Episode 593: Jean Chatzky: Personal Finance Strategies for Building Wealth Without Overcomplicating Money

Jean Chatzky (0:01)

Hi, guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

Jen Cohen (0:07)

Money has gotten way more complicated than it needs to be. Between investing advice, retirement accounts, 401Ks, financial planners and everything else competing for your attention. Wow, it can feel like you need a finance degree just to know whether you are actually doing the right thing. So today on Habits and Hustle, I'm sitting down with Jean Chatzky to make all of this feel a lot less overwhelming. We talk about why even successful people can still feel financially insecure, the habits that actually build wealth, and how to make smarter decisions with the money you already have. Jean is a financial journalist, the former financial editor of the Today Show, and the founder of HerMoney. She is also one of my favorite people to learn from when it comes to investing financially, because she makes it feel very, very simple. Making money has never felt easier and more understood than speaking with her.

Her new book just became a New York Times bestseller as we did the podcast, which was really exciting. So she made her own money mistakes, learned how to take control of the finances, and then spent years helping us all feel better about it. So now let's dive in.

So we do this thing on the podcast to keep us focused and alert. We do these magic mind performance shots.

Jean Chatzky (1:36)

Okay. Have you ever had these before?

Jen Cohen (1:38)

They're delicious. In terms of what they are, they're very good. It has all sorts of like lion's mane, ashwagandha, tumeric. These ones particularly have 50 milligrams of caffeine. We have, like I said, we have the caffeine-free, we have, people love them though.

Jean Chatzky (1:54)

Okay. They're very popular. Happy to try. Yes.

Jen Cohen (1:57)

I've had like three already today. I don't know if it's a good idea for me to have another one, but I'm going to have a little bit. So we'd shake it and then we just like do like a cheers.

Jean Chatzky (2:06)

Okay. Thank you.

Jen Cohen (2:08)

Want to do it?

Jean Chatzky (2:09)

Yeah. Okay.

Jen Cohen (2:10)

Here we go. By the way, we do have Jean Chatzky. I always say your name, Chatzky.

Jean Chatzky on the podcast, who by the way, is one of my favorites in terms of financial information, investing, planning, and we're going to get really into her new book, which became a New York Times bestseller yesterday. But first, the shot.

Jean Chatzky (2:34)

Cheers.

Jen Cohen (2:35)

Cheers. Thank you for being here.

Jean Chatzky (2:37)

Thank you for having me. Yes.

Jen Cohen (2:38)

It's my pleasure. I'm going to take the full hand. Do you like it?

Jean Chatzky (2:44)

It's okay.

Jen Cohen (2:45)

Yeah. Okay. Listen, you can be honest. I don't care. I mean, I really like them because they really do work and they keep me focused and the ingredients are good. But it's not like a filet mignon. It's just supposed to be something that gets you going.

Jean Chatzky (3:00)

Yes.

Jen Cohen (3:01)

Exactly.

Jean Chatzky (3:01)

Excellent.

Jen Cohen (3:02)

I am so happy to have you here.

Jean Chatzky (3:04)

You have no idea. Thank you. I'm very excited to be here.

Jen Cohen (3:08)

You are like, okay, so like, okay, first of all, you are at the Today Show. You said for how many years?

Jean Chatzky (3:12)

25

Jen Cohen (3:12)

25 years. You were there in-house. What was your title?

Jean Chatzky (3:16)

Financial Editor was my official title.

Jen Cohen (3:19)

I always thought you were, like I asked you offline, like the difference between you and Suzy Orman because she's an actual financial.

Jean Chatzky (3:26)

She's a financial planner. She's a certified financial planner, which I am not. I'm a journalist. I came up learning about this by interviewing really, really smart people.

Jen Cohen (3:37)

Right. You gleaned the best information from the best people in the business, and you were really good at breaking down seemingly complicated financial things to the everyday person to help them basically.

Jean Chatzky (3:51)

I was doing it for myself along the way. I really learned on the job how to manage my own money. I wasn't particularly good at it when I started. I've gotten much better over the years, but this is a topic that people make so much more complicated than it actually has to be.

Jen Cohen (4:11)

Really?

Jean Chatzky (4:12)

It should be presented in a much simpler way because getting it right, I love the title of your podcast so much because it's all about habits. Yes. Getting it right is all about good habits, often repeated, but it's not rocket science.