The 4 BIGGEST Mistakes Women Make When Investing | Investing For Women

Summary

Frugal Friends Podcast

Episode: The 4 BIGGEST Mistakes Women Make When Investing | Investing For Women

Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Date: September 30, 2025

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Episode Overview

This empowering episode is dedicated to demystifying investing for women and helping listeners overcome the unique challenges women face in building wealth. Jen and Jill outline the four most costly mistakes women make when investing and offer practical, encouraging strategies to avoid them—sprinkled throughout with personal anecdotes, humor, and strong calls for financial independence. The central message: investing early, gaining practical knowledge, and maintaining direct involvement are the keys to a secure financial future for women.

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Main Discussion & Key Insights

1. Why Investing Matters More for Women

• Historical Context:

  • Women were prohibited from independently opening bank and investment accounts until the 1970s ([00:41], Jill).
  • “In America, men have been able to invest since the 1700s… Women weren't even able to open up a bank account without their husbands until the 1970s. So we've got a lot of catching up to do.” – Jill [00:52]

• Why Women Need More:

  • Women live, on average, six years longer than men ([04:00], Jill & Jen).
  • They are more likely to retire early due to caregiving responsibilities.
  • Women collectively spend $15 billion more per year on healthcare compared to men ([04:32], Jen).
  • Many report not saving enough for retirement because of these challenges — particularly millennial and Gen X women.

• Honor the Progress:

  • “We have a responsibility to the women who came before us to exercise the rights that they worked really hard to get for us.” – Jen [05:13]

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2. The 4 Biggest Investing Mistakes Women Make (And How to Fix Them)

Mistake #1: Waiting Too Long to Start Investing

• The power of time in the market:

  • Jen presents an example comparing investing at age 30 versus 40 ([06:28]):
    • Sarah invests $100/month from 30 to 60 ($36,000 total) → Ends up with $113,000 at 7% return.
    • Ashley waits until 40, invests $200/month from 40 to 60 ($48,000 total) → Ends up with $98,000.
    • Conclusion: Ashley saves more but has less at retirement, demonstrating the power of starting early.
  • Notable quote: “Time in the market outweighs timing the market.” – Jen [07:11]

• Common barrier:

  • 27% of women (Fidelity study, 2023) don't invest for retirement because they feel they don’t make enough ([08:11], Jill).
  • “There is not a minimum amount of money you need to be earning to invest.” – Jen [08:55]

• Solution:

  • Start now, whatever your income or life stage ([08:55], Jen).

Mistake #2: Keeping Too Much Money in Cash

• Why it happens:

  • Cultural and social norms make women more risk-averse, preferring liquidity.
  • “Women do care about saving. We do save, but we are also scared of being illiquid.” – Jen [10:19]

• Risks:

  • Cash loses value over time due to inflation (average 3% over 30 years).
  • Savings beyond an emergency fund should be invested for growth.

• Best practices:

  • Maintain 3–6 months barebones living expenses in a high-yield savings account ([11:46], Jill).
  • Use a Roth IRA for flexibility—contributions can be withdrawn without penalty if needed ([10:19], Jen).
  • “If you meet the income limits for a Roth IRA, every penny you put in… you can take out at any time.” – Jen [10:44]

Mistake #3: Not Actually Investing the Money in Your IRA

• Widespread error:

  • It’s common to deposit cash into an IRA without buying investments (mutual funds, index funds, ETFs) ([14:06–15:41], Jen & Jill).
  • “The IRA is just that—an account. And unlike your normal checking banking account, your IRA can hold both cash and stocks.” – Jen [15:19]
  • Not investing is equivalent to leaving it in a glorified savings account.

• Solution:

  • Check that your IRA funds are allocated to investments (“holdings” section) and not just sitting in the money market/settlement account ([16:27], Jill).
  • Set up automatic investment (buy) instructions—not just deposits.

• Notable moment:

  • Suggestion to visit YouTube (around 16:00) for a visual walkthrough.

Mistake #4: Relying on Someone Else to Manage Your Investments

• The risks:

  • Loss of control and knowledge—dangerous because women tend to outlive men ([18:22], Jill).
  • Over-reliance not just on partners but also on potentially high-fee financial advisors.

• Practical advice:

  • Know how and what you’re invested in, even if you have help ([22:26], Jill).
  • Understand advisor fees—aim for fee-only, fiduciary CFPs at 1% or less; beware hidden charges.
  • “The most you should pay with a financial advisor is 1% assets under management, not the 5% you sometimes see… that can really cost you—over a lifetime it can cost people over a hundred thousand dollars.” – Jen [20:41]

• Empowerment:

  • “You don't have to love it… We can do things that we don't love. We can do hard things. Yes, we can.” – Jill [21:43]
  • Tap friends, free resources, and professional advice for investing basics ([22:26–23:23]).

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3. Lightning Round: Hosts’ Most Costly Investing Mistakes ([28:49])

Jen’s Story ([28:49–33:12])

• After rolling over a 401k into an IRA, she forgot to actually invest the funds—$50,000 sat uninvested for a year.
• Even as a financial writer, she felt embarrassed and highlights how confusing it can be.
• Solution learned: Seek help (she recommends using Capitalize for 401k rollovers).

Jill’s Stories ([33:12–36:19])

• Set up an automatic deposit into her Roth IRA but never actually purchased investments; it sat as cash for a year or more.
• Assumed one Roth IRA was sufficient for both her and her husband—not realizing each individual needs their own IRA.
  • Notable quote: “You are different people. Even though you've become same, you're different. And you each need to have your own Roth IRA.” – Jill [35:40]

Lesson:

Everyone makes mistakes—what counts is course-correcting and talking openly about missteps, so others don’t repeat them.

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Other Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “We absolutely owe it to ourselves and our grandmoms.” – Jill [06:06]
• “The biggest discount you can get on all the things you need to buy when you are old is starting to invest...when you are young.” – Jen [07:36]
• “If you're not sure you bought investments, go check your IRA's holdings now!” – Jill [16:27]
• “If all the money is in their account and they pass, and what are you going to do in the meantime?...Everyone should have their own Roth IRA or IRA.” – Jen [36:19]

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Action Steps & Takeaways

• Start early, invest what you can, and don’t let income level be a barrier.
• Limit emergency cash; invest the rest for long-term growth.
• Always complete your IRA setup by purchasing investments.
• Retain agency and knowledge; don’t abdicate your financial future to others.
• Normalize talking about mistakes and asking for help.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Why Investing Matters for Women: [00:41–06:06]
• Mistake #1: Starting Late: [06:06–08:55]
• Mistake #2: Too Much in Cash: [09:42–12:15]
• Mistake #3: Not Investing IRA Funds: [14:06–18:22]
• Mistake #4: Relying on Others: [18:22–24:23]
• Lightning Round – Personal Mistakes: [28:49–36:19]
• Final Recap and Inspirational Close: [24:40–25:23, 37:38–40:45]

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Final Thoughts & Motivation

Jen and Jill stress the importance of taking even small steps toward investing and remind listeners that financial independence equals peace of mind and the ability to honor the legacy of the women before us. The tone is warm, supportive, and gently humorous—undercut with real expertise and lived experience.

“Time in the market trumps timing the market. Start now—even if it’s only $10 a month.” – Jill [24:40]
“Let’s commiserate together… safe space.” – Jen [40:45]

If you’re a woman, or anyone starting out in investing, this episode serves as your permission and encouragement to begin, to keep learning, and to own your financial journey.

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Produced by Eric Sirianni
Frugal Friends Podcast – helping you save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

I'm Jill.

[A]

And study after study shows that women make better investors than men, but for many reasons, women save less on average than our male counterparts.

[B]

It makes a lot of sense, though, because in America, men have been able to invest since the 1700s, and women weren't even able to open up a bank account without their husbands until the 1970s. So we've got a lot of catching up to do.

[A]

Yeah, so that's why we want to do this episode. We want to reiterate how important investing is, how we shouldn't take it for granted. And we want to cover these four biggest mistakes that women make. Because if you just get these four things right, then you've mastered 99% of the game.

[B]

But first, this episode is brought to you by well done. Not to be mistaken with well done steak because we like that. Medium rare but well done. Like the phrase we all want to hear after doing a good job. You know, after parallel parking or remembering to take the laundry out of the washing machine before it smells like swamp, or plugging in a USB the right way the first time, remembering what you walked into a room for or meal planning for the first week, and knowing exactly what's for dinner. While we can't help you on doing all of these examples that I just gave you, we can help you on the meal planning portion with our very own meal planner. You guessed it. So with the meal planner that we created, you get everything you need to keep your meal planning and prepping organized. There's a favorite recipe tracker, pantry, fridge and freezer trackers, a measurement conversion sheet, and our pride and enjoy 1000 meal ideas. You'll also get a copy of Jen's book Meal Planning on a Budget absolutely free. So head to frugalfriends podcast.com meal planner. If you're on YouTube, click the link below. Get it. Yeah. And and be and and hear the words well done from us.

[A]

Well done not just on your steak. Yes. All right, so a cultural phenomenon that we see here on YouTube and in the podcast space is that when we're talking about investing, I would say 90% of the people talking about it are male. And that's not for nothing. I mean, even if you're following hank green on YouTube, who is a science big science youtuber, he recently posted a video about he's how he's changing his investments. Like, so even people who aren't finance youtubers or podcasters talk about investments. And most of them are male. And for many of the reasons Jill just mentioned, it's just been culturally ingrained in men a lot longer. It's been normalized a lot longer. And as women, we're seeing so many strides in the right direction, but also so many, like, naturally ingrained social and cultural things that keep us stuck.

[B]

And we're not only at a disadvantage for that reason, but also women often need more in retirement than men do, because not only do we live longer, an average of six years longer, but also we often need to leave our careers sooner than men. We need to retire sooner because most of us are taking on caregiving roles later in life. And so that leads to us needing to retire sooner, meaning we need to have more money for those extra years that we're not working.

[A]

Yeah. So on average, women live about six years longer than men. In a research report by Deloitte, collectively spend 15 billion more per year on healthcare as well. So women are more likely to leave their jobs or retire early. But one in five, four women are caregivers, and they currently report not saving enough for retirement due to those responsibilities, including 24% of millennial women and 28% of Gen X women. So it's already happening. It's not just for future generations. We have to be thinking about this now. We can't wait. And also, this is. It does a disservice for all the women who fought for this for us. We cannot take this right and responsibility lightly, because, remember, your grandmother probably could not open an investment account without her husband's permission. This is not far behind us. Nor could she choose what to invest in. And some for some of our Gen Xers, that's your mother could not open a bank account without her husband's permission, nor choose what to invest in. And so we have a responsibility to the women who came before us to exercise the rights that they worked really hard to get for us. And so I hope we take this as a responsibility for ourselves and our family, but also, like Honoring the people who came before us.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. We absolutely owe it to ourselves and our grandmoms. So let's break down the four costliest mistakes women make and how to fix them. The first is waiting too long to start investing. Time is our biggest asset, especially if we are not high income earners. Starting sooner rather than later is super important.

[A]

So let's break it down mathematically. Let's say Sarah starts investing.

[B]

Hi, Sarah. Hi.

[A]

Sarah starts. Starts investing at 30 and invests $100 per month. In total, she invests $36,000 over 30 years. And thanks to compound interest and a 7% average return, her investments total $113,000 now. Ashley.

[B]

Hi, Ashley.

[A]

Hey. Ashley doesn't feel like she makes enough to start at 30, so she waits until she earns more and can invest more. And she does. She starts at 40 and she invests $200 a month. In total, she invests $48,000. With the same 7% average return, her investments compound to $98,000 in the same timeframe because she has theoretically 10 fewer years to invest. Now, Ashley saved $12,000 more, but in the end had $15,000 less. And that is because time in the market outweighs timing the market. If you're looking for a way to save money, and if you're here for the Frugal Friends podcast, you are probably looking for ways to save money. The biggest discount you can get on all the things you need to buy when you are old is starting to invest the money that you will need in those years when you are young. Biggest discount, biggest way to save money on retirement is starting with what you have as soon as you have it.

[B]

And this is a big reason that a lot of women don't invest or wait to invest. So a study by Fidelity that was put out in October of 2023 found that 27% don't invest for retirement because they feel like they don't make. Make enough money. That waiting until I reach this certain amount is the phase at which I'm ready to invest can really hurt us. I mean, just in this simple example of Sarah and Ashley. And so this is why waiting to invest is one of our costliest mistakes. It's not doing it wrong. It's not investing in the wrong things. It's just simply waiting. And so the way to fix that that is by not waiting, just start.

[A]

Yeah. I promise you that there's a man out there who makes less than you or has less disposable income than you, who's investing more money than you or more frequently than you, and perhaps investing in crypto. So Lord knows where that money is going to end up. But people are investing across all income thresholds. There is not a minimum amount of money you need to be earning to invest. So Whether you are 38, 28 or 18, open that account and start with what you have. It's a percentage game, not a certain amount game.

[B]

The second mistake is keeping too much money in cash. And so because of social and cultural norms, women do tend to save a lot in cash, wanting it to be easily accessible in a pinch. And this is really great for an emergency fund. We recommend keeping your cash liquid for up to six months of living expenses. But that's bare bones living expenses. That'd be a really great emergency fund. But beyond that, it's not going to serve you well to be keeping that money in cash. You would do better to invest that money.

[A]

Yeah. One of the reasons that I think these studies show that women would make better investors than men is because women do care about saving. We do save, but we are also scared of being illiquid. So like investing the money and either losing it or needing it. And so a really good solution for this would be a Roth ira. If you meet the income limits for a Roth ira, every penny you put into a Roth IRA you can take out at any time. It's just the growth that if you took that out would have a fee attached to it. And there are even certain scenarios where you can withdraw. I'm saying donations. It's not donations.

[B]

Donations to your future selves.

[A]

Deposits and growth for like your first home purchase and stuff like that. So your money is not tied in there until your 60s. You can withdraw should you need it, but you probably won't need it. So in case you don't, then it is invested in something. And so that's one of the reasons we love a Roth ira, especially for someone who's like, I don't want to invest in retirement because what if I need that money down the road and then I don't have it. Here's. That's your solution.

[B]

And by the way, you should be keeping all of that cash in a high yield savings account. So the reason for that is just to keep up with the inflation rate. On average, for the last 30 years, the inflation rate has been about 3%. Right now there are high yield savings accounts that can yield you 4% return. So we'll link our favorite high yield savings account in the description. So definitely check that out. But beyond that, the Roth Ira Only for your emergency funds only for your cash.

[A]

Your yeah, try to keep it Some people high income earners will do up to 12 months of expenses, but for most people, 6 is great and fine.

[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

Experian.

[A]

So the third mistake is actually a mistake both Jill and I have made. And it's a mistake every time we talk about it. Somebody comes up in the comments is like me too, me too girl.

[B]

So we're gonna keep talking about it.

[A]

So if this is you sound off in the comments, help somebody not make this mistake. It's not investing in your ira. And so what we mean is so an IRA is an individual retirement account and you open this on your own. It's separate from your employer that offers like a 401k or 403b, something like that. Your IRA is opened separately and so it can be very easy to open the account, put money in, and not realize that you have to buy investments. The IRA is just that individual retirement account. And unlike your normal checking banking account, your IRA can hold both cash and stocks. It can hold a lot of things, but like in its simplest form, it can hold cash and stocks. And so people forget. They just put the cash in there and it sits in like a high yield savings account within the account. And they forget to put that money, invest it into stocks like mutual funds, index funds, ETFs, stuff like that. And when you don't invest in an equity, then your money is as good as being in a high yield savings account.

[B]

It's not invested.

[A]

It's not invested. And it's a very easy mistake to make because you don't have like an HR person showing you how to set up your IRA up. You can find videos online, but it can still be overwhelming and confusing if you don't do it a lot, even when you have done it in the past and maybe you're trying to change something over. You can accidentally, you know, switch up your invest like your. With deposits. I'm going to get that word by the end of the episode. Deposits and into the money market and not into a new index fund, whatever. It's very easy to make this mistake. And so it's one that you have to be checking up on annually.

[B]

I like considering it a donation I'm donating to my retirement account. Yeah, I do love that actually. So the solution is to go into your account if you have an IRA and look under the part that says holdings. And you should see, see $0 in the money market account, settlement fund, whatever they call it, and see all of the money you've invested next to your various mutual funds. So you should see the different like.

[A]

And we're going to throw a picture of my brokerage fund with all my important details blacked out of what it, it should look like. If you are with Vanguard, this is a Vanguard example, but it's similar across brokerages.

[B]

If you're over on the podcast, you can hop over to the YouTube about like 16 minutes into the video and you can check, check out what that looks like. So you can have an example of, okay, this is, this is how it should look to know that I am invested.

[A]

You might have like maybe a couple dollars in the money market or the settlement fund because it, you have to buy the investment and so it might put money in there until it gets to a certain amount and then buys. But typically that should Be zero. And all of your money should be next to like. Funds will be like little letters, you know, and this.

[B]

This can be automated. Then this isn't something you have to do every month. You just need to know what are you buying? And then set that buy up regularly, monthly, with your paycheck. Buy.

[A]

Buy is an important word because you can set up an auto deposit. That's very easy to do, but that's not going to be an auto deposit buy. So you have to. And they are. You don't have to do one in order to do the other. You just have to do one or the other. And you want to set up that, like automatic buy.

[B]

Yep. Okay. Last but not least, number four, costly mistake for us ladies is relying on someone else to handle the investments. And this can lead to a loss of control, loss of knowledge, kind of an inability to handle this on our own if eventually we do have to handle this on our own. And that's not to say that there can't be a shared partnership, you know, for a lot of us, you know, usually in partnerships, one person primarily handles the finances and the other one, not so much. But it is important that we have an understanding because, like we referenced at the beginning, women outlive men. This will become a responsibility for you if it is not now. And so having that understanding is so very crucial.

[A]

Yeah, this isn't a trust issue. This is a practical issue. You can't rely on somebody else to do everything while you just, like, sit around and get princess treatment. So another reason, it's not just like with your partner, but also with a financial advisor. If you use one, you have to be asking questions and knowing what's going on, especially with the type of financial advisor you choose. So knowing how that financial advisor gets paid, because I have seen a lot of people who think investing's not for me, I don't like it. And you don't have to like it. You don't have to. And so they'll just put all their money with an investment advisor who is charging a 1% fee. They're charging fees on top of that. My favorite fee, which I forget the name of it right now, but is essentially a fee you pay to market the mutual fund, the actively managed mutual fund. So they, you know, if you're in this fund and you see an ad for it on Instagram, that's you paying for that, not them. So you need to know the fees that you're paying. There are a lot of options for you to do it on your own. And Pay minimal fees, like less than like 0.01% sometimes. And you can also go with a financial planner that charges a flat fee. So they're not going to be charging you a percentage of everything you invest in, but you'll pay for a couple thousand dollars every couple years just for the plan and for them to tell you what to do. And you can also pay for people like assets under management sort of thing where you can pay them to manage all of your investments for you, but they're not charging exorbitant fees. On top of that, the most you should pay with a financial advisor is 1% assets under management, not the 5% you sometimes see when it's free to see the person and they just take a little bit off the top with every deposit you make. That can really cost you it over a lifetime. It can cost people over a hundred thousand dollars. And so you need to know what you are doing or you will pay somebody's salary without knowing it.

[B]

Yeah. So again, you don't have to love it. That's okay. We can do things that we don't love. We can do hard things. Yes, we can.

[A]

And if you really don't love it, you can pay somebody to do it, but it won't be, it shouldn't be super expensive. If you go to a certified financial planner, then you will. That is fee only. Not fee based or something, but fee only. Financial planner with some CFP next to their name, they have a fiduciary responsibility. They will lose their CFP designation if they do not work in your best interest. Will you pay them a little bit of money? Yes, but they're not earning commissions and they're not marketing their services based on the fees you pay.

[B]

So the things you should know though when it comes to investing is what you're invested in, why it's invested there and how much much is there. At least know those three things even if somebody else is managing. Just get a little bit of basic knowledge and understanding. And the way that you can do this is by asking questions. Maybe you've got friends who are already doing this, maybe you've got frugal friends. And you can listen to episodes like this, you can search the Internet, you can ask ChatGPT, you can go to a CFP, do your own research, but feel confident about how to access these accounts, how to have a basic understanding of the ways to invest well, your own kind of risk tolerance associated with it, how to deposit and withdraw money from these accounts. This is good knowledge to have.

[A]

Yeah. And there's even if you don't want to get a full financial plan from a CFP, there's advice only, like CFPs out there too, that you could just ask them, like, this is what I want to do. How do I do it? And they can legally give you advantage advice, like on all these, like, videos and podcasts from financial, like educators and influencers and stuff you'll always see at the bottom. You see it in the bottom of our description. This is not financial advice. And these people can actually give you custom financial advice should you need it. But there is a wealth of education available for free too. Just if you have a complex financial situation, don't let anybody tell you to not get help and to just do it on your own. Because that could be a fifth mistake is that we don't know a lot and we let that hold us back and then we do research and then we know too much and then we overanalyze and overthink it and never take action.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And maybe that's just me, but that can be another mistake that can parallel, can paralyze. So do it. Try it on your own. And if it's not working, get help because there are trustworthy people out there that can help you.

[B]

So to review, ladies, this is what we're doing. Starting small. And we're starting now. Because time in the market beats the timing the market. You can write that down, put it on your mirror, make it a mantra. Begin with what you have, even if it's only $10. Don't wait until you're 45. When you have more money. Start now. Educate yourself. Like, bit by bit, what we're talking about here, podcasts, YouTube. You're already doing it. Well done. Pick up a book like this one. This one will actually lay a really helpful foundation for, for being able to then go, go forward and invest. But pick one and then build from there. Start to get your feet a little bit wet in the water.

[A]

Yeah. And then automate, automate, automate. Take the emotion out of saving and investing and just build the habit. Because even when we were investing and you were, you were depositing and not investing, and I had just made one deposit and forgot to invest it, it's still in there. Right. And the barrier to get it invested is so much lower. So even if you might make a mistake, just get over and get it in and we can, you know, you can iron out the wrinkles later.

[B]

Yeah. Do you know what is totally ironed out? No wrinkles.

[A]

Oh, yeah. We've. We've had this one in. We've invested in this one for some time.

[B]

The bill of the week.

[A]

That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck Bills, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton. This is the Bill of the week.

[C]

Hi Jen and Jill, this is Kim. I'm a St. Pete listener. I've interacted with you before via Instagram and in other ways. And my bill of the week is that I paid my car off, I'd say a couple weeks ago now. And I have embraced a new way of buying cars, the future, all from listening to your show. You two ladies have changed my life for the better. And now that that huge payment is on my life now, I can get out of debt and pay off some of these credit cards now.

[A]

Woo hoo.

[C]

Anyway, good to share that with you. Thank you. Have a great day. Thanks for all you do. Bye Kim.

[A]

Wow, Kim, that's amazing. Congratulations. That is such a lifted weight. And I hope you will call us back when you pay off your credit cards and the rest of your debt and become debt free. And so much money available now to invest, put a little bit into investments.

[B]

You can also do that. You can be investing.

[A]

I would probably pay off my credit cards before investing just because they typically have a higher interest rate. But that's just me and many other.

[B]

People on the Internet start now though too. So $10.

[A]

Let us know in the comments what you would do.

[B]

What would you think? What would you do? Yeah, amazing. And a Saint Local to St. Pete. That's very fun. Thanks for sharing this space and this podcast with us. Kim. If you all are listening and have a bill of the week you want to share. If you are also nearby to St. Pete, you should absolutely be calling. Or if you're just from literally anywhere in the world, we'd love to hear from you, especially if your name is Bill. Leave us that [e-mail] bill and now it's time for the Lightning round.

[A]

Pew.

[B]

We've already alluded to this.

[A]

Yes, but we saved it for the Lightning round. What was your most costly investing mistake? So I'll dive into mine. I maxed out my 401k one year and even just a little bit over a year. And when I left that job, I rolled it over into a traditional ira.

[B]

Which is important to do. And if you've never rolled over. Frugalfriendspodcast.com capitalize we'll also give you that link.

[A]

I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna get to the importance of.

[B]

That, but I'm so sorry. I just jumped on it.

[A]

Yeah, I rolled it over and immediately had a baby and then didn't look at it once the rollover was complete. And I am rebalancing a year later and realize I never invested the money that I had. Oh gosh, almost $50,000 that had just sat in a glorified high yield savings account for a year. And thankfully I did. I mean, I got invested after a year and it has been six years since then. So, like, we're fine now. We've, you know, that money is being put to good use in that account. But yeah, I wish that I had had somebody and I was a financial writer glorified. I wouldn't say I was a financial journalist, but I was a financial writer who taught worse. I taught people how to invest and retire. That was my beat. And I felt so embarrassed that that happened to me because I was always like, you have to once you leave a job. And this was a good. If I had not rolled this one over, it would have been fine, actually, because it was in a good account with low fees. It was a financial, you know, media company, so you'd hope. And so then it made me feel even dumber because I was like, I should just left it for a year and then rolled it over and I wouldn't have lost that. But like, I got. I get out of my head. I put the passes in the past and I. But I wish I'd had somebody to like walk me through because it was also confusing. There's a lot of different steps because it's very. The whole process is, is very archaic. It's not something you could just like do all online. You have to mail things and talk to people on the phone. So that's why after that, when we started working with Capitalize, which is a company that aids you in specifically 400 1k rollovers, it's a free service and if you choose, you know, depending on the broker you choose in the rollover, they get a little kickback there. But it is completely free for you to use even if you're rolling it over into a account that you already have. So. And you are likely going to have to open another account because It's a traditional IRA, not a Roth IRA, unless you had a Roth 401k, which not a lot of people do. So all that to say that was my most costly mistake. Didn't cost me a ton in the long run, but I felt so dumb when I discovered it. And if you have to do a 401k rollover, which I highly recommend, because a lot of 401s are just not great investments, pretty high fee to. So to get control of that money after you leave, use frugalfriendspodcast.com capitalize. We'll have a link in the description. It is a service that we wholeheartedly, a thousand times recommend.

[B]

I have two Roth IRA mistakes, actually. The first one is what I've alluded to, right? Where I opened an account and I set up automatic withdrawals from my checking account into this Roth IRA account and then just did not know. It wasn't like you, where you didn't remember. I didn't know that I then needed to buy investments. And so I thought, I'm just. I'm doing good, I'm cooking. This happened for probably. I don't even. I think I blocked it out. How long? This went on for at least a year, maybe a year and a half. And I started to hear people on reels and even you saying, don't just put it in the account. You've got to make sure you designate what you're purchasing, what you're actually investing in. And it started to dawn on me, like, if I'm not certain that that's what happened, that might be me. But I was too scared to look or acknowledge or ask because it can feel embarrassing. We think that we have to know everything, and not all of us know everything. It's okay to not know everything. You can ask, you can look it up, you can find resources. And so finally I came to Jen with my tail between my legs. I'm like, jen, I don't know. Can you hear, here's computer. Here's technology. Can you just look? I don't. And she looked and she's like, oh, girl, yeah, no, you're not invested. And then I was like, okay, pick for me, please. Help me. Help me buy. Help me make my donations to my future self. And so now it's all on the up and up. And simultaneously, the other mistake that we made, I made is having just one Roth IRA that I thought was for my husband and I because we got married as babies. And so we've learned how to manage money as children coming into adulthood. And so, you know, we have a joint checking account. We have joint, joint everything. So I'm just thinking, this is a joint Retirement account. Yeah, it's okay to laugh at me. I'm laughing at me.

[A]

It's so. It makes total sense, though.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, nobody is sitting here thinking, like, that's done. Like, that makes 100% of.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

That tracks.

[B]

Yeah. I even made our username like this. You know, like, like. Like kind of like a combined username. Like, this is Jill and Eric's Roth ira. And then it's like, no, you each can have a Roth ira. You each can max it out to this amount. You actually should. You are different people. Even though you've become same, you're different. And you each need to have your own Roth ira. And so that cost. That costs Eric a lot of money because the first account was mine. The second account we got, like, two years later is for him. And so, yeah, there it is. And each individual should have their own Roth ira.

[A]

Even if you're not maxing out, even maybe. Maybe you're just doing, you know, maybe 6,000 a year. Right. Each. You should do 3,000 in one and 3,000 in the other, just because when retirement comes, it can sometimes be troublesome or take some time to get access to your partner's Roth IRA after they pass. So you want to have something that you have access to very easily in that meantime. Because if all the money is in their account and they pass, and what are you going to do in the meantime? It shouldn't be that long, but still, there might be some lag time. So, yes, everyone should have their own. That doesn't impact compound interest. I know you would think, like, I want to, you know, make more money, so I want to put all the money in one pile. In reality, even though it's in two accounts, it's still in one pile. Technically, if you're in the same fund, it may not make total sense. But for ease of access, everyone should have their own Roth IRA or ira.

[B]

If you want to know more about other things that you should do or just kind of where you stand financially, we just did a really great video on the five levels of wealth in America. We talk about it a little bit differently than you might expect. So cue that one up next.

[A]

And I think it will encourage you to want to invest more. So maybe now you get over the hump of doing it consistently. This one will inspire you to go further and keep increasing your savings and your income. So thank you so much for listening. This is a super important type of episode that we don't get to do often as the frugal friends. As one of those Rare Women who talks about Investing A lot of female creators do talk about investing, but their content is pushed down by the more prominent male investing channels. So we're all doing it on here so there's someone for everyone. If maybe we're not for you or you want to find a woman who talks exclusively about investing, they are out there. But before you go, if you could subscribe to our YouTube channel or to the show on Spotify or Apple, wherever you're listening, and leave us a review. If you're somewhere, maybe you're on Amazon and you read our book from the library or you bought it and you want to leave a review there or a comment on YouTube wherever. These little things are super helpful for our content. Raising rising in the algorithm and more women feeling empowered to take control of their finances. And especially if you're. You're one of our unique male listeners, like Joshua, who left a book review, it happens to be five stars, saying highly recommend. Jen and Jill have such a flexible mindset that helps you to think creatively about how you live your best life. Aligning your spending with your values lets you have more good things in life and cut the things that don't matter so much. Highly recommend.

[B]

That's so kind, Joshua. Short, sweet, to the point, captures everything you need to know about the book. So yeah, if you love the book, please leave us a review. If you're loving the YouTube channel, the podcast, wherever you are subscribing, leaving a review, these are the free things you can do that really help to support us so we can keep coming at you with some content with our fails to help you not have to fail financially and just have fun talking about finances, which is not always the case.

[A]

Yeah. And if you made a change based on something you heard in this episode, let us know in the comments. If you had your rollover IRA just sitting there in a money market and you remember to invest it in something, you let us know you're not alone. You are not alone.

[B]

Let's commiserate together.

[A]

Yeah. Safe space. See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[B]

What are you hoping all of your donations help to purchase for you in retirement?

[A]

Food.

[B]

Isn't that the truth?

[A]

Yeah, girl.

[B]

I want my money to purchase me food now and purchase me food in the future.

[A]

I don't go out to dinner a.

[B]

Lot.

[A]

Because I have a Tasmanian devil as a child. That's not a religious bash, but I want to be able to go out to a restaurant and just.

[B]

I'm gonna.

[A]

I'M gonna recount my experience at Home Depot for you. To get you an experience. We had a thing.

[B]

To get you an experience.

[A]

Yeah. To give you an experience of what going out in public entails for me, just in general. And then you can translate that to having to go out in public and sit down for an extended period of time and how that's just not possible for me. We were in Home Depot and we got one of the carts where you can put like the wood planks on.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not the flatbed, but like the one that.

[B]

Oh, I can picture it.

[A]

Oh, I know you can. I don't know how to explain it for everyone who doesn't know, but we put the two by fours on the cart and the kids were just, they were climbing the cart, climbing the planks, were putting more things on and they're just climbing it. And we've got a Home Depot employee being like, can you? Like, maybe not. And we had our dog with us. Oh, no, the dog was the best behaved, I believe.

[B]

But you probably just looked like a whole circus.

[A]

But people, I think, had more empathy for us because we had a dog who was cute and well behaved. And instead of looking at us and being like, they are horrible parents. Look at their Tasmanian devils. They were like, it must be the kids because their dog is so well behaved. They must be a good parent because look at how good their dog sits for treats, you know, like, yeah, so good on, Good on us for having the dog. The six months that we've put in to, you know, having that dog has paid off in some amount. But these kids like running back and through the aisles, hiding in things. And I'm there like, stop running, get out of there, get off of there. Get off of this cart or you'll be walking. Stop walking.

[B]

Did any of them get injured?

[A]

No.

[B]

So there you go. Job well done.

[A]

I yell a lot. I yell so much.

[B]

Did any of them get injured?

[A]

No.

[B]

Job well done. Well done. Just like the meal planner.

[A]

So that's my frugalfriendspodcast.com mealplanner. So I hope when my kids are out of the house, I get to go out to dinner and just sit for an extended period of time.

[B]

Hopefully before then you will have children who can sit and eat before they're 18.

[A]

I don't know. We'll see.

[B]

We shall see.