Good evening.

You've got more than money.

Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial advisor.

Happy to be with you.

Happy the opportunity to serve you.

And for the next half an hour, I'm all yours.

And hopefully you'll pick up some ideas along the way.

Maybe a pad and pen would be a good idea.

Make a couple notes that might make your financial life just a little easier.

Maybe get you a little closer to your financial goals.

Maybe bring up an idea.

Never thought about that.

That's a really, really good idea for me.

That's our goal.

And we do it all with your assistance.

We lay claim boldly so that we are the most the most relevant financial show on television today.

Any network, any time frame.

24 over seven 365.

Border to border and coast to coast.

Because.

All right.

Yes.

780 years of experience.

That's impressive.

Knowledge seemingly goes on forever.

That's impressive.

All the stuff that you would expect from a host of a financial show.

But that's not the reason.

And as much as I would love to think it is that it's simply my debonair personality, as debonair as it is, it isn't the reason.

You're the reason.

You're the reason.

You're the heart of the show.

You ask questions that are far more interesting than anything I would come up with.

And so the whole idea of having a lecture for half an hour and having you nod off, that's that's a dreadful idea, but letting you see into the lives of so many of your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, your coworkers who have trusted us by sending us their emails, and seeing how we unpacked, those those questions, often that involves investments, income taxes.

It involves cash flow.

It involves personal choices.

It involves all manner of different, components and all manner of different moving parts.

And how we unpack doesn't and then, and then rebuild them into a solution that can be very, very insightful.

If you are a loyal viewer, you already know all that.

You already know that you can send your emails to Gene at ask mtm dot com, gene at ask mtm dot com.

Obviously shorthand.

Ask more than money.

You get that Gene at ask mtm dot com.

Send us your emails.

If you're joining us for the very first time, you might be surprised to learn there's no cost, there's no obligation, there's no pressure.

You have access to a financial advisory firm that will give you the very best information that we can directly back to you, and we answer every single question.

Some of those, some of those end up on our show.

We are blessed.

We receive far more emails than we could possibly air on our PBS 39 shows.

And of course, we're now because we are, exposed through the PBS system to so many of, you know, coast to coast, border to border.

We're getting questions from all around the country.

It's a beautiful thing.

We have not yet gotten questions from either Canada or Mexico.

I think it's a tariff issue.

I'm pretty sure it's at the, Kidding.

It's got nothing to do with tariffs.

Canada, Mexico.

They have very different laws.

The investment ideas are fundamentally the same, but there's so much else that needs to be taken into consideration that I would not be privy to.

So I encourage you, if you're an American citizen, that's who we serve.

So, let us know again, Gene at ask mtm dot com.

Now before we turn to our questions for this evening in recent memory, of course, as we are airing, as we are taping this, this will not air for another week or two.

So you have the advantage over me.

You already know what's going on with the markets and investments, etc.

but as of this taping, the market has had a rather significant pullback.

Translation has dropped rather dramatically.

I want to use 10% as a simple number.

So 10% for a lot of folks.

It was very unsettling for a lot of folks, that drop was, oh my gosh.

Anxiety producing and and knee jerk reactions and making poor choices just based on fear.

And then there were other folks and, question that was asked of me just a day or so ago by someone who was very insightful, who said, okay, hang on a second.

I would like to convert, my IRA to a Roth IRA.

And prior to this decline, I would have paid tax on $100,000.

And with this decline, I can transfer.

What's the net balance?

90,000.

And my income tax bill has been cut by 10%.

That transfer that conversion goes into the Roth IRA.

And as the market rebounds now your your weeks ahead of me.

So you already know did it already or will it in the future.

I guarantee you it will if it hasn't already.

It always does.

So bottom line is that recovery is going to happen inside the Roth IRA and be tax free.

Wow.

Talk about looking at a situation and finding that silver lining to the cloud.

This individual very bright young lady figured this out, confirmed it with us, made the move, saved a substantial amount of income taxes, thousands of dollars of income taxes on a conversion she wanted to do anyway.

Pretty cool stuff.

Speaking of pretty cool stuff, let's get right to the mailbag.

Where do we start, sir?

Siblings, families in estates.

Gosh, where that title?

It's going to be interesting.

My sister and I inherited our family home.

We currently rent it out as a rent it out to a tenant.

We are both getting up there in years, aren't we?

All?

My concern is knowing what happens when one of us passes.

My sister has two children.

I have one child.

We would both want our shares.

They own at 5050.

Our shares to go to our children.

Should we sell it now?

And does that solve the estate problem?

And does it create any new problems?

Fascinating.

Very, very good.

This is far more positive than than I feared.

Brother and sister, own the home equally, it is an investment no different than if you had money in a bank account owned equally, or an investment account, or a mutual fund owned equally.

Is it possible to arrange the ownership so that when one of them passes the the their share goes directly to their own children?

The answer is absolutely yes.

Absolutely yes.

Actually quite simple, quite simple.

In the ownership, particularly of real estate.

There are a number of different ways that the ownership can be titled.

It can be a sole proprietor, a single owner, of course, but in terms of joint ownership, husband and wife is typically held in or I say husband and wife, spouses, significant others, people in a relationship often will, title their real estate joint tenants with rights of survivorship.

JT w o r o s joint tenants, right with rights of survivorship.

Translation A husband and wife, significant other, best friends, pick any relationship you wish.

We own it together.

When I die, it's hers instantaneously.

It doesn't go through the well.

It is an automatic process that would not work here.

That's not what they want.

When brother dies, sister gets it.

No, that's not what they want.

As a result, the other titling that would be much more appropriate is referred to as joint tenancy.

Joint tenancy says we each own half independently.

So, sister passes away.

Joint tenancy.

Her share of the real estate goes to whomever she names.

Likely through her will.

She names her children.

Now, after her passing, what has happened?

Two children and their uncle are now in partnership on that piece of real estate.

And as long as they're comfortable with that, tenants in common works beautifully.

It keeps everything separate.

It allows them to control their shares, to go to their families and, causes, almost no, negative issues whatsoever.

In fact, if she passes, children inherit their half of the home, that half receives a stepped up basis, meaning they're basis of that.

Half of the home is equal to the value of the home.

The day that their mom passed away.

So when the home is eventually sold, their income tax bill is going to be much smaller than their uncle's because his cost basis is a much lower cost basis.

But he passes away, it goes to his child, they get a stepped up basis.

Everybody kind of wins.

Is there a negative?

Maybe.

Depends on the state in which you find yourself.

The state in which these folks are residents.

Some states have no inheritance tax, in which case there's basically no negative whatsoever.

Some states have a pretty high inheritance tax in which case, it could be a problem because the value of their half of the home will be included in their estate, and depending on the numbers, it can get pricey and now you've got to sit with a tax professional, a CPA, an enrolled agent, a tax professional to be able to determine which best fits you.

In other cases.

Marks next.

So lots depends on where you are.

Lots depends on how it's already titled and what titling you might wish.

But is it easily solvable?

Financial advisor, trusted, experienced, attorney that understands, the, the different tendencies and and how real estate can be on can be solved rather easily.

Very little money.

Nice, sir.

That was a great start.

Where where do we go next?

Conversations and chemistry.

Okay.

Oh.

Oh.

Very good.

Simple question.

Not.

Maybe it's such a simple answer, but it's simple.

How do financial planning firms determine if an applicant will become a client?

Interesting.

How do financial advisory firms, determine if a, an individual, an applicant becomes a client?

It really does depend on the firm.

There are some extremely well known firms, extremely well known, extremely well known.

Not because they're particularly successful at their services, but but very well-known because they market they market endlessly.

One in particular.

How how do applicants become clients?

It's very simple.

They they can write a check for $1 million or more.

And they have a pulse.

It's pretty simple.

If you're upright and you have capacity and you can write a check for $1 million or more, that's their minimum.

You're in.

Piece of cake.

That firm, by the way?

Billions and billions and billions of assets.

If you are measuring the success of a firm by its sheer size, amazingly successful, the vast majority, 99% plus of their clients have never met their financial advisor.

It's all done by by phone, by mail.

Electrons, computers, they don't meet their financial advisor.

And obviously lots of folks are going, yeah, that's fine with me because they're huge.

They're absolutely huge.

Now, in my opinion.

My opinion, been doing this a long time.

It may have some value for you, in my opinion.

There is a huge advantage to our clients.

And when I say our clients, I mean clients of any financial advisory firm, coast to coast, border to border, that that believes, as I do, that there's a huge advantage to our clients of of being able to meet face to face.

And I understand it's 21st century.

Sometimes face to face is literally in the same room.

Sometimes face to face is by electrons.

We're doing it by zoom or FaceTime or any number of other, tech, operations that allow us to be together, see each other's reactions, have a conversation, without necessarily being in the same room where many, many, many companies, many successful companies have, clients in dozens of states, some even all 50, and yet they serve them very, very well, with that technology where that face to face, many advisors, in my opinion, the most successful, the most the most useful, perhaps, to our clients are offer many services well beyond investing.

The firm I mentioned to you, $1 million and the pulse.

That's it.

That's all you have to do?

They only offer investment advice.

There's very little, beyond that scope that they may bring to the table as opposed to many, many thousands, literally thousands of high quality, investment advisors who also have context to provide services, partnerships, perhaps, or within, under their own roof in areas of estate planning, income tax planning, a huge Social security, decision making, huge Medicare for canceling huge life insurance, long term care insurance, reverse mortgages.

The list of of of ancillary services that financial advisors can and often do provide is exceptional.

And in my opinion, again, that's, that's that's a relationship.

So let's go back to the original question.

How does an applicant become how does a financial advisor determine an applicant becomes a client?

In most cases, the word chemistry really is important.

It's a fit.

It's a fit.

In our more than money world headquarters, if you were in this position of, hey, I'm thinking maybe I'd like to become a client.

Hey, the advisor gone.

Hey, I'm thinking maybe I'd like to be your advisor.

The question of chemistry becomes paramount.

It is the highest question that needs to be answered in that conversation.

And and chemistry is in our world, measured by a fairly simple litmus test.

And the litmus test is having met you, could I see myself being your financial advisor for the next 20 or 30 years?

Could I see us working together?

We see it as a partnership, working together, clients and advisors as a team.

Could I see us working together?

Pleasantly.

Gratefully.

Successfully.

With, with great joy for 20 or 30 years.

The answer is yes.

You're in.

It's just that simple.

If the answer is, I wasn't that happy spending 20 minutes with you.

I don't want to spend 20 years.

That's crazy.

And for those of you who have ever gone through dating, you know exactly what I mean.

20 minutes was plenty.

And bottom line is, most quality financial advisors that are worthy of your trust are looking at exactly that same thing long term relationship, good chemistry, maybe shared values, that ability to, to communicate critical communicate in a very effective way that's hard to determine.

Hopefully it helps a little bit and maybe gives you a little bit of a framework when you're talking to financial advisors of what are you thinking?

Keep in mind, if you're the applicant, you are doing a job interview.

You're interviewing a financial advisor to see if you want to.

If you wish to employ him or her as your personal financial advisor for hopefully decades to come, you're in the driver's seat.

You make the decision.

Let's decide to talk to somebody else or talk about somebody else's question.

What's our next question?

Yeah, it's far at 28.

How much of my gross income should I save if I also have a pension?

Wow.

As the father of three daughters, this young lady would fall right in the mix of, my daughters ages.

This is a great question.

And and, gosh, you don't.

You just love when you meet young ones that have.

And I get for some of you, you're going to age that a young.

Yeah it is everything's relative I get that.

And in this case for me young.

But isn't it wonderful when you meet young people who are very thoughtful, insightful?

They have they have, plans.

They have dreams.

They have goals, and they're willing to ask questions, and they.

And they want good advice.

It's it just gives me such hope for the future, I think.

I think our country is in fabulous shape.

I must confess, the young people in our country get such a bad rap.

There are folks that go on, on, on, on television shows and say silly stuff like, next generation, they don't want to work.

You haven't met enough.

There's tons of young folks who are working very hard, very smart, very capable.

This is one of them.

So let's talk about this in general.

How much should a 28 year old individual save if they also have a company pension?

Well, let me give you a rule of thumb that's been around for, millennium.

Millennium?

But for thousands of years, 10%.

It's been around and it's out literally thousands of years.

If you are able to save 10% of your income, for the entirety of your working life, your retirement will be golden.

It is not a 100% guarantee, but it's a 99.99.

Those are really good odds, way better than the casino.

So 10% has been the rule of thumb forever.

When I am asked to train young people how to, address their finances, how to address, how how to handle money, how to manage money, particularly young eight, nine, ten, 11 years old, where they're starting with relatively small dollars.

Let's say they're 12 years old.

They get ten bucks a week in allowance.

Ten bucks.

Well, years ago that.

No, there would have, bottom line, ten bucks.

What should they do with it?

Well, you know, they want to spend it.

Of course, their kids.

But with a little guidance, they can be taught a far different strategy, a far different approach for a different philosophy.

And here's what I would do.

10% off the top goes to charity.

Can be the church.

It can be, it can be PBS 39.

It can be, any nonprofit that they care about.

That that is, intended to make the world a better place.

Some folks called tithing.

That's fine.

It could be the church.

Could be.

It doesn't have to be.

And I would strongly encourage parents, if you're going to use this approach.

Let the let the child decide.

Hey, I'm in Boy Scouts.

I'd like to give it to the Boy Scouts.

Great.

Hey.

I'm in.

Whatever.

And I'd like to help them.

Fantastic.

Off the top $0.10.

Gone.

In this case, we're using $10.

A dollar is going say it's only a dollar.

It's a start to start.

A dollar goes into savings.

Savings for.

Hey, someday I'd like to buy.

Oh, that's cool.

I don't have enough money now, but someday I'd like to buy.

Fill in the blanks.

A bike or a car?

Yeah.

Fill in the blanks.

Whatever is important to that young person.

A dollar goes into savings.

And then finally not filing.

My apologies.

Step three.

$1 goes into investments.

Was, very common years ago for, folks to buy one share of Disney stock for a baby, and that was a start.

And in this case, what we're saying is a dollar going into investments, is it possible to start investments with a dollar?

Sure, absolutely.

So we've got $10, 10%.

A dollar goes to charity.

10%.

A dollar goes into savings for future purposes.

And a dollar investing is fantastic.

What about the other 70, 70%?

Seven bucks.

Spend it, enjoy it, enjoy it.

Knowing that you have confidently created a system where you will be remarkably successful on your finances, your financial future is going to be remarkably bright if we turn our attention to this young lady.

The same approach makes a great deal of sense.

She's asking specifically about savings 10% for your future, 10% for your future.

She should also prayerfully do 10% for charity.

Of course, 10% for savings at 28.

Maybe she owns her house, maybe she doesn't.

But she certainly wants to sow 10% of her income.

She's making 50 grand a year.

5000 goes out to charity, 5000 goes to saving for something important.

5000 goes into her retirement savings.

That's how much I would guide her to, to invest.

Now some of you are saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, you missed the part about she has a pension.

No, I didn't, didn't didn't.

Not only did I not miss it, I am largely looking at her pension as I'm maybe maybe the cherry on this Sunday, but not the Sunday.

Maybe a little bit of icing on the cake, but not the cake.

And why would I say that?

For half a dozen reasons.

Number one, you can never save too much for your time.

I've never had a client say I saved too much.

I I'm in retirement.

I got way too much money.

What am I going to do with all this money?

Never had to happen.

I've had lots of folks with generosity give away a lot of their retirement, but never, never complain.

Gosh, I saved too much.

Number two.

Pensions, are in today's financial world, unreliable.

Companies, can promise a pension to someone who's 28 for a pension that will not be payable for approximately 40 years.

Will she collect that pension?

Will that company still be there?

Will those funds be available?

The answer is maybe, maybe not.

And lastly, of course, at 28, what are the odds that she stays with this company and earns a substantial pension 40 years from now?

In today's world, the odds are I'm I'm guessing now 10% seems to be my number for this discussion.

Less than 10%.

What we see today, what we saw in my generation, which was you get a job and you don't want to move around a lot because it shows you're not very reliable.

And today could not be further from the truth.

We see lots of young people at 28 that have already had three jobs.

I was there for two years.

I was there for a year and a half.

I was there for four years, and here I am.

And that's not a negative.

So the odds that she's there long enough to create a substantial pension are very, very small.

And the odds that she needs, she needs to to fund her own retirement, rely upon herself are very, very high.

And one more little just for fun.

Hopefully she's participating in the 401K where she works 10% going into the 401K, and hopefully that company is matching some piece of that would not be unusual if they match dollar for dollar up to about 4%.

So she's putting in ten.

She's automatically getting a 40% 40% instantaneous guaranteed return on her investment.

Where in the world would you go to get that kind of return?

Only in this situation that we're just describing 10% of her money, 4% of the company money, actually 14% of her payroll going into her future.

That's fantastic.

And if the pension is still there and as she still there with the company, all the better.

Great question.

Young people.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much for spending part of your evening with us.

If you have questions for us, we would love to entertain those.

I'd love to answer those back to you.

Send those to me.

Gene at ask mtm dot com.

We have an entire team that will answer your questions back to you.

You can add as much detail as you wish.

Sometimes that really helps to narrow down the, the recommendations that we might make to you and maybe, just maybe, on a future edition of More Than Money, you'll see your question asked and answered.

Again, thank you for spending part of your evening with us.

Hopefully you want to come back next week for another edition right here of more than money.

Good night.