Good evening, you've got more than money.

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

Happy to be with you.

Happy to serve you for the next half an hour or so.

I am at your service.

Indeed, we are so pleased to be able to offer you more than money.

The most relevant financial show on television today.

And it's simply because of you.

I take no credit for that.

You set the agenda.

You are the arbiter of all things relevant.

What makes the most sense for you?

What concerns you have that are your highest priority?

What questions are bothering you, causing you perhaps to lose sleep?

Or maybe, maybe you're giving yourself enough lead time that you're actually thankfully giving us a little bit of advance warning things that you're considering doing.

That's when we can be the most useful for fixing things after they're broken is quite a challenge.

Locking the barn door after the horse is out.

A real challenge.

But looking at options, evaluating, considering the pros and cons of different courses of action.

Really, really good way to go.

And for many of you, you've picked up on that theme.

And now some of your questions, some of your concerns.

Many of them are appropriately in advance.

So we thank you for all of that.

But whether they're in advance or whether we're trying to retrofit for you, we will do our very best to serve you in any way that we are able If you're a loyal viewer, you know exactly how this works.

The email that you send to us, Jean, and ask him TMZ.com is answering back to you.

Every single email is answered back and some of those then appear on future shows.

We simply don't have enough time for all, of course, but some of those we've referred to our financial correspondent Megan, she brings us to us and we explore those live right here on the set.

no nets, no safety harnesses.

It's just at risk.

The best we have to offer.

And gosh, we're 780 years of experience.

The best sometimes is pretty darn good.

So why don't we give you a demonstration right out of the gate?

Megan, Where do we start this evening?

Hi, Gene.

Our first snippet.

I'm going to read tonight is actually just something we want your opinion on.

It says Michael Fink is a professor and Frank M Engel, chair of economics security at the American College of Financial Services and leads the Wealth Management Certified Professional Designation Program.

He says, quote, To an economist, the admission by an advisor, especially one who aggressively positions himself as a fiduciary that they will never recommend an annuity to a client makes no sense.

The failure to recommend an annuity is clearly not in the best interest of most retirees, end quote.

Do you agree with this, Jean?

It's it would be hard to disagree with a gentleman with the type of credentials that Michael Fink has.

The American college well respected throughout the financial advisory community for decades for not just their training but their research, the service they provide to financial professionals and then thereby indirectly to the clients of those financial professionals, is above reproach.

The gentleman that he's referencing, the advisor who is adamant about refusing to recommend annuities to a client under any set of circumstances despite laying claim to being a fiduciary, is a very well known individual rule.

If success is measured by dollars, he is very successful.

If success is measured by marketing, he is ultimately successful as his company markets nearly nonstop.

If you're if your demographic is such that you meet his criterion, which currently is a half a million dollars of investable assets or larger, you have undoubtably been solicited by this gentleman's firm, either radio or television or direct mail.

They spend millions and millions a year on marketing.

Their primary product is individual investment management, portfolio management looking at where are your dollars, are currently adjusting them to meet what they believe to be theoretically in your best interest.

This gentleman has been pounding the desk for many, many years, vowing that he would sell an annuity to his clients over his dead body.

And yet when the word fiduciary became a very important piece of the discussion around financial advisors, he laid claim immediately to being a fiduciary theory.

Michael Fink points out that to any economist, anyone who's looking at this from a third party perspective, putting those two opinions together, never an annuity, and yet I'm a fiduciary.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

None whatsoever.

Being clear about two things will help us understand this perhaps a bit better.

Number one, an annuity is simply a tool.

It's simply a financial tool, not terribly different than mutual funds or exchange traded funds.

Stocks or bonds, insurance policies.

It is a financial tool.

So to be foursquare against a tool that's available to benefit your clients is a head scratcher.

It would be similar to a carpenter announcing that he would never use a hammer.

I will use a hammer over my dead body.

That makes no sense whatsoever.

The fiduciary part makes it even more challenging because fiduciary in our profession means that we are legally, ethically and personally bound.

Code of ethics bound to put our client's best interests first, put ourselves and our interests behind those of our clients always serving our clients, even if even when we don't earn a dime to serve our clients in their best interest.

So this gentleman has a platform where his clients pay him substantially for managing investments.

And apparently his decision to never sell an annuity in in his mind is in at least his best interest.

We can't identify how it would be in the best interest of an individual whose financial situation would call for an annuity.

And while annuities are complicated, no question, challenging to understand yes requires that financial advisors spend an a an exceptional amount of time effort, energy to be skilled at using them.

That is a requirement.

That would be a requirement of the claim to be a financial fiduciary, because if we're making claim that we're always acting in your best interest, it's important for us to know, understand, and be able to properly implement every tool that's available for your best purpose, best interest.

Interesting.

Fascinating.

And a controversy that I'm sure will continue on.

I don't believe my influence aside, that I have put this discussion to rest.

Meghan, where do we go next?

Well, our next email has a couple of different scenarios that I think we just want some advice on.

It says, I will be retiring next year when I turn 65.

At that time, my monthly Social Security benefit would be 20 $700 and I age 70.

It would be 30 $100.

I have I would have to draw down my 41k to make up for no Social Security for those five years.

I will have approximately $450,000 in my 41k at retirement.

But which scenario do you think is best?

Also, how would this affect Medicare?

Thank you.

This is one of the most common questions that we get from folks who are approaching retirement.

When do we take Social Security?

How do we bridge the gap if there is a gap, as there appears to be in this particular case?

And then where does Medicare fit into all of this?

One of our advantages are more than money.

World headquarters is that we have a former Social Security advisor.

He was on the team, Social Security team for nearly four decades.

And at his retirement he has joined us.

So he has guided us dramatically in terms of how we think about the use of Social Security.

There are always wrinkles, of course.

If this gentleman said my health is poor, take social Security as quickly as you can to maximize what you may receive.

If this gentleman said My health is fantastic.

Then we want to push this off to the maximum if possible, because that will likely in all probability, and that's what we're talking about here, is probabilities.

There are no assurances at the moment.

You make your choice about Social Security that your choice is correct.

You will only know if you made the best choice on the day that you are graduating to the next dimension.

That is when you will be able to look back and say, Ah, it worked out beautifully because for example, pushing benefits off until age 70 will give you the highest the maximum Social Security benefit per month that you can receive.

However, if the plan from the above is that you graduate 30 days later, having given up three or four years worth of benefits in exchange for one month of a higher benefit.

Yeah, it did not work out, but the probabilities.

Playing the odds, so to speak, will call for you to make that kind of a decision.

Is it to my benefit?

Probably to go earlier or later.

Let's assume for our discussion for this gentleman that it is in his best interest.

The probability is lean to taking it at age 70, he says in order to bridge that gap, he's going to need to draw from his 41k.

Not a terrible thing.

It does cause some anxiety, some agita on the part of folks who are saying, I've been saving my entire life.

Now the idea that I'm drawing it down is very this discomforting, unsettling.

That may be the case.

May not be.

We don't know yet.

We don't know enough.

So, for example, if we use 4% as a very simple number, it's not a guaranteed number.

It's not a a required number, but it gives us a good feel for what his $450,000 of investable assets in his four on K might throw off.

4%, about 22,000 a year.

Let's make this easy for Jean.

Let's call it $24,000 a year, $2,000 a month.

You see how that math works?

If $2,000 a month is sufficient to bridge the gap between current age, 65, Social Security and age 70, then not only will he not likely be eating into his 41k, it is likely that 41k will continue to grow.

So we're not drawing in resources where we're using some of the profits generated by those resources to supplement our income for that period of time, knowing that in five years or so we're going to be able to discontinue taking those required payments because we don't need them anymore.

We have Social Security.

So that kind of a evaluation could be very, very positive.

What if it's the not inverse, but what if it's dramatically different?

I don't need 2000 a month.

I need 4000 a month.

Well, that's an 8%, almost 9% withdrawal rate.

And indeed, your 450 will be eroded in all likelihood over the next five years.

Something you need to be very, very thoughtful about.

It's helpful to be able to compare the financial results over a very long period of time, side by side.

And many financial advisers, many of the best financial advisors have the capacity, the capability, the software, so to speak, to be able to do exactly that, fill in all this gentleman's details about his life, about his expenditures, about his his income streams, his assets, and then project out over, say, a 30 year period taking him to age 95.

It would then demonstrate to him the relative probabilities of success of going at age 65, growing at age 67, at age 70.

It would also demonstrate to him the impact, financial impact on his Medicare premiums.

Medicare premiums for most folks are a fairly basic number, currently about $170 a month.

But they can rise dramatically depending on your income.

That kind of retirement projection would allow not only this gentleman to compare when do I take Social Security, but also what impact withdrawing money from my 401 K might have on my Medicare premiums.

So a trusted, experienced financial advisor that has the capacity to do financial projections for your retirement could very well either give you a an absolute prohibition.

Please don't take your your your Social Security now, or it might simply give you a tremendous peace of mind of knowing that whichever direction you go, you can be confident in your decision.

Outstanding, Modest question.

Lots of RAM, lots of implications, ramifications.

So understanding at least with high probability, what direction that might take you.

It's really useful.

Max.

Can we be useful to someone else?

I think so.

We have another this or that situation.

It says, I am a huge fan of your PBS show.

I am participating in a403b savings plan with my employer wondering is it better to contribute 15% to a traditional IRA or a lesser amount to a Roth IRA?

I am not able to contribute the full 15% under the Roth IRA plan.

Thank you for your advice.

Well, you're very welcome.

You're very your words are very kind.

This issue is is is very precise.

It may not sound that to you, as you heard the question, but to a financial adviser, we recognize that this individual has done some real thought around this question.

If I can give you some sample numbers that I know to be made up because I'm making them up on the fly, not this gentleman's numbers, but for example, if he could afford a pretax traditional IRA, a traditional 41k, $2.10 thousand into the into the retirement plan.

His observation about his Roth is that he cannot.

From a cash flow standpoint, afford to put the same amount of money into the Roth.

He would have to pay the tax.

Let's assume just for the sake of argument, his tax bracket is 15%.

He would then have 8500 left that would go into the Roth that would grow for quite some time.

Well, quite some time.

I'm picking a number for this, Jimmy.

Let's say he's 40 years old.

Quite some time will be minimum 20 years.

Could be 25 or 30 could be much longer.

With a traditional IRA, he will not have to take money out.

Required minimum distributions until he's 75.

So we're looking at at the at the outside, 35 years of compounding.

When he reaches that age, 75, traditional IRA or for one K, everything is taxable.

The question becomes, is he better off at age 40 with 20, 30, 40 years to go may be longer using a lower amount.

But going into a Roth that at his retirement will be untaxed tax free.

The answer is almost certainly he will benefit from the Roth contribution versus the standard.

Paying a relatively small upfront cost will allow that money.

In our case, in our demonstration, 80 $500 to compound tax free over many, many years.

Let's do simple math.

Very simple math.

No guarantees.

This gentleman averages 10% return per year for the next 28 years.

So if that is the case, by using the rule of 70 twos, that 10% a year means his money will double every seven years.

So he has paid 1500 dollars upfront in tax to get into this Roth environment.

At the end of seven years, he has $17,000.

Not a great deal.

Not not very dramatic.

At the end of 14 years.

He has $68,000.

At the end of 21 years.

He has a 136.

And at the end of 28 years, he's now 68 years old.

He has approximately a quarter of $1,000,000.

The tax, if the brackets were to stay the same, they won't.

They won't.

Bottom line, if they did, the tax on 250 granted 15% is nearly $40,000.

So he will pay 1500 dollars upfront in order to save $40,000 in retirement.

And as the old commercial went, you can pay me now, you can pay me later.

And if you're old enough to remember what brand that actually is, then you're old enough to do math.

Pretty easily and find out that I'd much rather pay 1500 dollars in taxes than 40 grand.

Is there something I would much rather do for our next caller?

I'm let's find out.

This one says I have a question that might appear like a simple one, especially for all the advanced money management folks out there and for people with more money than I have.

I am 50, have very little savings, and I would like to invest $50,000 wondering what is a good type of account to start with.

Where can I get a 5% or 6% interest rate?

I would like to be able to withdraw the money if there is an emergency, add to it at will and be able to monitor it.

Forgive my ignorance on the subject.

I own a home, have become a business owner and now hopefully I'll be doing a little investing.

I just have.

I just don't have a clue where to start.

I currently have the whole amount in regular banks.

First time saver and investor.

Thank you.

One of the best questions that we've gotten in our five seasons on more than money, one of the best questions.

This gentleman apologizes several times.

I'm an investor.

I'm first time.

I don't really know.

I don't feel like I'm I'm qualified.

He he is doing many things correctly.

He is asking lots of good questions in advance.

He has not messed up his money.

He is appreciative of that.

There are folks out there, financial advisers who can guide him, help him avoid mistakes and and yet he's very clear.

I'm very impressed.

Very, very clear about the criterion that he's looking for in terms of his initial investments.

And not only is he clear, he's correct.

He is looking for one step into the world of financial investments going from the banks where nothing is at risk, where the returns may be modest, but the risks are virtually nonexistent.

And inflation aside, I understand that.

But from his perspective, he's in a very strong in many ways protected position where he is now.

But he understands if I'm to advance, if I'm to step up a level, he's not looking for 30% returns.

He's looking for five or six.

He's hoping for some easy access in case of emergency.

Again, baby steps stepping out away just a little bit from where he currently is.

He's looking to be able hopefully to add to it as he goes along.

And he's also accomplished a couple of things that are very, very important in the bigger picture.

He owns a home and he has his business that he has started.

So one of the best questions that we have received, if not the best in five seasons, because it is built on his.

He's looking to build on a solid foundation.

Building a financial success story, starting with a solid foundation is the best idea I can think of.

Now, in answer to his question, there are a number of ways that he can accomplish exactly what he's looking for.

He can put this money into an account.

It can be self-directed online.

It can be through a financial adviser.

But in any case, he will have direct access online so he can monitor it very, very easily.

He can, of course, get paper statements, etc.. That will keep him totally informed.

But bottom line is that the first part of his requirement is can I can I monitor the answer?

Sure.

Can it be liquid?

It absolutely can be.

And under that one umbrella account, it could be partially liquid.

Maybe he doesn't need access to $50,000.

Maybe access to 25 would do it.

And he can see his way clear.

Be comfortable with moving 25,000, maybe a little bit further ahead, maybe one step further ahead of, hey, it's got to be 100% safe, 100% liquid and making five or 6%.

Maybe there's a piece of this that he would be comfortable pushing a little further out, not dramatically, but a little further out.

So maybe he could be in the stock market a little bit or maybe in other investments that would have an opportunity instead of five or 6%, maybe to make seven or eight, eight or nine.

That kind of idea.

There are many different types of investments that likely will suit his needs in terms of enhanced money markets, in terms of CDS, brokered CDs inside that type of an account.

There are lots of different ways that you can mix and match $50,000.

He apologizes.

It's not very much where I come from.

That's a substantial sum of money.

He should be very, very proud that he has accomplished what he has.

And now using strategy, using tactics, using financial tools in a mixture, not an on off switch.

Hey, I have to be all in money.

Markets are all in the stock market.

Simply not the case.

Having built that account around the initial objectives of easy access at being able to add to or take away from, you can then explore hopefully with the advice of a financial advisor along the way.

But if you're comfortable, lots of companies will allow you to to set these up as a self-directed account, do some research on your own and and again, baby steps kind of venture out a little bit, get comfortable, venture out a little further, get more comfortable, venture out even further.

Well done, sir.

Well done, indeed.

And and best of luck.

And of course, keep us in the loop.

Let us know how you're doing and let us know how we may maybe enhance your results going further.

Speaking of enhancing results, we've covered a lot of ground tonight.

Some very interesting, diverse questions.

You folks are fascinating.

You leave lead, very interesting lives and you make your questions so very interesting to all of us and so very useful as as a demonstrate of how a financial advisor thinks through these things and the types of advice that might be most beneficial in my world.

That's a great way to start educating yourself so that when you make decisions, you can be much more confident.

I hope you've picked up a lot of information tonight.

If you have a question Gene at ask MTM dot com works very, very well and if you're not quite sure yet, just stick with this week by week as we answer more and more questions of your friends and neighbors and do our very best to serve you right here on our next edition of more than nine.