When Can I Safely Retire?

Summary

When Can I Safely Retire? – A Detailed Summary of Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger

Release Date: June 19, 2025
Podcast: Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger
Host/Author: Audacy

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Introduction

In the episode titled "When Can I Safely Retire?", host Jill Schlesinger, CFP®, along with co-host Mark, delves into the crucial topic of retirement readiness. Addressing the concerns of listeners, the episode features a live call from Don, a 60-year-old from Detroit, who seeks guidance on whether he has sufficient savings to retire comfortably. This comprehensive discussion offers valuable insights into assessing financial readiness for retirement, managing assets, and leveraging income sources effectively.

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Caller Introduction: Don’s Situation

At [01:07], Mark introduces Don, who has recently turned 60 and is contemplating retirement. Don shares a bit about his personal life, mentioning his 25th wedding anniversary and his daughter's impending graduation from college. This personal context sets the stage for a relatable and heartfelt conversation about retirement.

Don:
"I just turned 60 recently and I'm wondering the age-old question. Do I have enough to retire?"
[03:13]

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Understanding Don’s Current Feelings About Work

Don expresses his growing dissatisfaction with his current job, indicating that he is “starting to get to be over it” ([03:38]). This sentiment is common among individuals nearing retirement age, highlighting the emotional aspect of leaving a long-term career behind.

Jill:
"Do you have to have work a certain period of time? Do you... have you been in this place for a long time and you're like, no, no. I mean I need to give them many months."
[07:31]

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Don’s Financial Overview

Don provides a detailed breakdown of his financial assets, painting a clear picture of his retirement readiness:

• 401(k): $1.65 million (10% Roth)
• Roth IRA: $234,000
• Brokerage Account: $232,000
• 401A Pension Plan: $110,000
• Spousal Roth IRA: $45,000
• HSA Account: $33,000
• Inherited IRA: $12,000
• Savings and Safe Accounts: Approximately $50,000
  [05:13] to [06:06]

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Assessing Monthly Expenses

Mark prompts Don to estimate his monthly expenses, which Don initially places at $7,500. However, Mark suggests that Don may be overestimating, prompting a reevaluation.

Mark:
"Do you feel like that really accounts for everything? If I said 9,000, would it be like, oh, no, we don't. I bet it's, I bet it's more than 7,500."
[07:17]

Don:
"Actually, I think it's going to be less than 7,500. I put a little bit of cushion in there."
[07:25]

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Evaluating Retirement Readiness

Mark meticulously walks through Don's financials to determine his ability to retire safely. He highlights that Don's 401(k) could sufficiently cover his monthly expenses, especially with the added income from his Social Security benefits expected to be about $3,800/month at 67 and $4,200 at 72.

Mark:
"You see where your problem is not. It's not a problem. You can retire. You're fine. You're totally fine."
[08:59]

Mark reassures Don by explaining that his traditional retirement accounts can provide the necessary income without tapping into the Roth IRA or brokerage accounts, allowing those assets to continue growing tax-free.

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Strategizing for a Secure Retirement

Mark emphasizes the importance of considering when to start drawing from retirement accounts and the benefits of delaying retirement to allow assets to grow further. He advises Don to either proceed with retirement immediately or consider a slight delay to enhance his financial position.

Mark:
"If you work another couple of years, it would look a little bit better just to build things up. But it's not, I don't know, like, you've got... you've got the money that you need to live on."
[11:55]

Furthermore, Mark discusses the advantage of Don's spouse potentially claiming half of his Social Security benefits, adding an extra layer of financial security.

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Concluding Remarks and Advice

In wrapping up the conversation, Mark reinforces that Don is well-positioned to retire, affirming that his financial foundation is solid. He encourages listeners in similar situations to comprehensively assess their finances and consider both immediate and long-term strategies for retirement.

Mark:
"You are now part of a very special club. And that club is you're one bad meeting away from giving your notice."
[12:41]

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Notable Quotes

• Don on Retirement Uncertainty:
  "Do I have enough to retire?"
  [03:13]

• Mark’s Reassurance:
  "You can retire. You're fine. You're totally fine."
  [08:59]

• Mark on the "One Bad Meeting Away" Club:
  "You are now part of a very special club. And that club is you're one bad meeting away from giving your notice."
  [12:41]

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Conclusion

This episode of "Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger" provides a thorough and empathetic exploration of retirement planning through Don’s real-life scenario. Listeners gain actionable insights into assessing their own retirement readiness, understanding the interplay between different financial accounts, and making informed decisions to ensure a secure and comfortable retirement. Jill and Mark’s approachable and jargon-free discussion makes complex financial concepts accessible, empowering individuals to take control of their financial futures.

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For more personalized advice or to join future episodes, visit jillonmoney.com and connect through the "Contact Us" section.

Transcript

[Jill Schlesinger]

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[Mark]

Welcome to the Jill on Money show. It's Thursday, June 19th, Juneteenth. How about that? Markets are closed today and it's a good thing because the Fed did nothing yesterday as expected and now you're gonna have no reaction. You don't have to do anything with it. So if you are taking the time off for Juneteenth, then we hope you celebrate in something that is reflective of the day. You know, I remember when my friend's kid got off for Juneteenth and they were talking about all the things that they hoped to do and they ended up at someone's pool, which I think is a teenage thing to do. But maybe you say to your kids, well let's have a little conversation about what this is. Do that. I like that for every holiday, whether it's Memorial Day or Veterans Day or Independence Day, that you have like some conversation. This is the advice from the non parent. I have a big conversation with my four legged beasts about what is important to them and to us on this day. Anyway, what's important to you is that we continue to have shows every single day. Whenever you have a question. We're open for business Monday through Friday here on this program and Jill on Money and then on the weekends with our Money Watch podcast, you can subscribe to both on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Now if you've got a question about your financial life or all you need to do is go to our website jillonmoney.com, which I know you've bookmarked so easy. And in the upper right hand corner, click on the contact us button, write us a note. And if you would like to join us live, just check that box and Mark does everything else. While you're on the website, you can check out all of the great stuff that lives there. We've got another podcast, as I mentioned. We've got a radio show, we've got a blog, we've got resources. And we have the fantastic free weekly newsletter for which Mark compiles every Friday. It's now a substack. So I'm on Substack gang. It's very exciting. Hey, I want to get to you. Forget about us for a second. Let's get to Don, who is patiently waiting for us. He is on the line from Detroit. Hello, Don, how can we help you today?

[Don]

Hi, Jill. Hi, Mark. Hey, thank you for taking my call.

[Mark]

Sure.

[Don]

I just turned 60 recently and I'm wondering the age old question. Do I have enough to retire?

[Mark]

First of all, congratulations. Mazel tov on 60. That's great. So hooray for you. And are you're working right now? What do you. Are you, are you happy in your work? Like, how are you?

[Don]

I'm starting to get to be over it.

[Mark]

Dude, I am with you. I totally. I can't believe I'm saying this. You know me, I'm the one who's on this podcast saying, what are you going to do if you're 16? You're not worth. But I mean, I can understand getting over the drudgery of it and then thinking about what is next. What's your off ramp? Are you partnered? Are you married? What's going on?

[Don]

Yes, married. Actually. Today is 25th wedding anniversary.

[Mark]

Oh my goodness.

[Don]

Yep.

[Mark]

Amazing. And how does the spouse feel about you maybe calling it quits?

[Don]

She's all for it.

[Mark]

She is. Because you're grumpy. Are you grumpier? Tell the truth right now. Are you like, oh, stop bringing your work home with you? I don't want to hear about it.

[Don]

No, it hasn't gotten to that point yet.

[Mark]

Okay. Is she working?

[Don]

No, she isn't.

[Mark]

And you guys have kids?

[Don]

We have one daughter who is through college and not fully launched but on our way.

[Mark]

Okay. And lives. Does she live with you?

[Don]

Yes.

[Mark]

Okay. But you, you feel like, like when you say not fully, like you feel like she's going to leave the house. Like, do you need to help her financially besides giving her the housing?

[Don]

No, not really. She's pretty much on her own.

[Mark]

Okay.

[Don]

She has a full time job and she's starting her career, so that's great.

[Mark]

How much do you earn?

[Don]

140.

[Mark]

Okay. On that 140 you've saved a bunch of money. So tell us about what you've saved.

[Don]

In my 401k, I have 1.65 million. Approximately 10% of that is Roth. I have my own Roth IRA at 234,000.

[Mark]

Okay.

[Don]

A brokerage account. 232.

[Mark]

Okay.

[Don]

Our work also has a results based pension plan. I think it's a 401A and that has 110,000. Spousal Roth is 45,000. And HSA account of 33. And lastly an inherited IRA for 12,000.

[Mark]

And then like savings account, checking, CD safe money.

[Don]

That's right, about 50,000 right now.

[Mark]

Okay. How about your house?

[Don]

It is paid for a couple of years ago. Zillow tells me around 475.

[Mark]

Do you want to stay there? Is that like a place where you want to stick around? You love those, you love those Michigan winters, right?

[Don]

Kind of on the fence on that. About 50% stay there. 50% head south. Okay, so I'm not real sure.

[Mark]

I have a couple of follow up questions. That pension, the 401A. Yes, that is, Is that a cash balance? In other words, when you retire, does that just. Or does that actually turn into a stream of income or do you have the choice?

[Don]

You know, I'm not 100% sure. And they, they give us a benefits guide once a year and they estimate it to be about 977amonth.

[Mark]

Okay.

[Don]

But I don't have any other specifics on it.

[Mark]

All right, so you ready for the hardest question yet?

[Don]

Sure.

[Mark]

Brace yourself. How much do you guys spend?

[Don]

I don't have a great handle on that, but I'm Gonna estimate about 7,500amonth.

[Mark]

And do you feel like that really accounts for everything? If I said 9,000, would it be like, oh, no, we don't. I bet it's, I bet it's more than 7,500.

[Don]

Actually, I think it's going to be less than 7,500. I put a little bit of cushion in there.

[Mark]

Now, fun thing, let's say you, you want to give your notice. What does that entail for you? Do you have to have work a certain period of time? Do you, have you been in this place for a long time and you're like, no, no. I mean I need to give them many months. Like, what's the process for you?

[Don]

I've been here a long time, over 30 years. So. So it's been a. It's been a while. I'm not familiar with the. The retirement process or early retirement, so I. I guess I need to get educated on that.

[Mark]

Well, let's say that you want to be done by the end of this year. Okay, let's presume that. So then what happens is you give your notice, and we need to make sure that you've got $7,500 a month of income, which I think is pretty easy to do because you've got all of that money, that 1.65 million, or let's call it. Let's call it one and a half that hasn't been taxed yet. Right? And you can just pull money out of that account essentially for 10 years. You can really. That's going to cover what your need is for the. For the near term. And then do you have any idea what your Social Security benefit looks like?

[Don]

Okay, at 67, it's 3,800. At 72, I didn't write the number down, but I want to say it's around 4200.

[Mark]

I won't even make you wait till 70. Okay, so let's say it's 3800 at 67. So you see where your problem is not. It's not a problem. You can retire. You're fine. You're totally fine. Don't even think about, like, this is not a big deal. But your only big deal is that you have this million and a half bucks that hasn't been taxed yet. Right? And so what I would suggest is that for whenever you decide to retire, whether it's the end of this year or whatever happens next, okay. That you would take money out of that. That traditional form of savings. So maybe it's. Again, I have no idea, really, how much money you're spending. Because when you say 7,500. But that's overstating it, but let's say that that's right. You basically can use your 401k that has not yet been taxed to provide you with that $7,500 a month of income. Okay? Now maybe you're not gonna have to take out as much. Cause maybe that 401A turns into, like a nice pension benefit. But we don't really know. I don't know if that kicks in immediately. I don't know if you have to wait till you're 62 or 5 or something. Sometimes they have rules about when you can claim that. But if you think about it, you have the money that you need to Live on. And then you won't have to touch the Roth ira, the brokerage, the spousal Roth. You will essentially let those things grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. So that by the time you hit 67 or 70 and you get your Social Security, those things will have grown enough so that your benefit and I get. Your wife is claiming half of yours. Right. How we're going to do it. So.

[Don]

Yes.

[Mark]

Is she your age?

[Don]

She's a couple years younger than me.

[Mark]

Okay. So she will eventually be able to claim half of your benefit. And I think you're fine. I mean, you're not like, you're not in a place where I could say you could do anything you want. You can spend $25,000 a month, but for what you've laid out, I think you're absolutely fine if your numbers are. If you want to beef things up a little bit. If you said, well, I'm kind of over it, I know I could do it, but where does it look a little better? I think that if you worked, like, another couple of years, it would look a little bit better just to build things up. But it's not, I don't know, like, you've got. In the Roth assets and the brokerage, you have 2, 4, 5, 6, like, almost 700, 650 of assets that you're not touching, which can keep growing. So if you think about that over those years, you know, you'll have, you know, at least probably a million bucks, maybe more by the time you get to be 67 or 70 from those assets. So you then have Social Security, and then those assets have grown. And then when you pull money out of those assets, there's no tax due, so you can just take the money clean, like the five grand a month that you need. It'll be fine. It'll be four or five grand. It'll be fine. But if you wanted to beef things up a little bit, then maybe you would say, oh, let me see. Cause maybe I'd like to see, get this kid launched, make sure I have a little extra money. Then it might look a little bit better. Really comes down to how much you dislike what you're doing or how much how over it you really are. Is having the knowledge that you could do it as long as you're careful about the spend. Does that. Is that enough to get you through another year and then you reevaluate, or do you just be like, good, I'm done.

[Don]

It definitely helps. Yeah.

[Mark]

Now, I'm going to tell you what my friend Michael likes to say. And he always says, you are now part of a very special club. And that club is you're one bad meeting away from giving your notice. Don in Detroit, another happy almost retiree. You know, sometimes I really do think that that makes a difference. To really know what your options are can help you manage certain annoying parts of your job, especially after some time. And if you want to be part of the one bed meeting away club, or maybe you're 40 years old and you're really sick of what you're doing already anyway, and you want to think about something else to do and you want to try to figure out how you can use the money you've saved to launch you into a different career, a different industry. Get in touch with us go to jillonmoney.com click the contact us button. Write us a note if you want to join us on the air. Check the box. Mark will do everything else While you're on the website, check out all the content that lives there. We would be delighted for you to be able to subscribe to this show on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. Pass us along. Also, if you've got someone in your life who's maybe a little bit younger or needs a little bit more concentrated advice about how to get their financial planning started, where whatever age even check out our other broadcast. It's called Money Watch and that drops on the weekends. We try to do a little bit deeper. A lot of times I'll use a TV segment that I do and Mark and I will then go deeper into a particular topic. So check that out. That's Money Watch. Again. You can subscribe to that on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. Put your hands metaphorically on someone's back. Change your work. Change your wealth. Change your life. Thank you for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

[Jill Schlesinger]

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[Mark]

Can I get you a refill?

[Jill Schlesinger]

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[Emma Grede]

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