Forget New Year's resolutions; we're doing New Year REALLOCATIONS! Shane kicked off the conversation with a good problem: What to do with $500K in cash? One easy place to start: A diversified portfolio, that takes into account risk tolerance and time horizon.

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Larry is on the other end of the risk spectrum from Shane, but maybe that's just fine for his situation. Both Carolyn and Jerome asked about how to select a financial advisor.

These questions provided a perfect opportunity for me to explain the different types of advisors and the various ways you can pay for services. For more, you can check out: Protect Against Scams: 10 Questions to Ask Financial Advisors. We also were able to exonerate Brian from his self-described "financial malpractice".

Finally, here's last week's CTM segment about the diving stock and oil markets.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

What better way to celebrate our 200th show -- and the first program of 2015 -- then to have Social Security expert Bill Meyer as our guest! Bill is the founder and Managing Principal of the terrific SS resource, SocialSecuritySolutions.com.

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Bill discusses the Social Security system, how to improve it and then dives into the various strategies available to retirees. With hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, you can't miss this show!

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

Retirement expert Mark Miller join the program to explain Social Security basics (which are always confusing!) and to provide an update about what the Affordable Care Act does for retirees who are pre-Medicare age.

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Mark is the editor and publisher of RetirementRevised.com, but as if that were not enough, he is also a journalist and author who writes for Reuters, Morningstar and anywhere else that a retirement guru is needed — that means a lot of places!

We also fielded questions on reverse mortgages, saving money to buy a house and what to do if you think that your advisor has a conflict.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

As you scramble to complete your holiday shopping, listen to the great questions that we field this week. We start with Karen from Iowa, who holds a large nest egg in illiquid investments. We then shift to Karen, who is getting into the holiday spirit by gifting to her children. (Anyone can give up to $14,000 to an individual without worrying about taxation.

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Steve is trying to decide how to manage his rental income and Dennis wanted to know about Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

With just days to go before 2015, check out these year-end money moves!

• 8 Year-End Tax-Planning Tips
• 5 Year-End Retirement Tips

Our guest Gary Zimmerman of MaxMyInterest.com explains his cool new service is like “Uber for cash” and how it can help you boost your returns with NO RISK!

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

What better way to celebrate my birthday week than to hang with my radio/podcast family! Thanks for all of the warm wishes and the great questions, starting with VJ from CT, who is gearing up to purchase his first house. (Here's the New York Times calculator that I spoke about during the show!) After reviewing details of his financial life, we were able to find the right price tag, without sacrificing other financial obligations.

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Joe is considering whether to move out of a variable annuity and into a portfolio of index and exchange-traded funds. By doing so, he would lose a guarantee of 6 percent return inside the annuity, but he would also likely save $5,000 annually.

What a delight to have my pal Dan Forbes, CFP® join the program. Dan is the owner of Forbes Financial Planning in East Greenwich, RI where he specializes in working with individuals and small businesses. He was named a Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Ambassador in 2011 and you may even recognize him from the Board’s 2014 media campaign in 2014. Dan was my intern back in the day and even then, I knew he was destined for bigger things! We discussed some year-end ideas, what to do about bond investments and why the fiduciary standard is so important. If you would like a copy of Dan’s year-end checklist, send him an e-mail at: dforbes@forbesplanning.com.

Thanks to Jackson, who asked about owning an account as tenants in common, which gave me the chance to draw a distinction between that ownership structure and joint tenants with rights of survivorship.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

The holiday music is back, putting callers into a jolly mood for the first show of December! Thanks to Steve from CA, who asked about whether or not to add a small company stock index to his $825,ooo portfolio. Small stocks are defined as those with market capitalizations (number of shares outstanding, times the stock price) of less than $2 million and while they can be more volatile than larger stocks, over time, investors have been rewarded by owning them.

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Check out this chart from Dimensional Fund Advisors, which shows how lucrative small caps have been over time:

In addition to Steve's allocation question, we also answered investment questions from Alan, Kevin and Diane. Bryan's question about student loans was certainly unique, which "Splashing Around in Debt" was needed a strategy to pay down cheap housing debt as he approaches retirement.

Wade is worried about hyper-inflation, but with oil prices down 30 percent since the summer, it is hard to make the case runaway price increases are coming any time soon.

David was kind of enough to send us more information about Social Security calculators that can be helpful in determining your future benefits. Here is the link: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/anypia/anypia.html

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

Have a great Thanksgiving!

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• Download this week's show (MP3)

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

What a treat to have retirement plan expert Ed Slott CPA join the show to help make smart year-end financial decisions! Ed is a nationally recognized IRA expert, television personality and best-selling author who has dedicated his life to educating Americans on saving for retirement and the intricacies of IRAs.

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Among his many pearls of wisdom, delivered with his awesome Long island accent, Ed reminded us to do the following before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2014:

• Make your 2014 Roth IRA conversion
• Be aware of new IRA rollover rules
• Max out your retirement accounts
• Take Required Minimum Distributions
• Check / Update Beneficiary Forms
• Be aware of stealth taxes
• Consider donating your IRA distributions to charity
• Use Your Gifting Limits

In the first hour of the show, we had a terrific call from Mike in Texas, Sharon in CT and Mike in Maryland, all of whom needed guidance on financial advisors.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. 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: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio