And good evening.

You've got more than money.

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

For the next half an hour I'm at your service.

And interestingly enough, that's the way every single show works.

We are at your service.

We are here to improve and hopefully improve the quality of the financial decisions that you make that are most important to your life.

So while many financial shows are out there, in essence giving half hour lectures tonight, we'll talk about the tax code.

Tonight, something dreary, something.

Please.

Jeez, Don't operate heavy equipment while you're listening.

It’s that bad.

It’s that just boring.

We don't do that.

We are the most relevant financial show on television today.

Bar none.

Because we take your questions.

We focus on what's important to you, and we answer them to the best of our ability.

And, gosh, 780 years of experience.

On occasion, on occasion, I get stumped.

That's not a bad thing.

If I get stumped, I can I can call on my team.

I've got a wonderful team and they do some deep research and and I trundle on back and and say, here's the question I couldn't answer.

But now, of course, in most cases, this kind of experience, I can answer your questions in ways that are focused on you, on what's important to you.

The term fiduciary is in there.

If you're not sure exactly how that appears in your financial life, either you do that whole Google thing, the, you know, the magic answers in that little rectangle or send me an email.

I'll be glad to explain it to you.

So whether you're planning retirement, worrying about Social Security or Medicare, whether you're looking at your estate and saying, we have got to get our wills set up, we might need a trust, we might have a special needs child, maybe we have young children and we don't have nearly as as large an estate as we need.

Maybe life insurance is the key.

It could be how to start a business, how to run a business, how to liquidate a business.

All these topics are absolutely fair game.

If you wish to join us by sending me an email Gene at ask MTM dot com.

Every single email is answered back by my More Than Money team.

No charge whatsoever.

We try to give you as much information as we can and many of you will end up coming to our More Than Money world headquarters and getting a one on one consultation again at no charge to answer the questions that are most important to you.

And we'll take a handful of those.

And each week we'll try to answer as many of those as we can to give everybody a sense of what is most valuable, most interesting, most of most concern for your your family, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues at work.

These are the questions they're asking, maybe the questions you're asking as well.

Megan, let's show them exactly how this works.

How do we start this evening's questions?

Well, I don't know how popular of an issue this first question is, but I think it'll be fun for you to answer.

It says, My wife and I are fighting over money, actually, a wedding, to be exact.

She wants us and our daughter to fly across the country to attend her cousin's destination wedding.

I can take time off of work, but I do not want to spend $5,000 on this trip.

I make a very good living compared to her and just bought a very expensive new car.

I also spend a good amount of disposable income on my activities.

I do pay a lot more than my wife toward our living expenses, though I told her she can use her savings to fund this trip and I will happily attend.

She says I am rubbing it in her face that I make more money than her, and $5,000 is no big deal to me.

But hey, $5,000 is $5,000.

This cousin didn't fly in to attend our wedding and only sent a modest gift.

I met him maybe three times during our five year marriage.

And I'm wondering, am I being selfish?

Selfish?

Sure.

Yeah.

Stupid.

It's not an either or.

It's a both arrogant, self-centered, shortsighted goodness.

I could go on and on, but it's just going to get worse.

So you probably don't want me to.

So let's just pump our brakes here a little bit and see if we can get a better sense of what's really going on here.

Your immaturity is on full display.

The fact that your wife is patient enough with you to this point to give you these options.

The option to to stand up, be a real man, be a husband, be a dad.

Take the opportunity.

Five grands.

No, a five grand is five grand.

Oh, you're a moron.

The fact is, she is giving you an opportunity.

Forget that it's your cousin's wedding.

And who cares what they sent you?

Because after all, you make such a good living and you have such a great car and you just spent so much money on your house, it wouldn't matter what the cousin sent you.

It wouldn't be.

It wouldn't be.

Wouldn't move the needle because you've already got so much money.

You're amazing.

Your wife is giving you an opportunity to stand up, be a man, be a husband, be a father.

And for a very small amount of money.

Demonstrate your commitment to her, your love for her, your love for your daughter to use.

And if I were in exactly the same situation, I'm thinking, Cousin, I don't even care.

I don't care if it's a destination wedding.

In all probability, it's a pretty nice destination.

It's not the wedding I'm going for.

I'm going for my wife.

I'm going for my daughter.

It is a chance.

It's an opportunity for you to step back for a second.

Get your head out of the clouds, and start doing what A father, a husband, a real man does.

And that's demonstrate not just to his wife, that he cares for her and loves her, but to his daughter.

How a husband treats a wife.

And if you are willing to do that, I pray you are.

I pray you are.

I get it.

I've been snarky at the highest level.

That's about as snarky as I can get and still stay clear of the FCC.

Bottom line is, no, I'm not impressed with you at the moment, but I pray for you, not for you.

Huh?

Your wife and your daughter.

I pray that something that I said will cause you to go.

Wait a second.

I got to rethink this.

I've been thinking about it in the wrong way.

It's not the money.

It's not the wedding.

It's my wife and my daughter.

And the opportunity for you to spend a wonderful trip with your wife and daughter for next to no money is.

It's a gift.

And I guarantee you, I have three daughters of my own.

They are grown.

And it happened in a blink.

And would I go back to the point where they were five years old and seven years old and just be thrilled to spend time with them?

Absolutely.

Because now time's not something that we have an unlimited amount of.

So I'm I'm prayerful again that I am convincing you on some level that this is your opportunity and these opportunities don't come along endlessly, take advantage.

So grow up, become mature in your relationship and do the right thing.

Goodness, Megan, not another one.

Not two snarky ones in a row, please.

I wouldn't do that to you.

I don't think you could handle it.

I don't think the viewers can handle it.

Good point.

Okay.

Our next question says, I love your show and your style of presentation.

I look forward to tuning in every week.

In the past, I know that you have covered the issue of joint bank accounts or a POD account in this case for a mother daughter.

So I would just like to be sure.

For checking savings and CD accounts.

Any bank or credit union.

In terms of minimizing the payment of taxes.

Inheritance or estate taxes.

State or federal?

Is it better to have a joint account or for a parent to name the son or daughter as a beneficiary to the account?

Just want to be sure on this issue.

Thank you to you and your great staff.

Well, you're very welcome.

And you're asking a very intelligent question.

It seems like they're very similar and in some cases, in some ways they are.

But but they operate very differently.

Joint ownership.

Mother, daughter, mom has an account, $50,000.

She puts her daughter on the account as a joint owner.

Legally, she made a gift of $25,000 to her daughter.

That's legally what has happened.

So at that moment, mom now has a $25,000 account.

Daughter has a $25,000 account.

They are in the same account.

Same account number.

Nothing has changed, but legally, it has changed a great deal so that at mom's passing the estate taxes in particular are reduced because half of that account is not in mom's estate.

She doesn't own it.

The daughter owns it.

So on that account, $50,000 mom passes away.

The estate inventory will show that account is valued at $25,000.

So in the state of Pennsylvania, mother to daughter, four and a half percent, you will say four and a half percent is $25,000.

Roughly a thousand bucks, a very worthy.

POD, payable on death, or transfer on death or in trust for these all operate exactly the same thing.

Same way mom says, payable on death, daughter.

At mom's passing, the entire account is in her estate.

She has given away nothing.

She has made the daughter's life a little easier because the transfer from mother to daughter with a payable on death is instantaneous.

Mother passes away.

That account is automatically the daughter's.

She simply shows up at the bank with a death certificate certifying it.

Mom has passed.

It's her money.

It does not go through the will, does not go through probate.

There's no delays.

There's no legal fees, yadda, yadda.

It is still included in mom's estate, which is why those taxes are higher.

But she has made her daughter's life a little easier.

So both of these have positive attributes.

In the first gosh, we saved some money in the second.

Gosh, we've made life a little easier.

It really does depend on what mom is attempting to do.

They also have some drawbacks.

Obviously, if you're using payable on death, there's higher taxes.

If you're using the joint tenancy.

It sounds like while that's a really good deal, it is right up to the point where there's a wrinkle.

If the daughter has a financial wrinkle, a divorce, a bankruptcy, a lawsuit, those could all attach to her $25,000 interest in mom's account.

And that could go away.

The odds are relatively small.

Mom has to make that assessment, that judgment, based on what she knows about her daughter.

But, gosh, some things come out of the blue, very solid, smart, intelligent and terrific people have been sued or have gone through a divorce.

So it may come out of the blue, but given the facts, the pros and cons make the decision that's best for you.

But from your questions tax standpoint, joint ownership is better than payable on death.

Excellent.

Very, very good.

Megan, maybe I can help another person.

I'm sure you can.

We have another parent child question.

It says, My husband handled all of our finances before he passed last August.

My son has been helping me since then and has been a life saver.

He is, though, moving to Texas and is worried about being too far away to really help me.

He wants to find a financial advisor for me to help.

At 63, I know I should be more aware, but this point, this part of our lives was always taken care of for me.

I don't even know what questions to ask a financial advisor when I have a meeting.

Your help would be really appreciated.

Thank you.

Well, first of all, gosh, our condolences.

A very, very difficult, very challenging.

And you're very, very young to have lost your spouse.

So.

Goodness.

So let's start with some reassurance.

Your son is moving to Texas.

Good on him.

Hopefully that's for all the right reasons.

And he's just not in witness protection or some other kind of weird thing like that.

Hopefully it's all good because he's in Texas.

It doesn't mean that he needs to be divorced from still being your your guide, your assistant, your your second set of eyes and ears.

Technology being what it is.

If I were presented with this exact scenario and our More Than Money world headquarters here, here in Pennsylvania, and your son is in Texas and and you're still a little nervous, a little anxious about making good decisions, and you want that support system with you.

Goodness.

We jump in the conference room, we click on the big screen.

We we connect with a Zoom call to your son.

All three of us, in essence, are in the room.

As a matter of fact, our screens are so big, he'll be bigger than life size.

Like his head will be like that big.

It will be impressive.

And you still have his support.

And I need you to hear this as well.

He still has peace of mind.

He is not abandoning his mom.

He has been there for you.

He wants to be there for you.

Geography in this case has almost nothing to do with it.

So goodness.

Don't feel like I hope he doesn't feel like he's abandoning you.

Don't feel like he is abandoning you or that this in some way, shape or form has to fracture that assistance that he's been providing.

It can work out beautifully.

Now, finding the right adviser, that's really important.

It's really important.

And it's not necessary.

Silly, easy.

I will tell you that in my experience, 780 years of experience, about 85% of the advisors I meet are really good folks, really bright, really committed.

They want to do the right thing.

About 5% are criminals.

They're just flat out criminals.

They should be in jail.

And lots of them are.

And 10%, they want to do the right thing.

They're just not that bright.

So you've got a really good probability that you're going to find, especially if you interview two or three different advisers, that you're going to find somebody that not only gives you comfort, they know their stuff, they answer all the right questions.

But but you connect with the chemistry is good.

You should be thinking as you're interviewing these financial advisers.

Two things.

Two things should jump out at you at the end of a a an interview.

Number one, is this the kind of person that I would want to spend regular time with until I die?

You're 63.

Let's say your life expectancy is 90.

That's 27 years.

It is very possible.

We have financial advisors in our office and in their twenties, thirties, forties.

It's very possible if you pick the right advisor where the chemistry is really good, you will be with that advisor until the good Lord calls you home.

So that use your intuition, use your, your, your, your intuitive sense of does does this make sense?

Does this fit?

Do I feel good chemistry?

And secondly, it's it's not terribly important what questions you ask of your financial advisor.

Lots of information you can find out on the on the web pretty easy that that's not a problem.

The real interesting part, the part you should pay attention to is how many questions your advisor is asking.

It is a a almost axiomatic in our industry that folks who are either incompetent, misled, not very well trained or criminal do all the talking.

They want to tell you how important they are, how how great they are, how amazing what, how.

And you should be impressed.

They are.

Did you see my Rolls Royce out front?

Did you see the gold plated toilet paper roll that we have in the bathroom?

We are impressive.

And they talk and talk and talk.

The adviser that you're looking for is the one that listens.

Listens, listens.

So they will ask a question, and then they will listen carefully.

And oh, by the way, as a as a corollary to the listening part.

If your financial adviser does not have one of these in front of them, it's called a yellow pad.

If if your financial adviser is not taking notes, that's not the right adviser for you.

Because any financial adviser that thinks that through a 45 minute to an hour meeting, they can remember all the important details of a prospective client’s situation.

Criminal, incompetent, poorly trained.

Pretty simple.

So pay attention to how much they talk and how much they listen.

How much note taking they make.

And whether you get the sense that, yes, I'd be willing to spend a significant amount of time or until the good Lord calls me home with this individual.

If you find those things, that's the person for you.

And again, include your son.

Always, always, always.

Until you get to the point three or four years down the road, where are you going?

I got this because you're going to learn a ton.

You're going to be fine.

Good financial adviser will make sure of that.

How do we make sure, Megs, that the next folks these next folks are fine as well?

Well, let's find out.

This is a very hopeful, exciting question, I think.

It says my husband and I are both 28.

We both have good jobs and are doing pretty well.

We'd like to start our family soon and don't know how to get ready on the money side.

What do you recommend that we do?

Thanks.

Well, congratulations.

That's fantastic.

Very exciting indeed.

You're absolutely right, Megs.

28.

They want to start a family.

Good jobs.

Where do they start?

Financially?

Okay.

I think the first place you start is.

Is not going to be the most fun, but it's going to be very, very important.

And that's identifying.

Are you sitting down?

It's a nasty word.

Your budget.

What do you need?

What do you need to spend to be happy?

Be healthy and be Have all your bills paid.

So obviously, if you own a home, it's your mortgage.

If you're renting it, your rent, it's your insurance, is it your car payments?

It's your energy costs that you're utility costs, etc., etc.. Be as detailed as you possibly can.

But keep in mind, what do you need?

Not what do I wish?

If I had my if if this were Disney World and I and all my wishes came true, what would they be?

No, that's not what we're asking.

What do you need?

So that bills are paid?

I'm happy.

I'm healthy.

Once you've identified that number, you need to focus as much as you possibly can on living on one of your incomes.

So I'm picking the number.

You each have good jobs.

You're making 75.

He's making 75.

Ideally, ideally, your constructed budget will be about 75,000 bucks a year.

And ideally very soon.

Like a week from now, you're going to start living on 75,000 bucks.

Now, you haven't been doing that up to now.

I understand that.

Up to now, somebody says Destination wedding.

It's going to cost six grand.

Let's go.

Hey, that car.

You know, I'm kind of tired of it.

It's almost two years old.

Maybe I'll get a new one.

Okay.

Hey, we want to go out Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night.

And we're going to buy dinners and we're going to have some drinks and we're going to spend 500 bucks this weekend.

Okay?

Up till now.

But now your priorities have changed.

Now your life has changed.

You wished to be parents and part of being a parent is investing your energy, your life force, your your excitement, your heart in your children, not in the anxiety of we keep running up credit card bills.

So having that budget squared away and then to the extent possible, to the greatest extent possible, living on one income will do two very positive things.

Number one, it will train you to live on your budget.

And number two, it will allow you to save a tremendous amount of money.

In my example, if it's 75, 75 net after tax, it might be 50 55,000.

If you wait one year, you're going to have a bank account with 50,000 bucks in it and you will have trained yourself to live on one income.

I think those are the two most important things.

As soon as your family starts, there are two other very important things.

I'll just mention them in passing at this moment.

Circle back when.

Where did that blessed occurrence happens?

Having a will drawn up is critical to protect the child and having life insurance.

Probably millions of dollars of life insurance, inexpensive term insurance.

But millions of dollars is going to be in your future.

But start with the budget.

Start by living on one income.

You're going to you're going to do great.

Megs, Can we do great for one more person?

Sure.

This is another kind of budget question.

It says, My wife and I have been retired for a few years.

We have a well-diversified portfolio and no debt.

We are on a fixed income with a pension and Social Security.

We have established a monthly budget and we track our monthly expenses as well.

And so at the end of each year we can pretty easily project our annual expenses for the following year.

My question relates to how much cash people in our situation should keep on hand in an emergency fund.

I've read various suggestions of anywhere between six months and two years so that you can avoid selling assets during a market downturn.

My wife and I very much enjoy your show and would really appreciate your advice.

Well, you're very kind.

Thank you for sharing your question.

This is interesting and it's interesting for at least two reasons.

Number one, the textbooks are very clear.

I've been studying these textbooks since they were written in parchment 780 years ago.

You know, quill pen stuff it was really cool.

Bottom line is a six month emergency fund was originally established for working people.

And the idea was, Here's my budget.

I need three grand a month to pay my bills.

Be happy, be healthy.

What if I lose my job?

If I have six months of $3,000?

I've got $18,000.

I've got less pressure on me.

I can go look for another job without anxiety and without risking.

I'm going to lose my house.

I'm going to lose my car.

It's not going to happen.

As we got older, the as as an individual gets older, the emergency fund changes.

In this sense, yes, you could lose your job in today's economy.

If you lose your job, you should likely have three job offers before tomorrow afternoon.

That's how many jobs are out there currently available.

So without a doubt, that's not the big deal.

The big deal is what if you lose your health?

What if the roof blows off?

What if the car breaks down?

These are things that are very expensive and can jar your budget and cause credit card balances to go up and get you into a real pickle.

So as we grew older, we started adding more money to the emergency fund for two reasons.

One, to cover those bigger expenses.

And two, for peace of mind.

Well, I got 30 grand in the bank.

I don't need 30 grand to in case I lose my job.

But for the car, for my health, for whatever may happen, the kids may need something.

Yes.

I feel good about that.

That's a great reason to have it in retirement.

We've now peaked and now we're going the other way.

You have guaranteed income with pension and Social Security.

That should cover all, if not all, the bulk of your expenses, whether you're having an emergency fund or not.

But what you do have is a desire fund.

We desire next year to travel someplace, and it's going to cost ten grand, I desire in two years to replace our car.

I'd like to put 20,000 down.

I'd like to start having that saved up in my in my fund as well.

So six months to two years, if you pick a sweet spot of 12 months of your expenses, I think you're in good shape.

But add to that any expenses, any major improvements, any desires that you have that you expect that you will spend that money in the next two years.

So just add that in.

That should give you a nice round number and a good guideline.

I hope that helped.

Speaking of help, I hope the entire show helped.

I hope you there were a couple ideas in there.

I get I started out pretty snarky.

My apologies.

No, I don't.

I hope you were snarky as well when you heard that same email.

But bottom line is, I hope you picked up some ideas that were valuable to you.

And if you have a different question, a more specific question for you, send it to us.

Gene at ask MTM dot com.

They come to me.

Our team responds back to you every single question.

No, no worries whatsoever.

Again, thank you so much for spending part of your time.

I hope you enjoyed it enough that you'll return next week with another edition with me.

Of More Than Money.