Major Move Before Retirement

Summary

Jill on Money: "Major Move Before Retirement"

Episode Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Jill Schlesinger
Featured Caller: Vicki from the Mid-Atlantic region
Theme: Facing a Major Move Before Retirement and Its Financial Impact

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jill takes a listener call from Vicki, who is grappling with the repercussions of a large cross-country move made for family, only to find herself considering another major relocation as retirement nears. Vicki and her husband are struggling to balance their retirement security, property values, and the emotional toll of family-driven decisions. Jill offers practical, cautionary advice and helps break down the numbers, modeling possible scenarios for Vicki’s next steps.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background: The Big Move and Its Fallout

• Vicki previously called the show about moving from the Mid-Atlantic to the Western U.S. to be closer to family.
• Shortly after arriving, the family moved again, leading Vicki and her husband to feel isolated and reconsider their location.
• Vicki: “I moved out to the west part of the United States to be near family, and then they moved back from.” (04:00)

2. Current Financial Snapshot

• Ages: Vicki is 66, her husband is 69.
• They bought their Western U.S. house for $825,000, no mortgage.
• Current estimated sale value: around $760,000.
• Retirement assets:
  • Husband: $1.2 million (traditional/pre-tax)
  • Vicki: $500,000 (traditional/pre-tax)
  • Roth IRA: $26,000
  • Brokerage/CDs: $96,000 earmarked for moving/new home
• Social Security:
  • Vicki: $18,000/year (already collecting)
  • Husband: Waiting until 70, projected $57,000/year
• Pension: Husband will receive ~$58,000/year (before deductions), net expected ~ $40,000.
  • Pension has a cost-of-living adjustment, but capped: “1% below inflation if it’s over a certain amount.” (11:04)

3. The Dilemma: Stay, Buy, or Rent?

• Vicki and her husband want to move back East, ideally the Southeast, to be close to family.
• Jill and Vicki examine options for buying versus renting, and how the financials shake out considering their preferred price range ($925K–$1.1M), reluctance to carry a mortgage, and desire to avoid a large drawdown of retirement assets.
• Vicki: “The house that we, you know, it’s not a cheap area. It’s really expensive.” (17:28)

4. Retirement Income and Spending Realities

• Combined Social Security and net pension could provide roughly $100,000/year net (after taxes/healthcare).
• Jill presses: “Can you guys live on 100 grand a year net? That’s my question.” (07:43)
  • Vicki: “Net net, right now? Yes. If we move and get a house, we will probably have to get a mortgage.” (07:58)

5. Home Purchase Scenarios & Risks

• Buying at the higher ($1.1M) end strains their savings, especially if they need to withdraw from pre-tax accounts.
• Jill highlights the importance of liquidity: “You’re young and you could live a long time...” (10:18)
• Concern over the “income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA)” for Medicare if large retirement account withdrawals are necessary for home purchase, which could push them into costlier Medicare brackets.

6. Jill’s Recommendations

• Rent First: “You would never do [buying] immediately, by the way. You would first rent and make sure you like where you were living, and you’d rent for a little while.” (11:20)
• Be Conservative: Emphasizes potential pitfalls in assumptions about home sale/purchase prices, the impact of health events, and the risk of overstretching.
• Avoid a Mortgage if Possible: Prefers no mortgage at this stage; any mortgage should be manageable and only if property prices are at the low end.
• Consider Lower Cost Areas: Entertained the idea of moving “three hours away where the cost of living is substantially less.” (19:13)

7. Emotional and Psychological Impact

• Both Jill and Vicki acknowledge the emotional toll of repeated moves and uncertain future, especially when family’s plans are shifting and unclear.
• Jill: “At a time in your life when you’re going through these big transitions, it is very, very, very hard to say I’m on the hook for this thing.” (20:06)
• Notable empathy: Jill says, “I don’t trust your family and where they’re moving. And I think that if you did [buy immediately], at least we could have like, an interim year or so.” (16:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Family Moves:
  • “I moved out to the west part of the United States to be near family, and then they moved back from.” – Vicki (04:00)
  • “I’m still stuck on the idea of moving across the country for my child. And I get there and my child moves back. I’m just, I’m gobsmacked by that...” – Jill (21:06)
• On Financial Hesitation:
  • “As soon as you said 1.1 that my antenna went up, trust me, so did mine.” – Jill and Vicki (18:54)
• On Calculated Risk:
  • “I think it works like by the book. I think it can work. But life is so weird...” – Jill on the feasibility of taking on a mortgage or depleting retirement savings. (15:00)
• On Rental vs. Purchase:
  • “If you sold your house and you rented for a year, so what? Throw the money away for a year? Even if you know it’s going to take you a while to find a house.” – Jill (18:03)
• On Lower-Cost Options:
  • “Maybe three hours is a perfect amount of time.” – Jill, reframing the idea of being near—but not too near—family. (19:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:12 – Vicki introduces her situation and dilemma.
• 04:00–05:00 – Family background and the move’s motivation.
• 05:46–06:50 – Discussion of house value, assets, and current financial standing.
• 07:43–09:05 – Social Security, pension details, and budget realities.
• 09:20–10:18 – Challenges with the Southeast real estate market.
• 11:04 – Pension cost-of-living adjustment explained.
• 13:21–15:00 – IRMAA & retirement drawdown conversation.
• 16:23–18:03 – Jill outlines a cautious rental-first plan.
• 18:58–19:45 – Discussion of lower cost of living area as an alternative.
• 20:06–21:06 – Emotional impact and closing remarks.

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Takeaways and Actionable Advice

• Go Slow: Rent first after selling, then decide on buying after thoroughly evaluating costs, location, and lifestyle.
• Protect Liquidity: Minimize large withdrawals from retirement accounts to preserve financial flexibility.
• Don’t Chase Family: Stability and your own happiness should come first—the family may move again!
• Budget Realistically: Truly analyze if income streams can support new housing and living costs, including taxes/healthcare.
• Be Open to Alternatives: A slightly less desirable location with a lower cost of living may ensure long-term financial safety.

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Final Thoughts

Jill’s signature style is reassuring but firmly realistic, emphasizing financial prudence and thoughtful sequencing of big life changes. The episode is a strong reminder that money decisions—even in retirement—must allow for life’s inevitable twists: “Life is so weird and so by the book with a calculator in hand. Do I think this can work? I do. Do I think there are so many variables? …If everything doesn’t go great, then I think we’ve got some issues.” (15:00)

For anyone considering a major life or location change in retirement, Jill’s advice: Go slow, keep your options open, and be ready to adapt.

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[All timestamps in MM:SS refer to the main (non-ad/intro/outro) content.]

Transcript

[A]

Your business identity is everything that shows what your business is about, from what customers see to what they don't see, like operating agreements, meeting minutes and compliance paperwork. Get more for your business, more privacy, more guidance and more free resources with Northwest Registered Agent. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the U.S. build your business identity fast with Northwest Registered Agent and get access to thousands of free resources, forms and step by step guides without even creating an account. Don't wait, protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business Identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit www.northwestregisteredagent.com Jill Free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered [e-mail] jillfree Today's episod this episode is supported by what Should I Do With My Money? An original podcast from Morgan Stanley and like Jill on Money, this podcast makes understanding money and getting advice about what to do with it less intimidating. You'll hear candid conversations from people just like you who have money questions just like yours. They talk to experienced financial advisors about their goals, worries and dreams, asking questions like can I retire early? Like really early? How do I leave a financial legacy for my special needs child? Menopause is making me feel wacky and it's shifting how I think about my money. Help. The conversations can get emotional, but they're always practical. Find what Should I Do With My Money? On your preferred podcast player and feel empowered and supported when it comes to managing your life and finances. Welcome to the Jill on Money show. It's Monday, November 24th. Ooh, it's Thanksgiving week. We are going to get into the thick of it. Hopefully you are all ready to see your family and friends and you've got your your armor up and your and your ability to cope really is high because that's what you need sometimes. And if you need an escape hatch like you're, you're out there and you're like, oh, I just want to like I just want to run an idea by Jill. I don't want to like engage with my family right now. We're here for you. So if you've got a financial question, just go to our Website Jill on money.com you click click the Contact Us button which is in the upper right hand corner. Write us a note and let us know if you'd like to come on the air by checking the box. That way Mark can do Everything else on your behalf while you're on the website, check out all the content that lives there. We have another podcast, it's called Money Watch, which is released on the weekends. We've got a radio show, we've got a blog, we've got videos, we've got resources. And you must sign up for the free weekly newsletter comes out every Friday. And Mark does a great job with that. Right now. Let's go to listener Vicki. She joins us from the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. Hello, Vicki, how are you?

[B]

I'm good. Jill and Mark, how are you?

[A]

We are great. What can we do for you?

[B]

I called you guys about two, maybe two and a half years ago specifically to do the things that I did. And then I did them. And then I'm like, well, now things have changed and I'm thinking about undoing them, but I'm really worried that it's going to really mess up my retirement because even though I don't regret doing a big move, it will not be good financially to move back. So that's the big challenge.

[A]

So what do we do and what do we have to undo? Tell us a little bit about who you are and what's going on.

[B]

Well, where I am is I moved out to the west part of the United States to be near family, and then they moved back from.

[A]

Oh, no, stop it. That is crazy.

[B]

But it's all good. It's for the benefit of them. But. So then my husband and I are like, well, what are we going to do now? Are we going to stay out here, which is 24, 500 miles away from family as we age? And I'm like, really? I'm okay being here if I have family here, but I don't.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So going forward in our lives, we do not want to be that far away from our family. So then moving back is where we're trying to work towards getting.

[A]

So at this point, let's see, where are you guys working? Like, where are you in the. Yeah.

[B]

So he is. I have retired. He's working. He had a piece of retirement. He liked it, but he went back to work.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He's part of the federal.

[A]

The furloughs.

[B]

Yeah, well, more than that. The. The retired type of thing. Like, okay, yeah. So he wasn't sure if he wanted to retire initially, but then when he had the little taste of it, he's like, you know, I kind of like this. But he did go back to work maybe for a year or so. Hopefully not longer than a year. And then we Hope to get back to the Southeast.

[A]

Okay, so did you buy a house when you moved to the west coast or are you renting?

[B]

Yeah, we bought a house and there's where the financial hit comes in.

[A]

Okay, I got it. Okay, first of all, Vicki, how old are you?

[B]

I am 66.

[A]

And your husband?

[B]

69.

[A]

And how much did you pay for the house?

[B]

We paid 825.

[A]

Is there a mortgage on it?

[B]

There is not.

[A]

Okay. Is the house worth less now because of just the timing issue?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay, what do you think it's worth?

[B]

I think we, I think we might clear about 7:60 if. Okay, we hope to.

[A]

And what about other money that you guys have saved? How about retirement assets?

[B]

Yeah, we do have. My husband has 1.2 and I have 500k.

[A]

And those.

[B]

Yeah, those are in the pre tax account.

[A]

Okay, so those are traditional accounts. And what about non retirement accounts? Any money in non retirement or do you have Roths also?

[B]

I just. We have a very small Roth 26,000.

[A]

And what about brokerage?

[B]

The brokerage account is not invested in anything other than CDs because right now we're considering it as a short term. It's earmarked for moving and getting another place to live. So we have 96,000 in that.

[A]

Are you either of you collecting Social Security?

[B]

I am.

[A]

How much is your Social Security?

[B]

Before taking out anything? It's about 18,000 a year.

[A]

What about him? Is he waiting for 70?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And what will that be? What will his benefit be?

[B]

That'll be about 57,000.

[A]

How do you think that you will do on that combined income? Right, so like 75 grand of pre tax money. How will that do for you guys?

[B]

And then he has a pension.

[A]

Oh, tell me about the pension.

[B]

Okay, the pension which hasn't materialized yet, is going to be about 58,000 before anything is taken out. But then it'll probably net somewhere around 40 or so.

[A]

40? Why so little? That seems like a lot, right?

[B]

I guess after taxes and health care.

[A]

Is it okay, so health care will come out of the pension. So in your Social Security it's just gross with pre tax. So you'll get that. And so you. So let's say out of your gross, can you guys live on 100 grand a year net? That's my question.

[B]

Net net right now? Yes. If we move and get a house, we will probably have to get a mortgage.

[A]

What if. Wait a minute. Okay, just where we are right now, you bought this house, you don't have a mortgage, but you live in, you know, Probably a high cost of living area. But like the 100 grand a year about covers your needs today.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And if you were to sell your house and clear, I'm just going to say 750 grand. Okay. And we now have, instead of, you know, 95,000 in your brokerage, you know, we have about eight. Let's just say we have $850,000 in brokerage and CDs and you guys move someplace to the Southeast and you rent and your rent is. I'm going to make it up $4,000 a month. Could that, could we find something for $4,000 a month for you guys?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay, so then could you live on 100 grand a year if you had a $4,000 a month rent? Yes. No. Maybe. Maybe not.

[B]

Probably not.

[A]

Okay, so I get where you like. So for today, if you just stayed put in your 60s for, you know, another couple years, you could hang where you are and it'll be okay. Yes.

[B]

We want to get back to the Southeast because there is not a lot to do where we're at right now.

[A]

Okay. And what do you think it would cost you to buy something in the Southeast that you'd not like? Your absolute, like, oh my God, this is where we absolutely want to be. But where do you think you'd have to spend?

[B]

Well, we could spend anywhere between about 925 to about 1.1.

[A]

Well, this is not going to work in that way. Nope. Because you're not going to soak up the liquidity that you have by selling your house and buying something and living so close to the edge. Because the money you have, you know, that you will have coming in is a good chunk of money, but like, you're still going to have expenses. Like if you bought that house for a million dollars, okay. Just to put it out there. And that meant you'd had to take 250 grand from somewhere. Right. Because you're not getting a mortgage right now because that'll blow everything out. So that means we'd have to reduce your traditional accounts from, you know, 1.7 and now we take $250,000 out. You buy a house and that doesn't leave you with a ton of room in your and your path forward. And if you had a million dollar house, you'd have to keep it up. You'd have to like, is that 100 grand a year gonna be enough? It doesn't sound like it. I think that the issue is you're young and you could live a long time. Right. So is the pension, does it have a cost of living adjustment?

[B]

Yes, it has a cost of living adjustment, but it's 1% below inflation. If it's over a certain amount.

[A]

What you're suggesting, or your ideal scenario would be, right, to have this $1.7 million of traditional money. And you say, okay, let's use some of that money to buy our home, our future home in the Southeast. Right. Which you would never do immediately, by the way. You would first rent and make sure you like where you were living, and you'd rent for a little while. And then if we took, you know, because we have to pay tax on the money you take out. So, you know, if we consider what would happen if you were left with, let's call it 1.3 in traditional as opposed to 1.7. Right. And then you had your Roth and your brokerage, but you have just the main source of your safety net for the gap between any income and what your needs would be is this $1.3 million in traditional. And so, I mean, I can be convinced that it's okay. It's not ideal. Sometimes these numbers don't all jibe perfectly. So sometimes when people say to me, you know, the house was worth 825, we would clear 760. And then we come to find out, really, no, they really only cleared 710. And the house we thought was a million was really going to be 1, 2. And that there are these. These gaps that form. And that's where I'm having hesitation. I think that, like, if I knew 100% that you could kind of do this and lock in and you could buy a house at 900 and that we were over being overly conservative about what you would clear. And maybe you really, you know, you could do this, but it's close and, And I get that you want to move. Is there a middle ground where, you know, I get. Your husband wants to stop working. But, like, so if, if you moved, would we, you know, there's no work for either of you, or would you work part time? Is there any. Is there any way that we can have a little bit of a buffer?

[B]

I have the same hesitation that you do. I don't. I do not want to take that money out of our retirement account. But I was wondering about the option or the feasibility of taking the cash from the house sell. And so we have a year of income that we're coming in now, so we plan to save about 60,000 this year. So forgetting that, but take the brokerage money. It doesn't really matter where it comes from. But take another, take the 90 plus the 750 like you said, that would be 850. Put it towards a house and that leaves on the high end. I'm going with the high end, about a 250 mortgage. If I had a mortgage for 10 years I think the cost would be about 32,000 a year just for principal interest and I wonder if that would work. The reason I am wondering about that is because when I run the numbers, if we don't take out money and put it somewhere else besides keeping it in the pre tax accounts then we're going to have higher and higher IRMAA costs later on and. Yeah, yeah. And then higher and higher withdrawals and it shoots me into a like 30 plus percent towards the end. Okay, so I. So if I do it this way when I project it out it looks like it's going to keep me in the 2224. Keep us out of Irma perhaps until one of us passes away. Then that'll put the other person in the IRMA brackets for that. What I was wondering if something like that would work.

[A]

I think it works like by the book. I think it can work. But life is so weird and so by the way, everyone listening irmaa which just so a lot of people don't realize this, it's called income related monthly adjustment amount that when you have more money coming out of your retirement account that means you have more income and when you have more income you. There are surcharges for Medicare parts B and D and that's this surcharge, this irmaa and it maxes out, you know, at I don't know, 500 and something, $530 a month. But that's if you have income of more than you know, for marrying filing jointly of 750,000. But it's hundreds of dollars a month and it's extra cost. I guess my bigger hesitation is that this is predicated on everything is just fine and we don't have something big that happens. We don't have an illness, we don't have something like where I have to have something covered that's not covered by Medicare and I have to do this thing and I need a hundred grand out of this account in a hurry and 30 years is a long time to support yourselves. So do I think that as I said, buy the book with a calculator in hand. Do I think this can work? I don't do. I think there are so many variables, you know, if everything goes great Great. But if everything doesn't go great, then I think we've got some issues. So if I were you, I might think about. We sell the house. We know we want to get off the West Coast. This was an interesting experiment. Fine. You sell the house, you put the money in the brokerage account, you chill out, you rent for a year, you see where you stand in a year and where you really want to be. And then maybe you decide that, you know, you can make different decisions about going forward. I would not buy out of the gate. There's no way I would do that. I don't know, Like, I don't trust your family and where they're moving. And I think that if you did that, at least we could have like, an interim year or so. And you can also say, like, well, how much is it costing us to live where we are? You have a better sense of your expenses. You'll have your. You'll have the pension, you'll have this money. Your husband will claim Social Security. And now you really see what your cash flow is, and you can really get a sense of, like, the marriage of what's coming in and also, like, what is going out. Because I just don't. I don't know. I don't know. So I think it is all possible. I just would go slow.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Is that, Is that disappointing to you?

[B]

Of course, yes, it is disappointing. And I will say that we do know this area really well. We live there for quite a while, so that isn't quite the issue. But the house that we, you know, it's not a cheap area. It's really expensive. But, yeah, there are homes that are smaller that would meet our needs that are like, closer to the 900 mark, which really it's. I mean, that's a big difference. That's.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that would be a much bigger than. You know, that extra 200,000 is a big difference for you. Right. If you sold and you rented for a year, so what? Throw the money away for a year? Even if you know it's going to take you a while to find a house. Right.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Unless you're going to, like, shack up with your damn family who moves around so much. But, like, if you sold your house and you rented.

[B]

We're renting, by the way.

[A]

Okay. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So if you, if you did that and you sell the, the house that you currently own, the 825 house, make sure you take your time, you find the house, and you're really much more focused on the lower end than the Higher end, then you may be able to do it, and then you take the money out of the traditional, and you're not going to get a mortgage. You're just going to pay for this thing, and you'll see where you stand, and then maybe it'll be just fine.

[B]

Right.

[A]

As soon as you said 1.1 that my antenna went up, trust me, so did mine.

[B]

I'm like, gosh, that is a lot of money. Now, I know nowadays people sometimes act like it's not, but it really is to me. But the other option is just to live about three hours away where the cost of living is substantially less.

[A]

Well, I like that, but, I mean, I don't know if that's. If that defeats a purpose.

[B]

No, like, not really.

[A]

Or maybe three hours is a perfect amount of time.

[B]

Not really. Yeah, it's not bad. And it's a beautiful place to be, and the cost of living is a lot less. So it's got.

[A]

All right, well, now you got me. Now you got. Now we're. Now we're talking. Now we're talking. Now you're swapping one house for another house. And, you know, you can live on it. And, like, that's makes me that these are all. These are all adjustments that seem reasonable. Well, I make the move.

[B]

I really appreciate you guys talking with me because your reservation about the whole thing is precisely the reservation that my husband and I have. And he tends to want to look three hours away because he is not happy about the possibility of having a mortgage after working so hard to not have one.

[A]

That's exactly right. And also, at a time in your life when you're going through these big transitions, it is very, very, very hard to say I'm on the hook for this thing. I get it. I totally get it. All right, so I think that we. We have a game plan. Stay in touch with us. Let us know how you're doing, and if we can do anything else and we can walk you through other ideas and maybe, hey, maybe you'll be happily surprised. And then maybe the house sells for 850 and it's not, you know, or, you know, whatever, something happens or you have a better number, all of these things can change. And we are here for you. So thank you for getting in touch with us. And it's not so dramatic. It's just Mark and I are nervous Nellies. Mark, we are nervous Nellies in general. I'm still. I'm still stuck on the. The idea of moving across the country for my child. And I get there and my child moves back. I'm just, I'm gobsmacked by that, but I didn't want to dwell on it. Okay. If you are considering a big move one way or the other, you want to upscale, you want to downsize, you want to move towards family, you want to move away from your family. You want to do something in your life that's going to impact your money. Get in touch with us. Go to jillonmoney.com click the contact us button. Write us a note if you would like to join us on the air. Just check the box. Mark will do everything else and check out all the great content that lives on that website. You can subscribe to us on the Odysee app or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. And of course, we always ask that you leave us a rating and review. Wherever you listen, try to do something nice for someone else today. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Hey gang, here's the thing about wine. Some of the best bottles are not sitting on a store shelf. They're being crafted at small, independent win 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, Sommsation's expert team seeks out incredible wines from top independent producers. These are bottles that you will not find in stores and on shelves. And 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 [e-mail] jillonmoney that's somsation.com jillonmoney what's up?

[C]

It's Draymond Green. I'm back for my 14th NBA season and my podcast, the Draymond Green show is back too. This season I'm breaking down games, reacting to the biggest NBA stories and sitting down with teammates, rivals and culture shapers. And trust me, I'm not holding back on the court or on the mic. Two new episodes every week, new segments, big conversations, real basketball talk for the real hoop heads. Listen to and follow the Draymond Green show wherever you get your podcast. We're back. We're better.

[B]

Let's get it.