← So Money with Farnoosh Torabi
So Money with Farnoosh Torabi
1761: Ask Farnoosh: Converting a 401(k) to a Roth IRA, Stretching Your Retirement Funds and Navigating Finances as a Couple
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Farnoosh Tarabi
My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a hundred dollar credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to Be To Be have you ever experienced a dry, itchy scalp? Or like me, wondered why your hair color isn't lasting as long as your hairdresser promised? Well, unfiltered mineral filled water could be the reason why. Water is in fact a leading cause of damaged hair and dry, irritated skin. And about 85% of the United States uses hard water filled with dissolved minerals and added chlorine. That's why we installed Canopy's filtered showerhead in our home. 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Each day get a 30 minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds, authors, influencer and from Farnoosh yourself. Looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons. Sorry, you're in the wrong place. Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life. Welcome to SO Money. Welcome to so Money everybody. I'm Farnoosh Turabi. It is Friday the 13th, 2024 December 13th. How's everybody doing? We have questions today from you about what to do with an old 401K. You've left the job. You're sett into a new job. Great news. But you're not sure what to do with that old retirement account, how to manage your life savings in your 60s. A person in the audience is writing in on behalf of her father, who has about $100,000 saved in his 60s. This is in addition to collecting Social Security, and he wants to preserve and grow that 100 grand as safely as possible. What's my advice? And how can couples wisely merge their money together when they get married? We have a newlywed in the audience. Help is coming your way. But first, I want to talk about a couple of feature stories I read this week about money. Really good articles with important takeaways that I want to share with you briefly before we get into answering our audience questions. The first was an article in popsugar. I'm going to link it in the show notes. Emma Glassman Hughes is the associate editor at popsugar Balance. She's a reporter who has covered arts and culture for the Boston Globe, and she writes about how her college friendship taught her about socioeconomic status. Let me repeat. It was in college when she made friends and finally learned about socioeconomic divides. This stopped me in my tracks, okay, because I remember learning about socioeconomic differences as early as elementary school. I want to say second or third grade. And here's how I learned this. I learned this because I would go to school and every morning our teacher would ask for the kids, kids who are getting lunch cards to come to her desk. What is a lunch card? I had to explore. My curiosity was piqued. I learned that lunch cards grant kids free lunch. They present the lunch card when they go into the cafeteria and their lunch is comped. And I thought, how come they get to have free lunch and I don't? So I went home and I asked my parents and they said it's because those families need support. And we fortunately have the money to pay for your lunch and some kids do not. And it made me really, really sad. And also I felt embarrassed for these kids who had to go to the front of the classroom, to the teacher's desk, in front of everybody else and basically parade that they were kids whose parents could not afford to pay for lunch. The cafeteria was fertile ground for learning about money and the divide, the economic divide that existed throughout our town back then. It was in Auburn, Massachusetts, and Kent continued to be the case as we moved. And there were different things to learn as I changed schools. But in particular, during my elementary years in Auburn, Massachusetts, I learned about the school lunch cards, which was an early education on things like government subsidies, kids whose parents made less than other parents. And then once I was in the cafeteria, I recognized, I did. I recognized this at a very young age, that those of us who brought lunch to school with paper bags and little notes from mom and packaged treats in our lunch bags, those were the kids who had the better clothes. Those are the kids who went on vacation when school was out. Those are the kids who got lots and lots of presents under their Christmas trees. Those of us who bought lunch were not as privileged, typically. Yeah, of course, we all bought lunch on Fridays because that's when it was pizza day. Nothing like pizza to bring all the kids together, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds. But Monday through Thursday, if you were buying hot lunch and you were doing that consistently, you probably had a different home makeup than the kids on the other side of the. Of the cafeteria. Yes, the other side. They divided us. So it was visual. It was clear. We didn't. There was no integration with hot lunch and bag lunch. The kids who brought lunch typically had two parents, a mom who didn't work, and extra money in the bank because actually bringing your lunch to school every day was more expensive than buying the school lunch, which was, I think, 75 cents. Your bag lunch costs more than 75 cents. Right. So it also took time to make. And I sort of figured all that out before I hit middle school. And then, of course, things changed. We moved to Philadelphia when I was in high school. A much different socioeconomic paradigm there, where for the first time, I realized that a 16 year old could drive a nicer car than a teacher. Our parking lot was full of very nice cars. I'm talking BMWs, Land Rovers, Volvos. And I took the bus until I didn't. And then I drove my father's used Toyota Corolla. Love that Corolla. But I was very quickly schooled on what it's like to be a rich kid. Like a really rich kid. That's why this article that Emma Glassman Hughes wrote, and I'm really glad she wrote it, I think it's a really important story. But it was shocking to me that it took her until college to sort of understand that there is a spectrum in the story. She writes about how a friendship with a less financially privileged student friend made her realize that she was unaware of financial differences. And then she brought in my friend Asia Evans, who's been on this show many times, financial therapist, author of Feel Good Finance, to bring in the context. And Asia talked about how those of us who are raised somewhere in the middle, financially like middle and upper middle class. Those individuals are the least versed in the financial realities that they live, while people who are on the extreme ends of the financial spectrum generally know more about money and whether or not they have it. So those who are sort of in the middle are a little oblivious to the fact that maybe not everybody has what they have, or maybe not everybody has access to the things that they have. Fascinating stuff. I'm going to link that article in our show notes. Bottom line, if you're listening and you have kids, talk to them about money. Foster an understanding of socioeconomic economic differences. Now, I mean, my kids are very curious, right? We live purposely in an area with a lot of different socioeconomic backgrounds and they go to school and they realize that while they have some privileges other kids do not. That's important for them to see. And that's why we chose to live in the town that we do, as opposed to a neighboring town where there is a majority in the same socioeconomic bracket. Not the case where we live. These conversations probably will come up more fluidly and more organically based where we live than maybe in a town over. And I like that. So that's one article. It's called what My College Friendships Taught Me about Socioeconomic Status. And then another article, oh my gosh, this was in the cut and I so related to this. It's written by Jessica Bennett, fabulous writer, and it's called the Perimenopause Gold Rush. She writes there's a wave of new companies making big promises to millennial women. Is it all too good to be tr? So Jessica writes personally in this article where she spent over $10,000 on remedies as she's going through perimenopause. And her ultimate relief came through a low dose birth control prescribed by a specialist. Wow. And I'm sure my phone, because it listens to me, is going to be feeding me so many ads, even more than I'm receiving. Jessica's article is really highlighting a lot of the confusion right now around perimenopause and these companies. While I'm grateful that there's more attention and research given to women's wellness, it's unregulated. A lot of the time, the wellness products are unregulated. There's a lot of misinformation and it really underscores the medical community's lack of preparation to address perimenopause as well as the commercialization of women's health. It's the gold rush, as the title states. But this is a silver lining in the article there is more visibility, more discussion around perimenopause and menopause and that's leading to hopefully more scientific advancements in understanding treatment and solutions. If you're kind of interested in this or a lot interested in this, I would recommend the M Factor documentary co produced by my friend Tamsen Fadell, who is a menopause expert. She's coming out with the book called how to Menopause. The New Menopause is a New York Times bestselling book by Dr. Mary Claire Haver that's currently on my bedside table. Be careful. If you go down a rabbit hole on Instagram or TikTok, you might buy some products or pay for some services that you don't need. They make you think you do, but you might not. So do your research first. Find the good doctors before you hit by on any wellness product. In case you missed this week's episodes on Monday we talked about how your number one asset it's not money, it's time. Heather Chauvin is an author and the host of the podcast Emotionally Uncomfortable. She's a survivor of cancer with three kids. Her recovery was one for the books. She actually wrote a book about it called Dying to Be a Good Mother. She's been on the podcast previously and in our new conversation we explored how to think about time like we do money, how to think of it as an investment, how to save it, how to get out of time debt, as she calls it. And she has this amazing practice called the Million Dollar Myth Minute. It will absolutely change the way you perceive time. On Wednesday we sat down with Jody Smith, creator of the blog Abundance of Joe. She started her own financial journey by listening to this podcast and from there was able to get out of $50,000 worth of debt while building wealth for her future investing and saving at the same time. And she's now teaching her lessons to a growing audience and she was a lovely person to connect with. Great advice, great inspiration and then a couple things to share before we get to the mailbag. If you want to write a book, I have a free webinar next week on Wednesday on how to get a book deal. I'll put that link in our show notes. It's going to be a live training, but we will also send the recording to anybody who registers. You'll get that and you can watch it on your own time. And then next, the so Money Members Club is gearing up for a full year of learning. I just released my workshop topics for 2025. We're going to talk about how to create a financial the Path to Homeownership, Navigating Money in the Sandwich Generation, Mastering the World of Points. Yeah, Secrets of credit Card rewards and loyalty programs. We'll be talking about debt refinancing, negotiating a raise, how to buy insurance. So many topics. Plus we have a whole growing library of workshops. We have office hours every month. If you have been looking to find a resource for yourself in the new year, a financial resource that's accessible, that gives you access to a smart community of people who care about money. Led by me. So Money members is your destination. Check us out. We'd love to see you in the community. I want to give a shout out to our reviewer of the week. A short and sweet review left by X Trophy left Review earlier this month giving it five stars with the following comment Dig it And her vibe is great. X Trophy did you know I pick a reviewer every week to get to get a free 15 minute phone call with me. I just chatted with Brooke who left Review recently, helping her figure out her 2025 financial goals. I can do the same for you. Just get in touch, email me Farnooshowmoneypodcast.com or you can direct message me on Instagram and let me know you left this really cool review and I would love to offer you a free 15 minute money session. Coming up, we're going to talk about how to manage your 401k after you leave your job, how to preserve your savings in retirement, and my advice for newly married couples. First, a commercial break. Last Christmas I gifted my mother this gorgeous cashmere sweater in a beautiful burgundy and she still talks about it. 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That's bombas.com acast code acast all right, we are back and we are answering your money questions beginning with Danielle who has a question about what to do with her 401k. She writes varnish. I love your podcast. I just quit my job and I want your advice on what to do with my 401k. I was getting a 5% match at my previous job so I have about $90,000 in my traditional 401k. My new job job does not offer a match. I want to transfer it all to my Roth IRA and a bitcoin pre Tax ira? What are your thoughts on transferring it to a Roth? At this point in my life, I'm 30 years old and I'm thinking it's better to pay taxes now versus in retirement. But I could be wrong. I'm curious on your thoughts and what you do. All right, Danielle, thank you so much for writing in. Congratulations on this career transition, quitting your job, starting a new job, all before the new year. Kudos to you. You're asking me for my thoughts on this Roth conversion and I also want to give you some thoughts on the Bitcoin ira. You better believe I have some opinions there. But first let's talk about this transition from taking money out of your 401k, about $90,000 and putting it into a Roth IRA. Let's understand what this will entail for everybody listening, because I know that you're not the only one probably who has thought about this or is curious about this. Rolling over a traditional 401k to a Roth, it involves essentially converting pre tax money into after tax money. So when you do this conversion with $90,000, you will owe taxes at your current tax rate. The main advantage of a Roth IRA is that once the money is in the Roth, it grows tax free. And withdrawals in retirement are also tax free. For someone like you, who is 30 years old, this is pretty appealing because you'll have decades for the money to grow and benefit from tax tax free. Compounding a few things to consider before you do this though. One is you want to consider your current tax rate. If you're in a lower tax bracket right now, well then it might make sense to pay taxes on that $90,000 and convert it to a Roth. But keep in mind, if this year's income, including the $90,000 rollover amount, is going to push you into a higher tax bracket, you might end up paying more taxes than need be. So I recommend that you either use a tax calculator or you work with a financial advisor to figure out and estimate the actual cost of this conversion. If it's too steep, you could do this. You could convert only a portion of your 401k each year to manage the tax impact over time. But for this, you really want to run the numbers. Maybe consult with somebody who can do a bit more of a deep dive with you financially. I also want you to think about what other sorts of financial priorities you may have on your plate. Because if you're going to pay the taxes this year on that $90,000, that's money that you're not going to maybe be able to spend in other ways. It may be a trade off for you. Would it mean not being able to build up your emergency fund or pay off high interest debt? If you don't have those bases covered, then I would pause on the Roth conversion so that you wouldn't have to give up that money to be able to fulfill those other financial needs. And you mentioned that in retirement you want to be able to benefit from tax free withdrawals. And while a Roth IRA will ensure that, don't feel so much pressure to move all of your 401k to a Roth. Keeping some money in a traditional IRA or rolling it over to a traditional IRA allows you to defer taxes until retirement when you might be in a lower tax bracket. Might be. You want to have optionality in retirement, right? And you also want to be able to save on your taxes today to some extent too. So finding a good balance is always a good idea. I mean ultimately, here's my recommendation. I would roll over your 401k, do a traditional traditional IRA in part, maybe put 50% in a traditional IRA or you roll it over to your 401k at the next job and then the other 50% you do the Roth conversion. If you're set on having Roth funds, this is a way to still satisfy that. And that way you can spread out the tax burden while staying in a manageable tax bracket. Once that's done, once the conversion is done, as a 30 year old you want to take advantage of the fact that you have many years ahead of you until retirement. So contribute to the Roth ira. Don't just let that money sit there, take advantage of it to its fullest extent. Contribute as much as you can up to that annual limit every year to the Roth ira. It's a great way to continue building tax free retirement savings without converting your entire 401k. You also mentioned a Bitcoin pre tax Iraq. And I love a good alternative investment to a degree. I would just approach this with a lot of caution. Cryptocurrency as we know can be extremely volatile, very speculative. Even though we're seeing Bitcoin surpass $100,000 in value, I recommend keeping it to a small, small percentage. I'm talking no more than 5% of your overall investment portfolio. Diversification is your best friend when you're building long term wealth. So make sure that the majority of your retirement savings remains in broadly diversified assets like low cost index funds, low fee ETFs, etc. So long answer short, maybe Go half, seize all to sort of shield yourself from the tax cost today. But really to know that tax cost, use a tax calculator or talk to a professional who can give you more mathematical insight. Congratulations, good luck on your new job and thanks for listening. All right, sticking with retirement questions, we have a question from our friend in the audience, Jane, regarding her dad. Her dad is 68 years old. She says unfortunately he mismanaged his money a lot, has been and out of work for years and has no retirement but does collect Social Security. He's currently not working and I don't think he will again due to health reasons. He is quite minimalistic and is able to survive off of Social Security and dips into a little bit of savings each month. Thankfully, he has savings from an inheritance from a family member who passed a few years ago. I have been encouraging him to invest or do something with that money, but unfortunately it's been sitting in a regular bank account for several years, earning little to no interest. He's very stubborn. My dad has about $100,000 left. He's finally allowing me to help him set up a high yield savings account and come up with a plan for investing part of his savings to hopefully help sustain the rest of his retired years. My question to you is how do you advise splitting up that money between regular savings, high yield savings, mutual funds, etc. I'm very concerned about his financial future and I'm trying to help help set him up the best I can with what he has. Wow. Jane, your dad is really fortunate to have you looking out for him and I'm very honored that you came to me with this question. I take it very seriously. So I'm going to help you. I'm going to help you break this down so we can come up with a workable plan that balances strikes a balance between your dad's immediate needs today with some opportunities to grow and maintain his savings for the future. He's 68 years old. We hope he'll live another 30 years. The first priority, I would say, is to make sure that dad has a safety net accessible cash to cover his everyday needs and any unexpected expenses. Social Security thankfully is covering his basics, but if he's dipping into savings each month, that suggests that it's not quite enough. Right. It's important to have a healthy savings account. So firstly, does he have six to 12 months of his living expenses tucked away somewhere? Like maybe taking whatever the Social Security monthly stipend is, multiplying that by 6 to 12 and then just taking that from the hundred grand and putting it aside somewhere. A high yield savings account is perfect for this because it's going to stay liquid and he can use this for anything that comes up unexpectedly, like a surprise medical bill or some kind of household emergency. In addition to the high yield savings account, I think having that plain vanilla savings account is still useful. That nothing percent savings account is still useful because you can connect that probably at the same bank to the checking account and in there just put enough for like two months, a month and a half's worth of expenses. In case some months there's fluctuation, you want to make sure there's coverage. If he's going to go over what he has in the checking account one month, month. The savings account can be a safety net essentially for the checking account. The next step is to invest for growth. As you say Your dad is 68, let's be real. I wouldn't give him the same investment strategy that someone who's 38 or even 48. He doesn't need to invest aggressively at this age. But I think he can put some of his money to work via low risk investments. So maybe taking a remainder of what's not going in the HYSA and putting a portion of that into low risk income generating investments including treasury bonds and bond funds. Treasury bonds or bond funds. Treasury bonds you can buy directly through the treasury website@treasurydirect.gov Treasury bonds are issued again through the government. They're backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government. There's guaranteed payment, which gives him predictable income. It's also pretty liquid. Treasuries are generally the most liquid types of fixed income investments. So if there is something that he needs to cover relatively soon, quickly, he can tap it. And there are tax breaks. So it's not exempt from federal taxes. But treasury bonds, the interest on Treasuries is exempt from both state and local taxes. There are some risks like interest rate risk, there's inflation risk, there's market risks of course, but relative to stocks, a much more predictable investment. And then bond funds, I would go for high quality bond mutual funds or ETFs. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund is one example. It could be a good option for where you want maybe a modest yield, not a lot of volatility. That's where I would put probably 40 to 50% of the remaining funds. You could do another 20% in the stock market, a diversified mix of stock funds or ETFs. Again here you want to choose low fee investments and if you've been listening to this podcast or if you've joined any of my investing workshops over the last year, you know I love a good low fee index fund. You can grab them at Robo Advisories anywhere from a Charles Schwab to a Betterment to Elevest. There's a lot of different automated investment platforms out there where you can open up a portfolio, choose your investments, or have them pick your investments based on your dad's age, his risk tolerance and his goals. They will probably do a similar breakdown where it's mostly going to be bonds, some stocks, and then probably the rest in cash. So to recap, build that emergency fund for your dad, take whatever his Social Security monthly stipend is, that amount, multiply by 6 to 12, whatever is workable, doable, and then just park that in a high yield savings account from that $100,000 with the rest of the funds, you're going to invest the money mostly in bonds, some stocks, and then the rest maybe still in cash. I'm okay with putting some money in a nothing percent savings account if it's useful to help cover the bills that are coming due every single week, every single month. In addition to whatever he's getting from Social Security, you want to have some liquid cash to be able to pay bills on a regular basis. You mentioned that your dad is tipping into savings, so putting aside some of the cash for those monthly expenses, maybe a month's worth of expenses in a savings account is a wise way to go. All right, thank you so much. Let me know how it works out and thank you for listening. And last but not least, a question for my newlyweds out there from Melanie, a question that I actually answered years ago, but I'm resurfacing it because I think it's really important. And next week on Monday, in fact, I'm doing an entire episode on couples and money. If you're the breadwinner in your marriage, if you're contemplating having children and affording kids, Lots of insights from our guests. This question from Melannie is the following. I recently moved in with my boyfriend Farnoosh. We've been dating for a few years and I've spent a lot of time in a long distance relationship while I finished law school. We recently bought a house which is in his name. That's fine because my debt priority is geared towards student loans, but we need to really sit down and have a big financial conversation. We have dabbled in finances and I've always been transparent with my situation and my goals but he is a bit more reserved. What topics do you find encourage people to be more open and aware of the importance of being so money. Thank you and keep up the amazing work. All right, Melannie and anyone else listening who's interested about my answer here? Moving in together and buying a house together. These are really big steps and it's great to hear that you're prioritizing having a big financial conversation with your partner. Hopefully there is no pushback when you suggest having a conversation. I'm going to assume that that's not going to be a big hurdle for the two of you since you've already shared in some big financial moves like buying a home together, moving in together. But before you get into the finances, my advice for all couples in the beginning is to just start talking about your shared goals. This way you can quickly get on the same page because by now you're probably if you've made it this far, you have a lot of alignment with with how you envision your future together as well as like just the next month together. But how do you see yourself in the next year to 10 years? Really, like, map it out, get specific. What are your individual and your shared priorities? Do you want to transition to a bigger home one day? Do you want to start a family? Do you want to travel? Do you want to retire early? Getting clear on your goals ensures you're going to get clear on your financial roadmap to hit those goals. I do want to take a minute here and discuss the how house the house is not in your name. I understand that you want to focus on paying back your debt, so that may mean that you're not paying towards the mortgage. I get that. But do you know what would happen if you sold this house? Would you get any cut of the equity? You want to establish clarity around how equity and contributions are going to be handled. This is especially important if you do at one point end up contributing to the mortgage or the property taxes or even just the home improvements. If you use your money to help pay for a kitchen renovation and then you go to sell the house, you should have access to the profits, right? I would hope that you would want access to the profits. So when you discuss money with your partner in the beginning, I want you to talk about the house. How are you going to share the cost of the home? Will your contributions, like paying for the utilities or the home maintenance or the paint, be acknowledged as part of building equity? Even though your name is not on the title? If you split up, how will the home Equity be divided? Would he buy out your contributions or compensate you fairly? This is where maybe having a post nuptial agreement if you're married later or a cohabitation agreement now to help formalize these arrangements would be instrumental if you're planning to stay unmarried for now, a cohabitation agreement is a great option. It outlines how assets and contributions will get handled while you're living together in case you break up. And that's great that you've been really transparent about. Sounds like a lot. Your student loans especially. I would encourage him to share more about his financial picture as well. Money conversations are a two way street. They can be intimidating. But you're modeling great behavior and you're showing him the importance of speaking freely about these things. Intimacy includes financial intimacy and frame it as a judgment free zone. No judgment here. And actually, as you'll learn in Monday's episode where I'm talking to actually a couple who are experts in couples, couples and money, they recommend that we talk about our childhoods, our pasts, our financial memories, growing up. Because all of that is really, really important context. And if you haven't had that conversation with your partner, maybe that's what you do. After you talk about goals, you talk about how did you grow up around money? What are your expectations around what money can afford you and what kind of lifestyle you want and what debt means to you. I know you have student loans. How does he feel about your student loans? Are there any financial stressors or worries that you're both carrying into this relationship potentially because of trauma? This is the stuff you want to explore. It's deep stuff. It's a bit of work, but it's important. It's a good investment of your time, tactically speaking. I think it's also important to have a conversation, maybe it's separate, about your expenses. How are you going to share in these expenses as cohabitants living together and managing a home? There's a whole bunch of new financial responsibilities. How are you going to split them? What feels equitable based on your financial realities? You know, if you have student loans and he doesn't, if you make more or less, how does that play into who pays for what and how you're going to split the expenses? Will it be 50, 50 or based on income? I don't have answers to this for you. These are the questions that I would bring into the conversation. And if at any point it does get get contentious or you're finding that you're not aligned, take a break. It's okay it doesn't mean you're doomed. It doesn't mean you're mismatched. It just means that this is hard stuff. It requires a lot of reflection and you may not have the answers right away. So agree to come back to it. And there are many people and resources that can support you along the way. A financial planner who you might just hire for a couple of meetings. Not someone that you're going to commit to forever and ever. Maybe it's a money coach, maybe it's a financial therapist. Of course, free resources like podcasts and books are also great ways to spark dialogue, get inspired together. And I find that when you incorporate a really good resource into the conversations, it takes some of the pressure off. Because you can now refer to a tool, a book, someone else's advice, and talk to that. As opposed to feeling like you're at odds or you're going to enter a disagreement. Talk about something you read in the paper that had something to do with money and couples. What did we think about it? What did we agree with? What do we disagree with? And like I said, this isn't going to be one conversation. You're going to have, hopefully several. So make it fun, make it regular. You've heard of money dates, probably where you can discuss money over coffee or a dinner or a bottle of wine. Put it on the calendar. Put it in your joint calendar. By the way, do you have a joint calendar? This is very important. When my husband and I got together and we were just boyfriend, girlfriend and living together, having a shared calendar was so helpful and we still use it. Definitely recommend that it's not a financial tip, but more of like a how to just feel more collaborative, really, with your schedules. And again, just to reemphasize, you are setting a great example, my friend. You're being open, you're being proactive. You wrote into this show. Now, with a collaborative approach and a little patience, I know that you'll both end up feeling way better, more empowered about your financial future together and just your future together. Wishing you all the success and I'm so grateful that you're a part of our community. Thanks for listening, everybody. On Monday, we're going to tackle money and relationships even further. We're going to talk about when you have disparate incomes in the relationship, one person makes more than the other. We're going to talk about affording kids, prenups, post nups. Stay tuned. And you know what I'm going to say. I hope your weekend is so money foreign. Hi, this is Jonathan Fields, host of the Good Life Project, where each week I talk to listeners about investing in their future by increasing their own vitality. But when it comes to those financial goals, whether it be saving for a home renovation, growing your child's college fund or travel, life can make it difficult to stay the course. By working with a dedicated merit advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Having the bull at your back helps your whole financial life move with you. So when your plans change, Merrill's with you every step of the way. Go to ML.combullish to learn more. 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