Born in Michigan and raised in Wisconsin, Indiana and West Virginia, Chatzky holds a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania.

[citation needed] She moved to the Dow Jones/Hearst start-up SmartMoney in 1992, rising from staff writer to senior editor.

Her 2017 book with Michael F. Roizen AgeProof: Living Longer Without Running Out of Money or Breaking a Hip, became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

[4] The PwC Charitable Foundation provided financial support for the magazine, which had the goal of reaching 2 million American students.

[1] She supports various service groups, and is on the advisory committee for the annual University of Pennsylvania Nora Magid Mentorship Prize, established in 2003 by investigative journalist Stephen Fried and her husband.

[citation needed] She is a resident of Briarcliff Manor, New York, where her former husband Peter Chatzky served as mayor.