Jill on Money: Keep it simple with your money

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"Keep it simple, stupid" was the mantra drilled into my head when I became a commodities options trader way back when. I have carried that "KISS" with me throughout my career and it's particularly apt for this show. Coco from WA, Bill from NM and Linda from CA are all in varying degrees of great shape financially, so their calls were a delight to tackle. All I had to do was provide a few suggestions around the edges to help round out their allocations.

Linh, Elaine and Tony wrote in about investment and retirement account allocation. As always, if employees stick to a diversified portfolio of simple, low-cost index fund universe, they usually stay out of trouble.

Dee is withdrawing $3K per month from an $800,000 portfolio, a touch higher than I usually recommend. A safe withdrawal rate is somewhere between 3.5 and 4 percent of a portfolio's value, so I would suggest decreasing the monthly amount to $2500.

Finally, John and Ida asked about where to start learning more about controlling their financial lives. Check out Jack Otter's great book, "Worth it, Not Worth it" - a perfect way to familiarize yourself with a variety of money topics.

Here are web sites and resources mentioned in this week's show:

-- Jill's Blog

-- How to Choose a Financial Advisor: 10 Questions

-- NAPFA: National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (fee-only advisors)

-- Best CD Rates

-- E, EE and I Savings Bonds

-- The ABCs of Annuities: 6 Questions to Ask

-- The Pros and Cons of Annuities

-- Immediate Annuity Calculator

-- Annuity salespeople don't like me

-- Social Security: Manage your account online

-- Social Security estimator

-- When to take Social Security?

-- Social Security: File and Suspend

-- Social Security: Double-Dipping

-- Medigap insurance

-- Retirement Calculator

-- Retirement Plan Required Distribution Calculator

-- Long-term Care - US government web site

-- Long term care conundrum

-- Life Expectancy Calculator

-- Life Insurance calculator

-- Financial documents: What to shred, what to keep

-- Estate Planning: the Documents You Need

-- NYT Rent vs. Buy Calculator

-- Re-Fi Calculator

-- Another Re-Fi Calculator

-- Reverse mortgage info via HUD

-- Reverse Mortgages: Don't let the Fonz sell you

-- 529 plan info

-- College Loans: What you need to know

-- Student Loan Consolidation

-- Money As You Grow

-- National Foundation for Credit Counseling

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE

Send an email: [e-mail]

Tweet me: @jillonmoney

Post a comment on this blog

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