At 22, Farnoosh Torabi was over $30,000 in debt, making $18 an hour and living in New York City, the most expensive city in the United States. A case study of the American dream, Farnoosh turned adversity into gold. Her first book, You’re So Money – Live Rich Even When You’re Not, was published in 2008 and propelled her to become one of the most revered financial gurus of our time.
She began making regular appearances on the NBC Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning America and writing for several top magazines including Glamour, Marie Claire and O, The Oprah Magazine. She played coach to struggling Americans on SoapNet’s reality series Bank of Mom and Dad and on TLC’s makeover program, REAL SIMPLE. REAL LIFE. She also served up financial inspiration on Yahoo!'s Financially Fit, reaching millions daily.
And she was just getting started.
"It’s not enough to walk into someone’s home and share 5 straight-forward tips on how to get out of debt," she says, "There are psychological, mental, and emotional barriers that prevent us from taking action around money."
She challenged herself to go deeper to discover the emotional connections that people have with money. Her research led to her 2nd book, Psych Yourself Rich: Get the Mindset & Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life.
"As I developed this whole new way of talking about money and relating to people around their finances, my career matured. The types of issues I tackled matured. I matured," she says.
In her latest book, When She Makes More, Farnoosh tackles the guilt, shame, and questions of identity for both sexes when women are the breadwinners. In traditional Farnoosh-style, she brought her own adversity to the project. "I have personal experience with this," she shares, "My husband and I have a wide income disparity and I make more. We discovered some challenges with this reality and I decided to write a book on the topic to help other couples grappling with this same issue."
Farnoosh didn't rely on personal experience alone; the book is based on dozens of personal interviews and an academic study of nearly 1,000 top-earning women. When She Makes More reveals ten counterintuitive rules women must follow in the 21st century to master this unique circumstance emotionally, socially, and financially.
Farnoosh will dive into this new paradigm at XYPN LIVE 2017 in Dallas this August, where she is scheduled to deliver her keynote presentation, Women, Men & Money: A New Paradigm.
"Financial planners increasingly play a vital role in helping couples, especially those with wide income disparities, find balance and harmony in their financial lives …and by doing so, they support them to not just have healthy balance sheets and comfortable retirements…but healthy marriages," she says. "Now more than ever the CFP’s role as financial advisor is also part marriage therapist."
Financial planners who work with couples or are interested in appealing to more couples will benefit from her presentation, Farnoosh says. Ultimately, so will their clients. "It’s challenging and very rewarding to know that my advice can make a real impact on people’s lives and well-being," she says.
Working directly with financial planners means touching the lives of the clients they serve in a very impactful way. "Money conflict is also a leading cause of divorce and I think the world would be a happier place if married couples had the tools and strategies to navigate those challenges and ultimately thrive despite their money differences," she says, adding that XY Planning Network advisors are "so ahead of the curve when it comes to identifying and serving the needs of today’s generation."
What does Farnoosh have up her sleeve for the next generation?
"Fifteen years into my life’s work, I feel like I’ve just begun," she says.
To see Farnoosh Torabi speak at XYPN LIVE 2017, register for the event.
