And good evening.

You've got more than money.

You've got Gene Dickison, Megan Smale.

We are here to serve you and goodness, you have served us so very well.

It's only fair that we do exactly that.

You serve us every single week by sending us your questions, your emails, your observations that we may then use those to maintain our status as the most relevant financial show on television today through our PBS systems, we're being aired coast to coast and border to border.

And you send us the most interesting questions.

You are literally setting the agenda, so you give us that edge.

Other financial shows are trying to figure out what should we talk about tonight?

I never have to worry about that because you send us very, very interesting questions indeed.

Before we go to a specific question, I want to share with you that we are getting a fairly common question, a fairly consistent question, and it goes something like, Aren't these the craziest investment times you've ever seen?

And the answer is not by a long shot.

And as much as we may look around this globe and say, it's crazy what's going on.

Things are in some ways out of control.

That is absolutely true.

That is absolutely true of the conflicts that are around the globe, the ups and downs of the market, interest rates, presidential elections, the list goes on and on of things that are in some cases mind boggling, but craziest ever.

Please.

That's that doesn't even make sense as we think back to just a little bit of our history, some of the times that we have gone through.

And you don't have to think back very far in 2008 when the market dropped over 50%, or if you are a little more mature and you remember 1987 where on Black Monday the market dropped 30% in one day.

If that were to happen today, the Dow, which is currently trading as we are recording this show around 44,000, that means that today the stock market would drop somewhere around 14,000 points.

That's crazy.

That's crazy.

And yet, keep in mind, 1987, that happened in relatively speaking.

And within a year, it had recovered the entire amount.

So crazy.

Crazy is not always bad.

Crazy is certainly not always good.

So we have to make sure that whatever plans we're making as as I refer to them as evergreen, they are appropriate no matter what happens.

And that that takes a little skill.

Speaking of all skill makers, what skills can we apply to our first question tonight?

Well, first off, tonight we actually just have a report that we want to share with our viewers.

It says scams targeting individuals 60 and older caused over 3.4 billion in losses last year.

That's up from 11% from 2022, according to the FBI.

Remind your loved ones about online scams and fraudsters claiming to work for the IRS, Social Security and Medicare.

Common schemes include romance, scam romance scams, tech support scams, and sweepstakes winner scams.

Be careful and be alert.

Thoughts, Gene?

It is getting worse.

It is not getting better.

The fraudsters are getting more skilled.

I recently saw a social Security scam email that looked so legitimate, so incredibly appropriate.

All the right logos, everything that in less.

I had been trained to identify where that was coming from by its by its email signature.

I would have bought it.

I would have bought it resell shortly.

These are major scams.

The romance scams break my heart.

They prey on people who are older and alone and lonely.

And gosh, in many ways, sadly, they are the most vulnerable.

Those are everywhere.

The tech support scams.

We recently had a client nearly fall prey to that was contacted by his bank who said there had been a hack and they needed to have him reenter all of his verified verifying information.

And he got about halfway through it and went, I better ask somebody.

And when he called the bank, they said it's a scam on a much smaller scale.

But apparently very pervasive is what's known as the easy pass scam.

And I confess, most recently we received a letter.

We've been easy pass customers for decades.

Love that that that that technology it's fantastic.

Hey we understand that you miss the next hit and you owe 11 bucks.

And my wife said so you missed an exit.

No, I didn't.

But they say you did.

It's only 11 bucks.

I guess I'll just pay it.

And the very next day, we were alerted to the easy pass scam.

You have an easy pass account.

If you are told that you owe money, go to your E-Z Pass account.

It will tell you whether you do or don't.

In this case, we did not.

But it would have a simple thing to do.

And what's more devastating is that you just want to take care of it.

So you go to the letter, you follow the instructions, and you give them your credit card information, and then the world just spins.

Be very, very cautious.

And for those of you who have parents or grandparents that are maybe not as aware.

Support them, inform them, make sure that you're helping in every way you can to avoid these kinds of scams.

Megs, good alert.

Very good alert.

Now, a question.

I actually have a situation that I was into.

I got an email from the host of my website and it was saying that I was missing a payment and my website was going to get shut down and click here to pay right now.

And they emailed me probably five times.

But the email address was a bunch of letters like it was not a legit email from the hosting company.

And I went into my account and it was like, Your payment is not due till February.

And I was like, That's what I thought.

So excellent.

Yes.

Good catch.

Thanks.

Our question for to start off the show says Long time viewer, first time emailer.

I love your show.

It's become must watch TV for me.

I'm a 74 year old Pennsylvania resident.

I have no children and I'm not married.

My retirement income is 180,000, which is more than adequate to cover my lifestyle.

My home is worth about $600,000.

I have no debt.

I have a 325,000 and a brokerage account that I consider my emergency fund to cover future health care home care needs.

I set up an irrevocable trust that will provide financial support to my niece and her husband and educational support for her two very intelligent children.

I have about 780,000 in an IRA and 900,000 in my Roth.

The irrevocable trust is the beneficiary for both.

For the past 13 years, I've been doing Roth conversions.

I'm a Triple H club member, but nevertheless, I am wondering if it makes financial sense to continue annual conversions based on what I think I know about Pennsylvania inheritance taxes.

My estate will be facing a big tax bill that may require taking some money out of the Roth to pay the tax man.

It seems to defeat the logic of doing the conversions in the first place.

Gene, my questions are first, should I continue doing annual conversions?

And second, what might I do with my assets not in the trust to reduce the eventual inheritance tax?

Thank you for your thoughts.

This is an excellent set of questions.

It's got a lot of moving parts to it, so I'll walk through it as best I can.

And state inheritance taxes are a challenge.

There is no question about that.

Every state is different.

So if you're viewing our show in Pennsylvania, this discussion is going to be particularly appropriate.

If on the other hand, you simply cross the river, the Delaware River, into to the east, into New Jersey, this will not because New Jersey in general has no inherent state inheritance tax.

Florida has none as well.

So if you are in a state without one, you can sit back and relax.

Maybe.

But I'm sure you know somebody who's in a state that does have inheritance taxes and that this will apply to individual has done very, very well of course, he has held on to well more than $2 million and is very generous in terms of his intent to provide for his niece, her family, and two very intelligent children.

That's fantastic that that that speaks well of him and the family right there.

You should continue making Roth conversions for as long into the future as you possibly can.

This gentleman is 74.

He references the Triple H Club.

If you are a relatively recent viewer, you may not be aware that we do indeed have a club.

We we don't have any secret decoder rings or even any dues, but you may join voluntarily if you wish to reach the age of 100 as happy, healthy, 100, triple H, happy, healthy.

No sense getting there, being decrepit, Don.

We're going to be active, happy and healthy.

He intends to be there, but he recognizes that if everything were to come to fruition today, that because these are not direct descendants, the taxes are going to be pretty substantial, a quarter of $1,000,000 quite easily.

There's a couple of ideas that I would ask him to consider.

First, to eliminate the issue completely and have literally no more angst about it.

Explore the use of a life insurance policy that you don't need the life insurance to add to the estate.

The estate is already substantial, but if you calculate the taxes that you project and provide a life insurance policy to cover that, assuming that you're in good health, assuming that the premiums are reasonable and and you have substantial cash flow, it certainly appears that you do you can set up an irrevocable trust, have that be completely out of your state 100% available to pay the taxes.

And in essence, your heirs will get the entire 2 million plus or minus intact without any worries about how to pay the inheritance tax.

That's one idea.

A second idea with the Roth conversion is every time you do a conversion, let's say you do a $50,000 conversion and it's a $10,000 tax bill that you must pay, then that $50,000 goes over 10,000 comes out of your estate and yours less value in the estate.

And certainly at that moment, less estate taxes.

So you certainly should continue doing the Roth conversions.

One other item I will suggest that you examine very, very carefully where they an experienced trusted estate planning attorney is the use of your trust as the beneficiaries of your IRAs.

You may find that you have created a tax problem for your heirs by naming the trust as the beneficiaries versus naming people.

People as the beneficiaries of IRAs have options that trust do not.

They have the ability to make choices that trust do not.

So look very carefully at whether that's the appropriate use of that irrevocable trust that a life insurance policy would be the perfect use and the the beneficiaries of the light of the IRAs, in my opinion, not.

Now, you mentioned right upfront $300,000 plus in emergency funds.

As you get older, you're too young.

74 is way too young.

You've got 26 more years, triple H. But as you get older, 85, 90 is a good time frame.

Start thinking about making gifts.

You are allowed to make substantial gifts out of your estate that would make those tax free and in essence eliminate those from taxation in your estate.

You're too young now in my opinion.

Too young now, but certainly something that for the future that you will want to consider.

Excellent.

Very thoughtful gentleman.

Megs, where do we go next?

Well, next we have an article that I would like your thoughts on.

It says, Grant Cardon believes there's only one car in the U.S. that Americans should buy.

So here's what it is and why he paid 150,000 cash to own it.

He says there's only one car you buy and the rest you lease.

Cardona revealed the specific vehicle he chose to purchase and his reasons for doing so.

He says $150,000 Range Rover.

It weighs 6,000 pounds.

Section 179 of IRS says anything over 6,000 pounds You can write off 100%.

You can buy it on December 31st.

Write it off that year, even though you didn't even drive the car and boom, 158,000.

You get to write off that day against your earned income.

And if you have self-employment money or an LLC producing other income, so are you in the market for a Range Rover, Gene?

I'm in the market for exposing dramatic, self-serving statements for what they really are, which in this particular case and in many cases are what are technically referred to as steaming piles of hoo ha.

This is grant card, Don.

For those of you who have not bumped into that name, please Google him.

He has been around for a long time, kind of fancies himself quite the real estate person, quite the salesperson, quite the financial adviser.

The idea that the only car an American should buy number one costs 150 grand is ludicrous.

The idea that it's the only car that you should buy, by the way, that's over 6,000 pounds is factually incorrect.

There are a fair number of those for folks where this idea actually fits.

Lots of different cars, trucks, vehicles to pick from that will give you the exact same impact.

But it's not as dramatic as an individual wanting to.

Look at me.

Look at me.

I'll tell you, it's only one car.

And deep within that report was all other cars you should lease.

Absolutely.

Silliest thing I ever heard.

Many of you.

Many of you are immensely proud of the fact that you have a very cost efficiently Run your vehicles, cars, trucks, etc.. 150,000 miles.

200,000 miles.

250.

I personally set my own personal record a number of years ago with a wonderful car.

Hurt me to give it up.

$305,000.

It is impossible, impossible for Grant Cardone advice to outperform financially a car that would last 300,000 miles.

I haven't done the numbers.

I'm going to suspect that it would be way less mileage and you'd still be way further ahead.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

And just so that we pay some form of attention.

$150,000 I get.

He's quoting a higher number, but $150,000 deductible.

December 31st.

You haven't even driven.

The car is going to be a deduction.

And let's say you're in the one third bracket, 33% bracket.

You say 50 grand.

That's great.

It still cost you a hundred thousand bucks.

So if you had the option to buy a car you really loved for 50, you are $50,000 ahead of the grant card down recommendation.

If it seems I'm being a little harsh on Grant, I am appropriately so.

Steaming pile of ho ha.

We got to go to something better.

Let's get back to a question.

This one says I am 69 years old and still working.

I have applied for Social Security to begin on the month of my 70th birthday.

My wife has been receiving Social Security based upon her working history since age 62.

My wife's information has been included in my Social Security application, wondering will her benefits automatically convert to the spousal benefit when I when I begin collecting my benefits?

Or are there additional steps necessary to facilitate that conversion?

Well, her spousal benefit be reduced because she began collecting her individual benefit at age 62.

Or will this affect her and will this affect her survivor benefit?

I'm a loyal fan of your weekly show, and the financial education you provide is priceless.

Thank you.

You're most kind that is very, very kind of you, indeed.

The thing that jumps off the page for me immediately.

69 still working.

Good for you.

Retirement is highly overrated.

My my retirement plan is when when he's done with me, he'll take me home.

That's my plan.

Love my work.

Hopefully you love your work as well.

Yes.

70.

You must take Social Security.

It maxes out at age 70.

It doesn't go any higher.

So delaying it does nothing but cost you money.

So you are now on track to maximize Social Security.

Fantastic.

Your wife's situation is not automatically updated.

It would be lovely if it were if it were an automatic process.

And of course, you would think with all the technology that's available with Social Security that it would be rather easy for them to do, but they don't.

So whether it's online, which is where on gosh, 90% plus of Social Security requests and actions are taken, or whether it's in person at a Social Security office, she must request that adjustment and should do that as as soon as possible.

Doing it in advance kind of assures that you're not lost.

And if updates needed to to be addressed, that you can do that without again delaying your your her spousal payments.

Her spousal payments will be adjusted lower because she began her personal Social Security benefits at age 62.

The adjustment is not a small number in in in demonstration.

Even if she's entitled to 1500 dollars at normal retirement age, it might drop it to as low as $1,000.

It could be that big a drop.

And so it's not an automatic that she'll be better off with spousal versus her own benefit.

It's got to be calculated.

Many financial advisers are more than money.

Advisors included, have access to Social Security experts that can do that comparison for you.

So check with Social Security.

But if you're not kind of gaining the traction that you feel you need.

Reach back out to us and we can assist there as well.

There is one bit of glimmer of of positivity.

Does all this affect her survivor benefits?

The answer is no.

Her survivor benefits will be 100% of what you would have collected at your normal retirement age.

Sadly, it's not your age 70 benefit.

It's your normal retirement age, probably 67 or so.

That will be her survivor benefit, but that will be reduced by her accepting her benefits at 62.

Social Security for a lot of folks.

A lot of folks are of the opinion.

It's pretty straightforward.

You apply, you take your money, you go home.

There are so many wrinkles.

There are so many what ifs that you must you must have good, solid counsel with someone who's very experienced so that you maximize your benefits and avoid as much as possible losing benefits now.

Excellent question.

Next, we have another.

We do.

Our next e-mail says, My wife and I are retired and plan to downsize to a one level home in the next year or two.

Our current home is paid off and will likely give us $375,000 in equity we could use for our next home, which we expect to cost around $550,000.

We plan to use some of our equity for moving expenses and furnishings, maybe 25,000, and we'll mortgage the remaining 200,000.

Our question is how to best finance this amount with the goal of trying to keep our payment as small as possible.

Some examples we're thinking of is to use some of our pretax assets.

Roughly 2 million.

Use a Hexham ECM that you mentioned this on a prior show, a traditional reverse mortgage.

Something else.

Thank you for taking our question and all the great advice that you provide.

Well, you're very kind.

This is fascinating.

This is an issue that has developed over the last 15 or 20 years.

The term downsizing has traditionally, during all of my 780 years as a financial advisor, traditionally meant we had a four bedroom, two and a half bath, two story colonial.

And now the kids are gone.

And what we really need is a nice single level, two bedroom, two bath home.

We're going to sell ours for 500.

We're going to buy that for 200.

We have downsized and we have money in our pocket.

Do you notice the difference in the numbers that you're hearing here?

They hope to have equity of about 375 and downsizing their home will cost them 550.

Goodness.

So the question actually answers itself as far as I'm concerned, when it talks about having our payment as small as possible.

You are in a position where your payment can be zero, you're required, monthly payment can be zero.

The phrase heck on H, e, c, m Hacken Home equity conversion mortgage is the fancy term for an FHA insured reverse mortgage and a reverse mortgage says you can borrow against the equity in your home, either the one you're currently in and plan on staying in or in recent years a purchase of a new home.

You can use a home to purchase a new home as well.

In this particular case, they will need about 200,000 against a value of 550 that fits within the heck home range.

That the heck a limitation is.

But a reverse mortgage under these circumstances would be enough that they would be able to buy the new home.

Have no required monthly payments and in essence create for themselves a bit of a safety net because they get to keep the equity, the vast majority of the equity, some piece of the equity from the sale, their first house.

So it's a very interesting process that addresses your number one goal.

We want to have the lowest monthly payments.

Now, does that end the discussion?

Answer's no.

Absolutely not.

Reverse mortgages, our mortgages, like any other mortgage.

They they accrue interest.

And at your passing or when you leave the home, they must be paid off.

So there are a number of moving parts.

You've got to be very familiar.

Educate it on the terms of a reverse mortgage.

As a matter of fact, the heck homes mortgages require that you be a trained, educated counsel.

Most financial advisors, quality advisers, have, at their behest, a reverse mortgage expert that they can turn to that can counsel their their clients in the prospects of using a reverse mortgage.

It is a reverse mortgages specifically not something that you do off the top of your head.

Hey, it's going to be the lowest price.

I think we should go and do that.

Absolutely not.

It requires that you be thoughtful, that you be educated, and then make the decision that's in your best interest.

From the facts on the paper.

Yeah, it looks like a really, really advantageous thing to do.

But until you've done the exploration, there's no way to know if it truly does fit you.

Speaking of fitting you, we fit in as much as we can every single show.

And you send us the most interesting information, the most interesting questions, observations and challenges.

And you make us the most relevant financial show on television today.

It is an honor to serve you.

It is with great gratitude that we accept all of your emails because you allow us to be the most relevant and we answer every single email back.

We can't possibly put every email that we receive on on our shows, but we answer as many as we can on on air, but we answer every single question back to you.

There's no charge, there's no obligation.

There's no pressure.

It's just an opportunity for us to serve you an ad as high a level as we possibly can.

So we hope that you enjoy tonight's show.

We hope you enjoy some of the information that we shared, some of the questions that we answered, and we hope you enjoyed it enough that you're going to want to do that again.

As we return, next week will be behind this podium answering more of your questions on the very next edition of More Than Money.

Goodnight.