Smart Money Questions

Some great mailbag questions this week. Saul in Florida wants to know if he should sell off his office building and invest the assets. Marie in Pennsylvania is curious if three whole life policies is too much. Hank in Texas wants to know if he should put all his money in Roth from now on. And Samantha in Maryland's mom has a lot of money at her disposal. But she has no confidence to spend any of it. How can she feel more empowered to use the money without losing it or wasting it? Matt has answers to all of this week's smart money questions.

We've all heard the phrase about having too many cooks in the kitchen. On this podcast, Matt tells us about a time a client revealed to him that they had four different financial advisors. It prompted Matt to say, "You got what?" He'll tell us why having that many advisors can lead you down the wrong path.

We often talk about the importance of not leaving a 401k with your old company after you no longer work there. Let’s explore some of the benefits of a 401k rollover, why you might want to move it to an IRA, what the tax implications are and some of the other essential things to consider.

Matt gives us another solo podcast. This time, his thoughts are on how to ensure a worry-free retirement where someone can spend for their lifestyle without fear of running out of money.

The mailbag is full of good questions this week. Two of them touch on IRA issues. One person is concerned about recent losses in their portfolio while another is trying to figure out if now's the time to do a Roth conversion while in between careers. Bill might get to stop working a year early. Should he? And a great question from Kent. Should he push his friend in the pool for the financial advice he recently gave him?

Is it possible to pay off your mortgage with the balance of your IRA? Is it wise? Matt talks about a recent situation where this idea was broached. He'll seek to take the emotion out of the conversation and approach the conversation from a logical perspective.

Matt shares a personal story about having to help his parents through a difficult time. He'll also tell us about some of the scenarios his clients have faced over the years and offer you some ideas on how to best prepare for tough situations you and your parents might face.

They say these days that there’s a holiday of every day of the year. It’s kind of true. In fact, the month of April, for example, is home to Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Fresh Florida Tomato Month, Fresh Celery Month, Multiple Birth Awareness Month and National Soft Pretzel Month (sorry hard pretzels, you guys have to wait until the overall National Pretzel Month in October). What does all this have to with finances? Well, April is also National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which gave us the idea to discuss some of things that distract us financially. And since every single other thing in existence gets a holiday, we’ll make up our own to discuss on this week’s podcast. It’s National Distracted Investor Awareness Month. We’ll reveal the distractions that often peel our attention away from being good investors and savers and give you tips on how to stay on track.

Great questions on the podcast this week from Mark, Lynne and Carrie. Mark has questions about how to properly finance the decision to downsize to a smaller house. Lynne is wondering about working with big financial companies vs. independent advisors. And Carrie says an advisor is forcing her and her husband to live on a budget. It's a requirement for them to work together. She wants to know if that's normal and if Matt has seen other examples like this where advisors place certain "rules" on the client/advisor relationship.

We'll answer your questions this week in our mailbag edition of Smart Money Questions. Stella has a question about how international conflicts might impact the markets. Steve needs help figuring out how to pay for his son's college. Should he stop contributing to retirement for a few years to cover the tuition payments? Aaron has a bunch of smaller 401ks sitting around and wants to know what to do with them. And Lauren asks a great question about picking the right time to meet with an advisor. Do you wait until your 6 months away from retirement? Is 5 years away from retiring too soon to meet with an advisor? Matt will walk us through the answers to all those questions.