2025: Ask Farnoosh: Are We in a Housing Bubble? Plus: BNPL Warning Signs, AI Shopping Scams & Should You Consolidate Your 401(k)s?

<p>Are we headed for another housing crash — or is today’s market fundamentally different from 2008?</p><br><p>On this Ask Farnoosh Friday, Farnoosh digs into the state of the housing market with insights from real estate economist <strong>Dr. Joshua Harris</strong>, Academic Director of the Fordham Real Estate Institute. While some overheated markets are already seeing prices decline, Harris explains why today’s housing landscape looks very different from the run-up to the Great Financial Crisis — particularly when it comes to housing supply, lending standards and homeowner equity.</p><br><p>Farnoosh also examines the explosive growth of <strong>Buy Now, Pay Later</strong>, which is increasingly being used not just for clothes and electronics, but for groceries, rent, utilities, medical bills and even taxes. The question she wants consumers to ask: <strong>Are you using BNPL to solve a timing problem — or an affordability problem?</strong> Because those are two very different financial challenges.</p><br><p>Plus, shopping scams are getting dramatically harder to spot thanks to artificial intelligence. The old advice — look for typos, awkward emails and suspicious-looking websites — isn’t enough anymore. Farnoosh shares the new safeguards consumers should be using to protect their accounts, passwords, loyalty points and credit cards.</p><p>Then, two excellent listener questions.</p><br><p>First, Anne is in her 40s after spending two decades moving between employers and has accumulated a collection of 401(k)s, 401(a)s, 403(b)s and a rollover IRA. Should she consolidate everything? And is it actually safer to keep retirement money spread across multiple institutions in case one brokerage fails?</p><br><p>Farnoosh explains the important difference between <strong>diversifying your investments and diversifying your custodians</strong>, how protections such as SIPC work, and why simplifying your retirement accounts can make sense — but only after checking fees, investment choices and plan-specific benefits.</p><br><p>Finally, a listener follows up on the new <strong>Trump Accounts</strong> for children: Why is Robinhood the sole initial brokerage and trustee? Why can’t families simply choose Vanguard, Fidelity or another provider from day one? And did Robinhood somehow pay for exclusive access?</p><br><p>Farnoosh went digging. She explains the relationship between the U.S. Treasury, BNY Mellon and Robinhood, why Robinhood’s role is described as <strong>initial<