And good evening.

You've got More Than Money.

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

Within the next half an hour, I'm at your service and I'm very happy to be so.

You are the reason that we are the most relevant financial show on television today without of Doubt because you set the agenda.

The questions that you send is far more interesting than anything I would come up with and fascinating fresh, interesting, always with a wrinkle because it's what's important to you.

If you're joining us for the very first time and you're wondering, well, exactly how does that work?

We receive your emails.

You send emails to us, Gene at ask MTM dot com and we process those.

Every single email gets responded back to by our team.

We have a complete more than money team.

Lots of advisors, lots of folks, lots of partners, lots of experts that can hone in on almost any answer.

Sometimes you throw us curveballs, but we almost always get to the to the end result that you you need to be best served.

So if you have a question, if you have a concern, if you have an observation that you'd like to share, please send that along and we'll be happy to to respond to you.

And perhaps just perhaps on a future show, you'll end up seeing your question posed by Megan to Jean and see your answer live on air as well.

So let's get right to it and let's have our financial correspondent Megan set the agenda.

Where do we start this evening?

Hygiene.

Our first email tonight says, I spoke with my financial advisor about doing a Roth conversion.

He said that since I was in a high tax bracket, doing the conversion didn't make sense.

My wife and I are both 64, expect to work about four more years and have saved more than either of us ever expected to see.

We think starting to convert now and continuing over the next nine years makes good sense.

But what do you think, Gene?

Okay, Interesting, interesting, interesting.

High tax bracket.

High tax bracket is a very relative topic because what we would consider a high tax bracket today would have been considered a very low tax bracket a thousand years ago.

When I started as a financial adviser, there was a time before my time when tax brackets were as high as 90%.

So when we're talking about 20, 25, 30%, as high end, it is it's it's unconscionably high, way more money than the federal government needs.

If it was spent wisely, if you catch my drift.

Bottom line is maybe in the future tax brackets will be much higher and tax free income that might come from a Roth IRA in the future, many years in the future might be very valuable indeed.

I like the way you're thinking.

The knee jerk reaction of your financial advisor is one that we see fairly often.

Roth conversions.

Either it's a good idea or not a good idea, depending on tax brackets, that's not the case.

There are many other factors to consider.

Age, for example, you are of an age where you will not need.

You will not be required to take RMDs required minimum distributions from your IRAs for another nine years.

That's a very long period of time.

I should do that very long period of time that you can carve away pieces of your current IRA, reduce your balances in your current IRA, thereby in nine years reduce your required minimum distributions and thereby your income taxes, perhaps starting at 73, perhaps for another 27 years.

If you're following my trend, happy, healthy hundred as your goal.

27 years of much lower taxes, 27 years of a Roth balance has been growing for nine years and will continue to grow until you access it.

And when you do access, it will be tax free.

So I like the way you're thinking.

You might work with a financial advisor or a tax advisor.

If you have a professional tax preparer that can give you a sense of what your kind of your limitations may be.

How much should you convert, how much tax should you expect, and goodness, how much pain are you willing to accept?

Very few folks are excited about paying more taxes than they absolutely are required to on a year by year basis.

But you're looking at this, I think appropriately as playing the long game and at 60 for the long game for you.

Again, follow my my lead.

36 years.

Not this year.

Not next year, 36 years.

I think you're on the right track.

I would look at it very carefully and I think you'll end up converting some of your IRAs to a Roth.

Excellent.

Well done start, Megs, where to next?

Our next question is a little lengthy.

It says first, I would like to thank you for all you do for the community.

I am unsure how to set up my estate.

My first husband and I divorced after only a few years and after just buying a house.

Since he abandoned it, I got the house and paid the mortgage myself for ten years before remarrying.

By the time my second husband and I married, I had the house and a collection of jewelry, which is now valued at over $50,000.

We have no children together.

He has one daughter and I have no children.

I have a sister and two nephews who assume they will inherit the house and jewelry.

Since we live in Pennsylvania, it is my understanding that since I owned the house before marrying my second husband and his name is not on the deed, the house would not go to him.

I want him to be able to live in it for the rest of his life.

But at his passing, go either to my family or be sold to benefit a charity.

I have not decided yet.

I am also considering requesting my jewelry collection being sold at my passing to benefit charity and want to make sure my family and his cannot take it for themselves.

How would you advise I proceed on all of this, Jean?

Well, first of all, you're very kind.

Your words are very, very kind.

Our community involvement starts with PBIS, of course, but it extends, gosh, we've established our own more than money Foundation for American Values.

We try to support our military, our first responders, children for sure, animals because of a desperately deep love that we have for animals and young entrepreneurs.

So we are very, very blessed because of you.

So thank you very, very much for acknowledging that.

But it's all because of you.

And as you are planning your estate and it sounds like a substantial portion of your estate may very well end up benefiting nonprofit its charitable organizations.

Thank you.

You're doing a great thing there.

You're extending your impact on this world beyond your own lifetime.

That is a wonderful, wonderful thing that you will do.

Now, how will you do that?

The first step that you will take and how will you do that is to make sure you're talking to that.

You're introduced to, that you're meeting with a trusted, experienced estate planning attorney.

Those three things trusted experience, estate, very, very important that they come together.

There are tons of attorneys that will tell you that they do estate plans.

And indeed, if it's a fairly simple estate, perhaps they could.

But in general, most attorneys have some form of specialization.

If they are a general interest attorney, they do some real estate, they do some estates, they do some business in general.

That's not the kind of person that we're interested in.

We're interested in somebody that focuses on estate planning and has deep experience trusted.

That's obvious.

The specialization is very, very important.

And experience, whether it's their own experience or whether they're part of a team that has deep experience either way works very, very well.

Your instinct, your intention, I should say, to provide your husband with the ability to stay in his house, in the house for his lifetime, easily done creating a life estate, very, very easily done again by a quality attorney, creating your documents, powers of attorney, medical directives, and in this case, maybe even a trust where you can set it up so that your assets go into a trust.

Your husband has a life estate in your home, and then those assets are distributed.

Or perhaps it's just the house that goes into the trust and your jewelry for example, is sold at your passing, and that's distributed.

However, you end up deciding whether it's family or charities or some combination.

Once you've established that relationship again with a trusted, experienced estate planning attorney, you will then be hopefully comfortable revisiting that document, those documents on a regular basis.

It does not have to be annually unless there's a major change in your life.

But every couple of years, very good idea.

You may find that one of your nephews falls off the radar, if you know what I mean.

And you change up your estate intentions just a little bit and the attorney takes care of that rather easily.

Or it may be that your charitable intentions change and you want to make that a more prominent piece of your distribution that can be adjusted rather easily.

Too many folks, too many folks are under the impression that once they've met with the attorney, once they've created the documents, once they've stacked them up and put them somewhere safe, there's nothing more to be done.

Well, if your life never changes, that may be true, but I've rarely met anyone whose life never changes.

It's almost always the exact opposite.

Lots of changes.

So be comfortable to work with somebody that you really respect and trust.

Have that relationship so that you can have regular reviews.

You'll do just fine and God bless you.

God bless.

Make it most excellent.

Most excellent indeed.

But gosh, and not not a surprise.

Our audience is most excellent.

Who may we serve next?

Our next question is short and sweet.

It says, I just retired and I only have 350,000 in a41k, I get 5000 per month in Social Security.

What do you think about annuities?

Thank you.

Short and sweet indeed.

Quite glad I was still put together there.

Bless.

Let's start with I only have $350,000.

Gosh, where I come from 350 way better than a sharp stick in the eye.

That's a wonderful accomplishment.

Congratulations.

You should be proud of that 5000 a month in Social Security.

My suspicion is that you're married, and that's the combination of you and your wife.

Before I would answer your question about annuities, I would ask you a question.

Can you live?

And when I say live, I mean your your bills are paid, you're happy, you're healthy on your Social Security, on your $5,000 a month.

If the answer is yes, then I am reluctant to recommend an annuity for your IRA, for your 41k, that $350,000 because the primary not the only but the primary benefit of an annuity is to create a an income stream, a cash flow stream, one that you can't outlive, one that guarantees that you will never outlive your money.

That's the primary benefit of an annuity.

There is a secondary benefit that's used quite often and that's tax deferral.

If you had a block of money, say, at age 40 that you wanted to invest long term, it's intended for retirement, but it's not an IRA, it's not a41k, it's not a retirement plan.

It's just a block of money.

And you're not excited about paying income taxes year after year after year on the investments.

A tax deferred annuity, particularly a tax deferred variable annuity, might very well be an excellent thing to consider.

That is not your situation.

Your situation is retired.

350 If you need additional income, exploring annuities makes a great deal of sense and they come in various flavors.

So you will be very wise if you sit with an investment adviser or financial advisor who's very familiar with all the various types of annuities, whether they be fixed or variable immediate income or delayed income deferred, these are lots of different pieces that you might look at and make sure that you're working with an advisor, either that adviser themselves or they have within their team access to the information, the the knowledge, the experience with all those types of annuities to see which one might fit.

If you don't need lifetime income, if that's not your number one priority, I would recommend you likely look away from annuities because annuities come with a cost.

The ability to create a guarantee of lifetime income includes an expense, an expense that you can avoid, reduce or eliminate if you simply invest your money elsewhere.

So answer that question and I can more specifically answer your question.

But considering the options and what best fits you is always a good idea because I think it's always a good idea for answer our emails as as best we can.

Let's give them another demonstration of how that works.

All right.

We'll give it our best shot.

This one says, My husband just received the new gen worth long term care renewal policy premium and I am in shock.

It went from $5400 to $14600.

Of course, they gave me several options, one of which is in order to keep the same amount 5400, there would be a reduction in benefits.

I'm wondering, is there an alternative to the situation?

Is there something else I can be doing?

My husband and I are 77 years old.

You most likely have had this question before, but I am really at a loss.

Thank you.

Well, of course you are in shock.

Of course you are.

5400 to 14600 in one year.

Many of you who are listening are going that.

That's not true.

Yes, it is.

It doesn't sound like it could even be ethical, legal, moral.

And yet this is what they're faced with at age 77 when they are approaching the high likelihood that they may actually need these long term benefits is when this company, John, worse facts are what facts are, has decided that they will price them, in essence, trying to price them into walking away, paying in, paying in, paying in, and then saying, I can't do this anymore.

And right about the time where in their life expectancy they may very well need long term care benefits to be paid out.

They no longer have the that, in essence, is what a company that has presented their client with their customer, client or customer.

Sure.

Their customer with this option.

So after we get over our initial shock anger, sure, we've got to settle down and we've got to examine what options we truly have and in doubt, undoubtedly in that letter that you received with this price increase, you received a in in essence, a matrix or a spreadsheet of here are some options that you will have excuse me, one of which will be keeping 5400 as your premium.

And yes, the benefits will be dramatically reduced.

Another is to accept the 14,200 and keep your benefits.

And there should be several in the middle where you had the option of keeping a lot more benefits for a little more money or substantially all the benefits for a lot more money.

These are options that need to be looked at very carefully on two levels.

Number one, your need for long term care.

You may very well in that exploration determine that you or your husband are in sadly poor health.

And if indeed that is the case, then paying the increase may be for only a year or so, may end up in collecting tremendous benefits because of the need.

Hopefully, prayerfully, that is not the case.

Hopefully you're in excellent health and that simply isn't part of the equation.

Now we need to look at your balance of your financial picture.

What other income streams do you have coming through the door?

Social Security, pensions, etc.

that may help to offset long term care expenses should they arise.

So, for example, if we're using a $10,000 a month as a as a target long term care expense to be covered, if you will, pick on your husband for a moment, if he has 4000 of that covered by his Social Security, maybe he has a $3,000 a month pension, we really only need to cover $3,000.

So while we may originally have looked at the long term care policy as we need the entire amount, we may not need that entire amount currently, and we may be able to make adjustments to better fit your current situation.

Another option, another alternative that you'll look at when you're sitting with an experienced long term care expert, someone that knows the ins and outs of all the companies, all the products, etc.

is maybe there's some other piece of your financial picture that can better be used to provide long term care.

There are hybrid annuity contracts that provide long term care, and maybe you have an existing annuity contract you really don't need that could be converted.

Perhaps you have money in the bank that's not terribly productive.

There are hybrid contracts where you can make a deposit.

It's not an annual premium.

It is a one time deposit where that then provide you with long term care coverage of a fashion and perhaps a death benefit of a fashion.

And if you never use it, you get to take the money back.

So there are definitely options.

Do not accept anything on that offer sheet before you have met with a trusted long term care expert and then make sure that you're looking at the bigger picture.

Look at the entirety of your financial picture to to best figure out how to work, how to dovetail long term care insurance into your plan.

If at all, if at all.

And there may very well come a decision where you say we simply don't want any, as long as you've done your homework and you've done the research and you're fully informed, that's as reasonable an answer as accepting their offer.

So lots of things to consider.

I've given you some mechanics about how to best consider them, and I've given you the encouragement that there are alternatives.

Don't feel like you're in the corner, don't feel like you're trapped.

I think you're going to you're going to find you're going to have options and maybe options that are far better than what you currently are facing.

Wow.

Had to be a shock.

Had to be difficult.

Hopefully that helps a little bit.

And of course, don't hesitate.

Reach back out to us if you need additional assistance.

Wow, Megs, can we help someone else tonight?

I think so.

This next question's pretty unique, but that's what makes our show so cool.

This one says, My ex-husband agreed to allow me to not only care for him, but also handle his financial affairs.

He has willed an antique Camaro to one daughter and a 2005 Corvette to the other.

The one daughter doesn't want the Corvette, so he sold it.

He wants to give this daughter the $20,000 proceeds.

Wondering how can he do this?

He also gives substantial birthday and Christmas gifts, which might be $5,000 a year.

He hasn't made any plans for his investments other than a will.

I'm dealing with things one time, one at a time, as they arise, but I have no experience and feel a little overwhelmed.

Can you please help me, Jean?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We can help and not only can we help kind of as a as a one time answer to your email, but we can support you as you are supporting your ex-husband.

You're a wonderfully generous person and goodness.

My hat's off to you.

You are a rare individual indeed.

I think Megan is absolutely right.

This may be unique in our questions that we've received through our more than money efforts.

Your ex has excellent instincts and has more flexibility than either he or you may be aware.

The flexible lady in terms of what he can gift is is nearly infinite.

Currently the tax law says yes, there is a quarter quote annual limitation.

Air quotes annual limitation $17,000 a year at that level or below.

You don't even file a piece of paper.

The IRS doesn't even want to know.

At 17,000 and above, you do file what's referred to as a gift tax return.

It's one page goes along with your tax return.

It's simple.

It's easy.

If you have a professional tax preparer, they might charge you an extra 20 bucks.

They might not charge you at all.

It's really that simple.

And above and beyond 17,000 a year.

Every American right now can give away as sitting down 12 million bucks.

It's actually more than 12 million.

But once you get to 12 million, let's not fuss over the details.

$12 million in addition to 17,000 bucks a year.

So can you give the 20,000 to his daughter?

Sure.

The Camaro.

Fantastic.

Now, admittedly, there are people in the audience right now that as soon as they heard we sold the Corvette, their hearts fluttered.

How could you sell a collectible Corvette?

But you did.

Bless them.

Cars are cars.

He said never.

Bottom line is, yes, these are easy things to do.

There's no tax involved.

Taking things one step at a time.

You're absolutely right.

Making sure the wills and the estate planning documents are in good order is the next best step.

But at any point that you have questions or concerns or you're feeling like I'm a little bit lost here, reach back out to us.

We are happy to help you.

We'll support you in any way that we can.

Thank you so very much for what you're doing.

Megan, do we have one more back there?

We do.

Our last question says, I just caught the end of your show.

And I have a quick question.

I just purchased 1000 shares of GNC at $7 a share.

It has an X date of October 30th and a pay date of November 9th with an announced payout of 0.12.

So does that mean I'll make $120 on November 9th?

Is it also true I can sell those shares after October 30th and still get paid the above dividend on November 9th?

I'm confused.

How can you lose with monthly payout dividends when they announce what they're going to pay and you can actually pull the money after the date, get paid the published dividend and put it somewhere else and make money on another monthly payout dividend.

Please help me clarify.

goodness.

Aren't we?

We got our hands in the honey jar right up to our elbows and it won't come off.

Doesn't that sound exciting?

Doesn't sound like a no lose.

Like you've discovered something.

It's.

It's the new miracle.

The stock market.

We buy shares.

We do?

We.

We.

We collect the dividends.

We sell them before the dividends are even paid.

But we still get the dividends.

And then we go on and take that money and put it elsewhere and do it again and again.

if that were.

If that were so.

That is not sadly how that works.

Simple example.

$100 a share.

$10 dividend.

Yes, indeed.

It is declared in advance if you own it on November 1st.

And the ex-dividend date is November 10th.

You could sell it on November 2nd and still get paid the dividend.

But here's the wrinkle that you may not have explored.

The $100 a share drops by the amount of the dividend.

So everyone knows when the dividend is coming, just as you do.

Everyone knows that 100 will be 90.

So your attempt to sell it at 100, knowing that you'll still get the dividend, it's just not going to fly.

Dividends can be a wonderful, wonderful target.

Stocks that produce higher dividends can be a wonderful investment.

It doesn't work exactly the way you were hoping.

And hopefully we've talked you out of this shell game so that you don't discover the potential losses on your own.

Speaking of discovering on your own, you don't need to discover these answers on your own.

You have more than money.

Gene Dickison is your financial advisor and our entire team at your service.

So if you send us your questions, Gene at ask MTM dot com.

We will be happy to answer all of those directly back to you.

Silly ones.

Yep.

Hard ones.

Sure.

The straightforward ones.

The head puzzler as we worry where we have to do research.

We're happy to do all that.

It cost you absolutely nothing.

And of course, you may see your email discussed on a future show.

How cool would that be?

Get to tell your friends and neighbors.

Thank you so much for being part of our show.

You are what makes us special.

And you honor is by allowing us to serve you.

We hope you allow us to do that again next week.

When we return with another episode right here of More Than Money.

Good night.