And good evening.

You've got More Than Money, you've got Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial advisor, and for the next 30 minutes, I'm all yours, offering you all of my experience, all of my 780 years of experience - it's one of life's great mysteries - in order to make your life a little bit easier, your financial picture a little clearer, and perhaps even answer specifically your question.

We're designed to do exactly that, answer questions for you.

Of course, we interview lots of great folks on our American story segments and we answer lots of great questions for our audience as well.

If you send us an e-mail, Gene@askmtm.com - Gene@askmtm.com - I can't guarantee you that it will be on a future show, what I can guarantee you, every single question is answered personally by myself or one of my More Than Money team.

So you're going to get your answers independent of whether or not you become a future TV star.

Speaking of future, our future here in our country certainly is getting brighter and brighter as vaccines are distributed wider and wider.

Over 145 million people already in that process, either one or two complete shots given.

2 million people receiving doses every day.

That opens up our country.

We're evolving into a much more open country over the past year.

Plus, it's been a real challenge, but we see bright lights at the end of that tunnel.

Job creation is very, very strong.

The economy is expanding.

These are all great evolutions coming off of what was a challenging time into what's still a challenging time, there's no question, but a time that has much more texture to it, much more brightness to it, a bit more light.

Evolution.

Evolution is a powerfully positive thing.

All things change.

We just have to make sure we're changing in the positive direction.

One of the things that's changing is our More Than Money show.

You send us the e-mails - Gene@askmtm.com - and over the last few months, I've been boring you to tears with my reading of those e-mails.

But we've enlisted one of our members of our More Than Money team.

And we're going to go to your e-mails and we're going to welcome to More Than Money our very own Alyssa Young.

Alissa, who do you have for us this evening?

I have an e-mail here from a viewer who says... Alyssa, thank you very much.

This is an interesting, interesting question.

One of the observations I would make to you, as you're listening to Alyssa ask these questions on behalf of our viewers, is what are the important points, what are the key facts that a financial advisor would want to zone in on?

Number one, $250,000 of investments, a very substantial sum of money.

Number two - in a timeframe, three years approximately or so, they have consistently lost money.

That's a huge red flag.

It's a fact that a financial advisor should be absolutely should be well aware of, that over the last three years, the markets have had a decidedly upward turn, and losing money is a very, very challenging thing to do.

You would almost have to work at it.

It doesn't make sense, perhaps, but that's how solidly positive the last three years have been.

Last year, they earned 1%.

On average, the stock market for portfolios, the pieces of your portfolio that were in the stock market, would have risen somewhere between 15 and 20%, depending on the investments that they would have chosen.

They could have earned much, much more.

In order to earn only one, that would mean that the investments did either tremendously poorly or they were very poorly selected.

Now, the third thing, fourth thing.

I've lost track of how many important facts there are.

This issue around PIMCO income is a very important one.

TD Ameritrade has said, "Hey, we're going "to get more aggressive."

That means into growth assets.

That means stocks, real estate, precious metals, etc.

PIMCO income is the exact opposite.

PIMCO income is predominantly a bond fund.

It is predominantly a fund that's designed to create income.

And, yes, while there is an upfront fee, 3.5%, pretty stiff, that's going to take a real bite out of their portfolio, If they invested the entire portfolio, it would be somewhere in the $8,000 or $9,000 range that disappeared instantaneously.

I think that would only be the beginning of their disappointment.

They are disappointed up to this point because they've had such poor results.

I think they're jumping from the frying pan into the fire with PIMCO income.

PIMCO is a fine company.

We're not disparaging them, but we're just saying that this particular tool doesn't meet their needs.

Similar to saying, "Hey, I like to put up a couple "of pictures in our house.

"I need a good tack hammer."

You go to the grocery store - I'm sorry, the hardware store - and they say to you, "Hey, I've got "this great £10 sledgehammer."

It may be a great hammer.

It's not good for what you're trying to do.

If their target is 4.5%, they absolutely have to have some piece of their portfolio in the stock market.

Should they have some piece also in bonds?

Undoubtably.

But the advice they're getting so far from their current advisor and this new potential advisor does not fit them.

They're not listening to the client.

They're not putting them in positions that benefit the client, first and foremost.

The word fiduciary is really, really important.

It means that, as a financial advisor, I must act in the best interest of my client.

In this particular case, the clients are not having their advisors act in their best interest, either out of neglect, out of perhaps ignorance, they simply don't know, or perhaps miscommunication.

I strongly encourage these folks - sit down with two or three advisors, interview them as if you were hosting a job interview and select the one that you trust, the one that you communicate best with, the one that you believe has the right ideas that will help you reach your financial goals.

Sadly, you're O for two.

That doesn't mean that there isn't a good financial advisor out there.

And of course, with a little bit of work, I'm confident you'll find one.

Very, very good question.

Speaking of questions, let's go back to Alyssa Young.

Let's get another question up.

Fascinating question.

Ah, family, hmm.

Shake your head, scratch your head, do whatever you want with your head, your head is going to hurt.

Dealing with family can be a real challenge, particularly in areas of finance, particularly in areas where it seems that at least one member of the family doesn't get it.

66 years old, never married, living in the house that Mom left to both him and his brother and yet still asking for more, still asking for more, doesn't seem to get it for whatever reason.

The reality is that that gentleman is unlikely to get it.

66 and still in that mind-set, there simply isn't... ..a bright future in the idea that you're going to convince your brother-in-law that somehow he's not thinking square.

All he knows is that he's fearful that if his brother dies, you owning half the house, are going to evict him.

If you're not interested in the value of the home, if that's not the real key and you are interested in making sure your children receive the entire value, then what I would suggest is that you meet with a trusted estate planning attorney, one that is familiar with a term called "life estate", life estate.

Rather than giving up the value of the home, your husband could grant to his brother a life estate.

Translation - you would still own the home at your husband's passing, or your half of the home, your brother would have the right to live in that home for as long as he lives.

He would have to keep up the expenses.

He would have to keep the home maintained.

He would have to pay for insurance, all the responsibilities of ownership.

But he would not be at risk of being evicted unless, of course, he drops the ball himself, either voluntarily or involuntarily and doesn't take care of the home and doesn't pay the real estate taxes, etc.

What it would entail is the legal right for him to stay there until he passes.

And then the ownership would go to your family, to your conceivably your children or grandchildren.

It's a very effective way to preserve assets and yet still be respectful of the fact that this gentleman, for all of his intransigence, is probably... ..he's probably scared, he's probably at a time in his life where he's got real fear about what may happen to him and hasn't taken the proper steps.

So an experienced and trusted estate planning attorney is your very first stop.

I think a life estate would work very, very well.

But take the attorney's counsel.

Excellent question.

Speaking of excellent questions, Alyssa, do we have another?

We do.

Ah, another interesting question indeed.

There are a lot of folks who find that when their taxes are prepared, and a lot of folks have just gone through that in the last month, two, three, as we approach our current tax deadline, that they have not paid in enough in income taxes.

The IRS or the state of Pennsylvania, etc, they're looking for more money.

And the tax preparer may very well say to them, "You might need to file quarterly estimated taxes."

These are not terribly difficult.

Every three months, every quarter, you send in a coupon to the IRS with a check and it theoretically, or at least hopefully, matches up with the amount that you will end up owing at the end of the year so that when next year's tax return is prepared, it says that you have paid in at least enough to cover your tax liabilities and life is good.

An alternative way to do that is to have taxes withheld from those income streams that you're getting in retirement.

You can have taxes withheld from Social Security.

Most pension plans, if not all, allow taxes to be withheld from pensions.

You can take money from your IRA, whether it's a required minimum distribution or not, and have taxes withheld so that knowing it's going to be taxable to the IRS - the state of Pennsylvania does not tax distributions from IRAs, but to the IRS - you will calculate that, maybe your professional tax preparer helps you with that or calculates that for you, and you can instruct your current IRA custodian to withhold that amount of money, that percentage of that income, and that goes directly to the IRS just as it would if it had been a paycheck.

So you are constructing a series of withholding strategies that will, with good planning, meet all of your tax liabilities, eliminate the need to do quarterly estimates, eliminate the opportunity that they may find that you didn't pay in enough and you have to pay interest and penalties.

In other words, it just simplifies your life a great deal.

Your second question about a trust eliminating or softening the tax impact of an IRA.

No.

There are few, few, if any, ways that an individual can remove money from an IRA and not have it taxable.

About the only way that I know, actually the only two ways that I know, number one - be in such a low tax bracket, such a modest income tax bracket, that when you take money out, there simply isn't any tax to be paid either because you've got high deductions, maybe you've had high medical expenses or some other issue that causes your taxable income to be very, very low, or in this case, perhaps even nonexistent, then you might get some money out of an IRA tax-free.

The only other strategy that is very, very useful, it's called a QCD, qualified charitable distribution.

A QCD allows you to direct your IRA custodian, as long as you're age 70 or above, to send a distribution up to $100,000 a year directly from the IRA over to a qualified charity.

It might be your church, it might be Folds of Honor, it might be Laughing At My Nightmare or any national or local nonprofit, as long as they are properly registered, qualifies to receive money from this QCD.

Many folks are unaware of this.

This, by the way, is on top of your standard deduction.

So paint the scenario that you're 70 years old, you've been supporting your church right along.

You generally write checks of somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000 a year, instead of writing those checks and putting it on your tax return and it being lost because your standard deduction is much higher than that, you can do a QCD directly from your IRA to your church.

You get your standard deduction and you get this money, 8,000 to 10,000, as in my demonstration, to the church, tax-free.

Not only is it not taxable, it doesn't show up on your tax return as income.

So it also doesn't affect your Medicare premiums.

For a lot of folks, those Medicare premiums can be as nettlesome or worse than a higher tax bracket.

So standard trusts avoiding taxes from IRAs?

No.

QCDs - yes, something that you might want to explore.

Speaking of exploring, questions are fantastic.

If you've got a question for us, Gene@askmtm.com, comes directly to our More Than Money world headquarters in the holy lands between Bethlehem and Nazareth.

And while we can't guarantee you that every question will be answered on air - we get far too many, many days inundated, thank you, it's fantastic - I can guarantee you that every single e-mail will be answered directly, either by myself or one of our amazing More Than Money team-mates.

One of those amazing team-mates is going to offer us our next question.

Back to Alyssa Young.

Oh, you're very kind.

You're very, very welcome.

Yes, indeed.

We have talked about this on TV.

We've talked about this on radio.

It is one of the most common misunderstandings among US taxpayers.

The idea that you are restricted, that you are limited to $15,000 worth of gifts to any individual in a calendar year.

While it is true, it is not completely true.

It is not.

It is the truth, but it's not the whole truth.

Saw that in a movie once, just thought I'd use that.

The bottom line is there are two types of gifts that you can make, two types of - what's the word - IRS regulations that you can either take advantage of or be victim to.

The first indeed is the annual gift exclusion.

At $15,000, you can make as many gifts at or under $15,000 in a given year to as many people as you wish.

And you don't even have to file a piece of paper.

You don't even have to attach a single document, you don't even have to mention it to the IRS, it is as if they were...

They, "La-la-la."

They don't want to know.

Because they don't want to know.

You have played the game according to the rules.

Even if you're giving it to ten, 15, 20 people, you're giving away hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Not even a single piece of paper needs to be filed as long as you follow the rules - 15,000 or less per person in a calendar year.

What if you want to give more?

There is in addition to, not in substitution to, but in addition to this annual exclusion a lifetime exclusion in excess of... Are you sitting down?

..$11 million.

So in addition to gifting per year, you have this $11 million value that you can gift as...to as many people as you wish, as long as the total stays under 11 million.

Let's use some demonstration numbers for this gentleman's situation.

Let's say the estate is $1 million.

For whatever reason, his sister said, "I want you to have half... "I want you to have all of it.

"I want you have my half.

"Half a million dollars."

She was willing to say to the estate, "No, thank you.

"Don't give it to me."

But the per stirpes piece of the document says, if she says no, it goes to her children.

So it really doesn't accomplish what she wanted, which is for her brother to have the entire estate.

She can accept the half a million dollars, she can gift it to her brother.

Her brother pays no income tax and pays no gift tax.

And because she is well under the $11 million lifetime exclusion, she pays no gift tax and no income tax either.

She does have to file one piece of paper - gift tax return.

It goes along with her income tax return for the year.

One extra piece of paper.

Most professional tax preparers would not even charge for that extra piece of paper.

Or if they did, it might be 50 bucks.

So you can get exactly where you want to be.

Your sister can get exactly where she wants to be.

No tax to either one of the families and no harm and no foul.

Hopefully that helped a lot.

Let's go back for one more question.

Let's squeeze in one before we end the show.

All right, here it is.

Ah, that puts a smile on my face.

I know the gentleman that sent me this e-mail, he's a fine, fine gentleman indeed.

Crypto was, yes, there is a certain cryptic nature to this currency.

It was invented by a gentleman named Satoshi.

Long story, bottom line is that there are a fixed number of bitcoins out there, and it is this scarcity that makes them valuable, if you believe they have any value whatsoever.

The crypto piece, the cryptic, let's keep things a secret piece, was part and parcel to the invention of this online currency, this internet-only currency.

No physical, what, manifestations?

No government backing.

There's no tangible value, so to speak, to any of the cryptocurrencies, whether it be Bitcoin, Ethereum or any of the others.

There are 15 or 20.

Indeed, this secrecy piece held a lot of attraction to people who were claiming that they wanted to be outside the system, or off the grid, so to speak, financially, when in reality being off the grid, off the grid, meaning that you are flying under the radar, if you're doing your transactions on the internet, you're not under the radar in any way, shape or form.

As a matter of fact, one of the most challenging parts about Bitcoin is how often people have either lost their money because it was in a internet wallet that they lost the password to, and now that money is gone, or they were hacked and their assets were stolen from them.

So secrecy has not worked out exactly the way the original founder of cryptocurrency expected that it would.

For many people, they were saying, "I don't want to deal in dollars, "I don't want the government to know what I'm doing.

"I'm going to do everything in secret."

Well, not so much, unless you're willing to commit tax fraud, tax evasion, or at the very least, you want to file a fraudulent tax return, because on the 1040 return, for every taxpayer today, it says, "Check box here "If you have invested in, if you have participated "in any form of cryptocurrency."

So in order for you to be off the grid financially, in order for you to have all these things be secret and not have to report to the IRS, you've got to fib on your tax return.

You have got to do what Al Capone did and got him caught and sent to prison - tax evasion.

Tax avoidance is a proper thing to do - following the rules to pay lower taxes.

Everybody should do that.

Tax evasion?

That's a serious, serious federal crime, one that most folks, once they understand the implications, would say, "I'm not interested.

"That's not for me."

So let's kind of summarize.

Bitcoin has had a tremendous ride up, down - roller-coaster indeed.

Many people find it intriguing and exciting.

I understand that.

For a typical financial advisor, typical thoughtful financial advisor, recommending Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency at this moment would be a very dangerous thing to do.

The SEC, Securities Exchange Commission, FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has said in no uncertain terms that a financial advisor that recommends to a client an investment that that advisor, he or she, does not fully understand... ..is subject to the loss of their license, and I'm here to tell you, I have sat through hours of briefings on cryptocurrency, and I've been doing this 780 years, and my head hurts.

The amount of smoke and mirrors, the amount of BS, for lack of a better term, that's being tossed around is monumental.

Does anybody have a clear sense of these things at this point that they should be able to recommend to a client to invest in?

The answer is absolutely not.

And if you were looking for secrecy out of your crypto, you're not going to find that either.

Folks, thank you so very much for being part of our show.

Thank you to Alyssa Young for making sure that we get as many questions in as we possibly could and for helping me out, understanding exactly what folks are going through.

If you have a question for a future show or you just want more information for yourself personally, Gene@askmtm.com works very, very well.

And again, we don't promise that you'll see your question on a future show, but we do promise we'll answer your questions directly, each and every one.

I want to encourage you to get vaccinated, I want to encourage you to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I want to encourage you to spread the wealth, not so much money wise, but goodwill wise and courtesy wise and understanding wise, because that's what we need at this point in time.

Thank you so much for being part of our show.

We'll absolutely be back next week.

So we'll see you then on More Than Money.