Are We on the Right Track at 42?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger

Episode: Are We on the Right Track at 42?
Date: May 12, 2026
Host: Jill Schlesinger, CFP®
Guest: Lindsay from Colorado

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Overview

In this episode, Jill Schlesinger answers a listener call from Lindsay, a 42-year-old self-appointed family CFO, who wants to ensure she and her husband are financially on track for retirement, college savings, and long-term goals. The conversation covers account consolidation, investment strategy, estate planning, saving for kids' college, and the realities of being the family financial planner.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Lindsay’s Financial Situation

• Lindsay, 42, from Colorado, is the financial planner for her family: husband (also 42), two children (14 and 12).
• Husband earns $186,000/year as sole full-time earner. Lindsay works part-time, earning $20k–$30k/year, but this is decreasing.
• Lindsay seeks assurance that they are "on the right track" and practical advice on managing and consolidating their finances.

Retirement Savings and Account Sprawl

• Husband has six separate 401(k) plans from job changes, totaling $542,000 (e.g., [07:40], “Holy smokes… six plans”—Jill).
• Lindsay herself has a rollover IRA worth $387,000 at ETrade and a Roth IRA at ETrade ($137,000). Husband’s Roth IRA is at Vanguard ($123,000).
• Multiple brokerage accounts: newly started one at Vanguard ($19,000), E*Trade ($103,000), and Wells Fargo ($39,000).
• SAVINGS: About $59,000 in cash (after earmarking "internal bills"/reserves), plus $20,000 in an HSA.
• HOME: Primary residence worth ~$700,000 with a $217,000 mortgage at 2.8%.

“You have a lot of money there. You’re going to have more than a million dollars there… it’s just easier if you consolidate.” — Jill [13:41]

Main Advice: Consolidate!

• Consolidate retirement & brokerage accounts to Vanguard:
  • Open a rollover IRA at Vanguard for husband and transfer all old 401(k) money.
  • Move Lindsay’s E*Trade rollover IRA to Vanguard.
  • Transfer brokerage accounts “in kind” (without selling) wherever possible, but check if funds held are eligible at Vanguard.
• Why Vanguard? Convenience, better oversight, and potential access to low-cost advisory services for large account holders.
• Tip: Get all paperwork and account info ready before starting; Vanguard staff will assist, especially with a large influx.

“2026 goal: we are going to clean up what is going on here. Not because any of these firms is better or worse… It’s just easier.” — Jill [12:48]

Investment and Spending Philosophy

• Investment allocations: Use index funds for stocks, international, bonds. Be less aggressive in brokerage accounts that might be tapped sooner.
• Last money to touch = Roth, then traditional retirement, then brokerage.
• Jill emphasizes simplicity over complexity in investment strategy.
• Spending: Family operates on husband’s salary; Lindsay’s income is for “extras” like savings for cars.

“The investing part… it kind of isn’t [hard].” — Jill [26:35]

College Savings & Philosophy

• 529 Plan Accounts: $143k for one child, $122k for the other.
• The plan is to fully fund the in-state public college option; any difference for out-of-state or private is up to the kids.
• Open communication with children about what will and won’t be funded (model for other families).

“We have told them we will cover the cost of an in-state public school… They have that budget.” — Lindsay [18:59]

Debts and Loans

• Main debts: Mortgage ($217k @ 2.8%) and a car loan ($13k @ 2.9%).
• Strategy: Only borrow at low rates and avoid unnecessary debt.

Estate Planning

• Existing wills and documents are outdated (dating back to when the oldest child was a baby).
• Jill urges updating wills, guardianship, healthcare proxy; investigate low-cost or family/friend legal connections for estate planning.

“You want to maybe consider updating your documents?” — Jill [22:06]

Family Support and Sandwich Generation Risks

• No anticipated need to financially support aging parents or in-laws, but open to reassessment if situations change.

Insurance

• Both have term life insurance: hers at $1 million, his at $2 million.
• Coverage is deemed sufficient for current needs.

When to Seek Financial Advice

• For day-to-day investing, DIY is fine given their comfort and plan to use index funds.
• Consider outside financial advice only in the case of major life changes (e.g., business start, dramatic income shift).

Closing Assessment: Are We on the Right Track?

• YES. Lindsay and her family are “doing great.”
• Jill advises ramping up 401(k) contributions if cash flow allows, but stresses they’ve already saved a lot and are ahead of the curve.

“You’re doing great, Lindsay!” — Jill [29:52]

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Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

• On Consolidation:
  “This is how you have these little orphan accounts accumulate… Take the lesson of Lindsay: the CFO is saying, ‘We got things to do!’” — Jill [31:35]
• On Communication About College:
  “Very articulate, right? Here is what we are willing to pay for… Get this in your kids’ heads as early as possible.” — Jill [19:18]
• On Financial Confidence:
  “If you’re doing okay now, then yes. I feel comfortable. But I do wonder… if and when we’d need a financial advisor.” — Lindsay [26:20]
• On Index Investing:
  “In general, you start with… index funds… a stock index for the United States, international, maybe a commodities fund, maybe a bond—and you kind of stop right there.” — Jill [27:01]

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Important Timestamps

• 05:07: Lindsay introduces her main concern and family context.
• 07:40: Total value of husband's 401(k) plans revealed; account consolidation discussed.
• 11:01: Lindsay confirms new access to all their family accounts.
• 13:36: Jill outlines why consolidation at Vanguard makes life easier.
• 18:41: College savings strategy and communication with kids.
• 21:24: Car loan and debt philosophy.
• 22:05: Estate planning gap—outdated documents.
• 24:41: Jill’s actionable checklist for Lindsay.
• 26:35: DIY or advisor? Jill’s take on when to seek help.
• 29:52: Jill gives the verdict: “You’re doing great!”

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Lindsay’s Action Checklist

1. Consolidate all investment and retirement accounts at Vanguard.
2. Update estate plan: Wills, guardians, healthcare proxy.
3. Monitor and gradually increase 401(k) contributions if possible.
4. Annual review of college funding progress and spending.
5. Stay level-headed about seeking outside investment help; only do so if facing major complexity or transition.

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This episode offers an excellent real-world example of mid-career financial management, emphasizing simplicity, communication, and the power of consistent, methodical savings. Perfect listening—or reading—for anyone navigating similar family financial questions at midlife.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hi, Jill and Mark. Thanks so much for taking my call.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I guess what my biggest question is is I am the self appointed, I guess, financial planner for our family and I'm trying to make sure that we are on the right track. I think I'm having like a mid career crisis to make sure we've done everything right.

[A]

So what do you mean by for the family? Do you say like. I mean, I mean, I just want to know what, who we're talking about. Is this like your nuclear family? Is this like your family of origin? Is this like.

[B]

Are you like my nuclear family? My husband, my two kids? Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Because I was like, well, that's not like gigantic Ye. Huh? Right. Okay, so. Okay, well, let's. Let's figure out where things stand. First of all, Lindsay, how old are you?

[B]

My husband and I are both 42 youngsters.

[A]

I love it. I love it when they're younger than Mark. That just makes me feel better.

[B]

That makes me feel good too.

[A]

I know, right? How old are the kids?

[B]

They're 14 and 12.

[A]

Great. Okay. So are you both working full time?

[B]

No.

[A]

Who's working, you or your husband?

[B]

My husband works full time.

[A]

Out of the house, I should say. That's not. That wasn't a nice way to put it. You're like, fine, whatever. All right. How much does he make?

[B]

He makes about 186.

[A]

Okay. Is he in a job with a retirement plan?

[B]

Yes. He has a 401k. There's no employer match on that though.

[A]

Okay, how much does he put into that 401k?

[B]

Right now it's at 7%.

[A]

Okay. And how, how much money has he accumulated in there?

[B]

That's a loaded question. Oh, no, he has, he's changed jobs quite a few times by choice and not choice. So I don't know if you want like his total from all of those.

[A]

Well, let me ask you something. Does he have a bunch of different plans all over the place?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Okay. We're gonna, we'll. We'll get. Let's. We'll figure out how to consolidate that. Okay, so the current plan where he's putting seven there, how much is in there right now?

[B]

I'm going to double check that one. I think it's around 12,000. He just started that about a year ago.

[A]

Okay, that's fine. And all the other money, and this money, this is all pre tax, meaning It's a traditional 401k or old 401ks. They were traditional. Not Roth.

[B]

Yeah, they're all traditional.

[A]

Do you know what the. The, the totals are for all of these or do you need to like give me one by one? It's up to you.

[B]

No, I can give you it totals. Counting the current $12,000.

[A]

Okay. How much is.

[B]

It's about 542.

[A]

542,000?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Holy smokes.

[B]

The current retirement.

[A]

Hold on a second. The 401k currently. Do you know what company is it is like Fidelity or Vanguard. Is it one of those?

[B]

I'll pull it up real quick. That one is through empowerment.

[A]

Oh, empowered. They do a lot of plans, Mark.

[B]

I do have them through there.

[A]

So how. I hate to ask you this. This is such work. This is. You're going to kill me. Self appointed chief financial officer of the family. How many separate plans do you think there are?

[B]

He has six.

[A]

Oh God. Okay. It's going to be one. You know what it's going to. It's going to be one, but it stinks because you're going to do the work. Because I have a feeling he's not going to do it because you're the cfo.

[B]

Can I even. I. That's. I guess one of my questions is can I even do that? Because I, I would be on it faster than he would.

[A]

Well, he's probably going to have to pick up the phone and call. Exactly.

[B]

Because he's.

[A]

But you can. But there may be a way that. Do you have all the statements?

[B]

I mean I have electronic access to everything, so yeah.

[A]

Okay. So maybe there, there may be a, like a way to do this which is can take all the statements, scan them, like download it and then scan it and then upload it from your husband's work account, his work email, send it to the new plan and say I would like to move all of my plan money into this Empower plan that I have here. They may help, but it's going to take him doing. You might have to just get him on the phone and do it. Otherwise you can go plan by plan and ask them to. To send you rollover paperwork from each of the plans. Okay. And what that will allow you to do is get the paperwork and then essentially take the plan, each plan and say, okay, I would like to move this into my current plan and you on the piece of paper. Because I do think it's weird, Mark, I think that these are have to be like documents that are signed that you would be able to say this account AD Empower. Here's the account number. Move the money in.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And a lot of I Can tell you, Lindsay, I've done this. I've helped people do this. A lot of this stuff can be done online, so hopefully.

[B]

So is it better to move it on to the current one, or he also has some in Vanguard and Fidelity? I. I think. I don't. We just want to make sure we have our money all in, like, the best place.

[A]

Well, there's two choices that I would say, okay, then maybe this will make your life even easier. If he has an old 401k at Fidelity, one thing to do is go to that plan or to Vanguard. Either one. It doesn't matter. They're, like, the same. This is people at Fidelity and Vanguard. I'm pissed off that I say this. Unless you have, like, existing IRAs at one of these places or brokerage account.

[B]

Well, okay, yeah, we also have. Because I have a rollover IRA, and then we also both have Roth IRAs.

[A]

Where's the Roth IRAs?

[B]

His is in Vanguard, and mine is in E Trade.

[A]

Okay. All right, you guys. You guys.

[B]

We have a lot.

[A]

You have a lot. Okay, here's. Do you. You're the manager of the money, right? Are you managing the Vanguard account for him, his Roth ira?

[B]

I. I am, as of last week.

[A]

Wonder what happened. There's a big fight. He's like, you do it?

[B]

No, I just finally got all the credentials, and we just opened a brokerage with them, too, so I kind of got access to everything at that point.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, I think so. If you have that at Vanguard, here's. Here's another choice. You get to Vanguard and you say, we are going to open up a rollover IRA at Vanguard. Right. And he has. He has a rollover IRA right now, right?

[B]

No, I have.

[A]

Oh, you do. And yours is at each rate. Is that what you said?

[B]

Yes, mine's a trade.

[A]

His Roth is at Vanguard. Maybe go to Vanguard. How much is in his Roth?

[B]

His roth is at 123.

[A]

Perfect. Go to Vanguard and say to them, I have a half a million dollars, $542,000 in other assets, and I want to move it into a rollover here. Get a purse. Get a human being on the line.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And let them walk you through it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And when they find out, they're gonna get $542,000 of new money. They're gonna help you with the process, I'm sure. Okay. Now you, with your E Trade account. How much is in your E Trade rollover?

[B]

My rollover. I'm looking at current numbers right now. Let's see. It's at 387.

[A]

387,000?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Are you loving E Trade? Can you go to Vanguard or no?

[B]

I actually don't love E Trade at all.

[A]

Okay. But E Trade owned by Morgan Stanley now. So now what you should do is when you're talking to Vanguard, let's get everything. Let's. Let's make a pinky swear now. We're going to Vanguard, okay? 2026 goal. 2026 goal is we are going to clean up what is going on here. The reason is not because any of these other firms is better, worse, or anything. It's easier, Lindsay. It's just easier. And you as a cfo, have to be clear that saying to your husband, if I'm going to do this, and we're agreed that I'm going to do this, it has to be easier. So every possible outstanding account that you have should endeavor to land at Vanguard. Rollovers, Roths, brokerage, or everything lands there.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

You're going to have a lot of money there. You're going to be have. And you're going to have more than a million dollars there.

[B]

Right?

[A]

They're going to help. Vanguard has a service, actually, personal service, advisor. You may choose to use them, you may not. Okay. I just. I'm just telling you it's there. It's like having an advisor assigned to you because you have more than a certain amount of money, you have to pay for it. It's cheap. Maybe you want to have this, maybe you don't. I think the most important thing for you to do is first, let's consolidate. So. And that's your number one goal. Unless you tell me that you're, like, in debt up to your eyeballs, but I bet you're not because you have a lot of money floating around here, right? Yeah. You're happy. All right, so let's just. Now let's go back. You've got a half a million dollars, 542,000 in his six plans. You got your $387,000 in your rollover. We have his Roth IRA at 123.

[B]

Right.

[A]

What else do you have?

[B]

My Roth is at 137.

[A]

And you have a brokerage account also?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How much?

[B]

I have three of those.

[A]

What is with you guys? You're nuts. You make it hard.

[B]

I have to tell you, in efforts to try to get things to Vanguard, the newest one I opened a couple weeks ago is in Vanguard. So that we can kind of see if what we can do from there. But I'm afraid to sell like I'm afraid to sell from our other brokerages because I'm afraid of what that's going to do to our taxes.

[A]

Hold on, we're not talking about selling where. Why not? Just rolling it in as is. So you have three now. Now you have a Vanguard account, right? You have one brokerage account at Vanguard. What's in there?

[B]

How much, how much money is in there? 19,000.

[A]

Now tell me about the second brokerage account.

[B]

I have one at 103.

[A]

And what is that invested in and where is it?

[B]

It's invested in a variety of mutual funds. It's a E Trade.

[A]

Okay, so that's an E Trade account, mutual funds. What's the third one?

[B]

The third one is. It's at Wells Fargo brokerage or trade or whatnot.

[A]

Do you hear that? Did you hear me go, how much is it? How much is in there?

[B]

39,000.

[A]

Oh, thank God. Okay, the E Trade mutual funds are those mutual funds that I would recognize the names of?

[B]

I think so. Like, I mean, a lot of them are Vanguard. There's.

[A]

Okay, good.

[B]

Multiple Vanguard funds. Multiple. There's Hero Price Fund and Fidelity Funds.

[A]

Okay, so I will say that in, in a, in a place like E Trade, you sometimes will end up with is like some other funds that can't be held at Vanguard. So here's, and that may be the Wells Fargo thing because if those are Wells Fargo fund specifically, Vanguard may not let you hold them.

[B]

But when you get Washington funds, I think, but I don't remember now, they've changed a couple of times.

[A]

So what you do is you basically get this Vanguard person on the line with you. You say, I, or you know, I have these two accounts, I want to transfer all funds in kind. In other words, everything that's invested just moves on over to Vanguard. Now they may say to you, oh, we can't hold this fund or that fund. This does happen from time to time. Okay, so you sell it. You hopefully don't get a big tax whack. If most of the funds at the E Trade account are Vanguard funds, then that's a no brainer. The Wells Fargo, it might be that there's some tax implication maybe, I don't know. We have like $1 million in retirement accounts. We have like 150 in brokerage accounts. What about savings?

[B]

Savings? We have a couple things. First, I guess the HSA. We have about 20,000 in an HSA.

[A]

Great.

[B]

And then we have, it's. I don't, I do all of my savings in buckets because I know we have all of our. I call them internal bills because we were paying whatever annually or whatever. So we have about 70,000 in savings. But really, if I do the math when I'm taking out internal bills and like reserves for special things like trips or whatever, we're about 59,000.

[A]

Okay, that's fine. And your home, what's it worth?

[B]

We own it. We think it's worth about 725 based off of similar homes around here. But I'm always conservative, so I guess I would call it 700.

[A]

Okay. Do you have a mortgage outstanding?

[B]

We do. It's at. We have 217,000 left.

[A]

And how much is the interest rate? What's the rate on the mortgage?

[B]

It's awesome. It's 2.8.

[A]

And you're sticking around there like the kids are happy, you're happy, everyone's good?

[B]

Yeah, we're good. I mean, once they grow up and potentially move to different places, we might move to different places.

[A]

But why would they move that? Don't they. Everyone stays in Colorado. It's a fabulous place.

[B]

I don't know if they'll be able to afford Colorado.

[A]

They got rich parents. It'll be fine. Have you saved any money for college for them?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What do you got?

[B]

We have. We have two. I guess it's like one plan, but two beneficiaries. We have one at 143 and one at 122.

[A]

And do you think these are kids who are going to be in state, out of state? Are you willing to put more or less, like, how do you. How do you feel about your funding and what you want to cover?

[B]

We have told them that we will cover the cost of an in state public school. So if it's. If they choose to go out of state, they'll get the money of what it would take to go to. I usually try to do it on kind of a high level. Like what it would cost to go to the Colorado School of Mines. Right.

[A]

Okay, that's great.

[B]

They have that budget.

[A]

And then first of all, Mark, how great is it that Lindsay and her husband. I really think it's Lindsay. Lindsay, as the CFO has said, like here. Very articulate. Right Here is what we are willing to pay for. We could all take a big note from Lindsay, which is communicate this gang. Get this in your kids heads as early as possible. Because I just think springing that news on them after, they're like, but mom, I really want to go to blank. I want to go to NYU because I watch reruns of Felicity on Netflix, which I have done recently. And it's not that experience. No one has that experience in New York as a student. But you know, like, you've told them what it is that they can expect. So that's amazing.

[B]

Right? Both my husband and I came out with no debt from school. So that's our goal for them.

[A]

It's huge, isn't it?

[B]

It's the best gift we've ever had.

[A]

So it's, it is amazing. So if you look at the like your overall game plan and we say you're putting money into retirement. He's putting money into retirement. You're. You obviously worked previously, Lindsay, and so is there any chance that you would go back to work or do you feel like you're comfortable on his 186 right now?

[B]

I, I work very part time now. I picked up a one client when my son was around 5 years old. So I bring in about 20 or 30 per year. But they keep cutting back more and more. So I'm not sure that's going to continue. We try to live on his salary. We'd like it to be where my salary is not part of the equation. It's only for extras like saving for cars and such.

[A]

Okay, but you're good right now. Like you can live on his salary because you obviously you're doing that.

[B]

We do have one other loan, so we don't like debt, but we, we got a car loan last year and It's. We have 13,000 or so left on that and it's. The only reason we did a loan was because we were making more money in our savings account. We got the loan at 2.9 mm.

[A]

2.9. Very good. Okay. I mean, yeah, it is like, what do you have? Is it a five year? Is it a. What is it?

[B]

I think it was a four year. So we have three left on it.

[A]

I think that's fine. I think that's fine. Okay, I have to put another task in front of you. Cfo.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Have you guys, have you looked at estate planning? Do you have wills? Do you have guardianship stuff done? Do you have a healthcare proxy?

[B]

That's a very loaded question. We, this is my confession. We have not done that since my 14 year old was tiny and my 12 year old wasn't even born yet.

[A]

In other words, you want to maybe consider updating your documents?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

That's what you're telling me?

[B]

Yeah. I have lots of excuses, I guess

[A]

why we haven't done it, but I understand, I understand. Does Your husband have legal services as a, as a benefit through work?

[B]

No. And I have to tell you, I've been hounding him this last week or so to be like, I need to know exactly what you have and he does not have any legal services through work.

[A]

Do you have any friends that you could sponge off of and like, can someone get you, get me to like an estate attorney who will give me a cheap rate for my estate plan. Do you have any friends who are lawyers?

[B]

Probably. I have a friend who's has family that are lawyers, but.

[A]

Great.

[B]

My parents have an estate planning lawyer, so.

[A]

Oh, oh, right, definitely. So your parents have an estate attorney. Does that mean your parents have dough?

[B]

I don't know my family, this is the weird part, we talk to our kids about it, but my family, we grew up not being allowed to talk about money, so.

[A]

Oh yeah, but you, I presume on

[B]

a podcast with you guys talking about money, because that's not how I grew up.

[A]

But you don't get the sense that your parents will need your financial help?

[B]

No, not. I don't get that at all.

[A]

And what about your husband's family?

[B]

I don't think so, but. Okay, I don't. 100? No, it doesn't sound like it.

[A]

I get a little bit worried when we have like the 40 somethings, because it's like that's the sweet spot of the sandwich generation where you're like, oh, my parents need help and my kids will need help.

[B]

So let's asking lots of questions and trying to get at least some sort of answers. And I don't think they'll need our help.

[A]

Radio silence. Yes, as we say. Okay, so other than that, do you guys have life insurance?

[B]

We do. Both of us have life insurance.

[A]

Term life insurance.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What, what's the amount?

[B]

Mine's I think a million. It's been a while since I've done mine. I was pregnant when I did mine and then my husband's is, I believe his is at 2 million.

[A]

Okay, perfect. Great. It's covered. Okay, you ready for your list, cfo? Like I like nice, simple simplicity. So number, number one is you're going to find, get like two names of estate attorneys and you're going to just bring your old wills in and you're going to say, we need to update this. We actually have money now. We have stuff. We own a home, we have another kid and they're going to update those documents. Also. It's not like because you have an estate planning issue in terms of taxes, you just need to make sure. That, like, who's the guardian? Like, is it. Are you, like, oh, my. My aging parents or the guardians? Maybe that's not the best idea. Maybe it's a sibling, but that's a biggie. So that should be number one on your hit parade.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Number two is you are going to talk to someone at Vanguard to help you consolidate all of these accounts. And you sound so methodical about it, just as you. Before you even make that call or make that outreach via email, what you want to do is have each account, each account number, you know where it's held, the account number, and they may say, we need you to forward us a statement. And you get the ball rolling, you're going to do it at Vanguard. Your goal is to make sure that all these things get rolled into Vanguard. And if on the brokerage side, so the retirement stuff, it's a pain in the neck, but there's no tax event. Okay. On the brokerage side, maybe you just start by saying, you know, you say to Vanguard, I have 19 grand here, I have this other E Trade account, and I want to move it in as is. And then you move it in as is. And then you do the. And then you do the Wells Fargo. I think, as I said, I think the only tax liability you could potentially have in Wells Fargo is that you might own something at Wells Fargo that Vanguard will not let you have. Hold. I don't care. Get rid of it. It's just, you know, we're not going to talk, but if. If you're going to sell it, and we know you have to sell it, just let's make sure we know that for next year's taxes, that's the only reason that you would really care about this.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Otherwise, once you get this all done, your big question, cfo, is whether you feel comfortable investing this yourself or not. How do you think you're going to be with us?

[B]

I think I'm okay. I mean, I guess my biggest question there is if we're doing okay now, then, yes, I feel comfortable. But I do wonder, like, if, if and when we would need a financial advisor.

[A]

You know, the investing part. This. I am going to make every financial advisor or CFP who listens to this show, and we have a nice audience of those people. This makes them crazy when I say it's not that big a deal, it's not that hard. It really, but it kind of isn't. Okay. So in general, you start with, and you can do this at Vanguard and you can do this yourself, but you're starting with this premise, which is we're 40 something years old, we have a million dollars in retirement accounts. And you're going to basically choose index funds that will help you get where you want to go. There's going to be a stock index for the United States. There's going to be an international stock index. There's going to maybe be a commodities fund, maybe there'll be a bond. And you kind of like stop right there. That's fine. Okay. And you put a little bit in each and you allocate it. Now if you think that you might need to tap your brokerage account, you may want to make sure that that's not quite as aggressive as you would have in your retirement accounts. Think of it this way. The last money you'll ever need is Roth money. The next to last money is this traditional money. Then it's the brokerage. So if you think you might need the brokerage account, like, ah, you know what, maybe we'd want to put an addition on the house. Maybe we'd want to do this. That, like things like that, that would come out of the brokerage account. So you wouldn't want it to be as aggressive. Okay.

[B]

We. I'm one of those people, once it's in savings, I don't really like to touch it. And brokerage in my savings.

[A]

I just, I really want you to be able to spend it because someday you're going to want something. What if, what if it happens? You need another car. And now the car loan is 6.9%. Then you have to use the.

[B]

That's when I would touch the brokerage. Okay, sure. Yeah.

[A]

Okay, good. All right. And then if you feel like, oh, I really want an advisor, it usually is about the complexity of your life. It's not. I think, I honestly think that once you get all this money at Vanguard and you are going to feel so much more comfortable about where things stand. I really believe that because it's all in one view, right. I log into Vanguard and everything's there. There are the rollover accounts, there are the Ross, there's the brokerage. I know where everything is. Okay. If you wish to have somebody like help you out, that's when you might choose what they call their. They call it a robo advisor. But it's really, you get a human being to, to take a look at your financial life, but you're in very good shape. Here's when you might say, I need an actual independent financial planner. Your husband says to you, I'm done being an employee. I'm going to start my own business. He has this great game plan. It's all terrific. And that would be a place where I would be like, you know what, maybe you should hire a financial advisor to merely make sure that that's like, it makes sense for you guys some. Like again, if something in your real life is big and it's a big change, then I think that's when you say, I'm going to talk to an advisor about that.

[B]

Okay. All right, so last thing I guess is just I assume based off of what you're saying, that we're, we're doing okay. And we're.

[A]

Dude, you're doing great, Lindsay.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

I've. I've, I've buried the lead. Yes. You're estate planning.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

No, I mean, listen, ideally at. I mean, I think that you're on track for your kids college stuff. If he starts making more money or you're making more money in part time stuff and that's like fine. But I wouldn't mind. He could like increase his 401k a little bit. Does he have a Roth option at work or not?

[B]

No, we've looked at that.

[A]

Okay. I mean, look, it would be nice for him to get his 401k contribution level up a little bit, especially since he doesn't have a match. So like, your cash flow is probably pretty tight right now. How much are you spending on a monthly basis right now?

[B]

It's, it's between 10 and 11 right now. With all the kids.

[A]

Yeah, I mean it'd be tough for. If you can't. If you could. If like, you know. Yeah. If all of a sudden you're like, oh, my part time income went from 20 to 40, then I'd love for him to get to 10% in his

[B]

401k, but it was 9% and we just brought it back down to 7 because it felt like we were getting a little tighter than.

[A]

Yeah, I, I think that you guys, you've saved a lot of money already. You're only 42 and you got a million dollars in retirement. It's huge. It's huge. So you're doing great. I'm excited. You have a 2.8% mortgage. You have a 2 point. They only, they only borrow money sub 3% mark. It's pretty good, right? I mean, we hate loans. I love that about you. I love that about you. So listen, Lindsay, go, go consolidate. As the CFO is a lot on your plate. If you run into any problems, get in touch with us and Let us know if we can help you out. All right?

[B]

Okay, that sounds great.

[A]

All right, gang. If you have accounts all over the place, oh, this is. See, this catches up with you. That's why every single time you leave a job, you should immediately say, am I going to roll it into my new place or am I going to put into an IRA rollover? Because this is how you have like these little orphan accounts that accumulate all over the place. So take the lesson of Lindsay. The CFO is saying, we got things to do and it's going to take a lot of work, but she's going to do it. If you need help with whatever is going on in your financial life, get in touch with us. Go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, write us a note, and if, if you would like to come on the air live, which we so encourage you to do, just check the box. Mark will do. Everything else you can subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Please put your hands metaphorically on someone's back. Change your work, Change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Ever feel like you need one app for sales, another for inventory, another for accounting? And the list never ends. Managing a business shouldn't feel like a full time job just to keep your software in check. That's why Odoo exists. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one, fully integrated platform that handles everything. CRM, accounting, inventory, E commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Everything works together seamlessly so your team can focus on what really growing your business and serving your customers. Beyond simplifying your work workflow, Odoo also saves you money. Instead of paying for multiple expensive platforms, you get one system for a fraction of the cost. And whether you're just starting out or managing a large company, Odoo scales with you. It's easy to use and fully customizable. It streamlines every process, giving you more time and freedom to focus on the parts of your business that matter most. Thousands of businesses have already made the switch. Why not you try Odoo for [e-mail] that's o d o o.com Understanding power requires more than headlines. I'm Peter Hamby, host of the Powers that Be, a podcast from PAC examining politics, economics and media. To provide context, analysis and clarity without sensationalism, we ask how power operates, who benefits, and what's at stake. If you want to move beyond breaking news to deeper understanding, join us on the Powers that Be new episodes every weekday. Follow the Powers that Be wherever you get your podcasts.