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New year, new systems. Right. This is the time when we all look at the messier parts of our business and think there has to be a better way. And there is. Streamlining your communications is one of the quickest and easiest upgrades you can make. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q U O. The smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews. And it's built for how modern teams actually work. More. More than 90,000 businesses rely on Quo to stay connected, professional and consistently reachable. Your whole team can handle calls and texts from one shared business number, so nothing slips through the cracks. Everyone sees the full conversation, replies faster, and customers feel genuinely taken care of. And Quo's smart AI automatically logs calls, creates summaries, and highlights next steps so nothing gets lost even when you're offline. And make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try quo for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com jillonmoney that's q-u.com jillonmoney quo no missed calls, no missed customers. Ugh. Could this vintage store be any cuter? Right. And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept discovery in a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report. Welcome to the Jill on Money show. It's Thursday, January 29th, and we're here answ your financial questions. If you have one, just go to our website, Jill. On money.com click the contact us button, write us a note. And if you would like to join us live, check the box. Mark will do everything else. While you're on the website, check out all the free content that lives there. We've got a weekly newsletter, comes out on Fridays. We've got another podcast. It's called Money Watch. We've got a blog, we've got a radio show. There are videos, there are resources, all there@jillonmoney.com just bookmark the website so that in case you have a brainchild of an idea and you want to maybe pass it by us, it'll be there. Jillandmoney.com okay, today we are going to be answering some emails. We need to do email shows to help the shy people? This question comes from Substack. Susan writes, my question is I sold my home and started retirement at age 63. My husband is 67. He's still working at and we are both collecting Social Security. We put our proceeds from the sale of our house in a high yield savings account, but now the rate has dropped to 3.5%. We don't want to risk losing any of the money by putting it in the market and we would love to put it in a place that will earn us monthly or yearly income that we can spend without jeopardizing the they say initial money. I think they mean that that big chunk of money, the corpus of the money and in the account. What are your thoughts, Susan? I'm so sorry to say it's very hard. I mean 3.5% is not bad. I mean at least it's ahead of the inflation rate. But I don't know enough about you. It sounds to me like with everything going on that this account, the proceeds of your house in the High yield savings account is maybe extra money beyond other money. So let's presume that's the case. One way to drive a little bit more income is to take that money and just juice it up a little bit by creating a cd, a certificate of deposit ladder, or maybe even put some of the money in a short term bond fund, some of the money in CDs, some of the money in cash. The thing is, if you really don't wanna put the money at risk, there aren't so many great options. And as you're finding as interest rates go down, the whole idea of having this extra cash and having a nice big chunk of money that's generating income is. It becomes a little less appealing. The interest rates go down, the money, the interest you pay is taxable. So all that being said, I'd love to know a little bit more about you and unfortunately what you're asking is something that's sort of elusive for investors. I want to earn a bunch of money, but I don't want to take any risk. It's tough, I know, but get back in touch with us because maybe if there are other things going on in your life, we could come up with some different ideas for you. This message is from Anonymous. Anonymous Rights My wife and I are age 45 and 51. We engaged a financial advisor last year and we're not sure we're getting value for the cost. Okay, so they are paying an asset under management fee and it is 1.25% and that is up to a million dollars. They Happen to have $985,000. They pay about $12,000 a year. Now the asset under management fee drops to 1%. For the next 2 million it goes down. Okay, so they purchased a vacation home which takes a lot of our extra cash flow. So there isn't the question of what to do with too much extra cash flow, at least not for the near future. The financial plan they presented us with did not go into the level of detail that we would have liked I. E. They didn't offer different withdrawal strategies. They do offer tax planning. They are responsive and I trust them. But is it worth it? My thinking is that it may be best to engage someone five years from now when we are closer to retiring and moving towards lower paying jobs. Then they can help us with the tax planning and withdrawal strategies. We have estate planning done, we are insured so there is no value they can offer there. They also set up nicely as far as investment options for 401ks IRAs. So I think we could continue along as they set us up for, for the next five years and that would save us 50 to 60 thousand dollars. What do you think? Well, you know, Anonymous, it kind of stinks for the advisor. It sounds like they actually did the job that. But I also get that they didn't kind of go into more depth. I mean it is possible that you can say to them that you're going to try to manage your own money for the next five years and do it yourself and you want to keep the door open to come back to them and maybe there'll be game for that. You know, I guess it's a real question of, you know, that is a lot of money, 50 or 60 grand. But I also feel a little bit like oh they did set you up and is it nice to have somebody in your back pocket who has helped you thus far. So I don't know, I don't feel strongly on this one. I'm going to say maybe, but I don't know. One market downturn, we'll see what happens.
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Five years is not a very long time either.
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A
Well, five years isn't a long time but 50 to 60 grand is a lot of money.
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B
They're also doing tax planning too.
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A
Yeah, I mean that's true. I mean are they doing taxes or tax planning? Are they completing your taxes? Yeah, I don't know. I feel bad because I feel like these folks have done the right by them. But maybe, I guess maybe the other thing is to go back to them and say we really wanted more detailed structure around our financial planning and see if they would do it. Maybe there's an option there. I don't know. I'm feeling, feeling, feeling bad for the advisor on this one. I've been on that. I've been on the other end of that phone call where you're the advisor and you've set them up, and then they're like, I'll do it. But, you know, I'm interested in hearing what their response might be. Okay, next up. This is from Josh, who writes, I love the show. I listen religiously. You and Mark always give great advice. Thanks, Josh. I'm debating whether to pay off our mortgage. Uh. Oh, my antennae are up. Okay. Josh says they owe $187,000. The interest rate is 5.4% on a home that's worth $800,000. Their monthly payment, 3,200 bucks. Okay, here's the deal. I have the option to pay off the mortgage using funds from my trust, which is currently earning 5.2%. The balance in the trust, $399,000. In addition, we have $140,000 in a high yield savings account, $170,000 in a regular bank account. We also have a brokerage account with $327,000. And between retirement accounts, we've got a traditional 401 with about a half a million in IRA 60,000. Our income, $250,000 a year. We spend about $14,000 a month. I'm 37 years old. My wife is 35. We've got two kids, 6 and 4. And get this. Wife is currently expecting twins. They're going to have four kids. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
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B
And he wants to pay off the mortgage.
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We've got 29,000 and a 529. Given all of this, would it be unwise to pay off the house for peace of mind? Or is this a situation where eliminating the mortgage makes sense? Mark, did you want to explain your laugh?
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B
There's no way I would pay off.
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A
This mortgage, not even if the interest rate were higher. So, no, we need you to hold onto your liquid assets. You are about to have a massive change in your household. We would guess that your spending is going to rise, and I don't see why you. I mean, I understand the emotional part of it, and I get the math of it all, but you're young, so I think you just can. If you can live with this mortgage, let your money work for you. And. And then we can revisit this if things Change. But I don't think it would be wise to pay off the house for peace of mind. You know what? When I would pay it for peace of paid off for peace of mind. If you said to me that in that trust, Instead of having 400 grand, if you said oh, I have $4 million in a trust, should I pay it off? Yeah, sure, no big deal. But you need your money and access to it. So no, I don't think you should do it. All right. This is from Andrew who says, I've heard it said to have a bridge account of two to five years of expenses before entering into retirement to help. Two to five, that's a lot. I would say two to three maybe that this would smooth out any downturns in the market. I forget specifically your recommendation for the number of years. My question is more about how many years should be held and what type of accounts. So my recommendation is two to three years. Three if you're really freaked out about risk. But it would be very odd if we went into a three year downward market. So I'm saying two to three. The question is, should all the money be held in a money market CD or maybe a year or two held at the bank and the rest in a brokerage. We've been contributing to Roth 401s for the last few years and we've been converting money from traditional to Roth. At some point soon I assume we should stop contributing and converting just to keep the cash in the bridge account. But my wife and I are 58 and 60. We're looking to retire in a couple of years. Yeah. So I think two to three years is fine. And yeah, I like it in boring bank money market cd. If it's three years, maybe, you know, maybe I would keep two years worth in cash and the one year in brokerage. But as you get closer to needing the money then I think you just kind of keep that money at a lower risk level. So I hope that helps. Two to five years. Five years, that'd be rough, huh? Mark, Tim wants to know can he retire next year? He'll be 57 in 20. 27. So right now he's got a couple of expenses that he, that he's saying that, you know, he has for a little bit like an interim. So they spend $8,000 a month, he and his wife, but then he's got money that he's got to pay for his kids college for the next four years, another $4,000 a month and then he's going to have to pay health care for his wife, who's 62 and himself. So let's just go through this. The bottom line is he's got a house that's worth $1.4 million, no mortgage. He's got money that is in a traditional 401k, $1,100,000. And he'll be able to trigger his rule of 55 for that money. He's got $100,000 in a Roth IRA 300 inherited Iraq. And he's already starting to take distributions from that $300,000 in investments that are yielding 8% return. I don't know what that is. Love to see what that is. Emergency fund, 40 grand, two different rental properties bringing in a net of around $7,000 a month. Salary, 250. And they'll collect some money at Social Security. So can he retire next year? What do we think, Mark? I think he probably can do this.
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B
Well, before I saw the rental, that was a hard no.
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Yeah, I see that rental. The rental property is 7,000amonth. Okay. He's got that money coming in even though he's really young and he does have, you know, real expenses for the next bunch of years. I think what I would do is I would make sure I don't know what this hard money loan investments. I have no idea what that $300,000 is. But. But I'll tell you what, right now I'd make sure that I took 100 grand out of that. I would like reduce that to 200, pay whatever tax I had to do and make sure that I have my kids college education handled. So then we've got the extra money for healthcare for a while. I don't know if he's going to have health care or not, but I guess with the rental properties it kind of works.
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B
It's.
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It's young though, man. He's young.
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B
He's got $4,000 per month for the next four years for college.
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Yeah. Yeesh. I don't know why you would do that and like pay that out of cash flow. I don't know why you wouldn't just like blow out of whatever you have. See, this is one of those things where I think I'm a simpleton, to be honest with you. He's like got 300 grand that's invested. We know that he is going to have, you know, $200,000 of college costs. I would be blown out of that investment fund, paying whatever amount of money I had to in taxes, pop that money in a 529 and not make this my cash flow. That $4,000 a month, I think that's crazy. I think it's hard to manage it. And I don't really understand the money, the healthcare right now and what he's paying and what he will pay. So I think it's possible. I'm just not sure it's the wisest thing. And I also would like to know, like, is there any chance you're going to, like, maybe. Maybe work part time? You're so young. I think you can probably do it based on what you wrote us, but I am not sure it makes sense in the. I'm just not sure it makes sense. How about that? What do you think, Mark? Pretty good for an email episode. That's a lot of different kinds of people, huh?
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B
Yeah, we ran the gamut there. But he's definitely going to spend down his assets if he does it.
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Yeah. And you're young, so, like, can you work a few more years? Just like three more years? Two more years. I'd love to get him through college. Get that kid through college.
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B
That's what I would do.
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I would work four more years, get my kid through college. Suck it up. Easy for me to say. I don't have the kid. I have to pay for college. All right, hey, gang, if you've got a question, just go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, write us a note, and if you'd like to join us on the air live, check the box. Mark will do everything else because he's the best. Don't forget to sign up for the free weekly newsletter. It is fantastic and it comes out every single Friday, which for you guys is tomorrow. And when you sign up for that weekly newsletter, you'll also get our blog. So that's kind of fun. Just get a little substack post every so often. All right, gang, if you wouldn't mind, subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. You can also subscribe to our sister broadcast, which is called Money Watch. On that same Odyssey app, or wherever you find those podcasts that we know you all love, please leave us a rating and review. Wherever you listen, don't forget to show someone some love. Put. Put your hands, metaphorically on someone's back. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Hey, gang, you know, subscriptions are one of those things that feel small in the moment, and then suddenly you're wondering why you are paying for all these things that you barely use. That's where Experian subscription cancellation comes in Experian can take the pain out of canceling subscriptions by handling it for you. Just keep the ones you want, cancel the ones you don't, and put the money back in your pocket instead of spending your time trying to cancel subscriptions. If you even do that, and you know there are over 200 subscriptions that are cancelable, which means that there are lots of opportunities to clean things up. And it doesn't stop there. You can also save money by letting Experian negotiate the rates on bills you're already paying. They'll keep an eye out for new deals and savings opportunities, and negotiate directly with your provider on your behalf. Get started with the Experian app now. Results will vary. Not all bills or subscriptions eligible savings not guaranteed Paid membership with connected payment account required. See experian.com for details. Hey, this is Richard Deutsch, the host of the sports Media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered.
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B
I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Kapi reached out. Oprah George Stephanopoulos. So I said no. I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.
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Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.