And good evening.

You've got more than money.

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

Of course, I say that every single episode because some of you are brand new to us.

It is remarkable to me, a little humbling, to realize how our audience has grown, so substantially.

Lots of you are finding.

So, of course, live, as we broadcast on our PBS 39 show, lots of you are finding us through the PBS passport, the website.

Lots of you are finding us through the at More Than Money online.com website.

So, gosh, no matter how you find us, we're so very, we're very honored.

We're we're very humbled that you would seek out our counsel.

To be fair, at this point, 780 years into this experience as a financial advisor, yeah, we have a fair amount to offer.

And for many, financial show hosts, that would be, the reason for, being they would be so very impressed with themselves, which is why so many of our shows, our shows, but so many of the financial shows around the country, they're a bit stale.

They're a bit boring.

They're a bit egocentric.

And as a result, not very relevant.

Often you might have to listen to 3 or 4 shows to find even an idea that might relate to you, as opposed to more than money, which lays claim boldly lays claim to being the most relevant financial show on television today, no matter what station, no matter what time of the day, no matter what day of the week, you are listening to the most and seeing the most relevant financial show because of you, because of our audience, because you have such interesting lives.

You ask interesting questions.

You send those to us, you send those to my email.

Jean and ask mtm.com and gosh, we get so very many.

We answer all of them, but not all on air.

We pick some of the more interesting or more informative or more sharply focused questions, and we air as many of those as we possibly can to share that information as widely as we can.

So if you're just joining us for the very first time, know that, number one, we are at your service and you may take advantage of that.

And any time we have a full staff of financial advisors answering your questions back to you, and, and happy to do so.

And, number two, if you're brand new to our experience, you might find yourself being mildly entertained at some point.

It's an odd feeling when you're talking about finances, but rest assured, it's perfectly normal.

Don't panic.

Now, speaking of not panicking.

Not only am I not panicking this evening, I am incredibly happy because returning to our more than money studios is, maybe, maybe the most important part of the entire show.

And that's our Megan from now.

Megan.

Welcome back.

Hi, Jean.

How are you?

I'm wonderful.

How are you?

I'm great.

Happy to be back.

I'm.

We are all happy.

I have, fielded so many emails.

Where's Megan when she coming back?

Where's Megan?

Well, now we have our answer, and Megan is back.

Off for a bit, exploring and doing great things for yourself.

Exploring things that have always been of interest to you.

And yet your life, your education took a little bit of a turn, a little twist and turn until you came to this.

What?

What, what do you think motivated you, number one, to make the change?

And number two, what would you say to somebody who's out there going, what I'm doing?

Is it really me?

I, I think I'm drawn in a different direction.

What advice might you give those folks?

Well, that's a great question.

I think for me, what I went to explore was something I've always been interested in.

Since I was little.

And I think I realized that I was able to explore other interests and also be able to keep my current interests.

And I think it's just an important, maybe outlook that you don't have to do one thing with your life if you have a lot of different interests, so you can try to find a way to do all of them if you can, and then you don't get bored.

So every day is different for me, and that's kind of what I've always wanted my life to look like.

When I was little, I never really had like one job that I really wanted to do.

I've wanted to do a couple different things.

So I think just if you are similar, then go for it and try to try to do everything.

If you can.

Excellent advice.

Good for you.

Coming from the other end of the trail, life is very short and and it's really important, no matter where you find yourself on that path, do what makes you happy.

Do what makes you excited to get up in the morning.

Do as Megan did.

Take take a detour and come back onto the path in a better place.

It's it's so worthwhile.

Life is short and long.

So if you're 20 something years old and you're doing something, I don't like this.

It's a long time to be just something you don't like yet.

So make sure that you are spending the bulk of your time as happy as you can be.

I'm very proud of you.

And I'm very proud that you're back with us.

Thank you.

So am I. Well, let's, let's do what we do best.

Let's ask a question and let's see if we can help some folks.

Sounds good.

This first question is a bit of a family matters.

Situation.

It says I'm looking for your opinion.

Advice about leaving my estate to my children.

My husband and I are in our mid 60s.

I have three living children.

He has no children.

Our wills are written to leave everything to each other.

Our investment account and our IRAs are set up like that.

Also, we plan to leave nothing to my older son.

My eldest son has cut me off with no contact for a few years.

I send cards and occasional texts with no response.

We're close to the younger ones.

The lack of contact is why my husband doesn't want to leave him anything.

But that's not my issue.

My issue is that my first husband left the entirety of his estate to my two older children.

All of them have the same father.

My eldest child predeceased my first husband and the entire estate went to him.

It was well over $500,000.

My older son did not share a penny with his brother and sister.

They are eight and ten years younger than he is and they could have used some help.

Something even if it was just a gesture.

I just think it would have been the right thing to do.

My son just said dad didn't want them to get anything.

That's my reasoning.

He didn't share, so I won't either.

What's your advice, Jean?

Oh goodness.

My my advice is, that just as far as what I've written, their opinions are just opinions.

Everybody has to make their own decision.

Your, son has made, some interesting choices.

Certainly not ones that I would support.

Certainly not ones that I believe are in anyone's best interest, including his.

I think there will come a time in his life, hopefully sooner rather than later, when he discovers that this, obsession, whatever that may be on, gosh, a big chunk of money, that he could keep all to himself, versus, spreading the wealth, for lack of a better term.

I think he will come to a point in his life.

I pray he comes to a point in his life where he goes.

Probably not my shining moment.

Probably not my best judgment.

Probably not in my best interest.

Lots of folks are confused about the the the the term best interest.

They believe their best interest is in some way, shape or form selfish.

Well, there is a a selfish best interest.

And and that's when you're doing things that take advantage of people versus, a wise man once shared with me that he referred to it as enlightened self-interest.

And enlightened self-interest is very different.

It says something very, very different.

It says that what's best for you is often almost certainly what's best for everyone around you.

The people that are you interact with on your on your day by day life, whether it's friends, family, coworkers, business associates, folks, your transit clients, customers, if you are benefiting lots and lots of folks, you are benefiting.

And it may not be, visible, instantly, but over the course of a lifetime, it becomes so very clear.

Your oldest son has made some errors in judgment.

I don't think there's any question about that.

So the question becomes, should you, kind of follow that lead and make sure your younger children are taking care of of a fashion?

I would say yes.

I would certainly, in your, estate planning documents.

Leave him something.

If nothing more than a letter, something that you've constructed to explain your feelings, maybe a modest amount of money, $1,000 and a letter.

Might that change his mind?

I would pray it would.

No assurances, of course, but you can make your best effort.

Goodness.

One of the great blessings in my life is, to have been introduced a number of years back to my spiritual advisor.

And he's a tremendous guy.

Not a professional, not a pastor, not a priest, just somebody who really knows the Scripture well.

And his phrase is very simple says we are blessed to be a blessing.

I think, your son kind of needs to pick up on that.

My guess is that if he does, he has lots of time to make his life quite, quite magnificent.

And if he doesn't, it probably won't turn out that way.

But I pray for you.

I pray for him.

Pray for your entire family.

Goodness, that's a tough one.

Especially this time of year.

Oh, mags.

Something more uplifting, please.

Well, this next one is definitely a short question.

And it might also be a short answer.

This one says on a previous show, I missed the name of an income fund you were recommending that pays 6 to 7%.

Can you share the name again?

Thanks.

Well, short question.

Maybe, not as brief an answer.

Sometimes the answer is no.

That came from my dad, by the way.

That was his philosophy about prayer.

God answers all prayers.

He would tell me.

Sometimes the answer is no.

And if you're a parent or grandparent, you know exactly what that means.

Not everything that your child wants is good for your child.

So sometimes the answer is simply no.

And in this case, the answer is no.

You didn't miss the name of the fund that I was discussing.

I didn't give it and I didn't give it quite intentionally.

There are, certain, regulatory issues in our industry as a financial advisor, most of the pundits that you see on TV saying you should buy this or buy that, they're not financial advisors.

They are talking heads.

They are paid spokesmen.

They are salesmen, for lack of a better term.

As a financial advisor, I have a legal responsibility, to not just to my clients, not just to folks that I am serving directly, but to folks like you that I am serving indirectly.

I have a legal responsibility, to provide you with solid information and also not provide you with information that might be either misleading or it might be misapplied, might be inappropriate for you.

And as a result, we rarely you can read into that.

We try to never mention specific investment platforms.

And I do that for two reasons.

Number one, not unlike, the the drug commercials that we see almost incessantly these days.

By the way, how about the side effects?

Way worse than whatever it's curing.

But bottom line is unlike not unlike those drug commercials where, hey, talk to your doctor, you need, whatever.

Bibliotheque, whatever.

Bottom line is probably not, but they want you to believe that you should or you do, and that's not appropriate.

As a matter of fact, in most cases, it's very inappropriate.

So, in, in in keeping that analogy, moving forward, I don't go to my doctor going I saw this drug.

I think I need it.

Make sure you give me a script.

That's that's on how my relationship with my doctor works.

My doctor asked me lots of questions.

She's very inquisitive about everything that's going on, and then makes recommendations based on all the information that she has, all the test results, etc., to make sure that whatever she's recommending to me is appropriate.

That's impossible to do with an audience as diverse as we are.

So, we don't mention names.

The second reason we don't mention names is that, goodness, if you and I were having a conversation, where we're just out and around, we're at a social event, and we're having a conversation about you.

I might mention something to you because I'll ask enough questions to be comfortable that I'm being appropriate.

The reality is that that conversation is in the wind.

There's there's there's no documentation.

There's no record.

There's no video or audio.

Now, let's take a peek at more than money.

Video and audio.

How about forever?

The internet is forever.

So, it is very likely that whatever we're discussing tonight will be available online in some way, shape or form for decades to come, even if it were only a year or two to come.

Things in the economy in recommendations within an investment platform change.

So rapidly that a year from now, whatever I may have mentioned today, picked up a year from now, inadvertently, could be completely incorrect.

Whether it's a tax law change, an investment objective, the success or failure of a particular investment, opportunity.

Completely different.

So we try to the best of our ability to stay very focused on the framework of a good answer, rather than the detailed specifics of a product.

I'm not interested in you getting a specific product.

I'm interested in you getting a very specific outcome, a very specific result, and the result that's best for you.

So I hope that explains it.

By the way, for folks who end up consulting with a more than money advisor, sure, we talk about specifics, but only after we've collected all the information we need to be able to make appropriate recommendations.

Short question, long winded answer.

What do we have next?

Well, our next question comes from, some people that want to know if they can do this by themselves.

This one says my parents own the house that they live in, and plan on selling it and moving when they retire.

They also have an investment property and would rather sell their rental property to me than someone else.

But my question is, would it be possible for them to sell it to me for cheaper than than what it's valued?

Is there a way to avoid any tax implications from the property jumping up almost 600% from when they purchased it?

Is it legal to do this and do we need a professional to help us?

Thanks.

Yeah.

Let's start with the last question.

Do we need a professional?

The answer is oh heck yes.

Oh heck yes.

The the the the concept of parents, selling properties to children or grandchildren, at a discount at a, at a family discount, has been around forever.

Of course, the IRS is very familiar with that.

Very aware that that would be, an inclination for mom and dad to make it much easier for their son or daughter.

To, to invest, take over a piece of property, etc.. Now that we understand that, understand that these types of transactions are magnets for the IRS.

They are red flags for the IRS.

When they see a transaction that is intra family.

That is a red flag.

They will look at that very, very closely.

When they see this type of transaction, they will be, interested to find out if the family members have followed all the rules, all the checklists that need to be accomplished.

Are you familiar with all those answers?

I guarantee you are not.

So you will absolutely need, the counsel of a professional.

Not necessarily a realtor.

A Realtors are professionals at marketing properties, sometimes managing properties, but the transfers and the income tax impacts are most often, best, that counsel is best received by either a very experienced and trusted, real estate attorney or a very experienced and trusted tax planner tax advisor.

So and in many cases, both of those are necessary in order to achieve what you're trying to do.

Now, we absolutely understand your parents very well.

They bought property, say at 100.

It's now worth $600,000.

That's fantastic.

You, maybe excitedly would like to buy it at a deep discount.

The IRS says can't, even if they decided to.

Let's give the example.

It was 100.

It's now 600.

They decide to sell to you for 100.

Uncle Sam, the IRS will say you must.

They must report the sale as $600,000.

You didn't give them 600, but that's what they must report.

The sale has.

So they will report a $500,000 capital gain.

They will report in their tax bracket a tax perhaps $100,000 or more.

If you add in state, local taxes, etc.

it may very well be more than $100,000.

As a result, you're giving them barely enough, maybe not enough to pay the tax bill.

Now, if they're happy with that, we have solved the problem.

Life is good.

You have purchased a property for 100,000.

It's worth 600,000.

And off you go.

Is there perhaps an alternative?

The answer is perhaps yes.

If they sold it to you at fair market value, maybe they decide to finance the property for you.

And then I'm picking a number out of thin air.

Let's say that you're paying them $50,000 a year towards the, the, the purchase price of this, of this property, they have the option of forgiving those annual payments.

They are, in essence, making a gift to you.

They are making a gift to you that may end up making it much more, feasible for you to purchase the property.

It may end up reducing some income taxes, but it very much depends on a number of factors we haven't even touched on, including, maybe most importantly, the income tax brackets of your parents and yourself.

So do you need a financial pro?

You bet.

Maybe one, maybe two.

To make sure that we are looking at all aspects of this transaction, making sure that we are squeaky clean with the IRS, making sure that we have looked at all the pros and cons of the various alternatives of the ways that this property can be transferred and and then doing it in the best interest.

By the way, I'd be very, very clear, and I hope you are as well.

If there is a conflict between whose best interest comes first, it's mom and dad.

Be real clear about that and everybody wins.

Wow.

Interesting question.

Indeed.

Makes do we have another interesting question?

We sure do.

This one's about taxes.

This one says I understand the new tax bill recently signed increases the standard deduction.

Plus there is a new elderly $6,000 deduction that can be applied on top of the standard deduction.

I'm thinking of converting some of my traditional IRA to my Roth IRA to increase my income, but keep it under the new total standard deductions plus the elderly deduction to avoid income taxes.

Wondering can I do this if I am older than 73?

And am I able to do this with the company that holds both of my IRAs?

Thank you for your advice.

Well, you're very welcome and you're asking a really important question.

And this is something that, gosh, depending on when you see our show and how you see our show, as we are recording this at this moment, there are still several weeks left in 2025.

And if you take advantage of this opportunity over the next several weeks, it work.

It potentially will work out beautifully.

If you happen to see the show after the first of the year, whatever year you may be watching, then it will occur in the in a subsequent year.

But the idea is very, very simple.

The most recent income tax bill that was passed, basically summer of this year, 2025, gave and and we don't refer to it as a elderly deduction.

We refer to it as a senior deduction.

We think that's a a bit more diplomatic.

They, it gave to folks who are 65 and over an additional $6,000 per person deduction on top of the standard deduction that they may have.

So, if we are looking at a standard deduction of roughly $30,000, it's slightly more, and you are married and you have, both spouses 65 or older, you now have the first $42,000 of your income is tax free.

This is a very substantial opportunity to do exactly what you're talking about, which is to convert more of your money out of your IRA and into a Roth IRA.

This individual mentions that they are 73 and older or older.

73 is an important age because that indicates that they are currently subject to the RMD rules required minimum distribution.

So I'm going to use simple numbers.

It's a $500,000 IRA.

They have, RMDs required of $20,000.

And the question is can we do a Roth conversion?

The answer is both yes and no.

No, they cannot convert the $20,000 that they are receiving in the RMD.

They must take that money in some way, shape or form.

It is not eligible for a Roth conversion.

To the disappointment of millions, I can assure you.

We get the question very, very often.

Having said that, once you've taken that $20,000 out and I'll circle back to how you might do that tax free, you can convert, you can, if you have a $12,000 deduction, you could convert $12,000 and pay zero.

If you are comfortable with your tax bracket, you may find that you're in the 10% tax bracket.

You might want to convert not 12,000, but maybe 30,000, 40,000, 50,000.

Doing a pro forma.

A quick look at your future tax return for 2025.

We'll give you some real guidance as to how much you wish to convert.

But certainly taking advantage of this new senior deduction, getting $12,000 out of your IRA tax free and over to a Roth IRA, which will be tax free for your lifetime and if unused, maybe for ten more years after that for your beneficiaries is a very, very good idea.

Now, I promised I'd circle back.

RMDs were nettlesome for so very many people.

We don't want it.

We don't want to pay the tax.

This is annoying.

Is there a way to avoid the tax?

The answer is yes.

If you are charitably inclined.

Let's say that you're a big supporter of PBS.

Thank you.

That's fantastic.

Maybe you're a big supporter of several charities and using my example of $20,000 RMD, if you look at what you have already been giving generously, it totals, miraculously $20,000.

You can take that that 20,000 distributed from your IRA through what's referred to as a qualified charitable distribution, a QCD, and it is tax free, tax free.

Up to now, you've been giving it out of your checkbook, and you really did not get a benefit because your standard deduction was too high.

Now you get the standard deduction.

Senior deductions first $42,000 is tax free.

And you if you are generous, and gifting from your IRA through Q CDs another 20,000 on top of that is tax free as well.

That should put a smile on anyone's face.

Gosh, shows go so fast.

What puts a smile on my face is welcoming Megan back.

That makes me very, very happy indeed.

Welcome back, young lady.

Thank you.

And, gosh, as you already have seen, the show goes so much better when Megan is with us.

If you are so inclined and would like to hear Megan read one of your questions, please send those to us.

Jean at ask mtm@mtm.com.

That that works very, very well and it gives us a chance to serve you and maybe educate somebody else.

Along the way, as, as we unfold on a subsequent show.

Thanks for spending part of your time with us.

When we return to this podium for another edition of More Than Money, more questions, more answers, more information to help you right here on more than one.