Peri-Retirement: A New Money Playbook for Midlife

You’re not ready to retire. But you might be ready to stop working—and living—the way you have been. How do you figure out what you can afford to change? Farnoosh welcomes certified financial planner Sara Stanich, founder of Cultivating Wealth and author of Crossroads: A Financial Fable for Women Navigating the Decisions, Transitions, and Pivots of Peri-Retirement.

Sara calls this stage “peri-retirement”: the stretch when your relationship with work, money and identity begins shifting, even though retirement may still be years away. Her book follows four childhood friends navigating caregiving, divorce, career burnout and entrepreneurship—and the financial decisions that come with each. The conversation explores why midlife calls for a different financial playbook, one that makes room for both future security and a better life today.

Topics include: What peri-retirement means and why it can begin earlier than you expect. How to assess whether you can afford a career change, lower income or more flexibility. Why earning good money doesn’t always translate into feeling financially secure. Balancing support for children and aging parents with your own needs. Rebuilding financial independence after divorce. Why Sara chose fiction to tell these money stories. A five-year vision exercise to help clarify what you want next.

Learn more: Explore Sara’s work at Cultivating Wealth. Find Crossroads and accompanying resources at crossroads-book.com. How's midlife going? Fill out Farnoosh's survey and help shape the podcast in 2027.

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