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 of service to you.

We are dedicated to doing exactly that, serving your financial needs, whatever they may be.

And one of the most common comments that we get about our show, and I take it as a great compliment.

So thank you to all of you who have said this to us, is that the really, really interesting part isn't really Gene.

The really, really interesting part.

The answers are good.

They're very, very good.

But the really interesting part are the questions that folks have some of the most interesting things that are challenging them.

Some of the most interesting perspectives, combinations, whether it's retirement issues or or saving for their first home or any combination of the above.

The questions that you ask are fascinating, far better than we could ever conceive on our own and far better than Gene lecturing you for a half an hour about the IRS code addressing 520.

Now that would be snoozer.

Bottom line is no snooze because number one half an hour goes very, very fast.

And number two, we are the most relevant financial show on television today, without a doubt, because you make us so not because Gene is so brilliant, even though let's be clear, he really is.

Bottom line is, you are brilliant.

You bring us such texture, such interest, such diversity.

I couldn't thank you enough.

If you wish to have your question potentially be part of a TV show, but definitely answered back to you.

Just send us your email, Gene at ask MTM dot com.

Gene at ask MTM dot com.

And it works very, very well if you are very, very lucky.

One of your questions might be selected for a future show, just as our collection of questions for tonight's show were selected.

So let's get right to it.

Let's go to our financial correspondent.

Megan, where do we start this evening?

Hi, Gene.

Our first question tonight is about retirement.

It says, I have 1.2 million in savings and I'm almost 49 years old.

For the first time ever, I lost my job.

I'm searching, but I'm concerned about my prospects and my disability being aggravated even more.

I am also burnt out with my profession.

Many retirement calculators report that I am insufficiently prepared to retire now, but others show that it's very doable.

My expenses are a little under 5000 per month, with 20% of that budgeted for travel, which of course could be saved and not spent.

I'm wondering how do I know to what degree I can trust some of these models, especially with such large variances in outcome potentials?

I am single and know that I can only count on myself.

Thank you for your help.

My goodness.

You're very welcome, Number one.

Number two, you've got an interesting set of scenarios here.

Components of your scenario that caused me a little concern, but also, gosh, 85%.

Great hope.

Great hope.

I think you're going to be happier at the end of this conversation than when we started.

So let's give this a go.

You're out of a job.

Could you retire today?

I think it's doable.

I think it's doable.

I'll give you a couple of parameters, but I think it's doable.

Now, having said that, let's assume just for this part of the discussion that it is doable, that you could absolutely retire today if you decided to leave whatever job that it is that has burned you out.

To to leave behind whatever a job creation profession, whatever that has caused your perhaps your disability to be difficult or your anxiety or your stress to be at a higher level.

If you leave all of that behind.

And if you were to acquire a even a part time job doing something you love.

My wife and I, Diane, if that is her real name, and I were recently at a at a bed and breakfast that was one of the most beautiful or beautiful properties I have ever seen.

Perhaps you really enjoy nature and landscaping and plants and flowers as as much as we Maybe you get a job not because you need the money, because I think you're going to be just fine financially, but so that you are engaged and you're socially out there and you're active and you're serving and you're enjoying yourself because the part time income is almost irrelevant.

And here's why I say that you have approximately 1.2 million in income.

I'm sorry, an asset your income needs are your needs are approximately $4,000 a month.

If you were to draw $4,000 a month, $48,000 a year off of a $1.2 million nest egg, it's approximately 4%.

If you were fortunate enough to invest well intelligently over a very long period of time, you're only 49.

So we're looking at 40 or 50 years and you were to average 7%.

No guarantees, although right now there are some seriously interesting available investments at 7% guarantee, but no guarantees that over 40 or 50 years that 7% is the right number.

But if it is, then you will draw your 48,000 and instead of your 1.2 million going down, oh, the money came out.

It should rise about 3% because we made seven, we spent four, we left three in the pot.

I have three daughters, so my explanations often include fairy tales of some form or another.

And in this case, the perfect analogy is the golden goose.

The 1.2 million is the goose.

We don't want to eat the goose because then the eggs will get smaller.

We want to fatten the goose so the eggs get bigger.

You start this year at 48,000, next year it'll be 49 five.

The year after it'll be 51,000 and it will continue to grow because your 1.2 million will grow.

The question would be when would you run out of money?

And under this scenario, two things.

Number one, you'll never run out of money.

You are always making more than you are spending.

You'll never run out of money at the end of 40 or 50 years.

You won't have 1.2 million.

You don't have 3 million.

And number two, just for fun, when Social Security kicks in, your income is going to skyrocket.

Even if it stays very modest, your income stays very modest.

Over the next 15 or 16 years, you should still probably get $2,000 a month or so.

That's a wild guess, but pretty close.

So you'll go from 4000 a month to 6500.

You'll be one of the few folks that in retirement gets pay raises.

You get a pay raise every year because your your investments are growing.

And then ultimately you'll get your social Security pay raise.

I think this is very doable.

I think it's very doable.

Now, sit with a financial adviser you trust.

Go through the numbers very completely.

Make sure that you understand exactly what you're doing and then God bless you.

You're going to do great.

Meg, Speaking of doing great, that was a great start.

Where do we go next?

Our next question definitely has a layer of personal to it.

It says, My father in law has been living with us for the past two years as he is in the process of buying a new house.

The housing market has been tough and it's taken longer than expected.

What was at first going to be a six month stay has extended well beyond.

My father in law pays no expenses and instead continues to save money from two retirements.

I'm wondering, is it wrong for us to have the conversation about helping with expenses now?

The cost of everything has gone up and it feels like a child staying with us.

He is helpful with household chores and handyman work, but that doesn't negate the expenses we are continuing to incur incur.

With a third person in our house.

I'm very frustrated at this point with the entire situation.

So any advice you have would be most helpful.

Thanks.

Okay, everybody, take a deep breath.

This is a tough one.

I'm a dad.

I don't want to be the Mooch.

It certainly feels like Dad has worn out his welcome.

That's.

That's way it feels now.

Now, this is his daughter in law writing the email, so it may.

That may be perfectly accurate.

It may be not quite so accurate.

That's not really the problem, in my opinion.

My opinion only I could be wrong.

I'm not.

I could be wrong.

I'm not.

If the problems between her and her husband.

This is his dad.

This is a communication issue.

This is.

Hey, sweetheart.

When is your dad moving?

Hey, sweetheart.

What has your dad done?

Hey, sweetheart.

Maybe you could ask your dad to help out with the finances because he's saving a lot of money, and we are not.

That's a conversation you and your husband absolutely must have.

Must have.

It's not a conversation you can have with your father in law.

I don't think that's a healthy way to go with your husband.

I don't think having the conversation is a bad thing.

I think not having the conversation is the unhealthy way to go.

Should your father in law be contributing more than he apparently currently is?

Probably.

Is that the real issue?

If you are unable, if you and your husband are unable to meet your expenses, then yes, it's the issue.

And the issue is sweetheart, husband.

Please have a conversation with your dad.

His savings are going up.

Ours is going down because we're losing money.

We are.

We're, in essence, paying his freight, and it's costing us dearly.

Can you get him to help?

That's a perfectly reasonable conversation to have.

Or.

Or it's.

You're already two years in.

Is it likely it's another two years?

No, it's more likely it's another six months.

And you will have put that behind you without a confrontation, without any kind of negative feelings.

No friction between family members.

And I don't know your father in law's estate plan, but it might.

Might very well likely very well include your husband, you, perhaps your children, perhaps the money he is saving now, is it likely to end up back in your pocket at some point?

Sure.

But even if it weren't, get better communication with your husband and take a little bit of a deep breath for yourself.

Take yourself kind of down a bit in terms of the emotional angst and maybe just reframe how you think about this in terms of.

It sounds like your father in law's alone.

Maybe he's delayed this because he really loves being with his family.

And maybe reframing that a little bit will help you be a little more insightful, a little more forgiving of his circumstance.

I, I wish you the very best.

And of course, if if goodness, if you need a family meeting, we have meeting rooms in our MTM world headquarters.

You're welcome to.

And if you if need.

I've got a striped shirt and a whistle at home.

I'll stand in the room.

I can be the referee and, you know, drop the fouls and, you know, throw the flags, that kind of stuff.

Happy to help if we can.

God bless.

Very interesting.

Very interesting indeed.

Megan, We're relevant.

Well, let's stay relevant by answering another question.

Sure.

We have a husband and wife with a 401k question.

It says, My wife and I both have 401k’s.

We work at the same company.

We're not happy with the returns we've been seeing the last couple of years and probably longer.

I'm 58, my wife is 56 and we both plan on retiring in the next ten years.

We're wondering what can we do to get a decent return on our retirement investments?

Thank you for your help.

Oh, goodness.

Excellent question.

And with a number of years to go to retirement, a very impactful question.

When you start out in your 401k and say you're 25 years old and you've put $1,000 in and your return is 8%, you made 80 bucks.

And if your return is 14%, you made 140 bucks.

Is the difference in dollars is not very impactful when you are 58 and 56 and you now have hundreds of thousands of dollars in your investments in your 401k’s.

It's really impactful if you're getting a disappointing 3% and you could have gotten a more encouraging 7% and you've got $400,000 in your collective two 401k’s.

That 4% difference is 16,000 bucks a year.

And where I come from, that's real money and way better than a sharp stick in the eye.

So bottom line is, you are absolutely right to want to get the very best return out of your 401k possible.

Now, there's a number of ways that this might happen.

I'll describe them briefly.

Number one, you might have someone at your 401k company, the provider that that is responsible for helping you with changing your investments.

It may be as simple changing as the investments that that is necessary.

To be blunt, that rarely is effective.

Number two, you could have a financial advisor assist you in rolling over your 401k plans into your own IRAs because you are beyond age 55, each of you.

The IRS allows you to do what's research referred to as an in-service rollover.

You do not leave the company.

You are not retiring.

You're not quitting.

You're not being fired.

You are still in service, still employed, but you're rolling it over.

Typically, plans allow that for folks who are 55 and older.

You still stay in the plan.

You still make your your paycheck by paycheck contribution.

But the balance, the current 400,000, a number I'm using as a demonstration will go into your own IRAs and then you will leave here for your 401k plan menu, which might have a dozen items, might have three dozen items into an IRA where the list of investment options is nearly infinite, measured in tens of thousands, and can be custom designed with you and a financial advisor working as a team.

Infinitely customize to whatever extent you wish.

Extremely conservative, extremely aggressive anywhere in the middle.

You get to call the shots and there are no restrictions.

And yet you will continue to build up contributions into your existing 401k as long as you work for that company.

That can be a pretty exciting option, particularly if the 401k that you have does not have good investment options.

Now the third item relatively new within the last 12 months, that's very new in the investment world.

It is an opportunity where certain financial advisors, certainly the More Than Money advisors can do this, but I'm guessing 5% or less of financial advisors can.

It's employing a particular software program that allows a financial advisor that is working with a client that has very good financial options within their for one case, but they're not putting them to good use.

They're their current advisor or the plan advisor is not helping them very much.

This software connection allows the financial advisor to do all of that work directly.

The the client just gives permission.

The advisor sets up the portfolio allocations.

The advisor can do the reviews on a regular basis in our world.

That's every 90 days.

The advisor can do all the adjustments.

It's really very effective.

So again, you can, you can kind of muddle along with where you are and get some help.

Assistance from the plan sponsor.

You can do a complete IRA rollover, bringing that into your own independent IRA and open up the entire universe.

Or you can have a financial advisor who is so equipped.

Certainly check with us more than money so that we can either guide you or assist you ourselves in in having that direct connection to your 401k’s.

So it's managed as if it were already in the financial advisors hands.

You should sit with an advisor that has that capability and then compare the options for some folks leaving it right where it is.

No changes is perfect for others, leaving completely as perfect.

And for others of course.

Somewhere in the middle is more perfect.

It isn't What's right for someone else.

It's only what's right for you that counts.

So the only measure that we use.

Megan, three really, really good ones.

Now, the bar has been set very, very high.

I hope our next email can can live up to the standard.

Where do we go next?

Well, I have high hopes for it.

We actually have a couple of questions within one question.

So it starts off it says, Hi, Gene.

I love your show so much.

I'm taking advantage of your advice to ask for help.

This could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

First, I would like to know if POD can be put on individual stocks that I've been receiving dividends on for years.

If so, how do I do this?

Also, what is the 15 year fixed about?

Why is it fixed to Treasury?

I thought this might be a good investment for my young grandkids, ages 8 to 14.

But I'm wondering does the interest accumulate for the 15 years or paid annually?

Would this be a good way to, one, get money out of our estate and two, be a sort of inheritance for them when the time comes?

My husband and I are in our eighties.

Also, do you have any other suggestions regarding what I can do to serve the above purpose better?

Any tax free suggestions?

Thank you so much for you and your show.

Well, you're very, very kind.

Thank you.

And you're right.

A beautiful friendship.

That kind of fits PBS rather beautifully, doesn't it?

It's that's kind of the entire mission here is connecting our communities and building more bonds and more connections, more friendships.

You do me a great honor.

Your instinct here is pure, and I think we can help rather easily.

I think you're going to be surprised how easily this can be accomplished and and made very effective for you.

Can you add POD; payable on death is what POD stands for.

Many of you have heard of it.

Many of you use it very effectively.

Many of you have never heard of it and have no idea how to use it.

A payable on death designation is attached to an investment similar to the beneficiary designation that's attached to an IRA, a 401k, a life insurance policy or an annuity.

They all have beneficiary designations.

So as think IRA, I have named my good friend Eric as my beneficiary.

I am gone.

Eric immediately gets the money.

It's not in my will.

It doesn't go through my will.

It doesn't go through probate.

It goes directly to Eric.

It's very efficient.

It's very time effective.

It goes very, very quickly.

It's it's a great technique.

The beneficiary designation works beautifully.

Think about that exact mechanism applied to other investment assets, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, stocks.

This young lady asks about stocks.

Can you have a payable on death for stocks?

The answer is if you are receiving your stock dividends directly from the company, meaning that you own stock directly in the company.

Typically now it's done electronically, so you may or may not have certificates.

That's not really important.

Adding a POD to that individual stock ownership may or may not be in your best interest.

But solving that is so easy.

Let's assume you have ten different companies doing that.

Simply place those stocks in one account.

In our More Than Money world, we often use Charles Schwab as our custodian.

You could open up one Charles Schwab account.

The cost is zero.

You can add those stocks to the Schwab account.

Cost is zero.

All those dividends would come into that Schwab account that you could spend as you already do.

The cost is zero and you can add POD to that account.

So it's done perfectly and that POD can be sliced and diced.

I think, Meg, she mentioned, I know grandchildren 8 to 14, but were there five grandchildren?

She actually did not say how many.

She said their ages.

Ages 8 to 14.

So we're going to announce that she has five.

That may surprise her.

She thought she had three, but now she has five.

So you could slice and dice that POD five different ways.

It can work out beautifully.

Now, you're you're asking about investments for young people, 8 to 14.

You're hoping to get some tax advantages.

You're hoping to be able to to maybe remove that from the estate.

The 529 plan might be might be the perfect answer to your concerns.

You would be allowed to set up a 529 plan for each of your grandchildren.

It is fundamentally intended to allow money to grow tax free.

You like that part?

Tax free until it's pulled out for educational purposes.

Nice.

If it comes out for educational purposes, it's been totally tax free the entire time you have made the investment.

So we're looking at the youngest, the eight year old, 18, ten years away.

I'm not really sure I want to go to school.

Maybe I'll go in the military.

That's fine.

Five years later, they're 23.

They're going, you know what I decided I'm not going to go to school.

529 plans can now be converted for that child into a Roth IRA.

So grandmother could put $10,000, for example, into a 529.

Now, for an eight year old.

And that eight year old in 60 years might be pulling that money out tax free for retirement out of a Roth.

So going from education to Roth now is very, very simple.

You will not be using 15 year treasuries.

Fixed, indexed.

Fixed.

I'm sorry, fixed interest rate treasuries.

Those are inappropriate rates of return.

Those are inappropriate for young people.

Perfect for somebody who's grandmother at 85, not so perfect at somebody who's ten.

But that's where your financial advisor will give you a good guidance and help you along the way.

So the main question about fixed Treasuries and we've kind of pushed to the side, it's not really relevant.

The date can easily be done and I think 529 plans are going to make you smile from ear to ear.

So hopefully we have helped a bit.

We wish you best of luck.

And of course, if you have questions along the way, circle back and ask us additional questions.

Speaking of additional questions, Megs, do we have one more good one back there?

I believe so.

This question says, my husband and I are retired.

We have about $80,000 in a regular savings account with our bank.

10,000 in checking and a growing at 257,000 in a money market account, which is very low risk according to our fiduciary investment contact.

We both have a comfortable pension and Social Security and have no trouble paying our monthly bills.

We married late in life in our mid-forties and have moved several times.

We purchased our last home about a year and a half ago and 132,000 on a 30 year fixed rate.

The big question is should we pay off our house?

Thank you for your help.

Yes.

Next.

No, I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

The answer is definitely yes.

That part I was not kidding about at all.

Now I am fully aware, fully cognizant, as the hoi polloi would say.

I am fully aware there are a lot of financial advisors that disagree with me vehemently.

They say paying off your mortgage makes no sense.

You get a 30 year mortgage, you have 28 years to go.

You're going to be paying it off with inflation at $3.

So in 20 years you're paying the same amount.

You're paying 1500 a month now, so many dollars and in 20 years that 1500 dollars a month is going to feel like 700 because of inflation.

I understand all of that.

The point that they're missing and many of these advisors are well known, they're there on TV and radio.

Wait a minute.

I'm on TV and radio.

Hey, I'm every bit as good.

Actually, in this case, I'm way better because all they're trying to do is be clever.

Let me show you with a math.

I'm being very mathy and show you how smart I am.

I know your gut says you should pay off your debt and my gut says you're not as smart as me.

I think your gut is telling you the truth.

I think you're looking at a quarter of $1,000,000.

That's fundamentally not very productive for you.

I'm glad to hear you have a fiduciary advisor.

That's fantastic.

But it's not very productive for you.

Your advisor who likely will is being paid.

A percentage of your assets won't be happy with you.

But yes, take that money, pay off the mortgage and be at peace.

I often have said over many, many years, 780 years that I've never met anyone who has regretted paying off their mortgage.

And then many years ago, a very close friend of mine, a gentleman who has since passed, who I love dearly, still do, came to me in a meeting and said, you know, the one thing I regret is paying off my mortgage.

He didn't mean it.

He was only teasing.

But it was a great line.

And I remember it to this day.

And I will to the day that he and I meet again.

Speaking of meeting again, hopefully you have learned enough this evening that you'll want to be with us again.

We're here every week and hopefully you're picking up a great deal of information.

And if you've been even mildly entertained, you have my deepest apologies.

Please send us your questions.

You make us relevant, Gene, at ask MTM dot com works beautifully.

Our advisers answer every single question directly back to you.

So you're going to get great information at no charge whether you're shut your your question is aired on our show or not.

But hopefully you're going to want to stick around as we return next week to this studio to produce another edition of More Than Money.

Good night.