- And welcome.

You've got More Than Money.

You've got Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial adviser.

Happy to be with you this evening.

Happy to be sharing as much of my 780 years of experience... How does he do it?

...with you, as we possibly can.

And half an hour goes very quickly.

So, if you're new to our More Than Money experience, don't get too comfortable.

Don't wander off, because we can't avoid going very, very quickly through as many e-mail questions as we possibly can.

If you're a loyal viewer, you know exactly how this works.

We answer as many of your questions as we can on air.

The ones that we can't, we answer directly to you.

We promise we answer every single email.

If you send them to me, Gene@AskMTM.com, you're going to get an answer.

And if you are incredibly fortunate, maybe excited and lucky, your question might be on a future edition of More Than Money.

So, let's get right to it.

Let's answer as many of your questions as we can.

We go to our financial correspondent.

That would be Miss Megan.

Miss Megan, do we have a question this evening?

- Hi, Gene.

Yes, of course we do.

- Please.

- Let's see what our first emailer asks.

They said... - Wow, really, first of all, congratulations, 80 years old, she just retired, fantastic.

I think that's my new role model right there.

That would give me another 30-40 years... Nobody's buying that.

OK, bottom line for you, young lady, is that you may very well be able to have your cake and eat it, too.

You're quite right, annuities traditionally tie up people's money, sadly, in some cases, for a very long period of time, they could have pretty draconian surrender charges.

Again, that lasts for years and years, and years.

They could make you feel like you're in a in a straitjacket and in handcuffs, and not even able to really get to your money.

In recent years, things have changed rather dramatically in the world of annuities.

Two things, two evolutions that might very well appeal to you.

Number our variable annuities that provide guaranteed income without surrender charges.

There are no lock-in periods, there is no delay in receiving your money should you wish to come and go as you please.

So, if we pick a number and, say you invest $100,000, and they give you a nice guarantee, I'm picking a number and, say, $6,000 a year, that's your lifetime guarantee.

You still have control over your 100,000.

And at any point in the future, you can decide, "I want to change my mind, I want to take some "or all of my money out."

There's no charge.

Wow, that's an interesting wrinkle that you may find enticing.

Another interesting wrinkle is that many of these variable annuities offer extraordinary additional benefits.

For example, you may need some care in the future, either at home or in a facility.

Some of these annuities provide exceptional additional benefits well above your original investment in order to help with your care.

Many of the highest quality companies in America today are providing exactly these kinds of options, providing tremendous investment menus, smorgasbords - always thinking of food, sorry.

Bottom line is that you've got lots of different options that you need to examine and consider, if you are absolutely 100% against annuities, there are other options that you should consider, but don't cross annuities off your list just yet.

You might find that, since the last time you investigated annuities, they have evolved into platforms that might very well fit your needs quite perfectly.

Thank you so much for the question.

Right back to our financial correspondent, Megan, what's next up on our list?

- Next up is short and sweet.

This person asks... - Goodness.

Interesting question.

Very, very interesting question, because for many of you, maybe the majority of you, right now, you're scratching your head.

Selling a life insurance policy?

Number one, I didn't know you could.

I'm not sure I would understand why you would.

And then, number three, if I decided that you could and I should, to whom would I sell it?

This is a very interesting, challenging but interesting arena that we find ourselves in today with life insurance contracts.

In years past, if you invested in a life insurance contract, one of several things would happen.

Number one, you would pass, away your heirs would get a death benefit.

Pretty straightforward.

Number two, at some point you would decide, I no longer need it.

You would stop making premium payments, and the contract would become zero, not null and void.

And then, number three, if it were a cash value contract, whether it's a whole life policy, a universal life policy, those kinds of policies, you might have cash value that you can walk away with.

In recent years, the last five, particularly ten in total, there has been an entire industry arise that will say to you, particularly those of you have said, "Yeah, I've got it.

I've got a policy, or policies.

"I've had them for many, many years.

"I just don't need them anymore.

"I just don't want them anymore.

"I don't want to pay the premiums because the reason "I originally contracted with this life insurance company is "no longer appropriate to me."

Well, these companies will look at you, they'll look at your age, they'll look at your health, they'll look at the amount of death benefit is there, and they may very well offer you the opportunity to sell your policy to them.

They write you a check, you walk away with cash.

They keep the life insurance policy.

They pay any future premiums.

And of course, at your passing, they collect the death benefit.

It's a very, very interesting industry.

It is not without its challenges, particularly because, sadly, there are a number of companies out there, particularly ones that started right up in the early parts of this industry, this life insurance purchase, buy, and sell industry who were not very reputable and did some things that caused a lot of people a lot of heartache.

Today, particularly if you've done your homework, particularly if you've done the research and you've identified a company that really does fit your needs.

It can be a very satisfying and very lucrative transaction that you're embarking on.

So, as we often say, it depends.

Everything depends on your personal circumstance.

If it fits you, it can be fantastic.

And if it doesn't, you've got to turn and walk through the exit, and not do any business with those kind of companies.

It really depends on how it fits you.

Megan, what's next up on our email list?

- Let's take a look.

This person asks... - Goodness, that's a mouthful, but you might be surprised to find that it's a remarkably simple answer.

You've already answered your question inside your own email.

The only number that you really need is the date of death number on those assets.

The fact that it was the transfer on death transaction has little or no bearing on it.

It could have come through your will.

It could have come through some other mechanism, a trust, perhaps, that ends up depositing these assets in your hands as a beneficiary of an estate.

With the stepped-up basis, a term that's not used in polite conversation very often, but in the financial world, very, very commonly applied your cost basis, what you will use then to calculate whatever future taxes you may encounter is the value of that asset on the date of death.

So, using very simple numbers, Mom and Dad bought some stock many years ago at $2 a share.

It's now worth $100 a share.

If they were to have sold it during their lifetime, they would have paid capital gains taxes on $98 a share.

A tremendous number, and a tremendously high tax burden, of course.

Because you inherited those stocks, they were $100 at your Mom and Dad's passing.

That becomes your cost basis.

If you sell it subsequently for 110, you will claim profit capital gains of just $10.

It is very possible, of course, particularly if these are stocks, that you inherited them at 100 per share.

And when you ended up selling them, they were much less, 85, 90, 95.

You might actually end up getting a tremendous cash infusion and yet showing a loss on your income tax return.

Tremendous amount of money in your pocket, and a deduction it saves you on your tax return.

So, you're on the right track.

You sure... ...should keep very specific track, very specific accounting of the numbers on those dates of death.

You might very well find all of those numbers on the estate tax return, either for inheritance tax purposes or for the final income tax return that's being filed.

But hopefully, that gives you a bit more peace of mind and a whole lot less work.

You don't have to worry about doing any more research.

Miss Megan, our financial correspondent, hopefully we have another email back there?

- We do.

This one says... - Talk about a mouthful.

Once you start throwing the entire alphabet into your emails, it's a challenge for all of us.

This is a very interesting, challenging but interesting question that may apply to a fair number of you.

But I can assure you that the vast majority of you will not find this question or answer particularly interesting because it won't apply to you.

So, let's set the stage a bit.

Gentleman's absolutely right.

He has an option, an opportunity to reduce his required minimum distributions, those withdrawals that are mandated by the IRS once an IRA holder turns 72, that law has changed in the last couple of years from 70-and-a-half to 72.

So, when you turn 72, if you have a traditional IRA or 401K 403B, you are required to take a portion of that out, and obviously pay income taxes.

There are a number of techniques and strategies, and tactics that you can employ to reduce those R&Ds, those required minimum distributions, so they're not as nettlesome, they're not as painful, they're not as onerous when you arrive at age 72.

One of which, by the way, is to convert some of those dollars into Roth IRAs, or Roth 401Ks, that can help reduce those numbers, some of which is to is to pull dollars out early, much earlier than you are required, because perhaps you're in a much lower tax bracket.

That's a tactic that has been very effective for a fair number of folks.

The tactic this gentleman references, a QLAC.

Q-L-A-C.

Qualified longevity annuity contract, was put into operation, so to speak, by the IRS a fair number of years ago, and it says this.

A lot of folks, a huge proportion of the folks who hold IRAs, when they begin at age 72, are looking at a life expectancy that is 15, 20, 25, 30 years down the road.

And their number one concern is, if they are forced to take money out of their IRAs at such an early age, they will run out of money before they run out of life.

And as a result, the IRS decided that they would permit this QLAC, qualified longevity annuity contract, to be acquired within the IRA, within the limitations, yes, 25% of the IRA value.

If you have 400,000, you're limited to 100, and, as I recall, the upper limit is 125.

The gentleman's email said 135.

Let's not quibble over 10,000 bucks.

There is an upper limit, an upper dollar amount that you will be stopped out at.

And that's the, let's use 100,000 as an example, that will be your upper limit.

So, what you can do is to take that money, keeping it in the IRA, his email seems to suggest it's going to come out and go into an annuity.

The answer is, it is not.

It will still be under the IRA umbrella, and that will be acquired, that QLAC will be acquired in the name of the IRA.

And the QLAC says, we're going to give you 100 grand.

We're not going to take anything out until you are 85.

That's an interesting number, you'll recall from his email that he's 79, these QLACs are very often acquired by people who are in their 60s.

That's an important number, as well, because a QLAC separated from your IRA, general funds of your IRA, dropped into an annuity that's intended to provide income when you begin age 85, has then 20 years plus or minus to cook, to compound, to accumulate, so that when the guaranteed income kicks in at age 85, the number is staggering.

100,000 in at age 65 might very well provide a $40-50,000 guaranteed lifetime income starting at age 85.

Think about that for a moment.

100 grand in at 65, you will get all of your money out in the first two years, 85, 86, and then hopefully you are with us for many, many years thereafter.

Pick an easy number, 20 years thereafter, at 50 grand a year.

That's another million dollars.

So, you invest 100,000 and, starting at age 85, you begin getting 50,000 a year and you end up with $1.1 million coming out of your 100,000.

And the ages between 65 and 85, your R&Ds were reduced.

Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it?

It really isn't.

Annuity companies employ some of the smartest people actuarially on the planet.

They are called actuaries, and they have determined that for every person that indeed reaches 85 and lives to be 100 or 105, there are 2-3 folks who never reach 85.

And all that money is lost, lost to the investor, retained by the annuity company, there are folks who will, of course, reach 85, live a year or two, barely get their money back, and all of the earnings for those 20 years are retained by the annuity.

Again, obviously, they're balancing out what they must pay out with what they can earn, and what they can retain.

And, because their numbers are very, very sharply calculated, they are, in almost every case, very comfortable that they can provide you with that income forever.

Now, this gentleman mentions an MYGA, mega multi-year guaranteed annuity, not the type of annuity that you would use for a QLAC.

He mentioned Sagicor, not an annuity that you would use for a QLAC.

And he mentions going outside the IRA, then bringing it back, not a function that you would do for a QLAC.

All of these things are incorrect.

So mechanically, the most important thing for this gentleman to do, even if he's still going to consider this at 79, the benefit is only at six-year compounding.

So the returns are going to be much more modest.

They may not even be attractive enough for him to want to proceed, but he must sit with a financial adviser who is a very, very astute, very educated, very experienced in the world of QLACs in order to properly evaluate whether it fits him or not.

My strong suspicion, strong suspicion, it probably won't fit him.

But if the same question is being posed by somebody who was 60, 65 or 70, I would suspect it would fit them rather well.

Interesting question.

Speaking of interesting questions, back to our financial correspondent, Miss Megan.

What do we have?

- This person says... - Goodness yes.

Well, first of all, thank you.

That's very kind.

And indeed, Saturday mornings we spend a lot of time with folks, a couple hours.

And that's great fun.

Questions about Medicare and Social Security.

Who doesn't?

It's a very complicated system.

And sadly, the answers that you get directly from Social Security are often... incorrect.

Or not complete, or delayed, "Hey, we have to get back to you, have to get back to you, "have to get back to you."

Or they force you to do it yourself and go online to their Social Security system and hopefully get the question correct, hopefully get the answer correct.

And all you can do is pray.

We are very, very blessed in our More Than Money world headquarters found in the Holy Land between Bethlehem and Nazareth.

We are very blessed that we have as a partner, Mr. Mark Bacak.

Mark was with the Social Security system for nearly 40 years, married to a wonderful lady who was with Social Security for 40 years.

So they have a tremendous insight into the system, both Medicare and Social Security.

So you can, gosh, we do this at absolutely no charge, have a strategic review meeting with Mark and get your Medicare and Social Security questions asked and answered.

Moving on to the second question about your wills.

We have a very similar circumstance in that we have a very strong partner in Mr. Keith Strohl, of Steckel & Stopp.

Fantastic long-term experienced estate planning attorney.

Same issue.

If you wish to explore your options on the estate planning side, we invite you right into the office.

Keith meets with you right there, and you get that piece of this financial future buttoned up rather nicely.

Now, interestingly enough, we're financial advisors.

Those are two big questions, and we're not in there anywhere.

It's because we are in the third piece.

Your husband is self-employed, and yet, you're not comfortable with the fact that there is what's referred to as an individual 401k.

Many people are not informed that there are lots and lots, and lots of you who could have a 401k, would benefit from a 401k dramatically.

And yet, they are of the opinion of the belief that the 401Ks are only available for the big boys, for the big corporations.

Reality is that the 401K system is set up to serve folks just like you, particularly if you have no employees.

It works beautifully.

And instead of using an IRA where you might be able to put $6-7,000 a year, a 401k, depending on your cash flow, of course, you might be able to put away $40-60,000 a year, year by year, with a very simple adjustment, simply establishing your own 401k.

As a financial adviser and as a financial advisory group, We're happy to help you do exactly that and coordinate all those other questions about your wills, Social Security, and your Medicare.

All you need to do is ask.

You can certainly send us that email, Gene@AskMTM.com.

Megan, we just have 3-4 minutes left.

How about our next question?

- This person says... - Well, first of all, congratulations, you're online, you're delivering information and content that's valuable to people, you're online, you're on track to become profitable.

Absolutely fantastic.

And, of course your wife is the star.

Was there ever any question?

As a matter of fact, as a cottage industry, Internet instruction on dozens of different topics is exploding!

And, yes, many of those are hosted by women who are incredibly talented in fields that are maybe not traditionally thought of as women-oriented.

One of my favorites is about a woman who does all the construction around her home, and her instructional videos follows that, and how she accomplishes that.

Fantastic.

Another is a young woman who's living off the grid, these are pretty popular, and showing how she survives in the wilds of Canada.

Fantastic.

So, having an opportunity to turn a profit on a, goodness, at-home basis using simple technology is dramatic.

The fact that you will likely turn a profit this year is an important piece of this puzzle.

Your friend at work, God bless friends at work, is not giving you straight information.

The IRS understands that some businesses take longer than others to turn a profit.

The IRS understands that some businesses are uneven in their profit.

Maybe they make a profit one year.

They don't for two years, and then the following year or two, they do.

So this unevenness doesn't throw the IRS a curve ball at all.

In their instructions, they often will quote the term "intent".

What is your intent?

If you're treating it as a hobby, then they are going to disallow your deductions.

If you're treating it as a business, how do you demonstrate that?

You keep good records.

You act like a business.

You file for an employee ID, employer identification number.

You have an accountant,, a professional, do your books for you and file your tax returns.

You act like business.

You make every effort to turn a profit.

You act like a business.

As long as you are acting like a business and have an intent to turn a profit, the IRS is going to be absolutely no problem for you at all.

And even if they did audit you, it would normally come in the form of a polite letter saying, "Hey, we looked at these things, we're not 100% sure "that they're correct.

"Can you give us your response?"

Then you send in your copies of all your records, and demonstrate to the IRS that you're in absolutely good stead.

So, put your friends aside, continue to build good content, continue to build your following and your business, and you'll have no troubles with the IRS whatsoever.

Folks, we have just seconds left in this edition of More Than Money.

I want to invite you all to be part of a future show.

Ask your questions.

We heard tax questions, estate questions, investment questions.

Whatever your question may be, the title of this show is More Than Money.

So you can ask the kinds of questions that really encompass the totality of your life and what you're concerned about.

Send those to me, Gene@AskMTM.com.

Gene@AskMTM.com.

We can't promise that your question will appear on a future show, but we can promise that every single question will be answered personally by one of our financial advisors directly to you, and you gain all of that value.

I want to thank all of you for spending part of your evening with us.

It is a great honor to serve you using our PBS show as our mechanism.

We hope to see you next time as we come back to you with our next edition of More Than Money.