Where Are They Now? Five Smart Money Listeners on Job Loss, Debt, FIRE, and Life Moves

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0:45Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. Five listeners, five huge money decisions, and today we're finding out how our advice turned out for past guests after navigating job loss, tentative early retirement in Spain, 100K credit card debt, Coast Fi, and a cross-country move.

1:14Sean Pyles:Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles. And my name hasn't changed. I'm Elizabeth Ayola. We got a question from one of you guys, and you asked if we would do a Where Are They Now episode. And guess what? Because we love you, we are doing one today. That's right. We're going to watch and hear updates from five different listeners who sent questions over the past few years and came on the show to talk about them with us. We'll be hearing from Bree, Ellie, Paolo, David, and Delius. Let's start with Bree who sent us a question in April 2025.

1:49Sean Pyles:At the time, she'd lost her job unexpectedly and needed advice on how to manage her money. Luckily, she already had four to six months of emergency savings in her emergency fund. We advised Bree to work with a bare bones budget, focus on securing any form of employment at all to avoid going into debt or tapping into retirement savings. We also told her to try to reduce her health insurance costs by comparing COBRA and marketplace plans. Okay, so here is Bree with an update. Since we originally spoke in April of 2025, can't believe it's been that long. At that time, as you know, I had just been laid off and was trying to figure out how to best manage my money until I found a new job.

2:33A lot has happened since then, and I'd love to say that everything is solved with a pretty bow on top, but that's rarely how life goes, right? Here's a rundown of what's been going on the last 15 months. As we talked about, I immediately stripped down my budget to the bare minimum. Absolutely no extra spending at all. I applied for unemployment and started applying for jobs right away. So finding my next opportunity became my full-time job. And I was submitting applications, interviewing, and networking seven days a week. There wasn't a single day that I skipped. And it was paying off. I was getting interviews and making it to final rounds for several opportunities.

3:16I did take your advice and remained open to opportunities that created some kind of income stream while I searched. To that end, I've consulted with several organizations on their culture and employee and training initiatives, and I have had so much fun with it. I also wanted to take full advantage of the time and ensure that there wasn't a gap in my resume. So I completed three certification programs alongside the consulting work and the job search. Things really seemed to be moving along and I was feeling confident when life decided to throw yet another curveball my way. In June, after a hospitalization, I learned that my brain tumor had grown again and I would need to undergo radiotherapy.

4:01I started getting more specialist referrals than I could count. so I was glad to have had your guidance on the health insurance front as part of our last conversation. I ended up going with a marketplace plan. Treatment and everything that goes along with it then became one of my new full-time jobs, but I didn't stop the job search. I was still applying, interviewing, and networking seven days a week around my appointments, around my treatment, around the ongoing tests. Essentially, I now had two full-time jobs. And I am so grateful that I'm able to afford health insurance. And as you can imagine, my out-of-pocket maximum was reached pretty quickly, which meant actually most of the financial side of my health needs was actually relatively stress-free.

4:53So fast forward to the end of radiation, and I was also coming to the end of my unemployment benefits. So I adjusted my job search strategy and was able to snag a role that has allowed me to keep my health as my number one priority. I have continued on my journey and finding answers around my brain tumor, but I also haven't let it stop me from living. I am as committed to living a full life as I ever have been before. I recently completed the visa process to move out of the U.S. and have been getting settled in my new home. Wow, Bree, thank you for sharing that update. I'm so sorry to hear about your tumor, but also so glad you were able to get all the treatment you needed.

5:38We're also glad that you were able to use the advice that we gave you about comparing health care plans to find one that was affordable for you to pay for all your treatments.

5:46Sean Pyles:And I'm so impressed by your drive and resilience, the fact that you did basically have two full-time jobs where you were looking out for your health and trying to get full-time employment. I'm really grateful that you were able to get a job that's supporting you and your health journey because this is scary, serious stuff. Like you said there, the things that are most important are rarely material. It is focusing on your wellbeing and living the life that you want. So I'm glad to hear that you're able to get your visa to live internationally like you wanted to when we were talking back in 2025.

6:15Sean Pyles:Wishing you all the best on your continued career journey because I'm just so proud of all you've done already. And I'm so inspired by you. I mean, during that time you've achieved so much, You started a podcast, did some consulting. You did so many things. Instead of like kind of letting it weigh you down, you still found ways to uplevel yourself. So well done, Bri. And let us know the podcast name so we can listen. All right. Well, let's get to our next listener. This is an update from Ellie. Their question came to us in May 2025 about how to maximize$150 ,000 that was sitting in their high-yield savings account.

6:45Sean Pyles:She and her husband achieved FIRE, which for those who don't know, is financially independent, retiring early. and they were able to retire by the age of 44, and they were two weeks away from moving to Spain with their two kids when we talked with them. They had a passive income budget of$5 ,000 earned through real estate and wanted that$150 ,000 to help generate extra income, but they were wary of putting it into the stock market because of the risk. So let's hear Ellie's update. Hey, guys. Thanks for reaching out again. Today is actually our one-year anniversary since we arrived in Spain, and it's been going great.

7:19We absolutely love it. There's been some setbacks, you know, some things that didn't go quite according to plan, but most of it has gone according to plan. I think I told you that we sold a restaurant that we owned and they have been going through some hard times, so they haven't been able to make payments. So our monthly The passive income has been a little bit lower, but I followed your advice and the cash that we have we put into the stock market. So that's been growing steadily. So we're OK. We're doing great. We don't work. My daughter loves going to school here. She absolutely loves it.

8:05Sean Pyles:Wow. What a difference a whole year can make. They're living in Spain. Their daughter is settled there. they invested a bunch of money into the stock market and they're feeling good about it. But what Ellie's update reminds me as well is that no matter what kind of investment you have, there's always going to be some kind of risk. So even though they sold their restaurant and they thought it would be a passive income stream, there's never stability guaranteed 100 % of the time with something like this. And so it seems like they are riding that wave of not having all the passive income they wanted to based on what's happening with that investment.

8:36Sean Pyles:But I'm glad to Here they have other sources of income and they're enjoying their new expat life and building a community in their new home in Spain. I was so excited when we got this question because you know how much I love fire. And it was just so cool to see someone who's actually achieved it and was about to live out their fire dream. So congratulations, Ellie. I'm so glad that it's going well. Also, what I'm getting from Ellie's question is the importance of taking risks, right? Every financial choice that you make has some kind of risk. And it's a big deal to pick up your whole life and move to another country with your family and just depend on all the hard work you've done in savings to save you and keep you afloat.

9:14But Ellie did it. She did it.

9:15Sean Pyles:And I don't know if you noticed in the video, it seems so sunny and beautiful and she seems so relaxed and happy. and I think that goes to show what all of this hard work saving so diligently for so long can get you is just that ease and that joy of living the life that you've been dreaming of. I am honestly kind of jealous. I wonder maybe one day when I'm 44, I'll move to Spain and start my whole life over just like Ellie did. And by the way, if you are curious to see what Ellie looks like or what we look like, you need to go to YouTube because we are on YouTube and the link is in the episode description.

9:50we have another member of the FIRE community who wrote us a question, Paolo. And that question was sent in September, 2025, and it was about COSFI. We answered the question in December in case you want to go looking for it. Now, for those who aren't familiar with COSFI, it's essentially where you front load your retirement savings so that you can coast into retirement. If you're wondering how it's different from traditional FIRE, you don't stop working, but you just save enough aggressively. And once you hit a certain number, you can let your savings keep compounding. Now, Paolo had an impressive chunk saved,$3 million at the age of 48, and just wasn't sure whether it was time to take his foot off the brake or keep on saving.

10:32Now, Paolo wanted to retire at 65 as well because he does enjoy his job, but he just wanted to reduce his savings rate. Are you guys ready to hear from Paolo? Oh, well, if you're not, here it goes. Hi, Sean. Hi, Elizabeth. First of all, I want to take a second to thank you for talking to me, helping me out with my Coast Fire plans and talking to me about my future plans. I took your advice and I did finally find a financial advisor to talk to about everything. It did take a little while as initially I spoke to several different ones and I just didn't seem to jive with my needs. But finally, I did find one that's working great for me.

11:11And so far, it hasn't been too long. We've been working together, but for my time we have been working together, it has worked out very well. In fact, he prepared a financial plan for me with a few different scenarios, made a scenario where I stopped contributing to my retirement now and just let what I have coast, I guess, until retirement. He ran other scenarios, including everything from stopping in five years, contributing, or even early retirement, for example, retiring in five years or 10 years or so, which was great. It gave me a lot of confidence. I really feel a lot more positive about where I am, where I stand with my finances, and where I need to go from now.

11:52In fact, the decision that I made now is since it's difficult for me to just put a complete stop on all my savings, I'm going about it slowly and just every few months starting to reduce the amount that I'm putting towards savings and kind of seeing what kind of effect that has. And eventually just letting my investments coast until retirement. We've actually taken that extra money now, and my wife and I are planning a few more trips, which was our long-term goal was to travel more. In fact, we have a trip coming up here at the end of July, and then even another one at the end of August, which is great.

12:25Then I think we'll take a break for a little while, but we're definitely traveling a lot more than we were as previously when we were traveling once or twice a year. So that's a start. It's been going great. I really appreciate it, and thanks again for all your help, and I hope to be in touch with you. Bye-bye.

12:40Sean Pyles:What a great update. I'm so proud of Paolo for being really thoughtful and how they were approaching finding the right financial planner for them because like they said, you can have conversations with the planner and just realize this isn't going to work for any number of reasons. Maybe it's not a good personality fit. Maybe they don't have experience in your specific area, which seems to be the case with Paolo here. But taking the time to interview a handful, at least three different financial planners before choosing one is a very smart idea. I'm very glad that they did that. Me too. And I remember how anxious Paolo was about just having enough and not wanting to stop savings.

13:12It made me so elated to hear that Paolo and his wife are now traveling and taking multiple trips a year. And that he's also gradually reducing his savings rate, which we kind of advised him to do in terms of like focusing on the exciting part of reducing the rate versus the fear and the anxiousness.

13:27Sean Pyles:And that's one of the things that working with the right planner can really give you is that kind of reassurance and showing you the different models of, okay, what happens if you totally pull back right now? What happens if you retire in five years? Running all these simulations are things that their average person just can't really do on their own. Or if they do it on their own, they might not have the confidence that they're actually running the numbers the correct way. Hiring a professional who is a fiduciary and whose whole job is to do this for you can really pay off. And like we've seen, Paulo has been able to go on trips with his wife now and enjoy his life more instead of worrying about spending enough or saving enough.

13:58Exactly. And I know Paulo also mentioned in the episode that he wanted to potentially buy a new car or buy a house. So I hope, Paulo, if you're listening, that you're able to do those things as well. and I'm curious how much your portfolio has grown now. And now, Sean, I'm so inspired. You might not see me in 10 years. You might need a new co-host. I'm going to fire.

14:17Sean Pyles:Okay, well, if you want to do co-spire, bring me on one of your vacations like Paolo and maybe we'll go see Ellie in Spain. Oh my God, not a link up with our listeners and viewers and the host. It sounds amazing, I love it. That sounds so fun. We're gonna take a quick break. Stay with us.

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16:00More at Accenture.com slash Spotify. The next update comes from David, who sent a question in December 2024 about a cross-country move from a Western state to a Midwestern one to be closer to family or friends. Now, at the time, David and his wife had two small kids, a household income of about$175 ,000, and they were considering selling their home, which they were only 10 years away from paying off. Very impressive. Now, I wasn't on the podcast full time yet, Sean, but you were doing this episode with Lisa Green. Do you remember? Of course you remember.

16:37Sean Pyles:Of course I do. Lisa Green is one of our writers who's on the insurance team, but she happens to have some rental properties. So she chimed in with a bunch of great information about how to manage a rental, especially when you don't live near your rental property. We're about to hear David's update. Hi, Sean and Elizabeth and everyone at Smart Money. This is David checking back in after about a year and a half after my episode. When we last talked, I was considering a big move across the country. Well, the move happened, just not in the direction I expected. My wife's career brought us from our western state to northern California, where we're now much closer to her large extended family in the Bay Area.

17:12Thankfully, her employer covered the cost of moving our four-bedroom house, which was a huge financial relief because we realized that was just no small expense. We decided to keep our previous home as a rental. I actually found a tenant myself, but we did hire a property management company to handle everything after that, like it was recommended when I was on the podcast. Even though it costs a little each month, it has been well worth the peace of mind of being about 600 miles away from the house. One of the bigger financial decisions was selling a little over six figures of investments to make the down payment on our new home.

17:44The tax bill this past April definitely wasn't fun, but after doing the research, we realized it was the right move for our family and our long-term goals. The good news is everything else has fallen into place. I did get a new job teaching middle and high school math classes along with a personal finance elective. It's going great. My kids have settled into the new school and we're really happy with the decision to move. Just wanted to end with a really big thank you. Being on Smart Money was such a great experience and your podcast has continued to be a resource. Whenever I have financial questions, I am a loyal listener for life.

18:13I really appreciate that you and the team not only educate the listeners, but also make yourselves available for follow-up questions. Thank you again and best wishes. Aw, David. I'm so happy for you guys. It all worked out. Doesn't it always work out somehow? Yes, sometimes you have a couple of left and U-turns and dead ends, but it works out, no?

18:33Sean Pyles:Yeah, it seems like it worked out better than they were even hoping, especially since David's wife's employer was able to cover the move for them. And yeah, they sold some stock that left them with a tax bill, but that's also the price you pay for selling your stock. And having that cash allowed them to buy a house in the Bay Area, which is not easy to do. And now David and his wife are gainfully employed. It seems like David's really satisfied in this position. You know, he actually emailed me recently to talk about how he was considering pursuing his CFP certification. You know what the process was like.

19:04Sean Pyles:TLDR, it's extremely time consuming. But I found it very enriching. And I hope if he pursues it, he finds it similarly satisfying and able to help him expand his knowledge and his educational work. But I do want to talk a little bit about working with a property manager. I'm really glad that he decided to go that route just to have that stress most of the office plate. But I will add that just because you have someone managing the day-to-day operations, that doesn't mean that you can just not pay attention to your house. I had a bit of a hiccup with my property manager just this past month where I didn't get paid, at least not on time.

19:38Sean Pyles:Usually I get my rent payment around, you know, the 10th at the latest of the month. And it was getting to the 16th to the 17th and I didn't hear anything. And so I ended up calling and I wasn't sure, is there an issue with my tenant not paying rent? Is it something with the property management side? basically, long story short, the person who manages this had just been out and they didn't tell me. So I'm glad that I followed up. I eventually got my rent money. But I hope that, David, if you ever have any issues like this, you can just call and resolve them quickly. But again, you do need to still be on top of what's happening with your income, with your property itself, and also put some money aside for taxes too, because you will owe taxes on that money.

20:20So in other words, your finances are never completely hands-off. You should always at least be checking periodically what's going on, whether it's a rental property, your investment, savings account, anything. Sean, I must ask you, I know that we are not these people's financial advisors and this is not personal advice, but how does it feel for people to actually use your advice?

20:44Sean Pyles:It's really satisfying. I mean, I think that Elizabeth, you and I have been in the personal finance space for a while. We know what we're talking about here. And we always say that we're not directing people what to do with their money. And that's true. We're giving people things to think about so they can make their own informed decisions. But it feels really great. And I feel really proud of all of these people we've spoken with who use the information we gave them to make the decision that was best for them. And now they have been able to use money as a tool to create the life that they want and look at how much they've done in just the past year or year and a half.

21:14Sean Pyles:It's really remarkable. It is. I feel like a proud parent. You guys are not my kids, but I I feel like a proud parent. I'm so proud of you all. I feel the same way. On that note, we have one more. You do the honor, Sean. Okay, this one I am so excited to get to. It is from a listener named Delius who contacted us last year when they had a lot of debt. They had been having a hard time finding work. They had a property they weren't sure if they should sell and maybe use some of the cash to pay off their debt. Or do they hold on to it and get some rental money from it? they just had a lot going on and they've actually made a lot of progress in their life.