- And good evening.

You've got More Than Money.

You've got Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial adviser who claims 780 years of experience.

How is that humanly possible?

Look at this face.

I think it looks like it's gone through about 780 years.

It's one of life's great mysteries.

Hopefully you can put that aside for the next half an hour or so, and simply focus on as much information as we can possibly give you in a short period of time right here on More Than Money.

As regular viewers will know, we often devote our shows to one of two directions.

Either we interview fascinating folks, we've had some wonderful interviews in recent memory, gosh, and even the ones that are not in my recent memory have been wonderful, and often we'll devote entire shows to answering your questions.

Your lives are fascinating, and your questions are equally fascinating.

So, having that opportunity to serve you in this way gives me great joy, great pleasure.

I'm very grateful to have that chance.

Now, I use the word grateful intentionally.

We're at that time of the year when people are hopefully a little more focused on gratitude, on Thanksgiving, on giving thanks.

And, even as we progress later into the holiday and Christmas seasons, as some folks, hmm, focus on what they're getting, lots of you.

Because your hearts are so pure, are so excited for what you're giving, what you are able to give to those that you love.

And that's just fantastic.

The richness of someone's life, who is living a life of gratitude is fantastic.

And sadly, those who are just trying to pile up stuff, often rich is measured perhaps in that bank account balance, but certainly not in the richness of life.

And we often get the question, "Why is the show called More Than Money?

"What exactly is more than money?"

Well, almost everything.

But most certainly, your life is far more than money.

And I would encourage you to be as grateful as you are able, express that as often as you are able, focus on it and, I'll bet if you sat with a pad and pencil and started listing the things that you are grateful for, you would get your hands sore and maybe give up, maybe feel carpal tunnel coming on before you'd end the list.

I hope so, indeed.

We are very grateful to you and your emails.

Send us your emails, Gene@AskMTM.com.

We answer every single email directly to you.

And, if you wish, perhaps if you're lucky, one of your emails may appear on a future show, just as we're about to answer these emails.

Our financial correspondent stands at the ready.

Megan, our first question, please.

- Sure thing.

This first question says... - OK, well...

Similar to a recent show... Well, actually, I could cover that on two recent shows, one where I guess I went off pretty hard on a emailer that was planning on his retirement being funded by the death of his grandmother, dreadful human being, and recently we had a young lady who was concerned because her parents seemed to be giving more of their estate to their grandchildren than to her.

So I was a little more kind and gentle.

This one's kind of, I'll try to be up the middle, but it's tough.

When an email starts with, "It's the master's program, "I want it, and I didn't care what it costs"... That's a really rough way to start with a financial adviser.

Complaining after the fact, when you've made a fundamental error in judgment, you have taken action that you, by your own admission, couldn't have cared less what it cost.

What if it had cost $300,000?

$400,000?

You didn't even read the paperwork.

So there are consequences to bad choices.

I'm not in any way, shape, or form deciding that this is a bad choice yet.

Yet.

You make $110,000 a year.

Let's guess that if you had not taken this master's program, that you would have earned 75,000 a year.

So you're making 35,000 more a year than you would have if you had not taken this course, well, and you owe 130.

In three-and-a-half years, you've paid that loan off with the extra income you've earned because of your education.

And now, everything else you make is gravy.

Except apparently, in your life, that's not the case.

Apparently in your life - and by the way, be aware, there are lots of folks out there listening who are saying, "You make $110,000.

"And you're whining.

"And you can't figure out how to handle your bills" - they find that shocking.

I'll make their argument a little stronger, because you mentioned throughout the email "we".

I'm making the broad assumption you are married, or at least have a significant other.

If your significant other earns, I'm picking a number, way less than you do, you make one thing, Let's say he or she makes 70.

That means, as a couple, you're making $180,000 a year.

$15,000 a month.

And you're bathing your child in Tupperware.

And you need dental work.

Something is desperately wrong here, and it may be, may be something as simple as a budget.

Your mortgage payment, $1,100 a month against 15,000 a month of income, that's very low, very, very low.

Your child care, about the same.

Very, very low.

Car payments, 400, that's low.

We're not even halfway to your income, and we've taken up all these major pieces.

I get, yes, food, et cetera, et cetera.

But if we're spending 3,000 of $15,000 on mortgages, child care, car loans, et cetera, then, yes, we could still afford all those other good things to have a wonderful life and support those loan payments.

So, something is off-kilter here.

Something is not being done correctly.

And it may be, may be a budget.

And while I am... Well, many years past my hard look at budgets, I absolutely know that if you have a strong budget and attend to it, you'll know in advance where your money's going, and you'll know in advance if you've made some errors in judgment.

We know you have in the past, perhaps those are persisting.

Perhaps we're making choices that we really shouldn't.

The only way to find that out is to keep detailed records about what you're spending, have a solid budget in place, live within your means, and then pay off your loans as quickly as is humanly possible.

The term "more than money" does not include, "More Than Money, oh, by the way, Miracle Worker."

Nope, doesn't work.

So, unless you're willing to be disciplined in your approach to your spending, to your budgeting, to controlling your cash flow, my fear is that you're going to retire with a significant amount of debt still over your head.

But if you are willing to be disciplined, I think you can dig out of this actually in relatively short order.

Megan, next question, please.

- Sure thing.

This person says... - Thank you very much, I love you, too.

That's fantastic.

This answer is going to be a little bit of a mixed bag.

I think you're going to be happy with some of it.

I think you're going to be less than happy with some of it.

But it is what it is.

IRS rules are what they are.

Tax avoidance is showing good judgment, meaning that you're following the rules and you're paying less in taxes.

Tax evasion means 5-7 years in Leavenworth, or wherever they send tax evaders these days.

So, we want to play by the rules.

Absolutely.

Can you send money directly from an IRA to a charity and pay no income tax, and the charity pays no income tax?

Answer is yes.

And that starts at age 70.

So it's a mixed bag, it's sooner than you thought, 72, it's 70, it's later than your current age.

So if we're looking at what you might do now, if you wanted to give, I'm picking numbers out of thin air, $5,000 to your church, if you take 5,000 out of your IRA, you can certainly give that to your church, but it's taxable.

And if you're in the 20% bracket, it's $1,000 of taxes, leaving you with a net of 4,000 that you can give to your church.

Hmm, that's not dreadful.

Now, some people would say, "Whoa, why is he not mentioning "the tax deduction for the contribution to the church?

"Wouldn't one wash out the other?"

I got a taxable 5,000, I subtract 5,000 as a tax deduction, and I owe nothing.

The answer is, it doesn't exactly work that way, and it may not work that way at all for probably 80-90% of you watching this evening, because 80-90% of you are filing federal tax returns using the standard deduction.

The standard deduction for a married couple right now, about 24,000 a year, a single person, a little less than half of that.

So, if we're using the same $5,000 as the contribution to the church, if you then add up all of your schedule A deductions, interest on a mortgage, if you have any, maybe you don't, other charitable contributions, perhaps taxes, state and local taxes to the extent that those are currently deductible, you may find that you're not totaling a number larger than the standard deduction, which means the additional $5,000 contribution really isn't tax-deductible to you.

You gain no additional advantage by having that contribution.

You gain the advantage of making a charitable contribution to your church or whatever organization makes you feel wonderful, and you're grateful that you can do that.

But if the tax must come from the distribution, 5,000 comes out, 1,000 disappears.

Your church gets four.

At age 70, it doesn't work that way.

It goes directly from your IRA to the church.

So bottom line is the 5,000 goes out, arrives at the charity of your choice, fully $5,000.

It is not taxable to you.

It does not affect your tax bracket.

It does not affect your Medicare, Urma - and if you don't know what Urma is, it's because you're not worried about Medicare yet.

If you're on Medicare, you've heard of it, and you know it can be an issue.

So it's a mixed bag, but your instincts are wonderful.

Your words are very, very kind.

I hope I helped a little bit.

And, hey, you'll be 70 soon enough, and then, you can take real advantage of it.

It'll be great fun.

Megan, great question, I hope we have an equally great, great question to follow up with.

- All our questions are great, Gene.

- That's true, yes!

- This person says... - Well...

I do have some suggestions.

I will preface them by saying, there are rarely perfect answers, and I can assure you that the suggestions I'll make to you are not perfect either.

So I think you may find some pieces palatable, other pieces, not so much.

Let's talk, for the benefit of everyone viewing this evening, a little bit of background, a little back story.

Probate is the process of proving that the will that's being applied to an estate is the true and valid will of the decedent.

It's what it is.

It's very simple.

The word "probate" in many circles has come to become a four-letter word?

No, but you get the idea.

It's offensive because it has been labelled as costly, intrusive, time-consuming, and expensive.

And, in many cases, those things are true.

So avoiding probate is certainly something that you could have, may have as one of your financial objectives.

Now, this gentleman mentions a living trust.

A living trust is a...

It's called an inter vivos trust, a "during your lifetime" trust where you put everything you own into it and, at your passing, the trustee manages the money and disburses it to your beneficiaries.

Sadly, you started out by saying you have no one in your family that will be executor, et cetera, et cetera.

Well, a living trust requires, you guessed it, a trustee.

So, if you're having trouble finding executor, you'll have a significantly harder time finding a trustee.

Hmm.

Are there executor services?

Yeah, they're generally called attorneys.

And many estate planning attorneys who are skilled and experienced would be willing to serve as the executor of your will.

You mentioned that you have friends there of your age.

I realize that it could be a bit of work, but it would not be unusual.

One of my closest friends is exactly my age, several years beyond life expectancy... No, I'm kidding.

We are basically the same age.

If I named him as executor and I passed before he does, it works fine.

If he passes before I do, admittedly, I've got to change my executor.

So, there's a little bit of work there.

But if my preference is to have somebody I know and somebody I trust, somebody I know personally, then that's a perfectly reasonable approach, is to have named someone independent of their age and, as their circumstances change, either passing away or becoming senior to the point of being uninterested in serving in that capacity, you replace them.

A living trust, in my opinion and in many people's experiences, is a lot of money spent for not a great deal of advantage.

Avoiding probate is and can be a pretty useful objective.

But there are lots of ways to avoid probate.

Everything that you own that has a beneficiary designation, your life insurance, perhaps an annuity, your IRA, your 401K, your 403B, all of those have beneficiary designations.

They don't go through probate.

Everything that you have that has joint titling on it - so if you're a widowed senior and you have placed your child on your bank accounts as a joint owner, at your passing, they are automatically the child.

Automatically.

Doesn't go through the will, doesn't go through probate.

So if you think about the assets that you have in your life, you may very well find you have very little need for an executor.

You have very little need for a living trust, because you can set these things up so that they go automatically through the use of beneficiaries, transfer on death designations.

You can have those set up on all the types of accounts where beneficiaries are not available.

Joint titling.

Make sure that you sit with a trusted estate planning attorney and/or a trusted financial advisor that can walk you through your options.

You may find out, number one, that you can name the folks that you know and trust, and then pay attention in case they need to be replaced.

And you can avoid probate without going through all the hassle and expense of a living trust.

And you may find out that you can accomplish the same thing with just a few pieces of paper, a little bit of time, and a few signatures.

I hope it helped a little bit.

I know it's just the start, gives you a little bit of context.

But again, the number one recommendation I have is that you sit with an advisor or a legal counsel that you trust, outline your options, and pick the options that are best for you.

Megan, that was interesting.

Hopefully the next one's as interesting.

What do you got?

- I'll do my best.

This emailer says they are... - Oh, goodness.

First of all, our prayers go out to you, to your brother during this very, very difficult time.

And, as soon as I said that, part of me wants to edit that right away, because hospice, in my experience, can also be a beautiful time.

It can be a time where people who love each other can express that sometimes more openly perhaps, than they did when they were hale and hearty.

So, our prayers are that you're receiving as all the comfort and grace that that you deserve and that you and your brother have that time together, and in peace.

In peace.

Now, this circumstance may be a bit better than you suspect.

The fact that your brother has not filed tax returns for several years with an income of $12,000 doesn't surprise me.

Our More Than Money.

World Headquarters covers lots of different topics, lots of different services, including lots of tax returns, lots of tax research, lots of tax information.

So, it is not unusual to find that when a person has minimal income, $12,000 is minimal income, they may be able to avoid paying...

I'm sorry, I avoid filing tax returns at all.

The income is considered so low that the IRS has said there's no real point.

I don't specifically know the rules of Connecticut, and that may be where a bit of research would be appropriate.

Now, again, using our More Than Money World Headquarters tax team as an example, because they are well-supported with research arms and multi-state tax programs, finding out that question is literally a 2-3-minute inquiry through the system.

So, for research, tax research, it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

So, I would hope that just a simple phone call, we can reconnect and get that information for you.

Now, resolving it now, resolving it later, number one, there may not be anything to resolve.

Number two, you can certainly resolve it later.

The fact that you are the executor and the beneficiary, and the power of attorney means that your... No one's going to be unhappy with you, the only person that could be unhappy with you for whatever choices you make is you.

And I'm hopeful that you're going to be pretty gentle with yourself as you go forward.

So, in whatever respect that we can be of service, please allow us to do that.

And again, our prayers go out to you.

Megan, one more, please.

- Sure thing.

This person says... - Oh, goodness.

It seems like prayers are in order here, as well.

Yes, that's a very difficult time.

And I know that we've already reached out and provided our PBS39 show where I discussed exactly that, where siblings were so grateful that their sister had cared for their mother in her later years.

They were absolutely convinced that her care extended their mother's life by years, and they got to enjoy that and they wanted her to have the home.

I am hopeful that is the same result here.

The reality is it may or may not be the sister, if the will said that they were to split everything equally, is at least legally or technically entitled to half the value of the home.

If your friend is over age 62, she may be able to afford to stay in the home and buy out her sister by using a reverse mortgage.

A reverse mortgage often will give up to half the value of the home and not have required monthly payments.

So if her finances are modest, but she wants to stay in the home, and her sister is intransient and wants half of the value of the home, she should explore a reverse mortgage.

If she needs a reference, some detail, someone that can give her that kind of information, please have her reach out to us.

We're glad to get her a good referral.

But we pray that her sister kind of comes, perhaps, a bit to her senses and acknowledges the commitment that was made, and the service that was made on both of their behalf to their mother, and makes things just a bit easier.

Folks, a bit easier for you.

That's why we invented More Than Money.

If you have questions that are troubling you, are of concern to you, that you wish somehow we could make easier for you, all you have to do is ask.

Send me an email, Gene@AskMTM.com, Gene@AskMTM.com.

Retirement questions, estate planning questions, Social Security questions, Medicare questions.

The list goes on and on.

There's very little we don't know a bit about.

So send those to me again, Gene@AskMTM.com.

Thank you for spending part of your evening with us.

We hope you'll be back with us next time on More Than Money.