Good evening.

You've got more than money.

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

Happy to be with you.

Next half an hour goes pretty quickly.

Don't wander off.

You'll miss a whole lot because we are boldly claimed the most relevant financial show on television today because of you.

You ask fascinating questions.

I do my very best to answer them as best I can.

Tottering along, hopefully not missing too much time.

Come on.

Just kidding.

780 years of experience.

All of that at your service.

Most of my answers.

Really, really good.

The rest of them are just very good.

Really, really good.

And then there's really good.

So hopefully you pick up a great deal.

One of the things that several of you have picked up on, and it's kind of an interesting observation, I think at first it might have been a little bit of a jab, but in reality it turns out to be quite the compliment.

We mentioned on air multiple times that we have listeners and viewers.

Coast to coast, border to border.

And indeed during our now multiple years of of of seasons of being on PBS 39 we have had.

Goodness I've lost track.

Questions emails directed to us.

I'm I'm guessing half the states 2025 states pretty amazing.

And some folks have said, okay, pump your brakes there.

You're on PBS 39.

You're in Bethlehem.

You're in the Lehigh Valley.

What's with this?

You're your coast to coast, border to border.

There are a number of ways that many folks have found us from across the country, PBS passport folks who are well committed to PBS and have access to lots of great stuff, whether they're in Bethlehem or whether they're in Tucson, Portland, Maine, or Portland, Oregon.

And so we're we're getting a lot of folks who have found us through Passport.

A lot of folks who have found us through PBS 39 website.

I don't know if you've noticed.

You probably have by this time websites.

You can access them pretty much anywhere if you have Internet.

You got it.

So the PBS 39 website, lots of folks find us there.

More than money website more than money online dot com folks find us there.

The world is shrinking in many, many ways, some of which I admit maybe not the best, but in many ways the technology is fantastic because it allows us to connect on a very personal level with folks that it, what, five years ago, ten years ago, we never would have known existed.

They never would have known we existed.

So one of our most recent connections, San Diego, California, fantastic.

Through the PBS system, they found us.

We were able to help them individuals that different set of circumstances never would have connected.

And yet here we are.

And isn't that's let's be philosophical for a moment.

We titled the show More Than Money for a Reason.

It's way more than just, hey, can we have more money?

It's about more life, more connections, more relationship.

And what better home than PBS?

Because when you think PBS, you should think connections.

You should absolutely think connections.

And even if it's just Elmo or the grown up Elmo, it all works.

So a little peek behind the scenes there.

And for all of you who have found us, however you found us.

Thank you.

Your Honor.

US By allowing us to serve you make it.

Who do we serve first this evening?

Well, our first e-mail tonight comes from some pretty proud grandparents.

It says, Our grandson is simply a wonderful young man.

He is 17, does well in school, is an excellent athlete, very respectful, and has a wonderful future.

We are very proud of him.

He has a part time job and it looks like he will make about $4,000 this year.

He would like to we would like to reward him in some way for all of this.

What would you recommend we do?

Maybe a college fund.

Well, congratulations.

Having a wonderful 17 year old grandson does not happen by accident.

So we hope that you've had a wonderful influence as parents have been a wonderful influence.

Again, this doesn't happen by accident.

And for everyone out there who's tired, we're weary of hearing about the younger kids.

They're not worse.

But come on.

Sure they are.

And there's tons of them just like this young man.

All right.

Maybe not as special as this young man, but in general, doing tremendous things.

So when we find them, we really want to help.

There are a couple of things that you can do.

You can certainly just give cash.

A 17 year old can use cash.

Gas is not cheap.

Car insurance is not cheap.

Girlfriends are not cheap.

Bottom line is cash works.

It's a lovely thing to do.

A lot of what I'm going to suggest will depend on how much money you're thinking about rewarding him with.

If it's a few dollars or a few hundred dollars, I think cash works beautifully.

I do that and enjoy seeing him benefit from that right away.

If it's more than that, then you could certainly consider a 529.

But considering that he is 17 already, the impact that you're going to have, the benefit you're going to gain from having a 529 and its tax advantages is going to be fairly modest, a few hundred dollars, perhaps at best.

So that might be something that can be useful.

I would certainly talk to the parents before you do that.

It may already be taken care of.

There may be other plans in place that make it not not as rewarding as you would like it to be.

Now I have a personal favorite.

Nothing to do with the first two.

If this young man has earned $4,000, he is eligible to establish even at 17 and I.R.A.

and fund it up to 100% of his earnings, in this case, $4,000, you say.

But what 17 year old is going to work hard and put all his money away for something that's going to happen 60 years from now?

Well, the answer is very few, but proud grandparents might very well decide that $4,000 is a outstanding reward for this young man's accomplishments today.

And a real incentive for him to continue on that track.

An incentive that can be pretty impressive.

Now, I said 60 years that would take him to 77.

I don't think that IRAs are going to be pushed out that long.

But let's use that as an example.

And if we if we use a very simple it's called the rule of 72, it's easy math, we determine.

But let's say that the investment in his Roth can average 10% a year for many years, 60 years.

That's a very long time.

There's no guarantees, of course, but let's just use that.

That would say that the investment would double every seven years.

So he at 24 wouldn't have 4000.

He would have 8000.

Very nice.

At 31, he would have 16,000, which is nicer, but not dramatic.

At 38.

He would have 32,000.

This is starting to get interesting.

At 45, he would have 64,000.

At 52, he'd have 120,000, roughly at 69.

He'd have $240,000 roughly.

And at what 76?

He would have half a million dollars.

And it's because Grandma and grandpa were so proud of him 60 years ago.

They may have long passed, but their impact on him has just begun as he has half a million dollars tax free.

And just for fun, maybe you think think about, hey, over the next four or five years, I might be able to do roughly the same thing.

So if roughly the same numbers, let's say you do it five times and they get roughly the same result, five times half a million is two and a half million dollars tax free in retirement for a grandson that you are very, very proud of.

That's a reward.

And the the side benefits will be tremendous along the way.

So be proud indeed.

You've got two options.

Which one's best for you?

It depends.

Makes where to next?

Well, I think this is another it depends question.

This one says my husband is unhappy at his work.

He has been talking for the past few months about quitting and opening up his own business.

I want him to do this so he can be happier and have more independence.

I think he is reluctant because he doesn't know what kind of business to go into.

Where can we find information on the best businesses to go into at this time, in your opinion?

My husband says you're the really smart uncle everyone should have.

What kind of business should he start?

you're very kind.

That's.

That's a compliment I'll take.

Thank you so much.

And, yeah, we could do that to lots of folks.

So share the love.

This is a a challenging question on on levels that you haven't even begun to think about.

Your husband is unhappy at work.

This is not a shocking situation.

Lots of folks find themselves in that position.

In many cases, folks who are unhappy at work look to starting their own business as the solution to all of the issues that caused them to be unhappy.

They've got somebody telling them what to do.

They don't feel like they're being paid fairly.

They're being required to do things that are, to be blunt, not very much fun.

And in their mind, as if they have a forgive the phrase, but you'll see why I'm using it.

If they have a naive view of owning a business, they think that will solve all the problems.

I'll do something I'm really happy to do.

I get paid really well.

I won't have a boss yelling at me and I'll have tons of flexible flexibility and have have more control over my life.

I have started, founded, owned multiple businesses over my professional career.

I have counseled hundreds of folks who have started run, managed, sold businesses over many, many years.

The idea that owning your own business means that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do is foolish for the vast majority of entrepreneurs, particularly the ones who have established their business from ground zero, started at zero.

They will regale you with stories of scrubbing toilets and emptying trash and staying up very late at night to figure out QuickBooks and how to make sure that the the accounting is correct and engaging with tax preparers and attorneys.

And the list goes on and on.

So you will, if you are a rather typical entrepreneur, encounter lots of things you don't want to do.

The idea that you don't have a boss is particularly naive depending on the type of business that you do now, there are businesses to be, to be blunt, that you don't have to deal with people.

You can simply go into a a walk in closet, lock the door from the inside, get on your computer and run a business.

I get that.

But that's rare.

And the vast majority of businesses require that you can interact with a client.

They are your bosses.

You may have one boss now, two boss, three bosses, depending on the layers in your company.

How about having dozens of bosses?

Some of which are really, really demanding.

Some of which make your current boss look like.

Like the Easter Bunny.

Really sweet.

It is a challenge indeed.

Now, let's turn our attention to your question from from from a really smart uncle.

What what business would be would be ideal for you.

Meghan was psychic in her assessment.

It depends.

And it doesn't depend on doing research.

It doesn't depend on trying to figure out what part of cybersecurity you should be involved in or what part of cryptocurrency you should be involved in, or what part of a AI you should be involved in.

Because those are all buzzwords that are currently very prominent in discussions around business.

It depends on you, depends on your skills.

It depends on your goals.

It depends on your your passions, your interest.

Because if you start a business based on this was recommended by Harvard Review as the industry to be in over the next ten years to make the most money, I can virtually guarantee you you will crash and burn.

I can virtually guarantee you, because starting a business is very hard.

It will require the best that you have to offer.

And if you're doing it based on I think I can make a lot of money, that may it's very unlikely, may be enough to drag you along, but probably not that being able to tolerate all of the requirements of being a business owner is far easier when you're doing something you really love.

Is it possible to make a great deal of money?

Reading books.

Most folks would say no, librarians are not paid very well.

I know at least half a dozen individuals who are making millions every year by reading books, digesting them, and sharing those summaries with people who really need the information but don't have the time.

Wow.

Is it possible also to go broke reading books?

Of course.

Depends on passion.

Depends on knowledge.

Depends on your business model.

Depends on some much, but it mostly depends on you and what your passion is.

Is it possible to make tons of money as a as a painter?

Sure.

You'll probably have higher probability if you're a house painter rather than a landscape artist.

But that's not the point.

That's not the point.

The point is you need to assess, make a serious assessment of who you are, what you're excited about, what your skills are, and then determine what type of business could you run that would put you put all of those to your best advantage, and that's where you should start.

And by the way, if you do determine that you're going to do that, one piece of advice that I got tons of years ago from a very successful gentleman is that if you're going to move from your current job to being a business owner and let's say you're you're going to go from wherever you are now to literally you want to be a house painter, you want to be a contractor.

You might benefit, you might seriously benefit by an intermediate step, go from where you are to being an employee of a painting contractor first, spend a year or two or longer in an apprenticeship.

Learn what you need to know from somebody else who's already learned through their own mistakes.

Try to get as much experience without making mistakes as you can by getting it from people who made those mistakes.

Excellent question.

I hope we helped a little bit.

Max, who do we help next?

Well, our next email says My husband and I are both 68, retired and hoping to join you on your Triple H journey.

And that makes us kind of nervous.

Like everyone else, we are afraid of running out of money.

If we live a long life, how can we ensure that we don't go broke when we are older?

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

This answer is far easier than you might expect.

But before we go too far, for some of you who are relatively new to the show or have not yet caught the episodes where we've talked about Triple H, in my world, Triple H is happy, healthy, 100.

And while that causes my wife to sink into a deep depression when she hears me talk about it.

Bottom line is, why not?

For those of us who are blessed and have the opportunity, we're a little further along.

People go, you're a little further along.

How about we're just getting started?

How about happy, healthy hundred?

Now, I recently bumped into a gentleman, very fine gentleman who shared with me that his son's sports teams were also triple H, but in their in their case, it was Hart head hustle.

I like that, too.

So I have no trouble whatsoever with Triple H now.

I had not anticipated that my Triple H pronouncement and my invitation for all of you who are kind of on that path, join me.

Triple H Club.

We should get decoder rings.

That would be really cool.

Yeah.

Secret handshake.

Anyway, if you're going to join me, I had not anticipated that it might seriously cause anxiety.

There are lots of financial advisors who, when they are working with clients about retirement, let's say that they are 68.

Great.

They will turn to them and say, Well, let's figure out how much money you have to spend for the next 15 years because then you're gone.

And and and my wrinkle brow would say, What?

Why are you saying, well, life expectancy for somebody 68 is about 15 years.

So if you run out of money at 16 years, you're fine because you're not there.

And that, I guess, works.

That's never been my policy, my philosophy, my approach.

But for some folks, I guess some fine financial advisors guy, I guess it makes sense.

And if we run out of money in 15 years, so be it.

We're going to be gone.

If if you join the Triple H Club, you still got 15 years to go.

So the question is, how do we not run out of money?

There's two ways to.

Two very important pieces of this puzzle.

Number one is what do you spend being very appropriate and and thoughtful?

That way you spend not denying yourself.

Enjoy without a doubt, but be thoughtful about what you spend.

And then the second piece is how you invest.

It is certainly possible to invest very well, very conservatively.

You can invest stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, precious metals, gold, silver, platinum, palladium.

There's lots of ways to invest, all of which entail, to some degree, some degree of risk.

Even CD CDs now paying roughly 5%.

That's a risk because when inflation is seven or 8%, you're actually going backwards.

So there's some degree of risk.

And one of the big risks is we run out of money.

There is an entire platform and entire investment strategy that will guarantee you do not run out of money.

And those are called annuities.

And annuities are designed to do exactly that.

If you think some folks are big on anybody's I've heard bad things.

Have you heard bad things about pensions?

No, not particularly.

Here are bad things about Social Security payments every month.

No, not particularly.

Those are both annuities.

Those are annuities.

They are payment streams that are guaranteed by someone in one case, the government, the pension are guaranteed by the PBGC Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, and annuities are guaranteed by the the ability the claim saying ability of the company.

So in almost every case we we recommend as financial advisors that you deal with the very best the most financially stable reliable annuity companies that you can find and they will create for you a stream of income.

You cannot outlive.

Husband and wife.

You can create a stream of income for the two of you.

It's good for as long as either of you should live.

You can do it under many, many different flavors of annuities, and you may not have to use all of your investments, which would make it even better.

A lot of folks say, I don't want to tie up all my money.

Maybe you don't have to.

It'll be determined by how much money you need each month.

So determine that amount, fund the annuity, and hopefully there's some savings left over that would be flexible to go up and down.

But you'll also have some fun with that as well.

So welcome.

Triple H Club.

Sorry for the anxiety.

We can fix that.

Sit with the financial adviser you trust.

Go through all of the various options, see which one fits you best, Make them what question fits us best next.

Well, this is a really good one.

I think it might be kind of relevant to you right now.

It says, My wife and I just had our first child, our daughter, a couple of months ago.

We need to get our wills set up and have so many questions.

I think the biggest one right off the bat is who to name as guardian of our little girl if something happens to us.

My parents live close to us and seem like the logical choice, but we aren't sure.

What do you recommend we do?

First of all, I recommend that you don't look at the headline because that's not the right headline.

So what I do recommend you do is to think carefully about what the Guardian does.

Your first child, bless you, are fantastic.

What is a guardian's job?

A guardian's job is to raise your child in a way that's as close to the way you would raise that child as humanly possible.

So your parents live close.

That's a beautiful thing.

But is it a beautiful guardianship?

Would they raise your child the way you would?

The answers likely no.

Their grandparents.

They.

The word spoiled was invented for grandparents.

They're of a different generation.

They will speak a different language.

Will they love your baby immeasurably?

Of course.

Of course.

And if that is the only choice, so be it.

But the reality is, if you are thoughtful, you need to examine the people in your lives who are most appropriate.

Now, some folks immediately say, Well, I'll do my brother, my sister, I have a sister.

She's great.

She lives in Texas.

All right, hang on a second.

That means that not only has the child lost his or her parents lost his or her home, his or her school, his or her friends and and been jerked out across the country to go to Texas.

That makes no sense.

Far better to have someone that that fits more appropriately into your life and your lifestyle may be a relation.

May not be.

That's irrelevant.

One thing that stops many young couples from entrusting the guardianship of their child to someone, whether they have children, is their own.

And it would be a financial burden.

That's your responsibility.

Your responsibility.

Very often done through term life insurance, very inexpensive life insurance, you could leave half a million, a million, $2 million to care to pay for the care for your child to someone who otherwise wouldn't be able to do it.

So pick the person with the heart and the mind that would raise your child as close to the way as you would as humanly possible.

Of course, we pray it never needs to happen and then fund your estate in such a way that your guardian will have plenty of resources to make sure that your child is well taken care of and and bless you and and pray about it, too.

That's an important piece of the puzzle.

We have covered a tremendous amount of ground.

Fascinating, indeed.

You guys ask the best questions.

You have the best insights.

And that's what makes us the most relevant financial show on television.

I proudly say, I boldly say, but I confidently say that as well.

If you would like to help us stay the most relevant, all you need do is send us your questions by email.

Gene at Ask MTM dot com and can you send them to me?

I get to review them, but our entire team is at your service.

So even if it's an investment, a tax question, an estate question, or all of those mixed together, it doesn't matter.

We're going to answer every single question back to you and help in every way that we are able to help you.

It certainly helps our audience as they learn more and it helps us stay incredibly relevant.

Thank you for spending part of your evening with us.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Hope you liked it enough that you'll want to come back next week for another edition right here.

Of more than money.