Stephonee is a mom, a wife and a personal friend. She blogs over at PoorerThanYou.com where she talks all about money- where to start if you’re clueless and what you can do if you want to invest/save. Although not in a financial career, she has lot of experience- mainly starting where she ran out of money and had to drop out of college. Today, she sits with a net worth of over $100K.
Welcome!
[3:22] Your website, poorerthanyou has been around for quite some time. Tell us your backstory and how you started.
● I learned about personal finance blogging in college when I was so broke
● She figured out that she didn’t have enough money to stay in college, dropped out of it and decided to write about it so people can follow along my journey
● Net worth started at negative $26k when she was 20; took 12 years to turn around at 32 now
● She ended up going back to school so had to take out more student loans.
[6:12] What are the options when you move from one job to another with your 401K? What should you do?
● Stephonee had a great job, her dream job and but got laid off but she ended up working for a 401k administrator in her new job
● The easiest thing to do is to roll into new 401k to keep everything consolidated in one bucket
● You can also roll your 401k into an IRA; the downside is that if you do get sued, money in IRAs can be included in your personal assets
● If you already have an IRA, don’t roll your existing 401k over into your existing IRA, so don’t co-mingle your assets
[9:35] Do you have any specific steps as to HOW you do that?
● The administrator or company that runs your 401k or 403b, call them (whoever is gonna have the money), normally you will have to fill in a form.
[12:24] We had a listener write in that she is moving countries- do you have any advice as to what she could/ should be doing with her American retirement plan?
● You pretty much can’t, the money is sheltered from US taxation
● You will be charged for early withdrawal
● They could roll it into a traditional IRA as it can allow withdrawals without penalty, one is an education exclusion
[18:7] We’ve talked about it before on Chain of Wealth but, if a person’s job does not offer a 401K – what other retirement options are out there?
● You should be looking into IRAs
● If your health plan is a high deductible account, as long as your plan qualifies, you can open a HSA on your own
● Your best bet is often to convince your company to get a 401k if you are working for a small company
● 44 Million people in the gig economy (1099s), you are eligible to open a solo 401k on your own
[23:47] You’ve recently started a new project on-line called the Money-Middletons, how is this different to what is already in the blogosphere?
● Stephonee has heard a ton of people in the realm of “I can’t afford this”.
● There’s a ton of great retirement advice out there if you are able to max you retirement accounts, but the people in the middle are often left out.
● She started a blog to share posts that will help people
[28:59] Value Link: Grab a free copy of Damion’s new book on QRPs
[30:1] What does your saving and retirement plan look like?
● Big focus on taxes and reducing taxes as much as possible (legally of course)
● Low cost index funds
[32:49] What are some favorite books you can recommend?
● Book: The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
● Book: The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
● Book: Get Money
[34:34] A favorite quote?
● Not really one quote but,’You’re gonna regret something and it’s ok’
[36:59] Any last 401K/ retirement advice
● A summary plan description is required for all 401ks, ask your employer for one.
