Life and Money With Helaine

Hi, Helaine: I recently sold my house and bought another one. I did a 20% down payment, received a decent interest rate on the mortgage, and still have funds left over from the sale. I don't want them to sit around doing nothing in my savings account, but I'm sort of undecided about what I should do.

I see two options: Is it smart to pay down my new home? Or should I invest in stock and bond market index funds? At the moment, I'm shying away from paying down the house because what if it's 2008 again and I need to default on the home? But maybe that's a wrong, shortsighted way of looking at it.

By paying down the house, I'll be saving years of interest on the loan. I'm not sure how long I'll be staying in it. I don't have any immediate plans to move elsewhere, but I'm also pretty sure I won't be there for the life of the loan. -- Mo' Mortgage or Mo' Money

Dear Mo': This is actually an easy question, and it doesn't require knowledge of the recent foreclosure crisis to answer it properly. While it often feels better to pay off a mortgage rather than put money in the stock market, the reverse is usually the case.

Over time, the stock market has offered people better returns for the long haul than real estate. (Yes, things can change, but that doesn't mean your particular home will do better.) At the same time, money put in a home is all but the definition of an illiquid investment. If you need the extra cash for any reason, there is no guarantee you will be able to get ahold of it -- the money could be literally trapped in your home. Banks do not need to offer you a home equity line.

Finally, I need to point out that some of that money should be reserved for an emergency fund if you don't already have one. One thing I've learned about homes is that things break, maintenance needs to be performed, and none of that is free. Make sure you've got enough in the way of funds to pay for that without needing to use a credit card to cover a sudden shortfall.

(To ask Helaine a question, email her at askhelaine@gmail.com.)

(EDITORS: For editorial questions, please contact Sue Roush at sroush@amuniversal.com)

Dear Helaine: I need your advice on my financial situation. I am married, in my early 70s, and still at work. I earn $100,000 as a hairstylist. My husband is retired with no pension or any other means of income besides $1,500 monthly in Social Security. I am receiving $1,600 from Social Security monthly.

We owe about $5,000 on two car loans, but other than that, there's no debt and no mortgage. We own our home outright, and it's worth about $500,000. The issue: We only have about $50,000 in savings.

I would like to retire as soon as possible; my job is physically demanding, and I know I can't keep up the pace much longer. I also know we won't be able to live a good life on just Social Security, especially living in the relatively expensive region that's our home. Can you please help me? -- Ready to Retire

Dear Ready to Retire: Perhaps it will make you feel better to know you are far from the only person in this position. Pollsters regularly find the vast majority of us think we can work as long as we are alive. That's just not true, sad to say. In many cases, including your own, our bodies just can't keep up.

So what should you do now? I wish I had magic powers and could spin gold out of straw for you. But I can't do that. There is no way you aren't going to experience a significant cut in your income when you cease work. That, in turn, will all but force you to cut back on enjoying the "good life," as you put it. But there are ways to mitigate it.

You could sell your home and move to a less-expensive area of the country. This, especially if you trade a home for a one- or two-bedroom condo, will likely allow you to bank a few hundred thousand dollars in savings.

I get that you might not want to relocate. In that case, you should consider a reverse mortgage, which will allow you to use the equity in your home to live on, giving you and your husband a set amount monthly. But reverse mortgages are difficult to navigate, and you'll need someone expert and trustworthy to guide you through the process of finding the right one.

Finally, you might want to consider -- if you are physically able, that is -- continuing to put in even a few hours a week on the job. If you are earning $100,000 annually, you are likely working a full-time schedule. That's hard in your 70s. But it's possible a part-time schedule will be doable. That will allow you to gradually reduce your expenses and build up more in the way of savings.

(To ask Helaine a question, email her at askhelaine@gmail.com.)

(EDITORS: For editorial questions, please contact Sue Roush at sroush@amuniversal.com)

Hi, Helaine: I felt very edgy in the first weeks of the Trump administration. I thought about altering my investments and even considered stocking up on gold coins. But my financial adviser talked me out of it and told me to stay the course. It worked for a time.

Trump's now threatening increasing tariffs on Twitter, the stock market is down and it feels as bumpy as I feared. Should I cut back on spending and save as much as possible? Or should I stock up on cheap stuff and anything else I think I will need before the prices go up, thanks to trade wars?

Should my wife and I invest our budget reserves in paying down our home loan to get out of debt, invest abroad, or keep more money in cash to keep our reserves as liquid as possible? What do you think? -- On the Financial Edge

Dear On the Financial Edge: I agree having a president who appears to use Twitter as a governing tool can be somewhat disconcerting. But don't let it scare you into upsetting what sound like well-laid-out financial plans. The stock market goes up, and it goes down. Trying to guess at this stuff is a fool's errand. I'd stick with your current investment plan and savings and spending strategies.

As I am forever pointing out to people, the stock market can go down 20 percent, but that doesn't mean your chosen alternative won't go down even more. Similarly, I wouldn't suggest stocking up on stuff you think you might use one day because you think tariffs will make the things more expensive, unless it's something you are sure you will need to purchase within the next few months in any case. Also, it's worth noting that tariffs hardly only impact unnecessary "cheap stuff." They can also impact everything from food to cars.

As for liquid savings, three to six months emergency savings is recommended -- no matter who the president happens to be. If you don't have that, I would suggest cutting back for a time to build up an easy-to-access nest egg.

But most important: Stay calm! It's when we panic that we make the biggest financial mistakes.

(To ask Helaine a question, email her at askhelaine@gmail.com.)

(EDITORS: For editorial questions, please contact Sue Roush at sroush@amuniversal.com)