jean chatzky, author of "money 911." david bach, founder of finish rich.com and author of "debt free for life" and sharon epperson, cnbc's personal finance correspondent. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> we're going to justina from bloomington, indiana, on skype. good morning. >> good morning. >> what's your question? >> hi! i have three separate 401(k) accounts from past employers. now that i'm in school i would like to roll them into one account. i'd like to know what to look for and also how can i now save for retirement? i already have a roth ira. >> what should she do? >> for administrative purposes, i think you should just take the 401(k)s, roll them into a rollover ira where you already have the roth. that way you can access everything by logging in one time. it will be simpler as long as the fees aren't outrageous. you probably want to put it in a traditional ira rather than a roth because you're in school and you don't want to come up with the money to pay the taxes. does that make sense? >> how does she

"today" financial editor jean chatzky, author of "money 911."id bach, author of "debt free for life" and sharon epperson from cnbc and cnbc.com. until an hour ago wearing the same dress as jean chatzky but changed. >> you gave away our secret! >> that's okay. david and i are wearing the same pants. we'll start with an anonymous e-mail from los angeles. i'm newly divorced and have a nest egg from the sale of my home. if i marry a man without money and a lot of debt am i responsible for his debt? who's responsible? >> that's a good question. he's responsible for his debt. the problem is as you build this life together, as you start mixing finances the fact that he has the debt may prevent him from contributing as much to your household and because you live in california, if there are debts incurred after the marriage they are in a community property state. that could get messy. so i would say try to clear it up before you get married and then try to maintain some semblance of autonomy financially. >> keep it separate. >> that's the most important

jean chatzky is here with tips.ood morning. >> good morning. >> is there a formula to figure out if i'm paying too much? >> particularly when it comes to your monthly bills, things you pay for over and over again, we get complacent. every 6 to 12 months do a sanity check, do a little searching on the internet to make sure you are paying as little as possible. >> credit cards, a lot of us keep the same cards for a long time and we don't pay attention to it. >> right. >> that's a place where you can cut costs. >> it's a problem if you have annual fees or if the interest rate has gone up or isn't belob% which is the average now. start by calling your company and ask them to waive the annual fee. they may or may not but also transfer your balance. we see amazing balance transfer offers out there. citi transfer select. chase slate card 15 months, no balance transfer fees and you will find a whole list. >> can you leverage it against your current credit card company? >> if you get offers in the mail and we get billions of

. >> today's financial editor jean chatzky is here with the results.bsolutely. >> you're going to order for valentine's day. get it out of the way. >> get it out of the way because prices will continue to probably go up. >> i'm fascinated by this segment. starting off with 1-800-flowers. they come in a big box. >> no. 1-800-flowers actually outsource to a local florist. they look very much like the flowers you see on the website. >> that's good because you'll probably get a fresh rose. >> yeah. i would give this company a good grade. >> okay. >> they get an a. next group. >> they send it directly to you. you don't get it from the local florist. in the picture they're tightly together. >> if you cut them down, it would be better. >> well, that's what they say. because each order is styled by the recipient we prefer to ship flowers at longer length to allow for maximum design, creativity. the consumer benefit fifth is longer lasting. our product does require some involvement. yes. i should point out these were all delivered on saturday. so these are alre

jean chatzky is "today" financial editor and host of "cash call" which debuted last night. excellent job. david bach, author of "debt free for life." and sharon epperson, personal finance consultant from cnbc. we have karen on the line from wisconsin. good morning. what's your question? >> caller: good morning. my ex-husband opened credit cards without my knowledge. can i contact the credit card companies and/or the credit bureau to have them removed from my credit report? >> what do you think? >> this should not happen in the first place. the thing that all people, but particularly all women who are not keeping an eye on the finances need to do is check your credit report at least a couple times a year. then you will know what credit exists in your name. so as for you, by all means go to the credit card company. they will very, very likely start a dispute process. they will go through an investigation, hopefully get it removed. you may want to make sure the card is closed so nothing else could be attached to your name. and they may likely ask for copies of your divorce dec

jean chatzky is here with answers.ning. >> before we get to who might be helped by the deal, what's behind it? >> this is a year-long investigation into foreclosure practices, fraudulent practices. the states attorneys general, the federal government and all of the states got together. this is the result. >> $25 billion? >> yes. $25 billion for the customers of five banks. citi, allied, bank of america, chase and wells fargo. you have to have a mortgage owned by one of those banks. >> who will get to take advantage of this? >> there are three groups of people. $17 billion there for people who are under water and at risk of foreclosure which generally means you are not paying on your mortgage. $3 billion for people who are current on loans but are under water to help them refinance their mortgages and there is $1.5 billion for people who have been foreclosed upon already. those people are looking at settlements of about $1,500 to $2,000 each. >> that doesn't seem like a lot. that's all you get? >> well, you have the abi

here to answer your questions, jean chatzky, the author of "money 911." bach, founder of finish rich.com and the author of "debt free for life" and farnoos farnoosh torabi. good to see you. we'll start off with skype. we've got carla skyping in from st. louis, mo. good morning. >> hi, al. >> what's your question? >> my husband and i just bought a new home. we are looking to buy home furnishings including new furniture and are considering financing instead of paying cash. if we can find interest-free financing options. it seems most stores have 0% financing right now but you have to sign up for a store credit card. would it be smarter for us to sign up for a new general credit card with a 0% introductory or balance transfer rate or should we siep gn up for the store cre card? we are concerned about the impact on our credit if we open credit at stores where it may be our only purchase in the next few years. >> i like the credit card better than the store credit card. interest rates on store credit cards are typically almost double interest rates on regular

jean chatzky is author of "money 911." david bach is the author of "debt free for life." and sharon epperson, good morning to you all. >> good morning. >> stacy writes my fiance's credit is pretty poor. he's convinced if he can continue to avoid the creditors the debt will eventually fall off his credit record. i'm not in agreement. we have joint checking and savings accounts. before we get married i want him to get his own checking account and manage it responsibly. i'm not sure how to discuss this with him. >> there is so much that worries me about this question. i don't know where to start. yes, he's right on a technicality. eventually they will go away. i have visions of this couple at dinner. >> they won't be married long enough. >> i see them at dinner sitti sittinging there and the phone ringing. are you going to marry a guy in the habit of avoiding problems? >> she's smart enough to identify the problem. >> sit down with a financial planner. get these issues out ton table. have a serious discussion and make sure he's ready to take responsibility for his financial