TODAY Money expert and CNBC personal finance correspondent Sharon Epperson joined us for a live Web chat Wednesday morning after the show's Money 911 segment.
Here are two of her answers from the live chat and a complete archive:
Question from Dorothy:
I'm newly retired. While employed, I contributed a substantial amount into an employer-sponsored annuity. I now want to avoid the large fees and take charge of my own money. Financial experts say do some research etc. I would like to take some course or method -- besides reading a book -- to make my own money decisions. Any ideas?
Answer from Sharon:
Rolling the money from your employer-sponsored plan into an IRA will give you control of the investments. Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price have really simple directions for how you can set one up at their firm and have pretty low fees.
When it comes to researching your own investments -- go to the investing page on CNBC.com.
Question from Heather:
Hello, I am currently laid off and have five different credit cards. I would like to use my Simple plan to do an early withdrawal and pay off all but one card. I only have $4,000 in the plan and feel it would benefit me more to wipe away some debt with it. Would this be detrimental or do you recommend I go forward? Thank you
Answer from Sharon:
First of all, why do you have five credit cards?! You need two at the most. So your goal should be to pay off three of the cards.
First step to pay them down is to spend less per month -- there should be some expenses you can cut down or cut out -- and put that extra money toward your monthly payment. You don't have much in your Simple plan to start with -- if it's your only retirement savings, I wouldn't touch it.
Complete archive:
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