Does It Pay to Switch Jobs?

In this podcast, Motley Fool personal finance expert Robert Brokamp talks with Bankrate's Dayana Yochim about how a financial planner can help you navigate a money-related life event, relieve financial stress, prioritize your goals, and make sure you get money stuff done.

Also in this episode:

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• Through most of the 2000s, wage growth for job-switchers was higher than for job-stayers. But not now.
• The number of ETFs now exceeds the number of stocks -- is that good or bad news?
• It's an odd time for the housing market, as evidenced by the fact that new homes cost less than existing homes.
• Tips for making the most of your 401(k).

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A full transcript is below.

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This podcast was recorded on Sept. 06, 2025.

Robert Brokamp: Does it still pay to switch jobs? And why you should hire a financial planner, even if you're usually a do-it-yourselfer. You're listening to the Saturday Personal Finance Edition of Motley Fool Money. Does it still pay to switch jobs? And why you should hire a financial planner, even if you're usually a do-it-yourselfer. You're listening to the Saturday Personal Finance Edition of Motley Fool Money. I'm Robert Brokamp. This week, I speak with Bankrate's Dayana Yochim about five reasons why you may want to get some professional help and where to get it. But first, let's kick things off with last week in money.

We've seen a lot of shifts in the job market since the pandemic. The unemployment rate rose 14.8% by April of 2020, but it was down to 3.4% within a couple of years, and it currently sits at 4.2%. The pandemic panic was followed by the Great Resignation. Across 2021 and 2022, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded almost 100 million instances of a person switching jobs or leaving the workforce. After all, leaving one job for another was the best way to boost your income. By December of 2022, people who stayed with their employers got raises of 5.5% on average, whereas job switchers saw their incomes increase by 7.7%. Over the past three decades or so, it has usually been the case that job hoppers get rewarded with higher salaries, but not so much nowadays. CNBC reports that the annual wage growth for job stayers is actually now slightly higher than growth for job switchers, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

So far this century, there have been just two other times when this has happened in early 2004, when the economy was still recovering from the dotcom crash and the September 11th attacks, and at the tail end of the 2007-2009 Great Recession. It could be considered a sign of job market distress, though not necessarily of worse times to come. That said, the Labor Department announced on Wednesday that the number of unemployed Americans exceeds the number of job openings for the first time since 2021. It seems now maybe a better time to be a job hugger than a job hopper. Moving on to our next item, stocks have been around for centuries, and traditional open-end mutual funds have been around for a bit more than a century. Exchange-traded funds haven't been around nearly as long, little over 30 years. Yet, according to a recent Bloomberg article, the number of ETFs now exceeds the number of publicly traded stocks in America for the first time ever. The article cites data from Morningstar, which says that there are now more than 4,300 ETFs, whereas the number of stocks is around 4,200. So far this year, an average of four new ETFs have been launched each day, which is a record-setting pace. ETS used to be mostly just index funds that traded like stocks, but more and more actively managed ETS are hitting the market.

According to etfdb.com, there are more than 250 ETFs that allow you to bet on whether a single stock will go up or down, often using leverage or options to magnify the returns. Heck, there are now nearly 70 ETFs that invest in Bitcoin, about a third of which have been launched this year, according to the Bloomberg article. Is this good news or bad news? I would like to say more of the former. After all, who can argue with more choices? The number of traditional mutual funds has been higher than the number of stocks for decades. In the words of market pundit Sam Roe, this is essentially the same as saying there are now more recipes than there are ingredients. In other words, variety is the spice of life. But I do worry about whether the exploding number of choices will confuse and overwhelm some investors, especially those who are newer to investing. For most, it's likely best to stick with ETFs that pursue their original purpose, a lower cost and more tax-efficient way to be an index investor. Unless you really know what you're doing, stay away from the leveraged and single stock ETFs. Now we come to the number of the week, which is $19,000.

That's how much cheaper the average new home is than the average existing home, according to an article published on realtor.com. If you thought that new homes usually cost more than existing homes, you're right. According to the article, since 1999, new home sales prices have dipped below existing homes in only 10 months, eight of which were in the past 15 months. Plus, that $19,000 figure likely understates the difference, since many Homebuilders are offering cash at closing and lower mortgage rates to entice buyers. What's going on? Well, it could be another sign that the housing market is weakening. In addition to lower sales numbers and increasing inventory, and some sales price dips that we have seen this summer. Homebuilders may be more motivated to get ahead of the trend and offer discounts to unload inventory, whereas homeowners looking to sell are less inclined to lower prices. Lower prices would certainly be welcome to those who are looking to buy a home but find themselves priced out of the market. To quote Charlie Bilello of Creative Planning, the median American household now needs to spend 48% of their income to buy the median-priced home, worse than the peak of the 2006 bubble. Up next, the times when hiring financial help makes sense when Motley Fool Money continues.

I don't personally know you, dear listener, but I bet you're not the type of person to let someone else be 100% in charge of your finances. I'm guessing this because you're actually taking the time to listen to this podcast. I bet you are partially or fully do it yourself or when it comes to your money. It's understandable. No one cares more about your money than you do. However, there are times when getting professional help can be one of the best investments you'll make. I'm here to talk about some of those times as my former Motley Fool colleague and former podcast co-host, Dayana Yochim, who is now a columnist for Bankrate. Dayana, welcome back.

Dayana Yochim: Well, thank you, Robert. Great to be here.

Robert Brokamp: Well, you recently wrote an excellent article about when to consider getting a financial advisor. Let's discuss five potential scenarios, starting with number 1, you're navigating a financial turning point.

Dayana Yochim: When I am thinking about when help comes in particularly handy, outside help that is, I'm thinking high-impact, high-dollar, high-stress financial decisions. What's more high-impact, high stress, high-dollar than life changes? Different life events. Marriage, divorce, job changes, inheritances, all of that stuff. Speaking with an advisor can help you evaluate the potential impact any of those events might have on your finances. They can recommend adjustments you might need to make. They also can help model these what-if scenarios. You can see how things might play out. There are experts in the field who are very issue-specific advisors, so like a divorce financial advisor. They can get into the real nitty-gritty of this stuff. But it can be really valuable to have someone by your side, helping you navigate life events as they occur.

Robert Brokamp: Because they can affect basically almost every aspect of your personal finances, your income, your budget, your benefits, taxes, portfolio, insurance, estate planning, retirement planning, the whole kit and caboodle, and it can be worthwhile to get professional help to understand and really maximize all the moving parts.

Dayana Yochim: Also, just to bring it to maybe reveal some of the blind spots you might have.

Robert Brokamp: This is a situation that when you look for a financial professional, you're probably looking for someone who will charge by the hour or by the project unless you want them to handle the whole kit and caboodle. In that case, you might want to look for someone who also manages your money, and we'll talk about that later. But it's important when you think about this to be very clear what you're looking for, and then find the financial planner who will do that to the extent you need it. For many cases, you can pay someone for an hour or two just to analyze, hey, I'm getting this inheritance, what should I do with it? Or I'm not sure what to do about long-term care insurance, or I just need help with planning to stay for college. Can you help me? That's the type of planner you want to get for that.

Dayana Yochim: That's great advice. You don't have to hand over all of the financial decisions and managing your money just to deal with an inheritance, say.

Robert Brokamp: Excellent, let's move on to scenario number 2. Financial stress is affecting your mental health and relationships.

Dayana Yochim: Well, who doesn't occasionally stress out about money? Actually, it's interesting. Bankrate did a money and mental health survey and found that, years in a row, money worries are the number 1 factor affecting mental health. Over 40% of Americans said that money worries kept them up at night. Oftentimes, it's this feeling of overwhelm people have when they have a pile up of competing priorities, buying for their money. Here's where talking with the financial advisor they can help you organize your finances and also prioritize when you're saving for multiple goals at one time or have debts that you're trying to pay down. That alone can be worth the price of admission, just the relief you can feel just getting a handle on this stuff. But also another important thing here is, if money is affecting your relationships, an advisor is a great, neutral third party. They can keep the conversation civil and productive, and also help you walk away with some concrete feedback and advice.

Robert Brokamp: You're getting that objective opinion. Hopefully, they will help you navigate that, but mental health professionals are good with that. There is a profession called financial therapist. That's someone who has taken the extra work to understand basically the emotional and psychological aspects of financial decisions. It's a whole other type of financial professional to consider, especially maybe if you have significant habits you need to break, significant anxiety, or, again, maybe as a couple, you're having trouble navigating the financial decisions that you have to make.

Dayana Yochim: Also, if scheduled meetings or check-ins, that keeps the momentum going. Like, after that first meeting, you're all jazzed. I'm like, I'm going to get on top of this. But the advisor can be your accountability buddy, that's like, no, I'm meeting with them in three days. I'd better do that thing. I said I was going to do.

Robert Brokamp: Exactly. Let's get to scenario number 3. You're feeling panicky or unsure about your investment strategy.

Dayana Yochim: You're not meeting with an advisor and expecting them to predict the future of the market. Honestly, if someone says they know exactly what's going to happen, you run out the door immediately. But they can offer some perspective. They can be a voice of calm when everyone's freaking out. Here, too, you don't have to hand them your money to manage. Sometimes, just the check-in will talk you off the ledge and keep you from doing something rash that really handicaps your portfolio's future growth.

Robert Brokamp: I used to be a financial advisor, and I know many financial advisors. I've met many over my time here at the Motley Fool. I can tell you that they say one of the biggest benefits they provide is talking people off the ledge, bringing a certain amount of calmness when markets are not necessarily calm. As you point out, you don't necessarily have to hand over all your money. You could just get that second opinion about how you're managing your portfolio. That said, if you want someone to manage your money, you won't have a problem. In fact, the majority of financial advisors get paid by managing your assets. The average fee is around 1% or so, and then the financial planning comes alongside that.

Dayana Yochim: There are also less expensive options out there, like robo-advisors, that do the managing of the portfolio automatically. If you are a hands-off investor, this is just happening behind the scenes, and hopefully, you're not checking your balances all the time, but know that a very smart algorithm is taking care of any adjustments that need to be made to keep you on track.

Robert Brokamp: Absolutely. Let's move on to scenario number 4, when retirement is on the horizon.

Dayana Yochim: There are a lot of moving parts, and there are a lot of questions that you have to answer that all affect other decisions that you're going to make. Things like, how much can I safely spend each year, not run out of money? Which account should I withdraw from and in what order? How can I minimize taxes before or during retirement? When should I file for Social Security? When should my spouse file for Social Security? The minutia of these topics can really help you navigate through these decisions as they come up before they come up, and really make that on-ramp a lot smoother for you.

Robert Brokamp: I've been a certified financial planner for well over 15 years. I have a master's in personal financial planning.

Dayana Yochim: You're very fancy.

Robert Brokamp: I'm very fancy. But also, when my wife and I get ready to retire, we are going to hire one financial planner to give us the objective second opinion because there are so many moving parts, so many of the decisions, if not permanently irreversible, it's very difficult to reverse them. Plus, financial planners have high-powered professional software that is not available to the average person that you put all that together, and I think it'll be worthwhile. It will cost some money if you're paying by the hour. It's generally $200-400 an hour. If you're talking about a complete financial plan, you're talking $2,000-4,000. But I think for many people, the investment will be worth it.

Dayana Yochim: Absolutely. It's funny you say that about you have all the skills. You've looked at this a gazillion hours. But almost all of the financial advisors I've talked to for my work have all said the same thing that they meet. They themselves consult other financial advisors when it comes to these complex decisions. Again, it's just like a second opinion. You go to a doctor and say, hey, is there something that I've missed? Is there something new I need to know about, something old that's going to come up and bite me?

Robert Brokamp: Let's move to our fifth and final reason. You want to make sure your loved ones are supported when you're gone.

Dayana Yochim: This is the bummer, no fun stuff, but doing it, estate planning. We're talking about wills and making sure your account beneficiaries are up to date, setting up trusts, all of that stuff. Doing it right is really going to secure your place as the favorite relative among all of your heirs.

Robert Brokamp: Absolutely. Every certified financial planner has training at estate planning. It's actually one of their core competencies or subject matters that they're tested on. But it does also involve seeing a qualified estate planning attorney. One of the good things about seeing a financial advisor is they probably could point you to a good attorney. Then the other point I think is important to make is that you may feel fine doing everything on your own. But if you're married, what will happen if you pass away or something happens to you? You want to begin the relationship with a financial planner beforehand so that if something happens to you, your surviving spouse or surviving family has a relationship with a financial planner who can make sure that everything keeps running smoothly, even though you've passed on. Let's say someone is decided, yes, we have convinced them that they should probably get some financial help. Where should someone start to look for an advisor or a planner, or estate planning attorney who could be a good fit?

Dayana Yochim: If you're looking for someone, plug alert advisormatch.bankrate.com. This is a great tool where you'll be matched with an independent fiduciary fee-only financial advisor. You can search the database by expertise, say you're looking just for estate or tax planning, or cash flow planning, or there are advisors who work primarily with retirees or focus on young high earners, or even an advisor who's well-versed in employee stock options. You can search for an advisor based on their expertise. You could search by location if in-person meetings are your preferences. But a lot of advisors these days, many offer virtual services through Zoom or email, or over the phone. Also, there's the pricing flat fee retainer, one-time meeting, assets under management.

Robert Brokamp: You can define a couple of the terms you use there. One is fiduciary. That means the person is legally obligated to put your interests first. You'd think that would apply to all people who call themselves financial advisors, but it doesn't. You definitely want to keep an eye out for a fiduciary fee only means that you are paying them for their time or maybe their asset management skills. You're not paying by a commission, which could introduce a conflict of interest with a commission. Now, frankly, everyone has some conflict of interest, but generally, fee-only folks have fewer conflicts of interest. I do want to highlight, too, a few other places where you can get just what Dayana described. One is the Garrett Planning Network, that's G-A-R-R-E-T-T, started by Cheryl Garrett, one of my personal heroes, NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, and the XY Financial Planning Network. All of those are ways to find an advisor that will be fee-only and that you can choose for managing assets, or pay by the hour or by the project.

Time to get it done in Fools, and this week's call to action is in honor of National 401K Day, which was this past Friday, because it's always on the Friday after Labor Day, at least since 1996. Here are some tips for making the most of your 401K or 403B or TSP, or whatever retirement account you have at work. First off, check your savings rate, including the employer match. These days, most experts recommend that you should be saving 15% of your household income for retirement. Of course, make sure you're at least contributing enough to get the full match. Approximately one in four workers is not. Evaluate your investments. If you've been investing in an actively managed mutual fund and it has underperformed an index fund that invests in the same asset class, then the index fund may be the better choice. Consider whether some or all of your contribution should go into a Roth account if your plan offers the Roth as an option. You'll be giving up a tax break today in exchange for tax-free withdrawals in retirement. Unlike with a Roth IRA, there are no income restrictions on contributing to a Roth 401K. Anyone can contribute. Log in and poke around your 401K's website. You may find features, tools, maybe educational materials that you didn't know were available to you. While you're there, review and update the beneficiary designations for your account. These are the people who will inherit the money if you pass away, and it's almost always better for your heirs if you leave your account to a specifically named human or humans rather than just going to your estate.

Finally, evaluate the overall plan. If your 401K has high costs, subpar investments, maybe lacking certain features like the Roth option, or maybe even a side brokerage account, advocate for improvements or even a new plan. The truth is, the Motley Fool 401K wasn't really all that good when I joined back in 1999, but a group of us got together, formed a committee, successfully lobbied the foolish powers that be, and now our plan is pretty darn good. There's no harm in asking your boss for more features or a better plan. If you're successful, your future retired self and those of your colleagues will thank you. That's the show. As always, people on the program may have interest in the investments they talk about. The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell investments based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show notes. I'm Robert Brokamp. Fool on, everybody.

Robert Brokamp has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Garrett Motion. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.