The former “finance bro” turned educator is helping thousands of women move from unsure to unstoppable in their investing lives.
As we step into 2026 and close the door on 2025, we’re celebrating a major win for women: According to Fidelity, 71% of women now own investments in the stock market, up from just 60% in 2023. That is a big deal.
But while more women are investing, many of us still struggle to see ourselves as investors. That same survey found only 35% of women identify as investors, compared to 52% of men. And that matters. Because when we don’t see ourselves as investors, we hesitate to take action, trust our choices, or grow our wealth on our terms.
Amanda Holden is here to change that. She joined Jean Chatzky on the HerMoney podcast to share insights from her new book, How to Be a Rich Old Lady, a guide that’s equal parts practical investing roadmap and rallying cry for women’s financial independence.
Why Amanda Holden Says It’s Time To “Summon Your Inner Rich Old Lady”
Jean Chatzky: Right at the start, you invite readers to summon our inner rich old ladies. For someone listening right now who wants to try this, could you walk us through what that visualization exercise looks like?
Amanda Holden: The big hack is to think about how it feels on a weekend when you’re not at work. That’s really what we’re talking about. A rich old lady is really just an avatar for financial independence.
Financial independence in the investing sense means being able to walk away from work without a paycheck. And I think right now there’s a lot of folks out there who are feeling pretty nihilistic about work and the future of work, so it actually can be quite motivating to imagine a world where you get to untether from labor a bit.
The Power Of The Three Fund Portfolio
Jean Chatzky: You developed a three-fund portfolio. Essentially, you argue that you can cover all of your bases confidently and with low cost using three funds: a bond market index fund, an international stock market index fund, and a US stock index fund. Tell us what to look for when we’re picking a bond index fund and an international stock index fund.
Amanda Holden: With the US stock market, I prefer a total US stock market index fund over an S&P 500 index fund, just because I like to invest in a little bit of everything. With an international stock market index fund, generally, you’re going to be looking for a developed international stock market index fund.
With a bond market index fund, a general or broad fund is going to include both government bonds and corporate bonds. It will also probably include some asset-backed bonds. This is a great starting place. Something that includes corporate bonds is generally going to return slightly more over time than a fund that, for example, only holds treasury bonds.
If you want to earn a little bit more, but you’ll experience a little bit more volatility, do something broad that includes corporate bonds. If what you’re looking for is a little bit more stability, but you’re willing to give up a little bit of returns on the upside, you can do something like a treasury bond fund.
Final Thought: Build a Life That Feels Free
Jean Chatzky: If you’re 5 or 10 years away from retirement, but you find that your savings are falling short, what do you do?
Amanda Holden: The numbers can be a bit confronting because saving enough money to live for 20 or 30 or 40 years is an incredible amount of money that we have to save and invest, and most people are not doing enough.
Not because they’re not trying, but because it’s really a hard job, right? In this country, and especially with the erosion of the social safety net, we get to retire when we have enough money to retire. We get to walk away from work when we have enough money to do so. And so it’s a big job to be able to walk away and not have an income for 20 years. That is a rallying cry to try to get started as soon as you can and bake it into every year that you’re able.
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- How to Invest in 2026: Karen Finerman’s Real-World Advice for Women
- The Gen Z Guide For How To Retire Early (And Why the Old Rules Don’t Work Anymore)
- Ask Jean: What Is Hybrid Long-Term Care?
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