Mid-Life Financial Check-In

As I do a check-in on my finances, is there anything I should be doing differently or any adjustments that should be made? Have a money question? Email us ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.jillonmoney.com/contact Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jill on Money Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.jillonmoney.com/newsletter/substack YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jillonmoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/c/JillSchlesinger Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jillonmoney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/jillonmoney "Jill on Money" theme music is by Joel Goodman, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.joelgoodman.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://www.joelgoodman.com/.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Your financial plan got you here. The next level calls for different thinking. Here, real people and their financial advisors go deep on advanced strategies around concentrated stock, private markets, and crypto. Search for "What Should I Do With My Money?" to listen in.

• 0:19Speaker 00

  Welcome to the Jill on Money Show. It's Monday, November 9th. And you know what? Tik Tok, gang. The year end is just around the corner, and we've got great news for you. We are here to help you out with your year end financial planning. So if you want to talk to us, all you need to do is go to the website jillonthemoney.com, jillonthemoney.com, click the Contact Us button, write us a note. And if you'd like to join us on the air, just check the box mark. We'll do everything else. Or here's another idea. Why don't you subscribe to Jill on Money Live? Because our next webinar, we will be doing year end financial planning with returning guest star, Jana Davis. She is from Abacus Wealth, and she's fantastic. She was with us last year. So good. If you did miss our previous webinar with Medicare expert, Marsha Mantel,

• 1:04Speaker 00

  it was incredible. It was just a chock full of information. If you subscribe right now, it's 45 bucks for the next 12 months. You can also get the back catalog. So you'll get that amazing Medicare webinar. Incredible. Let us get on with you. We are talking to Edie from Texas. Hi, Edie. How are you?

• 1:22Speaker 01

  I'm good. How are you?

• 1:24Speaker 00

  We're doing great. What's going on?

• 1:27Speaker 01

  Well, I just have to say this is a dream because I listen to y'all every single day.

• 1:31Speaker 00

  Let me just say, it doesn't get boring to hear that. So you can say that as much as you want, that it's a dream. But I hope that we live up to your expectations. That's really the number one thing. So tell us, what brings you to us?

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Since I'm 51, I kind of wanted to have a midlife check to make sure I'm doing things right. And that if I, you know, maybe you can suggest something that I readjust if I need to.

• 1:53Speaker 00

  I mean, you're very ambitious. I just want to say midlife. You think you're living to 102?

• 2:01Speaker 00

  Let's call it a five eighths instead of midlife. Okay, let's see. What's going on? You're 51. Are you single? Are you married? What's going on?

• 2:09Speaker 01

  Married with two kids.

• 2:11Speaker 00

  How old are the kids?

• 2:12Speaker 01

  20 and 18. So one's in college and one's a senior in high school.

• 2:17Speaker 00

  Wow. And is the senior in high school going to college?

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Okay. And the 20 year old in college, state school or private school?

• 2:27Speaker 01

  Well, out of state, state school.

• 2:31Speaker 00

  I mean, you've got a great system in Texas.

• 2:33Speaker 01

  It's so hard to get in to the state.

• 2:36Speaker 00

  All right. How old is your spouse?

• 2:39Speaker 01

  He is 51 also.

• 2:42Speaker 00

  Okay. Are you both working full time?

• 2:44Speaker 01

  Both work full time.

• 2:46Speaker 00

  How much do you earn?

• 2:48Speaker 01

  I earn a little over 200. And I have a side hustle where I earn about 50.

• 2:54Speaker 00

  Wow, that's fun. I love that. And what about your husband?

• 3:00Speaker 01

  About 70.

• 3:02Speaker 00

  Are you both contributing to retirement accounts?

• 3:05Speaker 01

  Yes, I do more. I do 15% and then I have a 6% match. And he does about 10,000 a year.

• 3:12Speaker 00

  Are you both using the pre-tax or are you using Roth versions of retirement accounts?

• 3:18Speaker 01

  Well, he has a SEP, and then I just started a Roth because I started in New York position.

• 3:23Speaker 00

  Okay, so Edie, you're using a Roth contribution now. How much is in your pre-tax retirement account?

• 3:30Speaker 01

  2,024,000.

• 3:34Speaker 00

  Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's awesome. Okay, I'm liking that. And so then the Roth has some smaller amount, obviously, right?

• 3:45Speaker 01

  I have a Roth from before. I don't even, I really kind of don't know. It's a Roth IRA, I guess. It has 370.

• 3:52Speaker 00

  Say that one more time. How much in the Roth IRA?

• 3:55Speaker 01

  370.

• 3:56Speaker 00

  And what about in your husband's SEP? How much is in there?

• 4:00Speaker 01

  I think he has about 190.

• 4:02Speaker 00

  And what about other assets, a brokerage account, or any other old retirement or brokerage accounts floating around that you can think of?

• 4:11Speaker 01

  The other retirement is about 53,000. I have a taxable account with 89,000 and then another one with 760,000.

• 4:23Speaker 00

  Holy crap, girl. You're rocking it. Those brokerage accounts, are you managing them yourselves?

• 4:29Speaker 01

  No. Well, my husband's actually a financial advisor.

• 4:33Speaker 00

  Oh, wait a second. You're, wait a second, you're cheating on your husband right now by contacting us?

• 4:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:42Speaker 00

  I'm not sure this is financial infidelity. It may just be, I don't know, like, maybe it's a, it's not like infidelity, but it is like, I just want someone else to make sure everything's going okay. Right? So he's managing the money?

• 4:59Speaker 01

  Well, he manages the, I have one brokerage account with the 760. He manages that.

• 5:05Speaker 00

  How does he manage the account? Like, what's in that, that $760,000 brokerage account? What's in there? Mutual funds, stocks, what?

• 5:13Speaker 01

  Mostly mutual funds. Well, half of it I've kind of directed. So I have like a ton of Netflix, Apple.

• 5:20Speaker 00

  Oh, so this is like, there's like a weird amount of like, like, there's some fun money stuff going on in there? They're just like, ah, we're, you know what I mean? Like, there's, this is not your real, serious money in some respects because you have other stuff in there? Is that the right way to think about it or not?

• 5:37Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, that's exactly correct.

• 5:39Speaker 00

  Okay. What about in the retirement, like, all that money, that $2.5 million that's in retirement? In your 401K and Roth and your IRAs, how do you manage that? Is that a little bit more conservative with like index funds? What are you doing?

• 5:52Speaker 01

  Yes, yes.

• 5:54Speaker 00

  And what about for college? You just paying it out of the brokerage account? Or are you relying on a 529 plan? What, how did you save for college?

• 6:02Speaker 01

  We have 529s. We're so fortunate. The grandparents basically funded those.

• 6:08Speaker 00

  Oh, my God. The rich grandparent is the best. So we really don't have to worry about that, whether your kid goes in-state or out-of-state, right?

• 6:16Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 6:17Speaker 00

  Okay. How about your house? How much is that worth?

• 6:20Speaker 01

  About 1.2 million. We owe, you know, 680, maybe.

• 6:27Speaker 00

  What's the interest rate on that mortgage?

• 6:29Speaker 01

  3.1.

• 6:30Speaker 00

  All right. What on earth could you possibly need from us? Do you spend a ton of money? Or what's going on with you?

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Yes. We spend like 18,000 a month.

• 6:41Speaker 00

  Did you say 18?

• 6:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:43Speaker 00

  Did you say that sheepishly, like, yes? Wait a second.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  One more thing, we have, we invested about 475 in real estate syndications.

• 6:53Speaker 00

  So 475 in that. Wow. How's the, what's the income on that?

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Last year, we made 40,000.

• 7:00Speaker 00

  Whose idea was this?

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Mine.

• 7:03Speaker 00

  This is like a very, that's a very esoteric kind of investment to make. How did that come to you? How did you learn about that?

• 7:10Speaker 01

  Well, I really wanted to do like a triple net lease, and this was sort of a safer way to do it, I felt like.

• 7:16Speaker 00

  It's in there anyway, and you did it as cash, right? There's no, there's no note against that, right?

• 7:21Speaker 01

  Right, that's correct.

• 7:22Speaker 00

  So that's a nice chunk of money. So right now, you make 200 in your income, then a side hustle of 50. And so your husband and you, you're making, you know, 320-ish. You pay your taxes. You live in Texas, so no state income tax. You make your retirement contributions. How's your cash flow? I mean, are you able to cover 18 grand a month easily? Or is it like, wow, that's hard?

• 7:48Speaker 01

  I think it's a little tighter because our house note is 3,000 a month. And then the property taxes are really expensive here. So it's two. So that's five, just to even live in our house.

• 8:00Speaker 00

  You make your retirement contributions. You have everything rocking and rolling. It's tight, but are you dipping into your savings at all?

• 8:08Speaker 01

  No, but I, you're right. I think I'm worried because I have a severance for the last year and a half, I guess. And that's about to go away. And it's $8,000 a month.

• 8:18Speaker 00

  Oh, so that's an old severance. Okay. And then you will have to dip into the brokerage, I presume, right?

• 8:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, like I will. And I don't want to do that at all.

• 8:30Speaker 00

  How do we, but I mean, like, how do you cut down on this 18? As you said, if it's five grand a month for the house itself, right? And then let's say another three grand in stuff like that's, I don't know, utilities and, you know, eating a little bit and whatever. And so like, let's just say that eight is completely not negotiable. Let's even say nine is not negotiable. The other nine is like living. Is it, do you feel like there's something you're doing that is extravagant or not?

• 9:01Speaker 01

  I mean, honestly, no.

• 9:03Speaker 00

  What about your, your future? What is it that you think you guys are on a path to do? Like, work for 10 or 15 more years? Or what's your hope?

• 9:14Speaker 01

  I would hope so.

• 9:15Speaker 00

  So you're willing to work. It's not like you're not going to work.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  Right.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  Stay in the house or not stay in the house?

• 9:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, because we just built it.

• 9:22Speaker 00

  How do you get out of the syndication deal? I mean, like, what's the liquidation mechanism of it, right? You invest 475, you're getting this 40 grand of income's nice. So like, that's a real yield. But how does it actually get retired? Or what happens to that?

• 9:41Speaker 01

  They usually do retire after about five years. They'll sell the property.

• 9:45Speaker 00

  Okay. And then what does that mean? Does that mean you get a capital gains after that five years?

• 9:50Speaker 01

  You know, I don't know the answer to that.

• 9:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, I would be interested. You work with a CPA or a tax preparer?

• 9:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:56Speaker 00

  I'd be interested to understand, like, obviously 40 grand of income is plain old income. But I just wonder, like, the tax reporting on this would be interesting. And it would be nice to know what would happen if, like, are they going to just hand you your 475 back and the income is the income and that's that? Which is fine. That's like buying a five-year bond that's yielding a lot, right? So I think that if you guys, even if you did need to dip in a little bit, maybe there's an idea here. What would happen if we didn't save as much in retirement? In other words, you have a lot of money in retirement. What would happen if we cut back a tiny bit just so that you could meet your cash flow more readily? And also, do you think it's 18 grand a month, like, forever?

• 10:41Speaker 00

  Or do we think when the kids leave, it's going to go down a little bit? And then, you know, like, there'll be almost tranches of how your expenses go down. But is that fair to say? Or should we just count on 18 grand a month?

• 10:52Speaker 01

  No, I definitely think it'll go down. Just, you know, kids going out to dinner and...

• 10:56Speaker 00

  How much money is in your emergency reserve? Just your liquid cash on hand? What do you have?

• 11:01Speaker 01

  223, and I think I have too much.

• 11:04Speaker 00

  Okay, that's okay, because you're going to need that. Because the severance is gone. So definitely do not do anything with that savings, because you might need to dip into it. But here's the question. You know, 18 grand a month is a big number, right? But if you don't need that, could it be 180 grand a year? Not, you know, like, I don't know. What's the right number to use?

• 11:24Speaker 01

  I feel like 14.

• 11:26Speaker 00

  So that's 170. So let's say 180. Let's say 180 grand a year. What is your social security? And do either of you have a pension possibility?

• 11:36Speaker 01

  So I had a pension, but I cashed it out.

• 11:39Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 11:39Speaker 01

  Left my other company.

• 11:41Speaker 00

  What about your social security benefit? Like, what's it look like at your full retirement age?

• 11:45Speaker 01

  I think 4,400.

• 11:48Speaker 00

  And for him?

• 11:49Speaker 01

  Maybe 3,600.

• 11:51Speaker 00

  So what we need you guys to do is essentially, between now and your full retirement age, we need you to kind of keep the boat afloat. Meaning that what I hope happens is as your expenses go down a little bit, you may need to dip into your savings, at least in the near term. You really need to watch these expenses, for real. You know, ideally, let's say that it's, you know, we're at age 67. You've got eight grand a month coming in from social security. You'll hopefully have this 475 back from the syndication deal. You'll have a lot of assets.

• 12:32Speaker 00

  The problem that you had that I see is that the way that you've set this up, just in terms of your lifestyle, which I'm not telling you not to do it. It just kind of consigned you to working pretty hard. You don't get this like, oh, I'm going to have a glide path off to make it easier. If you want to maintain your lifestyle, you guys really have to work right to your full retirement age. Or you don't have to. If you pull back, if you're like, you know what? Screw it. The house was great. We loved it, but we're out of it. You know, our kid moved out of state and, you know, lives in Oklahoma now. We're going to go move with the kid. Like, there are a lot of things that can happen between now and then.

• 13:12Speaker 00

  The spending part, because the spend is at this 18 grand a month, it does really put you on track to really keep working. And, and maybe what I would be careful about is if you find yourself plowing through that savings that you have, that 223 grand of savings, you know, what you need to talk to your husband about is that you might need to actually take some money out of that brokerage account today. You know, maybe free up some cash, because you don't want to, you don't want to find yourself short at the wrong time. So I think that probably what you should be considering is pulling back a little.

• 13:54Speaker 00

  I mean, I would see how it goes while you have the severance, when the severance goes away. And then I think you should try to maybe pull back on your retirement. If you're, are you making a catch-up contribution right now also?

• 14:07Speaker 01

  It's hard to tell if I get there with my 15%. I mean, I think so.

• 14:12Speaker 00

  I'd prefer you not put the money. I mean, you have a lot of money saved in retirement already. And I'd prefer you not overfund retirement at this point, at the expense of blowing through all your brokerage account. You know, so I think it's better if you pull back a little bit, have some more money in cash. Let's see how the, the, the end of severance goes, that period of time. And then we're going to have to really, I think you're going to have to really take a hard look at, you know, what is it that we're spending money on? Is there something here that is, you know, if, if out of the 18, 12 is like hardcore, we cannot change that? Maybe there's some, like, a few thousand dollars in there every month that you can change. I don't know. Do you have your estate planning done?

• 14:57Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:58Speaker 00

  Okay. Life insurance, do you have some still?

• 15:00Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:02Speaker 00

  How much do you have?

• 15:04Speaker 01

  I don't have as much. My husband has like 2 million. I have, I think, because when I switched jobs, it kind of went, was, I think I have 570.

• 15:12Speaker 00

  It's weird. Like, you're the major, you are the one who is like the big wage earner. So what's funny about that is I would think you should have more. He's screwed if you die, God forbid. I think you probably might need a little more coverage for right now. Can you, see if you can buy it through your employer. If you have a financial question, just go to our website, jillonthemoney.com, click the Contact Us button and write us a note. Don't forget to check the box if you want to join us on the air live. Subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. And as always, we ask that you lift someone up. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

• 15:56Speaker 00

  This episode is supported by What Should I Do With My Money? An original podcast from Morgan Stanley. You'll hear real people work through big, complex money decisions with their financial advisors, diversifying concentrated stock, investing in private markets, adding crypto to your portfolio, combining finances with your partner. These are candid conversations about goals, trade-offs, and what's at stake. You'll hear the strategy behind each decision and the emotion too. Because no matter how advanced the question gets, money is always personal. Whether you're building wealth, protecting it, or passing it on, you'll come away with sharper questions to ask about your own money. Search for What Should I Do With My Money to listen in.