Have We Saved Enough for Retirement?

Summary

Jill on Money – “Have We Saved Enough for Retirement?”

Episode Date: April 27, 2026
Host: Jill Schlesinger, CFP®
Guest Caller: Kathy from Southern California
Producer/Co-Host: Mark

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jill Schlesinger answers a listener’s question about retirement readiness. Kathy, calling from Southern California, is concerned about whether she and her husband have saved enough for a secure retirement—especially given uncertainty about her husband’s job security. The episode dives into real-life retirement planning, withdrawal strategies, financial safety nets, and how to adapt when facing unexpected career risks. The conversation also explores the pros and cons of building cash reserves versus investing, and offers actionable advice relevant to anyone approaching retirement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Caller Background & Financial Snapshot

[04:11–10:00]

• Kathy, almost 63 (retired; works part-time ~$1,000/month), husband nearly 60 (still working, $175k/yr).
• One grown, financially independent child.
• Retirement savings:
  • Kathy: $950k in a traditional IRA, $585k in an old 401(k).
  • Husband: $965k in 401(k), $120k in traditional IRA.
  • No Roth accounts.
• Liquid savings:
  • $250k CD (partly earmarked for new cars, home repairs, and emergency fund).
  • $120k in high-yield savings.
• Home:
  • Value: $1.4M; Mortgage: $34k @3.2% (to be paid off soon).
• Other income: $250/mo pension (Kathy).
• Social Security Estimates:
  • Kathy: $3,600/mo at 67, $4,500/mo at 70.
  • Husband: $4,000/mo at 67, $5,100/mo at 70.
• Annual desired retirement spending: Ideally $12,000/month, could live on $10,000–$11,000.

2. Job Security Concerns and Scenario Planning

[10:00–17:30]

• Kathy’s husband’s company is experiencing layoffs and restructuring—a source of anxiety about early, involuntary retirement.
• The couple is trying to plan for both scenarios: (a) working another 3–5 years (for both financial and mental well-being), (b) job loss tomorrow.

Quote:

“If it happened tomorrow, would we be okay?”
—Kathy [10:45]

3. Withdrawal Strategies in Retirement

[14:30–18:00]

• Jill emphasizes the psychological challenge for lifelong savers in beginning to “spend down” principal.
• Recommends, if job loss occurs, drawing from retirement accounts, given both are over 59½ (no early withdrawal penalty).
• With roughly $2.7M in retirement savings and Social Security to kick in later, even a drawdown of $150–$160k/year would still leave them with a significant nest egg before their Social Security starts.

Quote:

“You’re not going to spend down all of your assets, okay? You’re not...
But you have the money.”
—Jill Schlesinger [15:00]

• Temporary reduction in spending (from $12k to $10k/month, if job loss happens) is likely and realistic.
• Their "get out of jail free card" in a worst-case scenario is home equity.

Quote:

“You could sell your house.”
—Jill Schlesinger [17:28]

4. Best Use of Cash Versus Investing During Uncertainty

[18:00–20:14]

• Jill and Mark discuss shifting some retirement contributions to after-tax brokerage or cash reserve (if job loss seems imminent).
• Choice between maximizing 401(k) contributions or building accessible cash, splitting contributions if uncertainty remains.

Quote:

“If you were like, ‘He’s working at the University of California, tenured, making $175,000, no risk,’ then I might say, sure, invest some of it. But you’re telling me he’s got risk and who wants to be playing the game...”
—Jill Schlesinger [20:01]

• Agree on keeping a sizable emergency fund, given nearing retirement and job insecurity. Jill recommends laddering CDs to meet upcoming car and home expenses but keeping the rest safe.

5. Financial Advisor Engagement and Planning

[21:19–23:54]

• Discussion about their advisor’s 1% AUM fee and whether he’s doing “full financial planning.”
• Jill advises requesting specific scenario plans from the advisor, especially “What if my husband loses his job tomorrow?”
• Financial planning should be dynamic, not a one-time projection.
• Confirmed their portfolio is about 50% bonds, 50% stocks.

Quote:

“It’s to give you peace of mind today. That’s what we’re seeking.”
—Jill Schlesinger [23:54]

6. Memorable Moments & Advice

• Jill jokes about the “$250-a-month pension” being her “tequila budget.” [09:08]
• Jill lightens the mood, “You do not get to stop working, babe, till we get our Porsches. No, I’m just kidding—your cars…” [07:18]
• Mark and Jill agree: flexibility is key, and the plan should be continually tested.
• Both stress not to rule out home equity—even if nobody wants to sell their house, it’s a real fallback asset.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Kathy’s introduction, ages, and income: [04:11–05:33]
• Detailed assets and balances: [05:39–08:10]
• Home value, mortgage, housing plans: [08:11–08:58]
• Pension and Social Security details: [09:01–09:48]
• Spending needs and job risk concerns: [10:16–11:06]
• Retirement scenario planning (3–5 yrs vs immediate): [11:06–14:19]
• Withdrawal strategy and asset spend-down psychology: [14:19–18:06]
• Optimizing savings amid uncertainty (brokerage vs 401k): [18:06–19:27]
• CD laddering and emergency cash approach: [19:27–20:14]
• Advisor relationship and dynamic financial planning: [21:19–23:54]

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Notable Quotes

• “You are already over the age of 59 and a half. So spend down is going to be a tough concept for people like you guys. You’ve been savers your whole life.”
  —Jill Schlesinger [14:30]
• “The reason why this is a fascinating conversation is that you have a lot of money. Right? ...spending down would mean that you would be withdrawing immediately from these accounts money that will support yourself.”
  —Jill Schlesinger [14:30]
• “I think that you guys are probably okay, have the advisor run through these numbers so that you have some security. That’s what those numbers are for... to give you peace of mind today.”
  —Jill Schlesinger [23:54]

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Key Takeaways

• You don’t have to save every last penny until the end; at retirement, it’s okay to start spending down your savings.
• Cash reserves are crucial for those near retirement facing job uncertainty—don’t be afraid to keep more in cash or CDs.
• If your employment is shaky, reduce retirement plan contributions to the match and build up a brokerage or liquid account.
• Engage your advisor for contingency-specific financial planning and revisit the plan annually.
• No asset, including home equity, should be off the table in extreme scenarios—every line on your balance sheet matters.

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Closing

Jill encourages listeners to send their own financial questions and reminds them that retirement planning is most effective when it adapts to life’s uncertainties—whether you have an advisor or are navigating it yourself.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Good morning. Well, my husband and I are, I'm about to turn 63 and he's about to turn 60 in a couple months. And we just, we have a financial advisor but we kind of want to check in with you and ask you a few different questions like if you think we're prepared and specifically when we do start withdrawing, like where should we take it?

[A]

It's not a scapemate. That's you. Like so many of the Jill on Money community, you have financial advisors but you want a little extra. Like you want a little relationship on the side, don't you? And you have one with us. So I love that. So you are both still working?

[B]

I retired from corporate America a few years ago and I have like a part time job that just kind of helps me have some pocket money.

[A]

Okay, how much do you earn on your part time fund money?

[B]

Oh, nothing maybe 1,000amonth.

[A]

Okay. I love when people say 1,000amonth is nothing, but it's something. So I'll take that 1,000amonth. And your spouse is still working at age 60?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What's the income coming from that person about?

[B]

Well, he grosses about 175 a year.

[A]

Okay. And on the 175 you guys are living well? Everything is okay?

[B]

Everything's good. Yeah.

[A]

Okay, great. You guys have grown kids?

[B]

We have one and he is launched.

[A]

Thank goodness. Okay, let's talk about the money you guys have saved. You retired from corporate America, right? And so did you have a retirement account that you kept at like an old 401k or a IRA rollover that the advisor manages?

[B]

I have both.

[A]

Okay, let's do the old 401k first.

[B]

Okay. So the old 401k is now currently in a traditional IRA and there's 950 in there.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

For me.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Do you want to do my husband separate or.

[A]

Yeah, let's do. Let's do all you first and then we'll go to him.

[B]

Okay. So I have a traditional IRA that has 950. I also have a 401k at my last employer that has 585 in it.

[A]

Okay, got it.

[B]

I'm going to give you his, and then I'll give you what we have combined.

[A]

Sounds good. What's in his current 401k?

[B]

His current 401k, he has 965.

[A]

Okay, great.

[B]

He has a traditional IRA that's got 120 in it.

[A]

Okay. No Roth money, right?

[B]

No Roth money. Which is.

[A]

Okay, so you have a brokerage account.

[B]

We do. We don't. And that's part of my question to you that I can get to in a bit.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

We have a CD that we have 250 in.

[A]

Is that CD earmarked for anything?

[B]

We're going to need to buy a couple of cars in the next couple of years and maybe some. A few home. Nothing major, but a few home repairs here and there. We're trying to get that knocked out before he's done.

[A]

Okay. Right. You do not get to stop working, babe, till we get our Porsches. No, I'm just kidding. Your car is. I wish. Okay, so two fit. But would you say that, like, the lion's share of that CD is spoken for? You want to pretend it doesn't exist because you'll just spend it on the cars, the home improvement, et cetera?

[B]

Not entirely. Part of it may be for the cars and the home Improvement. But we would. We want to make sure that we have some liquid cash. Let's say he were to get laid off tomorrow. One of my questions is, should we be living on that money versus trying to touch our IRAs or our 401ks, or should we be doing the opposite?

[A]

Okay, I got that. Okay, we'll get to that in one second. So 250 cars, home improvement slash emergency reserve. And then there's other money.

[B]

Then there's a high yield savings, which we have 120 in.

[A]

Okay, great.

[B]

And that's pretty much the prex. I can give you Social Security information as to, like.

[A]

Hold on one second. Before we get off your balance sheet. House. How much is your fancy, expensive Southern California house worth?

[B]

Our house is worth 1.4 and we owe 34,000 on it.

[A]

34,000?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's so cute. How much. What's the interest rate?

[B]

3.2.

[A]

Okay, so that's going to get paid off shortly, obviously. Is there any. I mean, I don't know where the kid is, but Are you going to stay in the $1.4 million house? Are you going to move? Are you going to stay? What's the game plan?

[B]

I think for now we're going to. I mean, I don't see us moving. Unless, of course, he moves far away and we'll probably want to follow, but.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But I don't see that occurring.

[A]

Okay, got it. Neither of you is entitled to a pension.

[B]

I have a very small one. It's like 250amonth that I already kind of started tapping into here and there.

[A]

Okay. $250 a month. That's. I mean, essentially, that's like a scotch budget for me. Or a tequila budget. You know, really, that's about it. Okay, what about your Social Security? You said you've got the numbers, so, Social Security, what was your game plan? Wait till 67 or 70? What do you think?

[B]

I'm thinking me, 67, which would at that point be 3, 3.6amonth. If I waited to 70, it would be 4.5amonth.

[A]

Okay, 4,500 versus 36. Okay, now what about for.

[B]

For him, at 67 it would be 4, and at 70 it'd be 5.1.

[A]

Right now you guys are both in good health. Any issues that are bubbling up? Okay, good. Fantastic. These guys still have parents who you need to keep an eye on.

[B]

Yes, we keep an eye on them, but they are financially secure.

[A]

Does that mean that I can plug in that there's potential inheritance or. Not necessarily.

[B]

I Don't know.

[A]

Okay, fair enough. Let's not count on it. If it happens, it happens. Right?

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Okay, you're ready for the hardest question of our conversation. How much money do you guys spend?

[B]

I'm projecting we probably would. We could easily probably live off 10 to 11, but we would really like it to be like 12amonth.

[A]

Okay, what is the game plan on your husband's real retirement? I mean, I know you said, oh, I want the cars and the home improvement, but it sounds like you are worried that he is at risk. Is that the case?

[B]

It's possible. There's been a lot of change within his organization. So it could happen tomorrow, it could happen in five years. He could just retire on his own. We're not really sure. We just want to make sure. If it were, because there's been a lot of attrition through his company. If it happened tomorrow, would we be okay?

[A]

Okay, let me ask you the other. Okay, so we're going to do the tomorrow question. And then ideally, how long would he like to continue working for his, like, mental state and your, like, stability, what was the. If the job kept going, when would he want to retire?

[B]

I'd say three to five years.

[A]

Okay, let's do that one first because that'll be easier. So in three to five years, first of all, the good news is that you're on Medicare, right? You qualify at 65. 3 to 5 years. I think a lot of people do the 5 year because they're thinking Medicare. But obviously if it were three years, he keeps putting money away. You live your life, everything is good. And if you had to go on COBRA till Medicare, then you have a couple of years, you know, two to five years of, you know, before Social Security, you got money. It seems to me that you could probably make this work. How much money is he contributing to his 401k right now?

[B]

About 25.

[A]

25 grand?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Wow. And they match to some point.

[B]

You know, actually that that includes that. So I'd say 20 him and they maybe five from them.

[A]

Okay, got it. So, Mark, do you agree that if it's a three to five year time horizon, Kathy and the husband, the much younger husband are okay. That it seems to me that even if he doesn't put as much money in, but they've got, you know, a couple million bucks in maybe $2.6 million in 2.7 that socked away, that that would be okay for them, you know, buy Social Security. Even if we spent some of that money down, then it. They're Both when they turn 70. The numbers are pretty nice, you know, 9,500 bucks out of the 12 grand they need. Seems okay. Three to five year time horizon, right, Mark?

[C]

Seems beautiful. Yeah. Once they get to Social Security, I mean, that's like the lion's share of what they need.

[A]

Yeah, so that sounds good. What happens if he lost his job tomorrow? Let's work through that, Kathy, for a minute. Okay, so if he lost his job tomorrow in just because, you know, there is some experience with the company, do they pay some sort of severance? Does he get. Have other people gotten, you know, blown out and said, okay, you know, you get a certain number of weeks for the number of years you're here. Have there been. Is there some history that we have, can draw upon?

[B]

I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I'm not sure.

[A]

I'm thinking that there's probably. How long has he been there?

[B]

20, 20 plus years.

[A]

It's going to be something. It's not like, oh, here's the, here's the door, goodbye. It doesn't sound like that. Right. So they get something. Okay, so Mark, what would happen if all of a sudden he's 60, she's 63. They're not there yet. We have the money that has already been invested, but now we have to immediately get to 12 grand a month. What do you think the odds are that, you know, we gotta make him go back out and make a living? Is that a no way or do you think that they could do this?

[C]

I think they can do this. I do. I mean, they have a lot of cash that's on. I mean, I know some of it's already earmarked, but they do have cash they're just gonna have to spend down for a while until they get to Social Security.

[A]

So the reason why this is a fascinating conversation is that you have a lot of money. Right? Right. You are already over the age of 59 and a half. So spend down is going to be a tough concept for people like you guys. You've been savers your whole life, Right. Just think about the nut, the dollars that you already gave us. There's 965 in the 401k, another 120 in a traditional IRA, 950 in the other traditional IRA and 585. So, you know, there is a lot of money. There's two and a half million bucks or so. So spending down would mean that you would be withdrawing immediately from these accounts money that will support yourself. And I know you have that $250,000 in CD and also the high yield savings I would probably pull down from some of this retirement money to float that. The reason being, no matter what, you're going to have to be in a place where you're pulling money out of these accounts. Why not get the money out now? Like, while you are essentially going to be in a very low tax bracket compared to where you have been, you're going to not have any other income besides your little pension. You pull the money out and now all of a sudden you're paying tax at, let's call it the 22% bracket. I know you live in California. There's state tax on top, but let me just do federal. So you're going to say, I'm going to pull out. I'm going to say 12 grand a month. But in the beginning, I know it's going to be more like 10amonth, because there's no way you're going to feel comfortable if you just get blown out tomor. He's just. I know, like, I'm talking to you. I hear you. No mortgage all this. Like, you're gonna be like, oh, no, we're not spending 12 grand a month. We're gonna do 10 and see how we go. Okay? So let's just say you spend 10 grand a month. So that's 120 a year. So you gotta pull out like 150 to $160,000 a year out of one of the. So you're gonna do that for a number of years. So, you know, even if you did that, let's say, for seven years, you. You're not going to spend down all of your assets, okay? You're not. Did you hear that? You're not going to spend down all of your. Because I know that this is scary. It is very scary when that happens, okay? But you have the money. So if I said to you, okay, you got two and a half million dollars, what's going to happen is over the next seven years, if your husband lost his job tomorrow, you would essentially have, instead of two and a half million dollars, you. You'd have at the end of seven years, like, let's say half of that one and a quarter, okay? That's what would be left. You'd still have 1.25 left. You would then have Social Security kicking in $7,600 between the two of you. And then you would be pulling the extra money from that one and a quarter million dollars out to supplement it, and that's what you would do. And, you know, it's not perfect, but it will get you there. Do you know what your get out of jail free card is? You could sell your house. You could sell your house.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I don't see that happening.

[A]

I don't either. So tell him to keep his job. Tell him to suck up. But I think it's close. But it would work if you were going to say to me, like, what should we be doing right now? Wondering if his job is really at risk. I'll tell you what I would say. I would say, do me a favor, contribute to the 401k up to the match. That's it. And everything else. Put it into a brokerage account. I really would. I would have money like. Or, you know, just build up some safe reserves. You do have it, but like, I don't know. I don't think you need to be. I think you need to be stockpiling some more cash.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[A]

Mark, do you agree with that?

[C]

Yeah, I'm kind of torn. Cause yes, if I knew he. If I knew he was gonna get whacked. But we don't know that he's gonna get whacked. He could be working for another five years. So that's five more years of contributing.

[A]

Well, I mean, he doesn't know. He just does not know. Right. And that's the real issue. So let's do this. You wanna split the difference? Do you wanna say, you know, Instead of putting 20 grand, could he put in like 10 into his 401k and then accumulate some cash in addition to that? How would you feel about that?

[B]

I think that's good. That's kind of one of my questions was, you know, we've got this money in a cd. Should we be putting some of that into a brokerage account? Should we start a brokerage account and do as you suggested? Maybe put half, you know, half into his 401k and the other half into a brokerage account.

[A]

I'm fine with either of the, of the ideas here. I think that if. If he has a sense, like, I am really nervous, I'm getting that bad vibes, then you reduce the amount of money that you're putting into retirement and then, you know, have a little money on the side. I wouldn't necessarily blow out of the cd. I mean, when's the CD coming due?

[B]

We do it, it's like four months at a time.

[A]

Okay. And it's just the whole 250. Or do you have it staggered as, like different maturities?

[B]

Right now it's just the whole 250.

[A]

I mean, maybe what I would do is stagger it a little bit. The money that I knew I would need for cars. Like that's. If it's not happening right now, maybe I would like push it out a little bit and make it like a one year CD and I might stagger it like 50. 50 is short term, right. And then a hundred. I know I'm gonna need that next year because that's the car stuff and everything else. Maybe I'd make it somewhere in between, but I would try to stagger it a little. I wouldn't invest that money. I still think that until we have a better sense of really what's happening for him, it's good to have that money set aside just in case. And I hope we're wrong.

[B]

You know, it's funny. I thought you guys were going to say the exact opposite. Why do you have all that money in a cd? Why not? Inappropriate. So I feel comforted by that. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, I think that. I think that when you're 60 and you're kind of gutting it out to the retirement age, I think the. If you were like, work. Okay, let's just pretend it's a different scenario. If you said to me, well, you know, he's working at the University of California, he's a tenured professor, he makes 175,000. Like, we knew that there was no risk, then I might say, sure, invest some of it. But you're telling me he's got risk and who wants to be playing the game of like making that decision? I would rather if. I mean, I'm 60, you're 63, he's 60. Like, if that's me, I'm keeping extra cash on hand. I'm not, you know, we're not 40 in rolling the dice. And he's not going to get another job so easily and maybe not at all. So you have to deal with the reality. All right, are you ready for your. I have two more questions and then I'm going to go to a different topic. Do you have all of your estate documents done?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay, great. So some of the money. Like you have some money in a 401k that you haven't rolled over to the advisor. So can you tell me a little bit about the advisor and why you don't trust those folks and you trust us because we don't sell anything, probably. How do you pay the advisor?

[B]

He gets a percentage. It's 1%.

[A]

Okay. And he is managing the traditional IRA for you and your husband, those two, the $120,000 and the $950,000.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

Are they doing, like, full financial planning for you?

[B]

I'm not sure what that means to you, but what I can say, he has done a plan for, like the next 30 years.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And that was. That's actually one of my questions to you as you and Mark. It's like what you're seeing with the numbers. Could we fund this for, like the next 25 or 30 years?

[A]

Yeah, I think you could, but you got to be careful. So I don't do 30 year plans. I mean, I think you can do it and just keep testing it. But what I would ask this person to do when I say, you know, full blown financial planning is, hey, what would we do if my husband lost his job tomorrow? What's your game plan? Like, that guy should know what the game plan is. Like. There should be a very specific course of action and all the things that we talked about today that should be put down on paper. And a plan, a scenario plan, which was, here's what we think is your game plan from, say, let's just say today until you collect Social Security. And here's the game plan. Once you collect Social Security till, like, you're 80. And here's what we see going 80 to 95 like that there should be a rolling game plan. It's not like, oh, in 30 years you're broke, but that we think you can make this, given the things that we know today. And we'll keep testing it every single year so that you have a better sense of what your opportunities are going forward.

[B]

Okay, how's that? I will say up to this point, I think you've been pretty good. We've made some adjustments here and there. We've only been working, working with him for about a year.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But we've, like, kind of wanted to fine tune things here and there, and he's been very amenable to that.

[A]

Okay, great. Do you know what kind of investments that the advisor is putting inside of those traditional accounts?

[B]

Oh, I should. I know I can't remember the names of the funds, but I do can tell you it's like 50%, let's say bonds, and the others are equity.

[A]

Okay. All right, listen, I think that you guys are probably, okay, have the advisor run through these numbers so that you have some security. That's what those numbers are for. They're not for just, you know, for show so that you can like, oh, let me put this up on my fridge and see that I can live for 30 years and not blow through it. It's to give you peace of mind today. That's what we're seeking. All right. So otherwise, I think you're in good shape. Good luck. Thanks so much for getting in touch with us. Hey, if you're like Kathy and her husband, 60, kind of worried that, like, the ax could fall, but hoping not, get in touch with us, let's get that plan B in place. Notice she didn't want to dwell on my idea of plan B, which is, hey, you could blow out the house because nobody wants to sell their house. But $1.4 million of equity is a lot and we want to make sure that people understand every single asset on your balance sheet. Everything on the left side of that balance sheet is available to you. So nothing should be off the off the choices, the menu options. So again, if something bad happens, not in the ideal scenario, but if you need some assistance, you want to walk through some different scenarios with us if you have a financial advisor. If you don't, doesn't matter, get in touch with us. Go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact Us button, write us a note, and if you'd like to join us live, check the box. Mark will do everything else you can subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. And don't forget, leave us a rating and review. Wherever you listen, lift someone up. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Nerds.

[D]

Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. Ever Google a money question and end up 12 tabs deep with 12 different answers? This podcast is your shortcut back to clarity. NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast breaks down financial decisions with a team of trusted journalists. They explain the why behind decisions like investing, home buying and choosing credit cards. With clear research backed insights. No jargon, no misinformation. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast app. Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge and I'm the host of a new podcast from Audacy called Family Lore. In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far fetched stories about their families.

[B]

I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita.

[D]

And then we're going to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true. He gets a patent one month before the Wright Brothers. Oh my God. Please follow and listen to family lore. An Odyssey Podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows.