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- [00:00]
Jill Schlesinger
Hey gang, I was a small business owner.
- [00:03]
Mark Dalerisio
I know how hard it is.
- [00:04]
Jill Schlesinger
And starting your business should actually be simple. Now you can get more. When you start your business with Northwest Registered Agent, your entire business Identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes, Northwest registered Agent provides more privacy, more guidance, and more freedom to run your business from anywhere. If you want to build your business while keeping your personal information secure, Northwest is the partner you need. In just 10 clicks and 10 minutes, they'll form your business, create a custom website and set up your local presence wherever you need it. Don't wait, protect your privacy, build your brand and set up your business in just 10 clicks. In 10 minutes, visit northwestregisteredagent.com Jill and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent@northwestregisteredagent.com Jill.
- [01:01]
Mark Dalerisio
Buying a home in California can certainly feel intimidating.
- [01:05]
Jill Schlesinger
We hear from listeners all the time throughout the state and they want to know, where can they even start? Many of them find that turning to a realtor changed everything. Realtors can help buyers understand what they can afford. They can explain all of the steps that are involved in purchasing a home, and they can walk you through every detail, from making an offer to closing the deal. Working with a realtor can help you feel less alone or unsure about the process and that peace of mind that is the power of having a realtor by your side. Whether you're ready to move or just starting to dream, don't go it alone. Don't let what you don't know stop you from starting your next chapter. Find your realtor@championsofhome.com that's championsofhome.com welcome to.
- [02:05]
Mark Dalerisio
The Jill on Money Show. It's Friday, May 16th and we are here trying to help you make better, less bad, more considered financial decisions. Now we're recording this earlier in the week and we just got news of this 90 day pause on tariffs. And what a gentle and not so gentle reminder that when you react to news either bad or good, you are just asking for trouble. Mark, how many times did we get emails from people who were completely freaked out, some people who went to cash when it came to the tariffs being introduced when stocks went down so dramatically. We got a lot of those, right?
- [02:42]
Rachel
Oh, yes, A lot. A lot, a lot. And this is why you just, you just never know what's going to happen.
- [02:47]
Mark Dalerisio
You don't. And it would be, I, I did not expect this in this moment, but here it is. And you know, I just was looking at some of the numbers that, you know, as much as people wanted to feel so good when it was the middle of February and The S&P 500 was maybe up 5% on the year, by the end of that first week in April, the S and P was down like 15%, almost a 19% drop from the, from the February highs. And you know what it's going to if you looked at the end of the week and you start looking around, you say you know what, you cannot predict. That is why we really want to cling to this advice, which is don't get too happy, don't get too sad. Do get in touch with us. So if you feel tempted to either jump in, bail out whatever's going on, then please get in touch with us. Go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, write us a note, tell us what's going on and we'll try to help you out. And oh, by the way, Mark, some of my friends reacted to our Mother's Day Money Watch show and we'll talk about Money Watch in a second. I got such nice feedback. So that was kind of cool. Money Watch is our other program. We drop it on the weekends. If you don't subscribe, there is a link on the website or you can subscribe on the Odyssey app wherever you get your podcasts. We love the Money Watch show. A little bit more of the, more of the back to basics. Try to get some of the, some of the information out there that maybe sometimes we gloss over in this show. Anyway, if you go to our website, everything is there. Mark does a fantastic job with the website and we would be so happy if you joined us to just come on the air, tell us what's going on. Maybe we can help guide you again. Jillonmoney.com, contact us, write us the note, check the box. If you are willing to come on the air live. Don't forget that we've got the Jill on Money Live community. That's our subscription service. 45 bucks for the next 12 months will get you access to four quarterly live webinars. It will also entitle you to the back catalog of webinars and also bonus audio and video content. Now, I am very excited for our upcoming guest. He's coming to join us on June 5th. Mike Quincy. He is the car truck expert, automotive, you know, guru at Consumer Reports. Thursday, June 5, 7 Eastern Time. Only if you are a member of Jill on Money Live. All right, Mark, I think it is time to do some emails. I see that we've got a bunch of people who want to come and say, hey, help me out. So this is Rachel, who writes. Hi, Jill. I love your show. I've learned so much while listening to you over the last six months. Oh, so she's a new listener. I love that. Okay, so she writes, I'd love for you to take a look at my situation and advise on whether a goal of retiring at age 55 is feasible. I'm 44 years old. I have one teenage child. I'm divorced, single, I live in the Midwest. I work full time, and I earn $120,000 a year. Okay, so she's 44. So we got 11 years to go. $280,000 in a 401. She contributes the max and about of that 280, 80% traditional, 20% Roth. An additional $50,000 in a Roth IRA, which she is maxing out. So that's good. So really saving a lot of money here. $55,000 in a brokerage, $15,000 in an HSA, $25,000 in a high yield savings, and another $34,000 in CDs. Now she, Rachel says that the money in the CDs, that's money for her daughter. Her father passed away, so she receives $1,300 a month in survivor benefits until she's 18. That's a couple years from now. The money goes into four laddered CDs, and it should have about $70,000 for her to use towards state college. That's good. Rachel herself is entitled to a pension. And she says if she works until age 55, I would be entitled to about $4,000 a month at age 65. Wow. So it's incumbent on her to try to work until 55. That translates into $4,000 a month at age 65. And why is that important? Because Rachel also says she spends currently $4,500 a month, and she gives us our Social Security estimate. Oh, my gosh. Her home will be paid off next year and she's going to stay in it. Parents are in good health, financially secure, and here's the questions. If I were to work at my current job until age 55, how would I fund the 10 years until the start of my pension? I was thinking of using the rule of 55 to draw down my 401 funds and also work part time, earning 15 or 20 grand a year. I would be able to stay on my employer's health plan and pay the same premiums as if I were an employee. And then it could use the HSA to Cover health expenses as needed. I think this is a great plan. I mean, so let's just think about this. In 11 years, the money that she has now, the 280,000, it will grow. So let's say at age 55, you've got a chunk of money that saves, I don't know, a half a million, 600,000, something like that. I think this is a good plan. We'll see what, you know, listen, 11 years from now, we got to see where things stand. But I think what I would try to do is to only use the rule of 55 for the traditional money. And then maybe you could deplete that from 55 to 65 and supplement with whatever you need to supplement. It would be kind of nice if you didn't have to tap the Roth assets at all and that that would just be something you could keep in place. She is going to make all of her future contributions 100% Roth. So she asks whether we think taking a delayed Social Security at 70 would make sense. She said, my family has longevity and I am in great health. Her Social Security is $3,400 a month at age 67, $4,300 at age 70. I think waiting makes sense if you can do that. She says, should I continue to save 15% in my 401k or would you recommend putting that money elsewhere? What do you think about that, Mark? So 15% is going into her now, all Roth 401K. What do you think?
- [09:16]
Rachel
She needs to make sure that she can use the rule of 55 where she is. Because if for whatever reason she can't and she needs to, you know, fill this 10 year gap, then I think she needs to redirect some of that money into the brokerage account.
- [09:28]
Mark Dalerisio
I'm going to presume, I thought that she probably, you know, I'm hoping that she can use the rule of 55. But yeah, I agree with you. She has to make sure that that's the case. But you know what? If you can do. I think this is all doable and you should not really. I wouldn't stress too much about it. But I think the game plan is a good one, to stay till you're 55. Obviously every year you stay in that job, the better it would be like, it may be that you're like, you know what, let me stay till I'm 57 because that allows me to save some more money. Let's see where you are. I think the general game plan is a good one and should get you where you Want to go and especially if you're going to work part time. I think 15 or $20,000 is a good goal, but I bet it'll be more than that. Okay. This is one of these situations that simply makes me crazy. On behalf of this poor person. This is Eileen who writes, I'm a recent widow, so I'm very sorry. Eileen stinks. My husband has a stack of Savings Bonds Series EE. The stack is 3 inches tall. The bank will not cash them out and neither will the credit union. From what I have researched, my only option is sending them to the Treasury Department. Is there a way this many bonds can be scanned rather than me transposing all the numbers to a paper form from the Treasury? Where can I get this done? Also, the bonds have my late husband's name and payable on death with his father's name. Oh boy. So she says, I have a death certificate for both. Please help me find out how these can be cashed or transferred. Okay. All right. This is a little bit of a pain in the neck. So I want to just tell anyone who has paper bonds that it is important that you absolutely try to make sure you put these bonds into the treasury direct system. Okay. So what I want you to know is it's a pain, but it's going to be fine. All right, so the first thing you're going to have to do is go to the treasurydirect.gov website and then you're going to have to open a TreasuryDirect account. It's very easy. And then what'll happen is you'll have an account where you can then say establish a link. You're going to try to then convert your paper bonds following these instructions. And yes, you have to write the name of every single bond out. And I did this with my mother in law and father in law while they were still alive. And it's a pain in the neck, but it is doable. And the reason why people are always happier that they've done this is that when you have this account, you don't have to worry about keeping track about which bonds are paying interest and which bonds are not. The other thing that I want to be clear is that what I suggest is making a copy of every bond you have is. I mean, just to have that. And then when you follow the directions@treasurydirect.gov you should be able to either convert them to paper bonds if you still want to keep them, you can cash them in and put a link to your bank account and the money will Flow directly from Treasury. Like you have the paper bonds. They go to treasurydirect.com then the bonds are available. And then when you want to sell them or if they mature, you then have that money sent to your bank account. And that can be done pretty seamlessly. It's sort of like cumbersome, but it's doable. And yeah, it's a bummer. Okay, next question. Judy says, oh, boy. Each day I slump into deeper regret over selling my gold back in January. If I waited until May, I would have gained an extra $300,000 and climbing. Seeing it climb even more is just gutting. I'm losing sleep, stressing as the world is collapsing. My major savings was in gold for seven years, during which I missed the supposed good years of stock market earnings. I made double holding gold. So it seems I've done better than 8% each year in the market. I felt more secure holding gold since it's universal. This past September, I lost my brother. The Hurricane Helene hit. There was just a lot of stuff going on. So she went to a financial advisor. The advisor said, sell your gold, pay off your house, which had a 6% mortgage. And then there was 500 grand. With the advisor in low to moderate risk assets. Single, no kids, 65 years old, full time employed, $90,000 a year. I'm going to be working until I have until I'm age 70. All right, I have $1.3 million of assets and $50,000 in a high yield savings account. About $65,000 in a Vanguard account. Another account in a CD with $80,000, no debt. Can I just say something? Poor Judy. I don't know what to say to make it better for you, But I don't think that this is the advisor's fault. I think that most advisors would say, wow, you're 65 years old and you're 100% in gold. Maybe that wasn't the best idea. That said, it does sound like you're in fine financial shape. So why are we looking back? Imagine people who said, oh, I'm only gonna look back. Oh, I sold my Nvidia or I sold my crypto at 30,000 when it was a Bitcoin was at 30,000. Let's not look back. Maybe what I would say, Judy, is that instead of looking back, let's look at where you are. Let's look forward. We can't undo the sale of gold, right? But what we can do is say, do you have enough money to live your life? Are you happy with just the level of Assets. You're single, you're working. It doesn't seem like there's any problem here. And if you want more money in safer assets, that's fine. You know, you already have 50 grand in an emergency reserve fund. I don't think you need much more. You're in good shape. Looking back and regret, boy, that's just not productive for you. I don't know how to make that better, but it's not productive. Anonymous says, why save for retirement? This is the subject. The message is, I'm hoping you can help me convince my friend to save for retirement. He and his wife are both state workers. They're entitled to a pension. Between this and Social Security, they don't see a need to save anything additional. They're 47 years old. They've done the math. They think they're going to be fine. Maybe they will be. I'm a worrier. I couldn't sleep with all my eggs in that one basket. When my friend asks why I save, I pointed out that without a nest egg, they'll always be paycheck to paycheck. And it would be hard to do things like home improvements and other purchases such as a car. I know it's none of my business, but sometimes they ask me why I save so much. So I'm wondering if you have any good reasons. I could provide the role of inflation, you know, over the next 20 years. Okay, Anonymous, stop talking to these people. Who cares what they think? And they don't care what you think. So if they're entitled to a pension and the pension has an inflation adjustment and they get Social Security and that's the risk they want to take, fine.
- [16:15]
Jill Schlesinger
Who cares?
- [16:16]
Mark Dalerisio
What do I care what they want to do? They're not asking you for your advice. And if they want to know why you're saving so much, you might say, well, you know, I just feel more comfortable this way. Let's decide never to talk about this again. It's kind of like politics. Let's decide not to talk about this ever again. This is silly. I don't know why people get into other people's business. You know what I mean? It's unnecessary.
- [16:36]
Rachel
As a parent, I see parents comparing kids to all the time, like, comparing their kids to other kids. I do not care what other kids are doing. All I care about is what I'm doing.
- [16:45]
Mark Dalerisio
I know, man, but, you know, we're different. We are different. I always think that this is also a funny thing where sometimes what people will do who have, like, some money, like, they're making some money, like a decent amount of money. You know, I call them the working rich. So, you know, on the coasts they're maybe making four or five hundred thousand dollars a year and they're like, oh, look at all these people. They're making a million dollars a year. Who cares what someone. Are you living the life you want? What do you care?
- [17:09]
Rachel
That's all that matters.
- [17:10]
Jill Schlesinger
Unbelievable.
- [17:11]
Mark Dalerisio
Goodness gracious. All right, that's it. That's the show. It's a very. These were good emails. Mark. If you're regretting something that you did in the past, please try not to. It's just not that important. We, we, we know that you can get where you want to go. If you're having a problem with that and you don't know how to approach it, just go to our website, jillonmoney.com hit that contact us button. Write us a note. Let us know if you want to join us on the air live. As I said earlier, you can subscribe to us as well as our Money Money Watch show on, which is our weekend show on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Our music is composed by Joel Goodman. Mark Dalerisio is our executive producer and king of all things web, and we are distributed by the fine folks at Odyssey. Please try to do something nice for someone else today. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening. We'll talk to you on Monday.
- [18:04]
Eileen
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- [18:23]
Mark Dalerisio
Can I get you a refill?
- [18:25]
Eileen
You can stay fresh wherever your business travel takes you. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com AmExBusiness when investing your money.
- [18:36]
Anonymous
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