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Farnoosh Torabi
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Farnoosh Torabi
So Money Episode 1980 Ask Farnoosh.
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Farnoosh Torabi
Welcome to so Money, everybody. I'm Farnoosh Tarabi. It's May 8th. This is episode 1980, which is my birth year. So I'm feeling lucky. We're gonna get a lot accomplished on today's episode. And a shout out to all the moms in the audience. Mother's Day, of course, is on Sunday, in case anyone forgot. What am I doing? Thanks for asking. I'm going out with a friend, a fellow mom for a day of shopping and just being away and treating ourselves. We had other plans, like going to a spa, maybe getting some brunch. But we were a little late to plan. All the reservations were taken. And so we ended up with going to a Jersey mall. And you know what? That is fine with us. It's all about just a day of relaxation, treating yourself, not having to answer any questions from your family. That said, we will reconvene with our family, our children and husbands for dinner Sunday night. I think Mother's Day should be renamed just Mother's Day. I think sometimes it wants to be a whole family event. And I'm all for moms just getting out of Dodge and do nothing if you want, but do nothing on your terms. It's a jam packed show. Today we have the big April jobs report that just came out. And following that, we're going to address questions including how to prepare for a job loss. If you were laid off, now what? Although the jobs report came in better than expected. But what is the reality, right? Like how are we actually feeling about the economy? The data says one thing, but real life informs us otherwise. We're also going to talk about saving on utility bills. As we approach the summer, many are expecting those prices to creep up higher. In fact, a story in the New York Times talks about how the average bill is forecasted to rise 8.5% this summer. So what are some ways to not overpay? We're also going to talk about managing your credit card debt because right now we're looking at U.S. credit card debt at 1.28 trillion. The average American cardholder has about $6,700 in debt. This is according to the Federal Reserve bank of New York. Delinquencies are rising and a lot of people are just struggling with the interest rates alone. You which are above 22% on average. It's making it very difficult to pay off balances. If you hear some knocking, by the way, those are my gutters getting replaced. So really bringing you behind the scenes here. You hear that. So a question in the audience. What do I think about balance transfer cards where they offer you 0% for a period of time. I'm going to give you some recommendations. We're also going to get into some news regarding Apple. So if you have an iPhone, listen up. Apple has just settled a $250 million action lawsuit, which could mean that some iPhone users will be eligible for a sweet cash payout, including yours truly. So I was very interested in this story and interested to find out how to get mine, how to get my $95. All my advice is coming your way. Hang tight. In case you missed any of our episodes this week, going back in time, on Wednesday, I chatted with Mrs. Dow Jones on why old money rules don't apply anymore. Mrs. Dow Jones, also known as Haley Sacks, that is her birth given name, is one of the Internet's most prolific and popular financial gurus. She has a new book, her first book coming out later this month called Future Rich Person. So we got into those pages as well as what she thinks of the trad wife movement, the memoir Strangers by Bell Burden. Haley actually interviewed the author on her podcast, which is called Financial Tea. And although we're hearing more and more about how real estate isn't a great investment, I wanted to set the record straight with Haley and talk about how should we be thinking about building wealth then? Because someone's got to buy these houses eventually whenever they go on the market. All right, now before we get to the mailbag, let's talk about a big story in the news that just came out yesterday that's giving me some reservation. And it's a story about crypto. It's in a lot of publications this week. I found a big story in the Wall Street Journal and specifically it is about leveraging your crypto position to afford a down payment on your home. So normally that down payment for a home comes in the form of cash. But what if now you could take your crypto, take out a loan against it, the valuation of it, and use that essentially that debt to pay for the down payment on your home. What do we think about this? So this story's making headlines, not because this hasn't been done before. People are already doing this. But Fannie Mae is now getting into this game. They are now accepting crypto backed mortgages for the first time. Fannie Mae, which is a mortgage finance giant, is soon going to be accepting these crypto backed mortgages which is going to basically expand cryptos into mainstream housing transactions. Fannie is backed by the federal government. It's overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency The Trump administration. In this Wall Street Journal article, they also write about how they've been generally supportive of the crypto industry. So there's a lot of tailwind to this idea of using crypto to basically leverage a down payment. Now, this is different from cashing out your crypto to then buy a home. This is using your crypto as collateral. And this was surprising to me. About 14% of American adults own cryptocurrencies as of 2025. That's according to Gallup. I don't have crypto. I do have an index fund that tracks the blockchain market, and that's doing very well right now, but it is extremely volatile. Some months it's been down 50% and now it is up. But I'm not holding my breath. Bitcoin prices have pulled back significantly in recent months. Prices are down more than 40% since peaking in the fall. So when I saw this headline, you can imagine, right? My jaw dropped. I was like, how is this a good idea? And in theory, the pitch sounds seductive. It's if you own bitcoin, guess what, you don't have to sell it to buy a home. You get to keep your bitcoin and just borrow against it. Instead of, this is being marketed as housing innovation, but truly, to me, it's like financial engineering that's searching for a problem to solve. I know 14% of Americans own cryptocurrencies. Even if that is true, this is not the average person's problem as to why they can't buy a house. Right. As I mentioned earlier, housing is suffering from a supply shortage. And with whatever's left on the market, those who can buy are facing exorbitant prices. And those people typically aren't coming to the open houses with a suitcase full of crypto. A traditional down payment where you use cash savings. It represents stability, cash reserves. There's discipline that goes into saving up for that home, for that down payment. A down payment is really proof to the bank that you are a solid borrower because you have the ability to weather financial surprises and owning a home. As a homeowner, I know there are many financial surprises as I am recording a truck just pulled into our driveway to replace all of our gutters. That's a five figure expense. I'm not even talking about replacing my roof yet, which is probably a very tall five figure, if not six figure expense in my future. So. Exterior repairs, H VAC systems dying. When we were in Brooklyn, we had a small apartment. We had to replace about four or five h VAC systems throughout the apartment. We had one in different bedrooms in the living room. So it adds up. But it cost us $8,000 to replace those H Vacs. And this was before the pandemic. So a lot of times people will use their down payment, the equity in their home essentially to borrow for things like medical bills that come up that you weren't expecting to pay for. Maybe your kid needs braces, maybe college tuition shows up. Personally, I don't love borrowing against your equity for too many things. But sometimes it's necessary, especially if you're renovating your home. It's not a bad place to borrow compared to other borrowing methods like taking out a credit card, which has a much higher interest rate than typically borrowing against your equity in your home. But in these crypto backed structures, your equity, it's not coming from stable realized assets, right? You're borrowing against cryptocurrency, which is highly volatile, and you're using that to finance another highly leveraged asset. Now I know some people will rationalize this and say, well, you know, I'm going to convert my cryptocurrency into stablecoin Farnoosh. And stablecoin is a much more solid bet than Bitcoin and I'm going to leverage against that. Okay, let's talk about stablecoins, because you often hear that word and it has the word stable in it and you're like, oh, it's totally risk free. It's basically like cash. That is not true. Stablecoins come with their own risks. There's issuer risk, liquidity risk, regulatory risk. Then there's also called depegging risk, where the coin suddenly stops holding its intended value. We've already seen supposedly stable crypto products wobble or outright collapse. So now your path to homeownership depends not only on bitcoin prices, but also the stability of a private digital token ecosystem, which is very different than cash in the bank, treasury bills or traditional assets. And here's really the bigger concern. As a buyer, you're effectively stacking debt on top of volatility. So let's not forget you have a mortgage tied to the home, right? And now you have a loan tied to your bitcoin prices. So you're borrowing twice to live in a house. Your financial stability is now not just dependent on your income and your employment and your home value, but also on whether your cryptocurrency is going to hold its value. So I don't really see this as an innovation. It's really, from what I read this is just another step towards turning homes into leveraged financial trades. And honestly, at the end of the day, let's take a big step back because is this really the housing problem we need to solve the housing crisis in America where too many people are forced to sell their appreciated Bitcoin to become homeowners? No. The problem is we have again, a severe housing shortage. We have restrictive zoning, we have rising construction costs, we have stagnant wages, we have high interest rates. And the average first time home buyer is not sitting on some pile of crypto trying to optimize tax exposure. They're trying to figure out how do I save enough for a down payment without draining my savings account. They're trying to afford their closing costs and daycare and groceries and a mortgage payment that's not going to take up more than half of their paycheck. And I'm getting close to the end of this TED talk, but I wish these private companies and the government would come together and create actual solutions for average homeowners. Average Americans are looking to live in a home not as a trader, but as a place to build a life and put down some roots and build wealth gradually over time. Instead of asking, how do we help wealthy crypto holders avoid liquidating gains, how about how do we build more homes that everyday people can actually afford? Teachers, nurses, young families, middle income buyers so that they can access stable homeownership? That's really the problem in America, isn't it? All right, turning our attention now to the economy. A big story this morning, a surprising story. We got the April jobs report and it looks like the economy added 115,000 jobs, which is far more than economists were expecting. The unemployment rate stayed flat at 4.3%. Economists, at least those surveyed by Bloomberg, had estimated somewhere around 65,000 jobs following March's blockbuster increase of 178,000 rolls. So it seems like we're on a nice two month streak of hiring. But I'll be honest, leaving my house and going into the real world, it does not feel like things are rosy. It's a very different picture. It doesn't feel like unemployment is at 4.3%. I have friends who are still not full time employed after losing their jobs two years ago. Let me repeat, they are still full time unemployed after losing their jobs two years ago. That's not everybody. I'm not here to say this to scare everybody, but. But it's tough out there, obviously tougher for some people who are in certain industries where AI is swallowing up more jobs. It's tougher for college graduates, say, than someone who has work experience and is savvy with technology, or even not somebody who is working with their hands. Because we know that's becoming more and more valuable. If you work in blue collar, traditionally blue collar jobs like you're a plumber, an electrician, you're here to replace my gutters, you're gainfully employed. So the job market's not collapsing, but it is slower and more uneven than it looks from the headlines. This episode is sponsored by Study.com Let me ask you something. Have you ever looked at your college degree or your kid's future college bill and thought there has to be a more flexible, more affordable way to do this? That's exactly where Study.com comes in. It's an affordable platform where you can earn college credit online with over 220 online college courses, including the core classes like English, math and history. The big win here, it's on your schedule. 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Farnoosh Torabi
so the question now the first question to tackle coming from the mailbag is how to prepare for a job loss or if I've been just laid off, what can I expect in terms of finding another job soon? Now, as of March, the average unemployed person had been out of work for about 25 weeks. 25 weeks. That's about six months. The median duration was 11 and a half weeks. Translation Some people are finding work in two to three months, but many are taking closer to six months or longer. Now, I'm going to talk first to the person who just got laid off, but let this be a foreshadowing of things to come for someone who is anticipating a layoff. And maybe we'll give you some clues as to what you can be looking into right now, things you can be doing right now to ease into a potential unemployment phase and not feel like you are so overwhelmed with a to do list. But if you just got notice this week first, you want to file for unemployment right away. Do not wait for severance to run out. Rules vary by state, but you want to get in the system quickly. In New Jersey, where I live, the maximum weekly unemployment benefit in 2026 is $905. Secondly, figure out your health insurance before anything lapses. There is cobra, which can let you keep your plan, but this can be expensive because essentially you're going to be paying the full premium. You're going to be paying what your employer was paying previously, plus what your portion was, plus a 2% administrative fee. You generally have 60 days to elect Cobra. And again, this will allow the status quo to continue with your health insurance coverage and the coverage can be retroactive to the day your old coverage ended. At the same time, you may want to compare the marketplace plans as well as Medicaid or a spouse's plan. Losing your job based coverage usually gives you a 60 day special enrollment window. If you've just lost your job and you haven't done this already, pare down your expenses immediately, not eventually. This is about buying yourself time and optionality. You want to be pausing your subscriptions, reducing your takeout, negotiating any bills, pausing extra Debt payments If you've been making extra payments towards various debts on top of the minimums, maybe you cut back on that to bulk up your savings and then go back to paying extra on those debt payments. I just saw a headline that Planet Fitness had a terrible quarter where earnings their earnings are down. A lot of people are canceling their Planet Fitness subscriptions and that we don't want to read too much into that. But I do think that's a little bit of a sign that people are paring down their expenses their nice to haves in anticipation or because of a layoff. Now the truth is you probably won't find a full time job next week if you've just lost your full time job today. But that doesn't mean you can't make money. So looking at bridge income is how you stay in the financial game, but also the career game. This could be consulting. It could be freelancing, tutoring, temp work, projects, work, part time basis work, fractional work. Even a few thousand dollars a month can slow the burn rate and preserve your emergency fund. And then treat your job search like a campaign. Updating your resume is one thing, but that's not the only part of getting yourself out there. You have to get out there and network. Reach out to former colleagues, clients, vendors, alumni, friends of friends. The hidden job market is very real and it's no surprise, right? The people who get jobs, typically they have relationships that go back to that job, whether it's a friend of a friend. They networked, they got the name of the hiring manager through someone they knew. They wrote a cover letter that was more personalized. This is the behind the scenes stuff that's going on that's getting people back to work. So if you're not currently laid off and you just heard all of this, your action plan right now is to get educated on your company's severance, your state's unemployment, review, your budget. What can you pare down? What are the nice to haves in your budget that are costing you that without them you could shore up hundreds, if not thousands of extra dollars a month, allowing you to ride out unemployment less scathed updating your resume and then the other thing I just want to say is if you have a retirement account that is tied to your employer benefits, make sure that you also take the right steps once you're laid off to move that account over to an IRA. If it was a 401k or a Roth 401k or 403b, you do have a window of time to essentially convert that into either a traditional ira, either at the existing financial institution or a new financial institution. Or if you find a job relatively quickly that has benefits, it has also its own retirement plan. You could directly roll over the old 401k into the new 401k wherever your new job is. But the reality is a lot of us are not finding work that quickly. So directly rolling over your workplace retirement plan into a traditional IRA sooner than later is not a bad move. Okay, next question. How to save on Summer utility bills? We're already paying for high gas prices now. On top of that, we have these electric costs gas costs this summer, which are expected to creep higher. A story in the New York Times finds that the average bill is forecasted to raise 8 and a half percent. There are some simple ways to make sure you're not overpaying. I want to reference this article. Some relatively inexpensive steps include shading windows during the day to block direct sunlight, installing weather stripping on gaps around doors and windows to keep cool air in, and changing the filters regularly. Filter changes are often overlooked, but they have an immediate impact. They can be very inexpensive 15 bucks, but can save you a lot more in the long run. Because essentially a cleaner filter means that your system doesn't have to work as hard to use the electricity to dispense electricity. If you're shopping for new household appliances, refrigerators, dishwashers, the author suggests going with products that have the Energy Star seal upgrading to an older air conditioning system. While it may cost you thousands of dollars to get a more efficient model, this could save you money over the long term. But again, it's expensive up front, so only recommend this for people who plan to live in their home for many more years. Often people want to know what temperature they should set their thermostat to in the summer to save money. And according to energy directors in states with high summer temperatures, they recommend keeping your thermostat to between 70 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit when you're home and then turn it up to 78 when your home is empty. The rationale being that every degree of increase between 70 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit saves about 3% on your electric bill. Finally, you might be able to qualify for some state assistance. Both homeowners and renters can get help with utility bills. This will be based on your income and your family size. It's subsidized by the federal government. And then the states will distribute the money. Every state has its own eligibility requirements. They will often set eligibility at 150% of the federal poverty level, which is about just under $50,000 for a family of four. Some states have higher income limits. All right, now an audience member wants to know, do I have any favorite picks when it comes to balance transfer credit cards? Let's just get into what these cards are all about, what they're intended for. A balance transfer credit card is designed mainly to help people manage any existing debt that they have on credit cards, even personal loans. And then you can transfer that debt from those other interest carrying debts, could be multiple sources to one new card. That's where the balance transfer comes in. And then this card has a 0% interest rate. It is an introductory interest rate, it's a promotional rate. And that usually goes away within 12 to 18 months. People will take advantage of these balance transfer cards when they're trying to obviously reduce their interest payments, make those monthly payments more affordable, especially if you have a high balance and 20% interest. I mean, you can do the math, but the key is that you want to make sure you are able to pay off the balance on that balance transfer card within that 0% introductory period. I will just say some caveats to these kinds of cards. They sometimes carry a balance transfer fee. It's not going to be a huge hurdle in your debt repayment, but it's something additional to pay for this, for the convenience of this. And then the other thing is that these balance transfer cards cards aren't unlimited in terms of their credit lines and their credit limits. Right? Depending on your credit score, depending on the card, it may not be more than 10 or $15,000. So if you've got a lot of debt, just know that you probably can't put all of it onto one single card. You might be able to open multiple cards. But a 0% balance transfer card may not be the slam dunk that you were looking for. And again, it requires discipline. Once that promotional period ends, ends, any remaining balance on that card is going to be subject to the standard interest rate which right now is anywhere from 20 to 25%. You're going to go from paying no interest to a lot of interest if you're not mindful of that window. So bottom line, I think balance transfer cards can be a smart tool for managing credit card debt. And if you want some recommendations for these types of cards, I Suggest heading to nerdwallet.com I used to work for Nerdwallet. They are an excellent resource for personal finance advice as well as credit card ranking and reviews. And they do have an entire page that's dedicated to the what they call the 11 best balance transfer credit cards and they update it every single month. So this is as of May 2026. Their recommendations include the City Diamond Preferred Card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. There's the Discover It Cash Back card which offers an 18 month introductory balance transfer offer. There's the US Bank Bank Shield Visa Card, the City Simplicity Card. There's also an offer from bank of America called the Bank Americard Credit card. That one has a 0% APR for 21 billing cycles which is longer than average. There's also a card from Wells Fargo. There's also this car called the Chase Slate Card. The Chase Slate card, for as long as I can remember has been in this space. I've basically since I started reporting on personal finance at Money magazine. I remember our editors at Money really liked the Chase Slate card. It offers again 0% APR also for 21 months. Like that BankAmericard card. Keep in mind most of these cards though do have a balance transfer fee. That's not usually something you can get around. And that balance transfer fee can be anywhere from 2 to 5% of your balance transfer. And by the way, if you're transferring balances from multiple sources like two different credit cards onto one one balance transfer card, you get hit with that fee for every single transfer. But review these cards. I'll put a link to this Nerd Wallet breakdown in the show notes. If you do find a card that has a balance transfer fee, see what else they might offer you that could counter that. Maybe they're going to give you some cash back for purchases. Maybe there is a bonus offer for opening up the card. The good news is there are a number of good cards to choose from. And if you are struggling with with some high interest credit card debt, this is definitely one way to ease the interest burden. And last but not least, the Apple lawsuit. I own an iPhone. Am I eligible to get money? You might be. So iPhone owners may be eligible for a cash payout from a quarter of a billion dollar class action settlement filed against Apple. $250 million. If approved by a judge, it'd be one of the largest settlements involving Apple. The plaintiffs alleged that Apple violated consumer protection laws by false advertising its Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features. Apple denies any wrongdoing in the settlement, again providing $250 million to resolve the lawsuit. To be eligible, you must have purchased an iPhone, one of the following devices in the US the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model. The purchase had to have been between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025. This involves 37 million potential iPhone owners and the settlement will provide consumers who submit approved claims up to $95 per device. If you want to participate in the settlement, you'll have to file a claim on the settlement website. That website has not yet been released, but you can keep following this story. You can keep listening to so Money. I will be updating us. You could probably set up a Google Alert, a Google News Alert to follow this story so that you'll become aware of when this website, this settlement website, this claim website will be live and that's our show everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in. Big hugs to all our moms and surrogate moms in the audience. Wishing you peace, tranquility, some alone time, some fun time on Sunday, maybe even the whole weekend. You know, go wild, go crazy. You've earned it. You deserve it. You don't need my permission, but just here to be moral support. Thanks for tuning in and I hope your weekend is so Money.
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So Money with Farnoosh Torabi
Episode 1980: Ask Farnoosh: Crypto-Backed Mortgages, Best 0% Credit Cards and Cashing in on the iPhone Lawsuit
Date: May 8, 2026
In this Friday “Ask Farnoosh” edition, Farnoosh Torabi dives into the week’s pressing personal finance topics, focusing on the intersection of news and everyday money advice. This episode breaks down the latest developments in crypto-backed mortgages, navigates strategies for job loss in the current labor market, offers smart summer utility savings tips, reviews the best 0% balance transfer credit cards, and unpacks the recent class action lawsuit against Apple that could put cash in listeners' pockets. Farnoosh maintains her signature candid, practical tone, guiding listeners through critical money decisions with both empathy and authority.
(Begins ~05:36)
(17:34 and 18:30)
(Starts ~21:50)
(Starts ~24:20)
(Starts ~29:30)
On Crypto Mortgages:
“Your financial stability is now not just dependent on your income and your employment and your home value, but also on whether your cryptocurrency is going to hold its value.” (10:11)
On The Real Housing Crisis:
“Instead of asking, how do we help wealthy crypto holders avoid liquidating gains, how about how do we build more homes that everyday people can actually afford?” (13:18)
On Facing Layoff:
“Pare down your expenses immediately, not eventually. This is about buying yourself time and optionality.” (19:24)
On Utility Savings:
“Change filters regularly. Filter changes are often overlooked, but they have an immediate impact. They can be very inexpensive, 15 bucks, but can save you a lot more in the long run.” (22:29)
Farnoosh is frank, supportive, and straightforward, blending current events with actionable personal finance guidance. She frequently uses vivid analogies (“financial engineering searching for a problem to solve”) and keeps listeners’ real-life challenges at the forefront (“Buying yourself time and optionality” after a layoff).
This episode equips listeners with grounded advice for navigating complex new trends in finance (crypto-backed mortgages), practical tools to weather economic uncertainty, and simple hacks to save money this summer. Farnoosh urges caution with financial ‘innovations’ that benefit the few, and focuses on strategies that boost stability, resilience, and long-term wealth for everyday Americans. The episode is especially valuable for those facing a job search, managing debt, or looking to take maximum advantage of consumer rights—like a surprise Apple settlement.