Farnoosh kicks things off with life updates—juggling the whirlwind of September as a parent, launching The Montclair Pod (now a finalist for a prestigious Signal Award (vote here)), and coping with a double hit of bank fraud that forced her to shut down an account and rebuild her banking setup.

Sign up for her investing workshop on Tuesday, Sept 30 at SoMoneyWorkshop.com

Farnoosh also shares important personal finance headlines:

• Doctors vs. Insurance Companies: New prior-authorization rules delaying basic care.
• Amazon’s $2.5 billion FTC settlement: Millions of Prime subscribers may be eligible for refunds.
• Iron Hill Brewery closures: A beloved East Coast restaurant chain, tied to her own family memories, shutters permanently.

In the mailbag, she tackles listener questions on:

• Whether to open multiple high-yield savings accounts for different goals like emergencies, annual expenses, and travel.
• The best ways to start saving for a child’s college education—including 529 plans, gifting platforms, and Roth IRAs.
• How to ace a financial services interview at age 23 without licenses yet—focusing on passion, relatability, research, and asking smart questions.
• Dividing money between an emergency fund, retirement, and a down payment on a home.
• Strategies for intermediate savings goals like marriage or travel within 10 years, and how to balance risk vs. safety in those investments.

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If you’ve been following along, you know that I recently experienced fraud in my own business checking account — a gut-wrenching ordeal where thousands of dollars disappeared overnight because someone got hold of my routing number. The bank caught it, but the disruption and stress were very real. And I’ll be honest: even as someone who spends her life thinking and talking about money, I almost missed the warning signs.

Which is why today’s conversation is so important. We’re heading into the fall and holiday season — peak time for identity theft and online scams. Fraudsters know we’re distracted, busy, spending more, and often less vigilant.

To help us all stay one step ahead, I’ve invited back Martha Underwood, founder of Prismm. Martha and her team are on the frontlines of protecting our financial identity and legacy. She’s here to share the latest scams to watch out for — from PayPal “micro-deposits,” to spoofed IRS texts, to sophisticated AI voice fraud — and, most importantly, the concrete steps we can take to guard our money, our families, and our peace of mind.

Charlotte Cowles on Losing $50k to a Scammer

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Money is never just about money. It’s identity, history, and how we see ourselves in the mirror. Today, we’re joined by psychotherapist Holli Rubin, whose work sits at the intersection of mental health, body image, and financial wellbeing. She specializes in life transitions and women’s mental health, and she’s advised organizations from Deloitte to wealth management firms on the psychology of money and confidence.

In our conversation, Holli unpacks why so many women carry shame and doubt around money, how early messages about worth, care work, and “who earns” shape our financial confidence and why self-worth gets tangled up with net worth. We also explore her nuanced link between body image and money: the ways appearance and status cues can mask (or magnify) our inner stories about value, security, and belonging. And crucially, she offers practical ways to move from awareness to action, especially in midlife when careers, relationships, and health are all in flux.

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