And good evening.

You've got more than money.

You've got Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial advisor.

Happy to be with you.

Happy to be with you for the next half an hour, giving you as much of our insight as we possibly can to serve you.

We lay claim to being the most relevant financial show on television today, and we say that quite boldly, quite confidently, because you make us so rather than us telling you what we think you should hear.

You tell us what you need to hear.

You ask us the questions that are most important to you, and that makes it remarkably easy to be the most relevant show on television to day.

If you're joining us for the first time, you might be scratching your head saying, how does that work?

Well, you send us your emails, Gene, at ask MTM dot com.

Megan, our financial correspondent, makes sure that we have a package of those available for each show and we answer as many as we possibly can.

We can't answer every single one live on air.

That's not possible.

There's far too many.

But we do promise you, we answer every one back to you.

And for those of you, we've gotten a couple of emails going, Hey, I thought you answered every email.

My response is, Hey, we do you actually have to check your email And on occasion, if you're going, I don't think I got an answer.

You have to check your spam filter too, so that maybe it got caught up where you didn't see it.

But bottom line is that we answer every single question back to you.

The easy ones, the hard ones, the silly ones, the really thoughtful ones, all of them across the board.

And again, happy to do that because that gives us the the raw material that we need to continue to bring the best information we possibly can to as many people as we possibly can every single week right here on more than money.

There's a lot going on in this world.

There's a lot of concerns, of course, a lot of conflicts.

Of course, a lot of moving parts going on with the international community, the national community.

And PBS is deeply committed to continuing to give you as much information about all of those things as they possibly can to help guide you in terms of information you need to make find decisions.

Our commitment to you is equal.

We are equal to the financial side of your life.

But more than money was chosen as our title for a good reason.

We do approach things with a very decidedly human approach to all of this, and hopefully you'll get that sense as you as you hear us explore some ideas for your for your friends, for your neighbors, perhaps even someone in your family as we answer your questions this evening.

So sit back, maybe pad and pen to take a couple notes.

So as we turn to Megan, we start tonight's show with what question Hygiene.

Our first email tonight has a lot of great detail in it.

It says, well, it asks, is $265 an hour high for a fee only planner?

I recently contacted a CFP who said, We'll talk about what my wife and I want him to accomplish as far as our goals, risk tolerance, etc.

He stated that usually it's between 15 to 40 hours of work, depending on how much planning we want done, though it could be less or more.

I have about $975,000 between an individual brokerage account.

IRA and Roth.

My wife has 575,000.

We're 60 and 61 years old and I plan on retiring in 2024 or 2025 when I'll be getting around 5000 per month with a 3% cost of living adjustment every year.

I also receive 1900 dollars a month from my old job and my Social Security will be $2,694 at 62, if I take it, then we are all equities heavy on tech, Apple, Tesla, Microsoft with maybe $500,000 of it in index funds.

We don't plan on ever needing our brokerage IRAs to live on.

My wife also owns a small business that brings in $50,000 a year.

We have low bills.

Our home is worth $375,000.

And we have a rental home worth $225,000.

That brings in 1700 dollars a month before expenses.

I just want a portfolio rebalance advice.

Wish we would still control or assets.

So what do you think is a reasonable amount of hours needed to do this?

And how much should we should we be paying per hour?

Thank you for your advice.

Well, thank you for the detail.

This is a very interesting challenge that you have in front of you.

You've done remarkably well.

You've held on to Cigna efficient amounts of assets.

You have crafted a series of retirement income streams that are very substantial and appear appear to exceed the expenses that you expect in retirement.

When you make mention that, you don't expect to ever need your distributions from your investment accounts or your IRAs.

That indicates to me that the roughly $10,000 a month that you currently have as your expectation between your pension, your Social Security and an old pension, 10,000 a month plus whatever your wife might receive in Social Security and or her small business, that's plenty.

So the question becomes, what is a reasonable fee to accomplish your question?

And then the second area question that actually will become, perhaps for you, not as important.

You'll see why here momentarily, but for a lot of people, listening might be a more important question is whether or not 265 is a reasonable number.

Excuse me.

So you're asking what should you expect in terms of number of hours and cost to determine whether your investment portfolios need some rebalancing, some reallocation?

The answer is depending on the individual that you're speaking with, the financial advisory firms policy or their their business model, the answer might very well be zero.

The answer might very well be that looking at your portfolio, giving you some reasonable feedback, making some basic suggestions about how it might be rebalanced in many cases, that would be a service that a financial advisory firm would provide to you at no charge.

It is often, in the case of financial advisory firms, again, everyone operates a little differently, but many will offer what's what's referred to as a free second opinion, an opportunity to sit with the financial advisor, spend an hour or so looking at your current situation and seeing how that might be adjusted to to better suit your your needs.

The reality is for you in particular you specifically not every one, certainly not even the majority.

I would say that you fall into the category of maybe 7% of the people that we meet that don't expect to ever need the cash flow from their investments in order to pay for their bills and be happy and healthy.

It's a very small number and that is an important factor because if you said to me in a second opinion meeting, I am very aggressive and I wish to stay very aggressive, my response would be, okay, if you said to me, I am very conservative and I want to be very conservative.

I don't want to lose any principle ever for the rest of my life.

I would say to you, okay, because if you're not really in on this money to provide you with financial security in your retirement years, it doesn't really matter.

You can be as aggressive, intelligently aggressive or conservative, intelligently conservative or anywhere in the middle that you wish.

And you will reach your goal of never having run out of money because you won't run out of money with all these guaranteed streams of income.

So is a $3,000 fee reasonable to tell you what many advisors could tell you in an hour?

No.

Is a 40 hours times $265 an hour?

What, 10,000 bucks?

Reasonable.

No, it is not reasonable to pay any of those fees for you in particular.

Now, I might suggest two things.

Number 1 to 65 an hour.

I told you we would circle back to that is not an unreasonable fee.

It's not a lot.

If you were in if I were willing to provide you with similar counsel under these circumstances, I am not.

That's not our business model.

That's not our approach in terms of serving our clients.

But if I were willing, the number would be in excess of $500 an hour.

I don't think 265 is unreasonable.

I think it's actually on the low end of a fee only certified financial planner kind of suggests to me that this may not be a particularly successful financial advisor.

You do in many cases get what you pay for.

And in this case, it seems like a rather modest amount, maybe inappropriately modest, or it may reflect that the advisor has already determined that you're probably not a long term relationship in the making and is simply trying to create some sort of cash flow out of basically nothing.

Now, having said all of that, I think you're being short sighted.

I think just rebalancing based on this significant amount of dollars ignores tax issues.

It ignores legacy issues.

Your estate plan, how you might best benefit your family, how you might best benefit nonprofits that you care about, how you might best benefit maybe generations of of individuals to come because you have amass this that you may or may not mean likely will not need.

I think the bigger picture issues are really where a financial advisor could benefit you dramatically, including Social Security strategies required minimum distribution strategies, qualified charitable distribution strategies.

The word strategies is all over your question, and yet that's not what you're asking for.

And often, often folks who are quite been used to doing it themselves have a set of blinders on and they don't see what's right here and they don't see what's right here.

And one of the great advantages of having a trusted, experienced financial advisor is that they see this and a whole lot more.

So very interesting question.

Maybe a little misguided, maybe needs to expand that that that vision just a little bit.

Meghan Fascinating.

Very, very well done.

Good start.

Where do we go next?

Our next email is just looking for some clarity on this.

One says On a previous show you offered advice to a 70 year old gentleman about gifting stock.

I want to be sure my takeaway is accurate.

If he gifts the stock now to someone that individuals base base cost would be the same as what the gentleman gentleman paid initially.

Whereas if the stock is gifted as an inheritance, the base cost would be set at the price at the time of his death.

Correct.

Thank you.

Your show is on point.

Keep up the great work.

Well, that's on point because this chair has it.

No, I'm kidding.

It's you're very kind and thank you for gosh on point.

I don't know that we've had that as a compliment before.

I'll take that.

Indeed.

It is absolutely true that we have talked a fair number of times about gifts.

Our audience remains remarkably generous, both to their families and to nonprofits that they care about.

Indeed, I mentioned to them to this particular gentleman, I remember it quite, quite well that if he gifts the stock, he will benefit.

In this case, it was grandchildren.

During his lifetime and while indeed making a gift.

Let's use numbers as an example.

Grandfather wants to gift $20,000 of stock to a grandchild.

His cost base, his grandfather's cost basis is $5,000.

If he were to sell it himself, he would pay capital gains tax on $15,000, probably somewhere in the $3,000 range off to the IRS.

And while indeed, if he makes that gift to the grandchild, that cost basis goes along with it.

If that money is sold on behalf of the grandchild, 15,000, our capital gain is taxed at likely zero, likely zero.

Capital gains tax rates are based on on standard tax rates.

So if the child has little or no income, a capital gains tax rate of zero is highly likely and $20,000 in terms of stock.

If grandpa sells it, pays $3,000, becomes a $17,000 gift to the grandchild.

In this case, gifting the stock allows that child, obviously the custodian on behalf of the child, to sell that and retain the entire 20,000 bucks.

So a couple of really good things have happened.

At least three I can think of number one, Uncle Sam is out three grand.

I'm perfectly comfortable with that.

Number two, the child has a 3000 more to be put to good use than they might have otherwise.

I'm at ecstatic about that.

And number three, as a recent grandfather myself, grandfather gets to see the impact, the pleasure of the use of this capital during his lifetime.

Hopefully be able to see that for the next ten, 20, 30 years.

If grandfather is 70 to the happy, healthy 100 is a reasonable expectation.

It could be amazing.

And just as a small icing on the cake, that's $20,000 no longer and grandfather's estate no longer taxable.

This gentleman does point out that indeed, if this stock was passed in this grandfather's estate, it would be zero tax to almost anyone because of the stepped up basis receiving an inheritance of stock real estate.

Almost any asset is no longer at the cost basis of grandfather.

It gets stepped up to what's referred to as the date of death valuation.

So whatever the value is on that day, that's the new cost basis for whomever is inheriting that stock.

So if it goes to somebody who's in a very high tax bracket, it doesn't really matter because their cost basis will step up to the full 20.

They could sell it for 20,000.

Their capital gain is zero.

So lots of nuance to gifting and taxes.

Estate.

What?

Bequests and taxes?

Lots of nuances.

What does it depend on?

Depends on your goal.

Depends on what your highest priorities really are.

And for any client, for any prospective, any person who has the the inclination to make these kinds of either gifts or bequests, your goal or will drive the proper strategy to get you where you want to go.

Excellent.

Very, very good, Mags.

A tough one back there.

Maybe a little bit.

This next one seems like the husband and wife are not quite on the same page.

It says our retirement is mainly Social Security, but we need a little bit more.

I work outside the home to supplement our income, but I will retire soon.

I figured out a way to divide our house to create a two or three bedroom apartment to rent out for supplemental income.

My husband doesn't like this idea.

He thinks I will make our finances work without his help, since I always have.

He has been retired for six years, knocking about the yard and home while I take care of the money.

What should I do, Jean?

I'm biting my the.

First of all, I want to figure out how this husband gets away with this.

Because most of the husbands I know we can't get away with this.

There.

You'll be fine.

You know, that wouldn't fly.

So maybe we need lessons.

Or maybe he needs lessons.

Actually, I think we've stumbled into the answer here.

He needs lessons.

What would I recommend?

I would strongly recommend that you drag him kicking and screaming, if necessary, to a financial advisor that you trust.

Financial advisor?

It's got some experience.

Perhaps a financial advisor has a couple extra years on the average financial advisor.

Someone who could perhaps.

Perhaps.

No guarantees, but perhaps put these things in perspective in a way.

Kind of man to man that this gentleman might better understand.

Do I know for a fact that your plan to convert your home into a rental in addition to a residence is the right answer?

I don't know that.

I don't know that for a fact.

What I do know for a fact is that having all the pressure on you is incorrect.

What I do know for a fact is that you're clearly suffering from concern, anxiety, loss of sleep, lack of peace of mind.

Those things are incredibly important as you enter retirement and throughout your retirement.

So paying attention to those issues, those non-financial issues, emotional issues, mental health issues, extremely important.

And if your husband is poo poo.

Yeah, he's missing the boat.

He's missing the point.

And some husbands miss the point because they don't wish to see the point.

Other husbands miss the point because they need to kind of get a sharp strike to the forehead to get their attention first.

And maybe that getting the attention of platform starts with a financial adviser.

Many financial advisers can offer a a retirement projection.

It is a a very common tool in high quality financial advisory firms where you can fill in all of your numbers and then throw the switch and see if you successfully make it to the end of your retirement without running out of money.

In this case, it sounds like if you don't do something, you might very well not make it.

And maybe seeing that in black and white, maybe hearing that from someone outside the family may have an impact.

I don't know that I'm overly confident that that will happen.

Or they say leopards don't change their spots.

That may be the case.

But finding the right financial adviser, perhaps one incredibly persuasive, might help.

And it's certainly worth the try.

It's certainly worth the time and the effort and the goodness.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the end result is he goes, wow, I did not realize, wow, I need to help more.

Wow.

I need to be more cooperative.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful, wonderful result?

And at the very least, that's that's a possibility.

And going along as you are probably not going to be successful.

So let's give this a go.

I think that makes good sense.

Makes hopefully I can make good sense out of whatever is coming next.

I hope so, too.

That was very good advice.

This one says, First off, I really enjoy your show.

You come across as a really good and knowledgeable guy.

My question has to do with RMDs.

Can I transfer stocks valued at the amount of my RMD into my Roth or Non-high IRA account and pay the tax on it from my regular account?

I'm 77 this year and I usually put $10,000 into my Roth each year.

I have been withdrawing cash from the various IRAs as the RMDs, but now I will need to sell stocks if I cannot transfer them.

Thank you for your help.

Okay.

Now you've made me really nervous.

Your description of what you've been doing, I am prayerful.

Is not phrased very well.

I am.

I am prayerful.

I am hopeful that what you have placed in your email is not exactly what has been going on.

Because if your email is accurate, you have been violating IRS code for some five or six years and that may come back to haunt you.

Your email describes moving stocks that are equal to your R&D into a Roth IRA.

You're not allowed to do that.

And armed amount.

Let's use simple numbers.

We have 200,000 in an IRA.

My RMD is 8000 bucks.

I want to take the armed out.

I want to pay the tax.

However, I want to pay the tax and put that 8000 into a Roth.

You cannot do that.

It is not permitted to convert an armed amount into a roth.

What you can do and it does not say in your email what you can do.

You're 77.

Is it possible you're still working?

Sure, sure.

And hopefully you are.

That's how we stay young.

If you are working, is it possible that you could take your $8,000 out, pay the income tax, have 7000 hours left, and then contribute that to a Roth IRA because you are still working that you can do converting RMDs into a Roth directly?

Absolutely not appropriate.

And we get the question quite often.

Hey, I've got this, Ira.

I've got $200,000.

I got lots of stocks in there that I really like.

Is it okay if I take the stock itself out and drop it into the Roth IRA on a conversion basis?

And the answer is sure.

But so what?

What is the difference between It's in the IRA.

Let's use Apple as an example.

I have $10,000 of Apple stock.

I pay.

I pull that out and I put it into a Roth or I sell it in the IRA and I buy it in the Roth 2 seconds later.

The end result is exactly the same.

So the mechanics are not terribly interesting.

Your IRA and my apologies.

Your email focuses on the mechanics.

Can I do this to go over here with my stocks?

And the answer is the mechanics are not what you should be worrying about.

You should be worrying about the legalities of the tax code and whether or not you're following these in a way that will end up pinching you.

What might you do to figure all this stuff out?

Number one, you might have a profession or tax advisor review what you have done if it has been done inappropriately.

At the very least, may a culpa are appealing to the IRS and saying, Hey, I've made some mistakes over the last couple of years.

I'd like to retrofit that.

I'd like to fix those mistakes.

That may be useful if you're not interested or willing to go that route of kind of raising your hand and volunteering that you have made an error.

At the very least, you should get yourself very, very clear about what is appropriately done with your RMDs and what is not permitted at all with your arm days and just the kind of what complete that thought or for.

I have $200,000, I have to take $8,000 out.

That's your RMD.

That cannot go directly into a Roth IRA under any set of circumstances.

Could you convert money beyond the R&D?

Could you take the 8000 out, put that aside somewhere else and take another 20 or 30 and convert that into a Roth that you can do and that you can do rather well and rather easily?

And actually, in your case, depending on your goals, that might be the answer to your to your question.

Speaking of answering questions, it's what we do.

It's what makes us the most relevant show.

Financial show, of course, on television today.

You would honor us with your questions.

You send us to me, Gene at Ask MTM dot com.

An entire team.

An entire team that answers questions back to you.

We get lots of great input and give you as much information as we possibly can.

Pay attention.

Make sure you're checking your spam filter.

If you didn't get it directly.

So reaching out to us is a very, very advantageous thing for you to do, and it helps us to have great material for future shows.

Thank you so much for spending part of your evening with us.

Hopefully you've learned enough that you'll want to be back here next week with us again on another edition of more than one.