And good evening.

You've got more than money.

You've got Gene Dickison your host.

You've got Megan Smale, your financial correspondent.

You've got the entire PBS team bringing you the next half an hour of our answers to your questions.

And when I say your questions, I mean that quite specifically.

If you are a loyal viewer of more than money and many of you are.

Thank you so very much.

We are being seen.

Coast to coast and from border to border.

We get calls and emails from all across this nation.

Fabulous to allow us to serve you.

That is very, very kind of you.

If you are just joining us, we mean that very sincerely.

Your questions, our answers.

All you do is send us by email, your questions.

We answer every single email back to you.

And if you are one of the selected ones, we answer many of those as many as we can on air as well.

So the email address that you will need, Gene at ask MTM dot com.. Gene at ask MTM works perfectly well.

And again, we have an entire team.

We answer every question back to you.

The easy ones, the hard ones, the detailed ones.

We have a few of those this evening.

And goodness.

Happy to be doing so.

You allow us to be the most relevant financial show on television, period.

The end.

We make that statement very boldly, not because of what we bring to the table, but because of what you bring to the table.

The questions you ask are fascinating, and they're relevant to you.

Of course.

And as a result, as many of you have found out, questions that are being asked by perfect strangers sound like they're coming from you.

They address issues that you're concerned with.

And we get so many emails simply saying, thanks for sharing.

We appreciate all the great information because it applies to us, even though we didn't ask the question.

One of the questions you may be surprised that we ask often when we're discussing concerns with our audience members is what's most important to you.

And in general, you might think your financial show, the audience will be saying rate of return.

We want to make more and more money, and that is rarely the case.

There are two words to a word and a phrase that start both with the letter P. If you'd like to try to guess for a moment or two, this isn't Jeopardy.

I understand.

But if you'd like to try to guess for a moment or two what might be at the high at that high end of the list.

It is peace of mind and protection.

Peace of mind and protection.

Most folks are not trying to make as much as they possibly can, taking lots and lots of risk.

They're trying to make a reasonable return and being able to sleep at night.

We hear that phrase so very often.

So if you are of that mind that in your financial world you want peace of mind, you want to make confident decisions.

Then having a financial show that addresses exactly that probably fits your needs rather well.

And certainly you might be wishing for a demonstration.

So let's turn it over to Megan and see where we start this evening.

Megs?

Hi, Gene.

Well, our first question tonight has a lot of detail, so let's see if we can give them some peace of mind.

This one says, First I want to say that my wife and I have been watching your TV show for about two years now, and we look forward to your weekly Tuesday night virtual visits into our home.

Your topics have been of interest to us.

Our question relates to Roth conversions.

We're both 73 and retired.

We're both in good health with no chronic health issues.

We anticipate living into our nineties.

We have no short or long term debt and we pay off our credit card balance every month.

We plan to remain in our home for as long as possible, barring some unforeseen need to relocate.

We both collect Social Security and have two small pensions.

Our income exceeds our typical monthly expenses.

We have 453,000 in traditional IRAs and a 290,000 IRA.

Inside a variable annuity.

We just started taking our RMDs this year with $10,000 of that as QCDs.

The remaining RMD amount is invested in CDs at least for this year.

We also have 722,000 in other non IRA assets, including bonds, stocks, home, CDs, savings, life insurance, cash value, etc.. We feel confident that we will be financially secure through our remaining retirement years, even if we make it to the happy, healthy hundred and likely elderly health care challenges.

We therefore anticipate having some assets to pass on to our two adult daughters and our young granddaughter.

So our question is, should we consider converting our traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs?

Is it too late to reap any significant tax savings benefit by converting?

Thanks so much for your insight and guidance.

Appreciate your 700 plus years of expertise.

Well, let's be precise.

It's 780 years of experience.

Thank you very much.

One of life's great mysteries, how that could possibly be.

Fascinating question.

Lots of detail.

A couple of things jump out at me.

Number one, they live well within their means.

They have Social Security and pensions and they spend less than they make.

That's impressive.

That's one of the reasons why they're able to take a chunk of their required minimum distributions.

You heard them talk about RMDs when you reach age 73.

That's the current rule.

You must start taking money from your IRAs whether you want to or not.

The IRAs is not concerned at all about your feelings.

They require you to take that money.

And of course, most importantly, pay tax on those distributions.

Except if you are planning ahead.

And you may have heard the term q c d within this question and a QCD qualified Charitable distribution allows you to take some money from your IRAs and not pay taxes on it.

Very interesting idea.

We'll circle back to that momentarily.

Another important issue here is the concept of happy, healthy hundred.

If you're a loyal viewer, you've heard me talk about this many, many times because it's something that I think we need to create a groundswell about a movement, about folks who are in their 50, 60, 70.

When I was a young man, when I was a child growing up, they were passed the life expectancy.

They did they had no reasonable expectation of a year or two further down the path.

For some of us now that have reached those those numbers already.

The idea here previously would be you're living on borrowed time.

Our idea, the movement we're starting with happy, healthy 100 is that we have a hundred as not just the target to reach, but to reach in a healthy manner and be very happy along the way.

These folks are planning that.

Indeed.

So the question becomes, with 27 plus years to go, should they continue doing Roth conversions?

In my opinion, the answer is yes.

Now, that's an interesting answer based on these facts, because many financial advisers, those who are more painting with a broad brush.

The answer is either yes or no, based on age would say are their ages.

They're too far along to benefit from Roth conversions.

I don't believe that for a second.

They have the ability over the next 27 years, hopefully or more, to salt away more more money into tax free positions on the Roth side.

I acknowledge they will pay some tax up front, but based on the fact that they have more income than they're spending, it will not hurt them financially and it may very well may very, very well help the next generation, their daughters and their granddaughter.

And as the father of daughters and a granddaughter, we are very excited about anything that might help them.

So, yes, conversions outstanding.

One point I promised I would circle back to qualifying charitable distributions.

If you are age 70 or older.

I know I mentioned 73 for your RMDs, but if you're age 70 or older, you are allowed to move money from your IRAs or 401ks into a non I'm sorry, a charitable nonprofit organization or organizations as many as you wish and pay no tax.

It's not a tax deduction.

It actually disappears from your IRA, doesn't actually impact either your income tax.

If you're on Medicare, it does not affect your Medicare premiums, Irma.

It doesn't affect anything negatively.

And if you are using the the standard deduction on your tax return, this is on top of the standard deduction.

So if you're getting a, say, a $28,000 standard deduction, and in this case they're using $10,000 a year for a QCD.

That 10,000 is on top of the 28.

They're actually extending their standard deduction to 38,000.

Very wise thing to do.

And of course, by giving your sharing, you're serving, you're doing a lot of really, really good things.

So continue QCDs.

Continue RMDs Absolutely.

Continue Roth conversions and goodness, you're going to do fantastic.

Well done, indeed.

That was a fantastic start to the show.

Who do we serve next?

Well, our next e-mail, we have a housing question.

This one says, I love your show and I watch every week.

I am almost 68, divorced and looking to retire soon.

Most of my nest egg is tied up in real estate.

I own my primary residence in Pennsylvania and a beach rental property in New Jersey.

I am told by my accountant that if I sell the property in New Jersey, I will over $200,000 in both federal and Pennsylvania taxes 20% due to my income.

Wondering if I were to sell my Pennsylvania house and move to the other for two years.

Can I avoid paying capital gains on either?

I would get the 250,000 exemption on the sale of my current primary residence.

But what?

I get another 250,000 exemption if I live in the New Jersey house for two years and then sell it.

Any other tax consequences that I should be thinking about?

Thanks so much for your insight.

Well, thank you very much for trusting us with your question.

The answer is yes.

Next question.

Kidding.

I'm just kidding.

Just kidding.

This is a rule that so many people are unfamiliar clear with.

They may have heard it in passing.

But when you think about the number of times in your lifetime that you sell your home, it's relatively limited.

So not very many people focus on the tax implications of selling their home until they want to sell their home and they find out that there could be a tremendous amount of tax.

In this particular case, he has a vacation property that has a tremendous amount of capital gains.

If his accountant is estimating $200,000 of tax, the capital gain is probably in the 3 to $400000 range.

That's a lot of money.

He paid eight 800,000.

It's now worth a million.

3 million, 1,000,002.

That's a demonstration, obviously.

Just just to give you a sense of how that might look.

So his concern is is or his question is, is it possible that we can in some way, shape or form reduce that capital gains tax on the shore home by moving by changing his personal residence?

And to the surprise of many who have heard other rules that have since been superseded by the IRS in new tax code.

The answer is yes.

This is a very exciting tax planning opportunity for this gentleman.

He is 68, soon to retire.

So he's got some flexibility here.

So if he were to sell his personal residence now, any capital gains that he sees up to $250,000 tax free, then what happens?

He moves to New Jersey.

And with all those issues, putting his putting aside the difference in states, New Jersey becomes his primary residence.

And when I say moves to New Jersey, I mean that quite seriously.

The IRS understands these rules very, very well.

They are not interested in somebody.

Well, I spend a few weeks a year there.

I'm going to call it my residence.

No, you're not.

Well, you might, but the IRS won't.

The IRS is going to look for evidence.

They're going to look at that.

You change your voter registration.

That's very timely.

They're going to look at you changed your car registration, your driver's license.

They're going to look at you changed all of your mail delivery that you're legitimately live in this home.

Now, interestingly enough, the two qualified as your personal residence in this case.

This gentleman have having it once he has moved, he has to be there two years, two years and a day so he could sell his primary residence today, moved to New Jersey, legitimately, lived there for two years, and within two years, any day he would have sold two residences and had $250,000 of of discount on one $250,000 a discount waiver on the second $500,000 of gains that he does not pay tax on.

That is a powerful, powerful result.

Now, a lot of folks are going out.

Wait, wait, wait.

Primary residence, two years to.

But is it really that simple?

It's actually simpler than that.

The rule says it must be your personal residence for two of the last five years.

So there's a ton of flexibility here.

A ton of flexibility.

He is absolutely on the right track.

He is going to end up if if he's in, I'm picking a number, the 20% tax bracket, he will end up collectively saving about $100,000.

It'll be more because estate taxes but over $100,000.

That's real money.

Can you imagine having that in your pocket as you're retiring?

And if you simply invested it at 5%?

I'm just picking a number out of thin air.

That's an extra $5,000 a year of income for as long as he lives.

It is absolutely fantastic.

By the way, one corollary, he does not ask.

You might wait a second.

If I can be two years and a day and pay no capital gains tax up to, in his case, 250 that's for someone who's single.

500 is the amount for a married couple.

Would I be able to do that every two years?

And the answer is absolutely.

And there are folks, folks that I know very well who are doing exactly that and in their retirement, they buy a home that needs some paint paper, some refreshment.

They live there for two years.

They make a lot of money sell it.

They pay no income tax.

They pay no Medicare.

They pay no Social Security.

It is free and clear.

It's a pretty powerful retirement.

It's not for everybody who wants to move every two years.

Certainly not me.

But bottom line is, if that's kind of if you've got a bit of the the free spirit in you, it could be a way to augment your retirement and make a tremendous amount of money.

Or if you're just starting out in life and you're trying to build your your net worth, you might as a young person or a young couple, if you are comfortable moving every couple of years, make a tremendous amount of money as a kind of a side hustle and never leave your home.

Pretty fascinating stuff.

Well done.

You may.

That was another great one.

Are we three for three?

Our next question is about inheritance.

It definitely has some some sad undertones to it, though.

This one says a year and a half ago, I learned a half brother of mine passed away with no living heirs except for my sister and me.

We are two split $3 million.

The inheritance is still in probate and I expect that to be resolved by the end of the year.

My sister, who has been a paranoid schizophrenic her entire adult life, decided to stop taking her medication and eventually ended up in an airport where police were called.

She is now in a hospital being forced to continue her medication.

She's done this before.

She's a danger to herself.

And I'm convinced that the money she is going to inherit will be the worst thing for her.

I want to get control of her money so I can keep her in a safe place and prevent her from traveling again.

What's your advice, Gene?

Goodness bless you both.

Bless you both.

Mental health challenges are frustrating, for sure.

For for you and for her, of course, And frustrating from a protecting standpoint, from your instinct.

We go back to the where we started the show with protection.

You obviously, you care about your sister.

You want to protect her.

Good for you.

That is a tremendous sacrifice you're making.

You're willing to step up and try to protect her.

It will require absolutely require.

Please, a trusted, experienced attorney who is experienced, familiar with all the laws of guardianship and trusteeship, all the ways that that that folks like your sister can be helped, can be assisted financially, personally, emotionally, and protected to the greatest extent allowed by law from in essence, there themselves preventing her providing for her, while at the same time preventing her from making errors in judgment that could be absolutely devastating and could be absolutely heartbreaking.

I will warn you in advance, it is not an easy path that you have chosen.

The the legal aspects of it can be challenging.

All of this has to be presented to a court, a doctor, statements, etc..

If your sister is agreeable, it's going to go a long way to making it simpler.

But it's still not going to be simple.

There's the guardianship of her making decisions on her behalf, and then there's the protection of the money, typically in a trust.

And if you are willing to do all of those that bless you, that is fantastic.

But it will require a fair amount of legal maneuvers to make sure that it's done properly and make sure that it doesn't create negative impacts on you personally, on you personally.

So you are doing this on the right track.

Your instincts are wonderful.

You're.

Your concern for her is understandable.

But your willingness to step up is fantastic.

I salute you.

My prayers are with you and with your sister.

And again, immediately trusted experienced attorney experience in this line of of of legal specialty.

Not general attorney, somebody who really knows their stuff.

And then as you take charge of the funds, a financial adviser can help.

But that's the easy part.

That's that's the easy part that comes a little further down the road.

bless you both.

Goodness.

Yes.

Blessings to them.

Prayers for them, Megs.

Hopefully we can help somebody a bit more.

Yes.

Now we're switching back to the peace of mind.

This one says, I love your show.

You give great advice.

I'm 73.

I owe less than 30,000 on my mortgage.

And for peace of mind, I'm ready to pay it off.

I have a pension, Social Security, annuity and other income for a total of ten K a month.

Wondering, is it a mistake to do this?

The other question is that my wife would like to cash in a CD that is maturing and pay cash for a new car that will cost over or around 40 K. I think you take an instant loss as soon as you drive off the lot.

What would you suggest the the best way to purchase this?

Thank you.

Well goodness.

Thank you for the kind words.

Always appreciated.

You are in a strong position.

Strong position financially.

The fact that you've got strong income, virtually no bills is fantastic.

At 73, wanting to pay off your mortgage is a natural inclination.

If you look at the academic materials that that financial advisors are are trained with certified financial planner, chartered financial consultant and many, many others, they traditionally are encouraging individuals to keep a mortgage, take pay the interest, take a deduction and reduce their income taxes.

That that is that has been around.

Those pieces of advice have been around for decades.

I have disagreed with those pieces of advice for decades because if you have a $10,000 in this case, you wouldn't.

If you had a $5,000 interest deduction, even if you're in the 20% bracket, you're going to save a thousand.

You're still going to be out of pocket for grand.

If you eliminate that, you don't get the deduction.

So you're out of pocket 1000, but you save $5,000 in cash in your net ahead for grand.

And and what is the value of peace of mind?

It's tremendous.

It's tremendous.

I have over 780 years canceled.

Lots and lots of folks who have had mortgage balances relatively small that wish to pay them off, pay it off, be done with the deduction on a 30,000.

Our mortgage is very modest.

Not worth the effort and the peace of mind is tremendous.

I will tell you a short story.

For many, many years, I have announced on both radio and TV that I had never had anyone who wished who had paid off their mortgage, who said to me, Darn, I wish I had and I wish I had kept my mortgage.

Never had anyone do that.

Never said that to me until a number of years ago.

One of my favorite clients, one of my favorite people.

A gentleman who is since gone to the great reward, came to me and with a gleaming as I said, you know, I kind of regret paying off my mortgage.

And he knew for a fact then I could never say that again, that no one's ever regretted it.

He was teasing.

Bottom line is, this is a good idea.

If you have a CD coming due that will reasonably take care of the cost of a car.

In my opinion.

If you wish to buy the car, that's a good idea.

I would strongly encourage you to at least look at leasing a car.

Now, in many cases people talk about the fact that financially the best way is buy a used car, two years old.

Certified pre-owned is the best.

Pay cash and drive it until the wheels fall off.

And financially, that is absolutely true.

But we're talking about peace of mind here.

So I would suggest to you, particularly if you wait, your wife drives a fairly limited number of miles a year.

It's not unusual for folks to say I'm driving 5000, 7000.

That is ideal for leasing.

And here's the end result for you in terms of peace of mind, if you will, whether it's a three or four year lease, have the benefit of a brand new car.

All the most modern safety features, a warranty that will likely cover the entire length of the lease.

So no worries about unexpected expenses that can be really, really expensive.

And at the end of the lease you turn it back in and you have another brand new car with then the then most up to date safety features, another warranty.

No worries about expenses and you can do that for a very, very long time.

With $40,000, you might be able to lease the car for the next eight or ten years for the same amount of money.

Always having a fresh, new safe car and some peace of mind.

great questions.

Tonight we covered so many different facets of financial challenges, financial concerns.

You're amazing.

You make us the most relevant.

You give me the honor of serving you.

If you're watching and saying, I've got questions or I've got questions that are a little different, please send me those questions.

Gene Gene at ask M T M dot com.

We have a complete team.

We answer every single question back.

You got to be cooperative.

You got to watch your email.

Sometimes you get caught up in the spam, but we answer every single question back, and then we select ones like tonight.

Very, very interesting.

Very, very appropriate for all of you.

And Chris, gosh, I hope that that, as you heard us discussing, that you're going to this is this is valuable.

This is something I want to do every single week.

And if you do feel that way, we'll be back next week behind this podium for another edition for you.

Of more than money.