Loading summary
A
This year. Give a gift that goes far beyond the moment. An Invest 529 account whether it's a child, grandchild, or someone just starting out, you're helping them save for education that can open doors for a lifetime. Invest529 is a tax advantaged way to save for college, trade school, or even apprenticeship programs. It's flexible in easy to start and you can contribute any amount, big or small. And because the money can grow tax free, it's a gift that really builds value over time. So instead of giving something that gets used up or set aside, give the gift that can change a Life. Start an Invest529 account today. Go to invest529.com to get started hey gang, here's the thing about wine. So some of the best bottles are not sitting on a store shelf. They're being crafted at small independent wineries. But those wines can be so hard to find sometimes I wish I had a personal sommelier to guide me to find the best wines I normally wouldn't be able to access. Where's that handcrafted pinot that I've been craving? Well, psalmsation's expert team seeks out incredible wines from top independent producers. These are bottles that you will not find in stores and on shelves. They aren't mass produced wines. They're handcrafted with care, using pure ingredients and meticulous winemaking. Whether you want a single bottle, a guided tasting experience, or an entire wine club membership, psalmsation makes it easy to elevate your wine experience. Shop their wines@psalmsation.com jillonmoney that's psalmsation.com jillonmoney welcome to the Jill on Money Show. It's Tuesday, November 11th and we are here trying to answer your financial questions. And sometimes we kind of veer into your real life. And the we, by the way, is me and Mark Tularcio, the best executive producer in the world. We're both certified financial planners, but the real life aspect of this is really the guiding principle of this program. We are not into people who are like stock jockeys. I really could care less whether you've picked a good stock or not. But what I do care about is how you are going to use whatever resources you have and get where you would like to go or at least have an understanding of what the options are. So this is not a get rich quick kind of show. This is not a silly show that is predicated on trying to figure out what is going to go up or down because really nobody knows that. And just a little Like a little hint here. I was with a very famous guy who we've had on the program before. His name is David Booth. He founded a company called Dimensional, which is an investment firm. He's David Booth of the Booth School of Business. And when we had him on the program, all he really wanted to talk about is the uncertainty of investing, like the uncertainty of life and how they are very similar. And so he really does recommend something I also recommend, which is to tune out the noise. Tune out the noise. It is really a way for you to remain sane. And if you feel like you're overwhelmed by the noise, whether it's external or internal, get in touch with us. Go to our website, jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, write us a note. And if you would like to join the program live, check the box. Mark will do everything else because he's so great. That's what he does. Again, if you're on the website, you can hang out there, see a lot of free stuff. We've got a free weekly newsletter. We've got resources, we've got other shows, we've got videos. Everything there right@jillonmoney.com okay, now it's time to do some emails. So let's get on with it. This is from Steve, who says, I'm so happy I found your program. Here's where my wife and I are, 67 and 66, retired. Our house is paid off, no car or credit card debt. We have grown self sufficient children, which is really a milestone gang, I must say. Next year will be the first year that my business income will stop because of the run up in the stock market. We've got $480,000 in Roths, $100,000 in a single stock, which they inherited recently in Chevron, as a matter of fact, $1.4 million in IRAs. Our allocation is 70 30, meaning 70 stocks, 30 bonds, and the Roth 60 40. In the IRAs we both receive Social Security. The total is 5,500 DOL. We also have a joint lifetime annuity for $1,300 a month. So that's pretty good, 6,800 bucks a month, Right. Our plan using the is to use these three monies starting next year is based on needing $9,000 a month after tax and you know, and the inflation adjusted amount going forward. The plan looks like it will work well on its own. We have $600,000 that we inherited that is sitting in CDs. Hmm. Steve says, I like having some money in cash and the safety of CDs, it feels like a safe haven in the stock market. Okay. Our financial planner says CDs are tax inefficient and is suggesting bonds, specifically tax free municipal bonds, or maybe keeping a 5050 mix on this money. He's also suggesting some Roth conversions next year since we have the cash to pay the tax. I think our plan looks good without this extra money. What do you think we should do with a half a million bucks? I think he's saying keep 100,000 in the CDs. You know, you guys have a interesting moment here, which I do agree with your advisor in that you would be able to maybe convert some of this IRA money. This 1.4, not all of it, I don't think, but you know, maybe a little bit as after you finish with your income from your business. So again, so next year you start thinking about that. But right now you have, again you have this 6800. You only need to get a little bit more. That 9,000 is your base, you know, so the two ways to think about it is, well, I could convert some of the money that is in the traditional ira, use some of my cash to do that. It's fine, you could do that. And by the way, you could probably sell that Chevron stock also and beef everything else up. And the other thing is to just pull the money out of the IRA accounts over the next few years. Now, Mark, would you be a converter or pull the money out to live on before the RMDs begin? I think I would probably just pull it out because you don't want to burn up the cash, you just want to live on the money. I think that's probably right. And so, I mean, if you want to do some tax free munis, that's fine. I don't know what state you live in, it's probably more cash than you need. But on the other hand, I also feel very strongly that you're at a point in your life where having some stability here is a nice thing. And you know, you can use some of the money in the IRAs, take that money out and you know, fund your difference. It's like really 30 or 40 grand a year is all you really need. And maybe put some of the money in a brokerage account, but not all of it. Maybe you'd like to, and maybe you're going to feel differently about these CDs that are 4 to 5% right now. If they go down to 2 or 3%, you might feel differently, but I'd have to look at the tax equivalent rate of return for the munis before making a real call on that. Okay. Next message from Kathy, who is working part time and says, I like my flexible schedule. I don't know how many more, how much longer I want to do this and I wonder if I can retire in about a year. Okay. She and her husband are 56 and a half. I love that. It's like the actual dollar, the dollar amount, that's the actual age. 56. And he is a college professor. He'll continue working until age 65. So she makes 80. The husband makes 115, but can make a little bit more. They've got in checking and high yield savings and cash. They got a whole bunch of money. Okay. They have two, four, they have about 450 grand in just like safe stuff. Got that 450. Then investments of 400, 425 in a brokerage account, 925 in a Roth IRA, another 220 in a Roth 401. And then there is so much money here, I can't even recount all of this. Their expenses are 75 grand. Maybe it's $100,000. Okay, so let me just say this. There's so much money here. I don't want to go through everything, but it's like a lot. So there's like one and a half million dollars in traditional assets and you know, $1,100,000 in Roth assets and then cash of $450,000 and a brokerage of $425,000. Sound good? Yeah, it sounds good to me too. Okay. Here's the main concern from when I retire until we start taking money out of our retirement accounts. I know I don't want to stay in our current house forever. We may wait until my husband retires to move, but I would expect that we would have to spend 6 to $700,000 on a new house and we wouldn't want a mortgage. So their current house is worth 300 grand. Okay. Their kids are launched. They have committed to helping them with weddings. So they're 56 and a half. Can they retire? Well, I mean, if you can basically live on his salary and maybe pull some money out of your cash accounts for a few years, then I think it seems like you can do this. You've got plenty of money. But like your main concern about the house thing, I wouldn't buy a new house and use all the money that you have saved up, both in your brokerage and your high yield savings and Cash accounts. I wouldn't use that all up to buy a house. So I don't know where the new house comes into play. I'm not exactly sure that it makes any sense to do anything until your husband retires. You said we may wait. I would actually encourage you to wait. You got plenty of money. If you say you just don't want to do this anymore, then you're going to spend some of your cash down, let your husband keep working till he's 65, use your cash up, and then once you're 59 and a half, you can start pulling money out of your retirement accounts, the pre tax accounts, and start funding the difference. And let's see where you are when it comes to. When it comes time to, like, you're really going to move. It's very hard to make these decisions when we're looking at, you know, eight years in advance, you know, and so I would just be careful with that. Okay, this is from lance. I heard three or four weeks ago you were saying for people over 40, you don't recommend Roth IRAs. No, I didn't say that. We didn't say that. It's more like people who are much older. We think that there are some things that we would start to question about, like what are the details of your life? I think what I probably said was it used to be that Roth IRAs were for people under the age of 40 because we knew that their income was going to increase. But now we like Roth for everybody. Okay, this is Lance's situation. I've got $15,000 from my younger brother's estate, and I was thinking about starting a Roth. The limit is $8,000 per year. Yes. So he must be over the age of 50. So eight grand for me, eight grand for my wife. We both have traditional IRAs. I also have a half a million dollars in a brokerage account. And so, yeah, why not? I mean, I don't know everything that's going on in your life, but having some Roth money, We love having Roth money. It's good. I'm assuming he's still working, right? I mean, I don't know if he's working or not. I'm presuming he is. Okay, here's a question about I bonds. Is there a rule of thumb as to when they're a good investment? Yeah. Not now. How's that? The problem with I bonds is your money is locked up. So, Mark, when did we buy I bonds? Do you remember when that was? It was like a very weird quirk in Time where the inflation rate was clearly rising and we were getting a great deal. Is that 2020 or 21? I think it was like 2021. Yeah, it was good. It was a good thing, right? And all the rage. Yeah. I said it once on network television. I never had so many emails in my life. So it depends what the alternative is. If you're saying like, I'm going to buy an I bond versus a corporate bond, or is it I'm going to buy an I bond because I'm worried about inflation ticking up, or is it I'm going to buy an I just to sock some cash away? I mean, they're not bad. It's just that it's the inflexibility. You know, you're sort of locked into them for five years. If you don't want to be locked in, you'd pay three month interest penalty. But right now is not like my favorite time to buy an I bond. I think that's what I would say. By the way, can I just read the last part from Alison about this? Thank you so much for all you do to help demystify the financial system in such a supportive and nonjudgmental way. It's nice to get solid financial advice from two people. I truly feel want nothing but the best for us. Isn't that. Is that the best? That's amazing. I love that. I love that so much. That's why we do what we do. It's so good. I'm so, so happy when we do this. Okay. All right. I think that's it. Mark, you feel good about the show? I always feel good about this show. Are you kidding me? All right, good. I'm glad. All right, if you've got a question, you want us to answer the question, get in touch with us. Go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, Write us a note, Let us know if you would like to join us live by checking the box. If you do want to join us live, don't worry, we'll protect you. It's very easy to do it and if you don't, just give us a lot of background so we know what to do. You know, we're very happy to go through everything that is on your mind and that's the most important thing. Whatever's on your mind. Okay? So don't forget, you can subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. Please leave us a rating and review wherever you listen and of course put your hands metaphorically on someone's back. Someone needs a nice boost. Okay. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening.
B
We'll talk to you tomorrow. If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With the all new Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions and sleep duration. Then every morning it combines these factors into an easy to understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from good to excellent. Introducing the new Sleep Score on Apple Watch, iPhone 11 or later required. What's up world is Vaughn Miller, super bowl mvp, chicken farmer, and now host of Free Range. This is a show where I go off the field and off the script. We're talking what's hot in music, film, trending news and everything blowing up your feed. If you love football, you'll feel at home. But if you're here for the vibes, the Internet deep dives the conversation. This is your podcast. Join me every Wednesday. Follow and listen to Free Range with me, Vaughn Miller. Everywhere you get your podcast.
Episode: Is Our Plan Solid?
Date: November 11, 2025
Host: Jill Schlesinger, CFP® with Executive Producer Mark Tularcio
In this episode, Jill answers listener questions about retirement planning, asset allocation, tax strategies, and making major life decisions around money. With her signature jargon-free, pragmatic approach—and banter with co-host Mark—Jill provides reassuring, actionable advice to help listeners build financial plans that fit their real lives. The conversation focuses on how to navigate big milestones, manage inheritance windfalls, deal with market uncertainty, and avoid common pitfalls, all while staying grounded and tuned out from financial "noise".
[02:12]
"Tune out the noise. It is really a way for you to remain sane."
(Jill quoting David Booth, 03:10)
[04:04]
Jill's Take:
"...you're at a point in your life where having some stability here is a nice thing."
(Jill, 08:39)
[10:10]
Jill's Advice:
"It's very hard to make these decisions when we're looking at, you know, eight years in advance..."
(Jill, 12:10)
[12:44]
Jill's Clarification:
"Having some Roth money—we love having Roth money. It's good."
(Jill, 13:30)
[13:55]
Jill's Take:
"It's just that it's the inflexibility...right now is not like my favorite time to buy an I bond."
(Jill, 14:00)
[14:20]
"It's so good. I'm so, so happy when we do this."
(Jill, 14:32)
On tuning out investing noise:
"Tune out the noise. It is really a way for you to remain sane."
(Jill quoting David Booth, 03:10)
On the value of stability in retirement:
"You're at a point in your life where having some stability here is a nice thing."
(Jill, 08:39)
On planning for a future home purchase:
"It's very hard to make these decisions when we're looking at, you know, eight years in advance..."
(Jill, 12:10)
On Roth IRA relevance at any age:
"Having some Roth money—we love having Roth money. It's good."
(Jill, 13:30)
On I Bonds in the current market:
"It's just that it's the inflexibility...right now is not like my favorite time to buy an I bond."
(Jill, 14:00)
Listener appreciation:
"It's so good. I'm so, so happy when we do this."
(Jill, 14:32)
The episode is reassuring, practical, empathetic, and down-to-earth. Jill avoids jargon, encourages listeners to focus on what they can control, and is consistently supportive—providing both technical guidance and psychological reassurance for those facing big or uncertain money decisions.
This summary omits all advertisements, promotional material, intros, and outros to focus solely on the content and advice provided during the episode.