. >> we met officer epperson at the kern valley state prison in california. armed only with pepper spray and a baton, he's the lone officer responsible for supervising the inmate kitchen staff. >> i have six, seven inmates back here now. i've got one sitting on the line. granted, i got four, five cops outside that door. that door's locked. there's only one dude out there with the key. you have to trust them to a certain extent. they have no reason to assault me. unless they're totally pissed off or i disrespect them. >> among the inmates epperson places his trust in is the number two cook, carter hill. >> tell me what your sentence is. >> murder. >> you're here for murder? what's your sentence? >> 51 to life. >> you know, it's interesting. sometimes there's this dynamic in prison when you're interviewing somebody, if there's a corrections officer and an inmate together, they'll pretty much watch their ps and qs. they'll tell you into the camera what the other guy wants to hear. but when we met carter hill, we got some real brutal honesty that day in the kitch

sharon epperson is cnbc's personal finance correspondent.president of consumer education at smartcredit.com. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> let's get right to it. skype. we've got betsy. she's from ohio. and she's got a question for you. good morning, betsy. >> good morning, everybody. i'm in my early 50s, and my husband is 60. how can we stay sane and still keep a long-term perspective when there is so much uncertainty in our markets? >> i think everybody has that a question. >> that's a great, great, question, betsey. i think the key is to keep that long-term focus in your sights at all time. you know when you need this money. you know if it's ten years down the road or 20 or even 30, and that means you keep your short-term money in safer havens and other than that you just stop listening to all of the ups and downs that are happening every single day because they're going to drive you and everybody else a little bit crazy. you don't want to micromanage. we don't want to panic, because that's when we make really bad decisions. >

sharon epperson is cnbc's personal finance correspondent.'s in indiana. she's got a question for us. good morning, tracy. >> good morning. my question is, how can i get my name removed from he ex-husband's mortgage? the divorce has been final two years now and he was supposed to refinance but he didn't. i was able to purchase my own home two years ago by proving i wasn't living in his house and i hadn't made contributions to the mortgage payments. right now he's several months behind and it's really damaging my credit. >> you need to actually get him to refinance the mortgagor to sell the place in order to get your name off it. my question for you is, why hasn't he done it? is he unable to do this because he doesn't have enough equity in the house right now? >> i really don't know. he tells me he's tried. >> this is the thing. when you're divorced from somebody, especially if kids are in the picture. you don't want to ruin the relationship but she may have to pick up a phone and call a lawyer and she may have a case to get him to take that a

that hit home for sharon e epperson when her father passed away unexpectedly six weeks ago.family. >> i appreciate that. >> that is difficult but reading about your father, sounds like an amazing man. you wrote he has a plan b in place and that underscores the love he had for his family. your father had thought and planned so much. how did this help you and your mother in the last six weeks? >> my mother and sister and i have been able to celebrate his life rather than be concerned about where the finances are going to come from or what he would want us to do because he already set a blueprint for us, a financial plan b for us that was so critical to allowing us to now enjoy our time as a family together and honor his memory. >> talk about the fact that you don't want to talk about that. this is not something you want to speak about about the dinner table but you should. >> it's so empowering to yourself and to your family members to have a plan in place, to have put in place what you want through your will or through an account you may have set up for you family, let them k