah. No, I mean I was terrified of driving into
New York for ages, and then I did and I
was like, oh, yeah, people do this all the time
and they're not better drivers than I am.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
So no, it was actually, you know, Sundays can be
hit or miss going into the city. There can be
during specially.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
During great or something exactly.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
We've gotten stuck in so much traffic. I do have
some PTSD driving into the city on weekends. But I
checked the traffic. Nothing seemed to be going on, and
like I said, I got free parking on the street.
It was unprecedented good as you can get with stuff
like that. Yeah, it does take a day from great
to awesome when you're parking is free, so furnish.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
What are you looking forward to, Well.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I'm really looking forward to making local news great again.
And you know, you read about so many local papers
shuttering and just media in general is having a really
rough road. And I started my career actually in local news.
We don't even really talk about that, but even with
(23:55):
the financial news path that I've been on, I started
doing that locally. I worked at New York one News
as a business news producer, talking about the local economy
and small businesses. And I've done a kind of a
full circle now and now I cover everything. I cover
education and restaurants and all that. But I really love
doing it through a podcast. I think it's people are listening,
(24:20):
people are engaged again. It's really a validating, a validating exercise.
And we won an award last year for like one
of the best local podcasts in the country, and so
we're just hoping to build on that momentum, and I
don't think I can. We're nowhere near abandoning the personal
finance business that I've built, But I do think I'm
(24:42):
building something where in ten years, I can, you know,
step into this, perhaps full time, and maybe even have
it be a legacy business. It's not about me, this
Montclair Pod. It's really about giving back to the community.
My daughters eight, and she said, will this still be
around when I'm in high school? Because she's into it.
She wants to contribute. And I'm excited for that. You
(25:04):
didn't ask about. You asked about probably this year what
I'm excited about. But I'm excited about this being something
that my kids can participate in. I don't think they
want to take over the So Money Podcast, but I
think they'd be into the Montclair Pod.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Excellent, excellent furnish. Where can people find you?
Speaker 4 (25:17):
You can find me on the so Many Podcasts, so
Many Podcasts dot Com three days a week and as
well if you are in the Essex County area in Jersey,
the Montclair Pod. We actually have a majority of our
audience outside of Montclair.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
People who list I still want to know where ye are,
Like Montclair is doing, We think there's a.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Park slopers in Brooklyn who are often the ones moving
here and they want to know.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, exactly awesome, Well, Furnish, thank you so much for
joining us. Thank you to everyone for listening. If you
have feedback on this or any other episode, you can
always reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
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Before Breakfast News
Host
Laura Vanderkam
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