HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck: How Women Can Build Wealth at Every Life Stage

In the first episode of our three-part series with AARP, Jean Chatzky brings together four women across four generations- Gen Z creator Hannah Williams, Zillennial entrepreneur Viviana Vazquez, Millennial journalist Ashley Parker, and Gen X financial expert Carly Roszkowski- for an honest, freewheeling roundtable on building wealth across every life stage. They cover why the old financial playbook (get a job, buy a house, retire comfortably) doesn't work the way it used to, why younger women are investing earlier than any generation before them, the real cost of homeownership today versus a generation ago, and what women of every age get wrong about Social Security. Topics include:  Why Gen Z calls the 9-to-5 a horror movie The credit card mistakes nobody warns you about Walking away from a stable paycheck to build something of your own The truth about Social Security's future The financial habits each woman wishes she'd built earlier This conversation is part of a three-episode series, From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, in partnership with AARP, exploring women's financial lives across generations, from your first job to retirement and the legacy you leave behind. Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck, is your guide to building a secure, steady income stream so you can age on your own terms and actually enjoy the retirement you've worked so hard for.  Whether you're looking to save money, manage debt, or prepare for retirement, AARP has resources and tools to help you prepare for your financial future and reach your goals. Get started at aarp.org/buildwealth.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep 535: Mid-Year Investing Reset: SpaceX, AI Stocks, and What to Do With Your Portfolio Before 2026 Is Over

On today’s episode, Jean sits down with Marta Norton, Chief Investment Strategist at Empower, for an honest, clear-eyed mid-year markets check-in. Marta has a point of view that many of you will find refreshing: that politics belongs at the Thanksgiving table, not in your portfolio. And she's here to tell us exactly why. In this episode, we cover: The AI concentration risk hiding inside your index funds, and what it means for your money Anthropic, OpenAI, the wave of mega-IPOs coming our way, and what everyday investors need to know Marta's best case and worst case scenarios for markets in the second half of 2026 And if you're thinking about how to make your money work harder for you in retirement, be sure to pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck, your guide to building a secure, steady income stream that actually lets you enjoy the retirement you've worked so hard for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cost of People-Pleasing: Sari Botton on Money, Reinvention, and Finding Yourself Later in Life

Have you ever looked up and realized you've been living someone else's version of your life? Sari Botton, editor and writer behind Oldster Magazine and author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen X Weirdo, knows that feeling intimately. And she's turned it into a body of work that has resonated with hundreds of thousands of people. In this episode: The financial cost of people-pleasing and deferring to others on money How women in the Oldster community have reinvented themselves professionally in their 50s, 60s, and beyond Why we put off wills and end-of-life planning, and what it actually costs us The "compare and despair" trap around money milestones Pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck. It's the guide to building the retirement income you need, so you can stop lying awake wondering if you'll have enough and actually start living.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep 534: The Aging and Money Mistakes We Swear We Won't Make (And Then Make Anyway)

We all have a list… things we watched our parents do as they got older and swore we'd never do ourselves. We'd stay active. We'd embrace technology. We'd get the hearing aid. And then life happens. Washington Post columnist and author Steven Petrow has been thinking about this for nearly 20 years, and he joins Jean today to talk about the aging and money mistakes we make despite our very best intentions, and how to find your way back to joy even in the darkest chapters. Steven is the author of Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old and his latest book, The Joy You Make, and he brings his signature honesty and humor to conversations about aging, money, loss, and starting over. In this episode, we cover: Why we all turn into our parents in the end, and why that's not entirely a bad thing How Steven found joy after losing both parents, going through a divorce, and watching his sister Julie battle Stage 4 ovarian cancer, all in the same year Why joy isn't the fireworks, and the small, everyday moments that actually sustain us Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck, is your guide to building a secure, steady income stream so you can age on your own terms and actually enjoy the retirement you've worked so hard for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I'm 62 with $1M saved. Should my husband and I get a divorce to protect our retirement?"

Nobody wants to think about the possibility of losing their spouse to Alzheimer's. But what if planning ahead meant considering something as unexpected as divorce? That's exactly the question Susan is grappling with today. Susan is 62, still working, and earning around $100K a year. Her husband is 65 and already retired. Together they've built a solid financial foundation — over $778K in investments, $181K in savings, and more than $762K in assets, all with no debt. By most measures, they're in great shape. But the potential cost of memory care and assisted living has them worried that everything they've worked for could be wiped out. In this episode, Jean and Susan cover: What a "Medicaid divorce" actually is, and whether it's a legitimate financial strategy How Medicaid spend-down rules work and what they mean for married couples What asset protection strategies exist beyond divorce How to think through the emotional and financial costs of planning for a spouse's cognitive decline If today's conversation made you think about how to protect your retirement, Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck, is the perfect next step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices