And good evening.

You've got More Than Money, you've got Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial advisor, and happy to be with you as we spend the next half an hour exploring your questions, my answers, your questions and my answers.

We always are here to serve you.

So, welcome.

If you're a loyal viewer, you know exactly how this works.

We have a fistful of e-mails that you've sent us.

You folks lead some of the most interesting lives.

The questions you ask are far more interesting than any dull, boring financial education I might just throw out here, because answering your questions really gives us a chance to serve you specifically.

And it's fantastic.

So if you're a loyal viewer, you know that we have our financial correspondent, Megan, that will pose the questions.

And I'll do my very best to give you my 780 years of experience in answering every single question.

Now, speaking of every single question, whether your questions are about retirement, investments, estate planning, wills and trust, it could be about income taxes, Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, it could be about businesses, starting a business, running a business or expanding a business, maybe even selling a business, every single question that you send to us is answered, every single question.

Sadly, we simply don't have enough time on air to answer them live or in one of our broadcast shows.

But we certainly answer every single question.

So if you have a question for us, send that to me directly, gene@askmtm.com.

As you might have figured out, it stands for Ask More Than Money.

So you're asking it directly to us, gene@askmtm.com.

It works very, very well.

And again, the heart of our show, your questions, my answers.

Now, as many of you know, we often will take a show here and there to interview some very, very interesting people.

In recent weeks, we have had some wonderful guests.

Please don't feel like you've missed out if you haven't seen a particular show, an Anne Beiler interview, perhaps, or a Randy and Tiffany Dietrich interview, perhaps.

You can always go to PBS39's website.

They have the videos residing there as well, morethanmoneyonline.com, as well.

So lots of ways for you to make sure that you're staying up to date.

And if you're really liking the interviews, you can review those again, revisit those again.

If you're really liking the questions the next few shows, you're really going to be happy because we're going to focus on exactly that, which is the perfect media segue for our questions.

So let's get right to our financial correspondent, Megan.

Megan, who's our first question coming from this evening?

- Hi, Gene.

Well, all our questions are anonymous, but this first one is very interesting.

There's a decent amount of background.

So I will get into that and we'll see what you have to say.

So, they say: - Wow!

Wow, there's a lot to unpack there, Megan.

You were absolutely accurate in saying a significant back story and then some significant concerns.

Let's preface my response to this, that there are a number of ways to respond to an e-mail like that, a question like that, a back story like that.

And while my inclination is to be a bit confrontational, my inclination is to set this young woman straight.

I think maybe it would be useful, more useful to give this young woman some context under which she should understand her question and whatever results may occur.

So let's start with the concept, very fundamental.

It's your mom and dad's money.

If they leave you zero, that's fair.

You ask about the concept of fair.

I have often said, often said to clients of mine that are just like your parents, that the best inheritance, the best legacy that you can give to your children is to live a happy, healthy, fulfilled, independent life the entirety of your life, even if that means you have spent every single penny.

In order for you to spend every penny, that likely means you have lived a long and fruitful and engaging life, you've given your family memories and experiences which are far more important than money, far more important than money.

So my advice, skipping this young lady, going directly to her parents, is do whatever your heart tells you to do, it's your money.

Whatever you decide to do will be ultimately very, very fair.

And you will be, I'm sure, concerned, caring, compassionate to all of your children, all of your grandchildren.

That's my first observation.

My second observation.

When you reference that your mother is inclined to give her gifts to her grandchildren first and then have her siblings, her children split the inheritance, I'm picking numbers out of thin air.

What if you found out that the inheritance was $1 million and that for each of the seven grandchildren, she was going to give $5,000?

35,000 in total.

And you and your three siblings would split 965.

I think you would likely find yourself a little chagrined, maybe a little self-conscious that you had gotten your knickers in a twist over something that really wasn't of any tremendous impact.

If 35,000 is the number and you're a 25% share in the inheritance, yeah, it's, what, eight or 9,000 bucks.

Big deal.

Over as opposed to 200,000 plus that you'll receive.

So you don't know yet exactly what the impact will be.

So don't... What's the word?

Waste time is maybe a good start.

Don't anticipate a problem that may not exist.

So fairness is in the eye of your mom and dad.

Don't get your knickers in a twist about something that you don't know isn't going to be simply a minor issue indeed.

And lastly, in context.

You mentioned seven grandchildren, seven children of your three siblings, and that you are childless and, in your world, in your perspective, the childless person, the single childless person gets the short end of the stick very, very often.

I'm not sure where you've come to that conclusion, but let me assure you that any parent that has raised a child from birth to 18...

Forget college, we'll talk about that in a second.

..but simply to 18 on average has spent $200,000 to raise their child from birth to age 18.

Add in college, and now what could it possibly be?

We're talking about 300,000.

Could be far more than that.

So for each of your siblings that you have made the assumption that they've kind of gotten off scot free, they always get all the advantages and that you don't because you're without children, I think they might certainly financially disagree that their financial obligations that they have willingly, happily, lovingly accepted, if there are seven children, there's already a million four, a million five, a million six that has been spent by your siblings that you won't spend.

So if you have been diligent, if you have been disciplined, if you've been attentive to your own financial circumstance, it will not be surprising to me to find that you will retire, absent any inheritance from your parents, that you will retire with hundreds of thousands of dollars more than your siblings will because you simply didn't have the expenses that they did.

And again, and finally, just as a bit of context, and that's all that it is, you seem, again, displeased at your station in life.

You've made some choices and you intend to continue those.

I would suggest that we all make choices and all choices have consequences.

And in some pieces of your life, I'm quite certain that you're right, you've kind of gotten the short end of the stick, so to speak.

But in other areas, you've been well rewarded and you've lived your life according to your own choices, which is an admirable thing to do.

So embrace whatever the results are of your choices and be happy with them, be grateful.

Be grateful.

This time of the year, gratitude is a logical conclusion.

Megan, not too confrontational, so hopefully I can be even a bit more positive for our next e-mail.

What topics do we have that we need to address?

- Yes, I was impressed.

You kept it under wraps there.

That was a very good response.

- Thank you.

- This next one says that this couple is thinking about: - That's a very interesting question, by the way, one that I would assume, and I get to talk to lots and lots of you, so I have a fair sampling, I would assume many of you are feeling the same way, many of you are feeling the world is chaotic, the world is crazy, the United States is crazy, Washington, D.C. is especially crazy, Harrisburg is right up there, crazy.

There's craziness.

And it sometimes feels like it's never been this crazy.

And I'm here to give you... Maybe context is my word for the evening, the context of sure it has.

You shouldn't be so naive.

Crazy?

How about World War II, how about Vietnam?

How about, goodness, the early '60s, when we lost JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King in the streets?

How about earlier in the '60s, where the racial equality marches were attacked with dogs and fire hoses?

You want to talk about craziness?

We have seen chaos and crazy maybe since the beginning of recorded history six and a half thousand years ago.

So we can't use that as the basis of wise financial decisions.

And since we can't, we've got to use some other factors, for example, your age.

You're soon to retire, moments away.

Sounds very urgent.

Sounds like there's a deadline.

And the reality is there isn't.

Your deadline may be poor choice of words, your finish line is when you're no longer with us and if you're 66, that might be 20, 30, 40 more years to go.

We had our good friend Tom JeBran that was here with us, and his mom in January will celebrate her 104th birthday.

So for her, 66 is just a fond memory.

That may be for you as well.

So the idea that you need to get out of the stock market completely because it's chaotic, because you're soon to be retired, it's very urgent, simply doesn't apply.

These are not applicable concepts.

So most of our clients find that keeping some of their money in the stock market, even through retirement, right on through retirement is very wise.

But the real question to you is, is it necessary?

Are you fretting unnecessarily?

I'll give you a simple example.

What if you found that you and your wife will live very nicely on your Social Security checks and whatever pensions you have?

What if you found that those alone would provide you with everything that you need and you'd be saving money every month as well?

That would lead me to conclude, as your advisor, that your investments don't need to be in the stock market.

How about that?

What if you found out that because of your specific set of circumstances, you could literally retire and have no stock market assets in your portfolio at all?

As a result, you could sleep like a baby, because there would be absolutely no ups and downs due to the stock market.

Wouldn't that be amazing?

Now, to be blunt...or fair.

Bottom line is that you may find out you absolutely must have money in the stock market.

You may find out that the income coming from Social Security and pensions is not nearly adequate enough and you need a five or 6% rate of return on your investments to get a adequate retirement.

Five or 6% cannot be found in bonds, cannot be found in fixed income.

You're going to need to add stock market assets.

And if once you've determined that, you may have to come to some peace with the idea that I'm not thrilled with the ups and downs of the market, but it's necessary.

And now that I know it's necessary, let's swallow the medicine and stop whining about it.

Just get on with life and enjoy it as best you can.

Now, keep in mind that there are lots of shades of gray.

It's not in the market or out of the market.

It's not an on/off switch.

It's a dimmer switch, or, as my engineering friends would tell me, it's a rheostat.

It tells you that you can dial this down, dial this up.

It doesn't have to be all in, all out, it could be 50/50 or any combination of the above.

And keep in mind that there are some fascinating investment platforms available where you can invest in the stock market and be protected if the stock market should go down.

Some will guarantee that you won't go down at all.

Some will give you protection up to a certain loss limit.

So if the market goes down 15%, you don't go down at all, or maybe as much as 30%, you don't go down at all.

There are lots of ways that you can provide yourself with a tremendous amount of peace of mind.

And after all, retirement and being able to sleep at night are two things that go together hand in hand.

And if you're uncertain, if you're unhappy, if your angina and heartburn are off the charts, that's not sleeping at night.

That's not retiring confidently.

Make sure that you get the information you need to determine if you need to be in the stock market and how you might need to be in the stock market before you get too far along closer to retirement, because you want to do this with a peaceful heart and with great fun, great joy in your heart.

So make sure that you do that.

Perhaps sit with a good financial advisor, one that you trust, and go through your numbers.

That may be a good first step.

Ah, interesting, indeed.

Megan, what else of interest do you have for us?

- I think this next one is definitely interesting, definitely some background again.

So I'll start with that.

- Yeah, I have a very clear suggestion, an attorney.

An attorney.

An attorney, in case I wasn't clear.

This situation absolutely demands that your daughter have legal representation.

There simply isn't a way forward without it.

This friend, quote unquote, is not responsive, doesn't apparently intend to be responsive, and also doesn't intend, apparently, to fulfill their obligations as a fiduciary to the estate.

Your daughter is a beneficiary of the estate.

If this friend is an executor, then the executor has a legal responsibility to preserve the asset, not leave it lie vacant and unrepaired, to maximize the estate for the benefit of the beneficiaries, minimize the costs of the estate for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

And if the executor is unwilling, apparently, or incapable perhaps of exercising those duties, those obligations, then he/she must be replaced.

And unless there is a legal representation in this situation, goodness, I don't think your daughter makes any progress at all.

This may end up with an inheritance of nothing because the property value is eroded to near nothing.

Her 20% of 300,000, roughly 60,000, likely a little less.

There are fees and commissions etc that may be involved in selling the property.

But she needs to understand that.

I don't have any idea where the number 25,000 came.

I don't know if you checked with an attorney and they said they would require 25,000 on a retainer.

I would find that unsuitable.

I would find that disconcerting.

I think there are many attorneys who would be willing to counsel your daughter and at the very least write a letter, have some correspondence with this friend that would hopefully hasten this along a little bit and bring some successful resolution.

But you are absolutely correct when you say... You know, I am not an attorney, that is absolutely the case, which is why we affiliate with some of the best legal minds that we can possibly find.

You should do the same.

Make sure that you work with an attorney that you trust and make sure that your daughter gets her inheritance as her father, we can assume, wished it to be.

Megan, something a little more uplifting, perhaps.

- I think this one is.

- OK.

This is much better, much more uplifting, because all the answers are positive.

You're going to be very happy as I unfold this for you just a little bit.

IRA CDs.

Sounds like it's one and the same thing.

It's not.

IRA, that's the umbrella, that is what covers whatever is held inside the CD.

I'm sorry, inside the IRA.

See, I almost did it, too.

So bottom line is that we have an IRA umbrella.

That provides the income tax protection that gives us all the benefits of the IRA.

What's underneath the umbrella can be changed at any time that you wish.

Currently, for you, what's underneath is a CD.

You're calling it an IRA CD because I'm guessing the custodian is a bank.

The bank is selling CDs.

That's what they want you to kind of have in the back of your mind, that IRAs and CDs are linked together, when in reality they absolutely are not.

You could move your IRA from that bank to any other IRA custodian that you chose.

It could be an investment house like a Charles Schwab.

It could be an insurance company or an annuity company.

It could be almost anywhere that you can think of.

Now, you've mentioned bonds.

I would suggest... You don't need the income, you just don't want to lose money.

I would suggest that bonds might be a difficult place for you to look now in terms of rates of return, because bonds, with rising inflation rates and rising interest rates, are going to feel their principal pushed lower.

That simply isn't what you want.

But sitting with a financial advisor, get a good second opinion, not a bank financial advisor, an independent financial advisor, you can go through all of the various options.

I'm sure you're going to find some options of investment that you really, really like and then simply transfer the IRA to a new custodian, move forward, leave the CDs behind.

Do not liquidate the IRA.

Do not pass go.

Do not collect.... No, I'm kidding about those last two things.

Do not pay taxes.

Do not pay penalties.

I think you're going to be very, very happy.

Megan, do we have a short one?

- I guess it depends how quickly you can answer.

- Go ahead.

Well, thank you so much for that question.

It's a very, very wise question.

It would be unusual to find that the variable annuity that you currently have should be replaced.

That would be unusual.

Having an annuity for a longer period of time typically eliminates withdrawal periods, typically allows your benefits to build rather nicely.

Now, how do you know for a fact?

You must sit with someone who is an expert in an annuity platform.

You must sit with someone who can compare your current annuities with the ones that are available to you from other vendors or in other sets of circumstances.

So you can look at what have I got, what could I have and see if any of those are better, in your opinion, better than what you currently have.

So that comparison, financial advisors can do that quite easily, particularly if they have a strong partnership with someone in the annuity world.

Annuities are very complex.

They're very challenging.

Every regulator in the world cautions people to be very, very thoughtful before you replace an annuity.

So don't do anything willy-nilly.

Make sure that you're sitting with an advisor that can give you those comparisons to help you make that decision.

Your IRA...

I'm sorry, your annuity is in an IRA, came from a 401(k), so sheltering it from taxes is unlikely.

Distributions at age 65 or any age beyond 59 and a half coming from IRAs are taxable.

So, sadly, that may not be the end result that you're hoping for, but it is an honest one and one that gives you the right direction.

So make sure you compare those annuities, see what's best for you, and then you can make your decision going forward.

Folks, we've covered a lot of ground.

We've had some very, very interesting questions this week.

Your questions, my answers.

I hope you picked up some ideas.

I hope maybe the idea of protecting yourself as stock markets get a little goofier or perhaps the idea that you can move an IRA from one custodian to another and open up a whole new world of investment potentials that may benefit you more significantly than you are currently receiving, maybe the idea that if you really want to benefit your children in terms of legacy, live a long, healthy, happy, financially independent life for the entirety of your life.

And if they end up with a buck, so be it.

Thanks for spending part of your time with us.

If you have questions that you would like to have answered, gene@askmtm.com.

We'll answer every single question.

And we'll look forward to seeing you next time right here on More Than Money.