Good evening.

You've got more than money.

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

Welcome to the show.

This is, very exciting.

It's getting even more exciting.

If you are a loyal viewer, then you know what I'm talking about in just two days.

We're going to be live in this very studio with jam to the rafters with you folks.

Actually, many of you who have already signed up to be part of our live event on March the 6th, it's very, very exciting.

If, we might be able to jam in 1 or 2 more.

We have basically filled the studio, but if you are really quick and really anxious, make sure that you reach out.

Send me an email Gene at ask mtm dot com.

We might be able to squeeze you in.

I'll do the very best that we can.

For those of you again who are loyal viewers, you know that we've been exciting, excited to be planning this for the last, oh, gosh, months and a half, maybe more.

To bring lots of you, to us and to bring our show to you a chance to see behind the scenes, get to meet our production team, the folks who bring you more than money every single week to be able to meet our, more than money team that comes out of our More Than Money world headquarters here in Bethlehem.

And, so many wonderful advisors who have answered your questions back to you for, gosh, six seasons now.

So the the excitement is, is very, very real.

Certainly on our part.

The excitement is real, hopefully on yours as well.

And again, if you are so inclined and very, very quick, we just got 48 hours free, not even 48 hours between now and when we start recording, a show live in front of a studio audience.

And with any luck at all, we're going to populate this entire show.

We're going to do two back to back, with questions from the audience.

So should be a ton of fun.

And if you can join us, that would be outstanding.

If you're joining us for the first time or if you've, not kind of been a regular viewer of more than money, this is some of the things that you may have missed along the way.

Or if you're just bumping into us, you may wonder more than money, what exactly are we doing?

What we are exactly doing is serving you.

What we are exactly doing is, being the most relevant financial show on television.

The most relevant, without a doubt.

No questions asked.

Makes no difference.

What size station where you find yourself in the country, or what time of the day or the week.

We are the most relevant because of you.

Because you ask us the questions that are most important to you and that makes us different.

That makes us very, very relevant, certainly to everyone who is asking questions.

So if you are just joining us and you're wondering, how do I get my question asked and answered, it's very, very easy.

You send us your emails to me, Gene at ask mtm dot com.

One of our financial advisors, our team, will answer every single question back to you.

And we select some of those to air on future shows.

So it not only is an opportunity for you to get good advice from trusted, experienced financial advisors, but it's also a good opportunity, perhaps, to see your question aired on a future show.

So if you are so inclined, that would be fabulous.

Again, assisting us in staying the most relevant show on television and giving us the opportunity to serve you.

And that's what we bring to the airwaves.

Let's show you how it's done.

Abby, where do we start at life?

Events can change everything.

That obviously is a true statement.

Let's see what this individual was asking.

She says.

My financial picture is changing.

I'm going to need a financial advisor to assist me in managing assets, establishing retirement planning, and creating an effective estate management plan.

Wow.

My health has been rather precarious, so I have a more immediate interest in the retirement and estate management than I may have anticipated.

Prior to this year.

Goodness.

A brief email, seemingly a simple request for, assistance.

So why do we lead our show with this question this evening?

It's because the, impact the reality of our profession, our financial advisory profession are very, very important to this young lady.

For this reason, financial advisors come in lots of flavors.

Many?

I'm not sure.

Most, but I would say close to most, close to a majority are not truly financial advisors.

They are investment advisors.

Some of the largest, firms in America.

Some of the names you would recognize, quite readily, the ones who are managing, investments for their clients by the billions, literally.

These are investment advisors.

They will tell you your current investments are inappropriate for whatever reason.

Here are the investments we are recommending to be more appropriate for you for whatever reason.

And then if you shift gears and ask them about tax impacts, the response will be, we don't do taxes and we don't give you counsel about taxes.

You should speak to your tax advisor.

Or if you asked a question about estate plans, we don't do estate planning.

We are not attorneys.

You must talk to your trusted, experienced estate planning attorney.

Or how about creating a cash flow, plan for your retirement years?

We don't do those kinds of projections.

We do investments.

And as a result, many people are finding themselves quite frustrated.

Inappropriately served or not served at all on pieces of their financial picture that are every bit as important as you heard from her question in this particular case, in this particular moment, in her mind, more important, more important than are we investing in an exchange traded fund, a stock, a bond or some combination?

Estate planning has risen to the top of her priority list, her priority of her list of concerns, retirement planning, being able to, see clearly and confidently that she can retire and have that cash flow, the understanding of how that cash flow will unfold, and support her, when she needs it the most.

So these are just samples, just just, hints of the kinds of advice that a true financial advisor, a comprehensive financial advisor some folks use.

Holistic financial advisor, would be able to give, tax planning and preparation advice, estate planning and preparation documentation, of course.

Life insurance analysis, review, implementation, long term care, perhaps social security, how to select the proper, benefits schedule for you to meet your needs.

Medicare planning.

Medicaid planning.

When when that becomes a necessity.

These are all issues that a, a complete, a comprehensive financial advisor could bring to the table for, for you.

And so while this question seemingly was, was simple, the answer depending on, the advisor that she might be speaking to could be very, very different.

She might find herself either, well placed, and well served or not very well served at all.

And sometimes it's hard to know in advance.

So as she's interviewing advisors, we certainly recommend that she asks all of those questions.

Are these the services that you provide, or must I look elsewhere?

I hope that helped a bit, and I hope that your health improves rather significantly.

Harvey.

Next, please.

Indeed.

We all want to help our grandbabies.

Now, a little peek behind the curtain.

Not of the show, but of of me personally.

Today as we're filming this show for for airing next week is, my granddaughter's first birthday.

So to, Annabel, I'll take the, the initiative to say happy birthday to her, although she won't see it for a few days.

Bottom line is, pretty exciting stuff.

I'm not so sure as much for her as it is for for me and our family, of course.

But all grandparents, I suspect, have those same feelings.

So let's see what they're asking.

Can you help me understand the mechanics of gifting?

Appreciated.

Stock to a minor.

If grandpa Jerry, this is their email, I didn't make up these names.

If grandpa Jerry wants to give an Apple stock to his toddler granddaughter to someday help pay for college, do one of the grand granddaughters parents, obviously Grandpa Jerry's son or daughter, open a custodial account with the granddaughter as the beneficiary.

Then grandpa Jerry transfers it into the custody account that the parent owns.

Can the parent then execute stock sales?

Withdraw the funds to pay for education?

Well, this is a very interesting question.

For certain sets of circumstances, the key words here to begin to understand the question is appreciated.

Stock.

And this example of Apple is very appropriate.

Lots of folks bought Apple over the years.

Perhaps when it was, 20, 30, $40 a share.

Now it's 120, 130, $140 a share.

If they sell it themselves, they have to pay capital gains on maybe $100 a share.

And 20 bucks just goes out the window and off to the IRS.

Is there a better way?

The answer is very possibly.

Very possibly.

If you have appreciated stock, it might be Apple, it might be Nvidia, it might be, gosh, fill in the blanks.

You know, in every region of the country there are certain companies that are very popular, lots of employees, etc., so that they own stock that they've purchased over many, many years.

And that stock has appreciated.

It's grown in value, and it has exposed them to capital gains taxes.

That they would love to avoid if possible.

If they are concerned about their grandbabies.

And we all want to help our grandbabies, this is an opportunity for them to take a stock.

They paid 44.

It's currently selling at 140 and instead of selling, they transfer that into an account for the grandchild, in this case her granddaughter.

Yes, someone needs to be the custodian of that account prior to, in advance of the, the child becoming of age, age 18.

And in our state, other states, 21.

But bottom line, once they reach the age of majority, the trout and then, legally trans, transact their own business, but until then, they need a custodian.

Now, in essence, the question I ask about the child being the beneficiary, it is a small, perhaps technical point, but the child is not the beneficiary.

The child's the owner.

The child is the owner.

The custodian is acting in the best interest of the child.

So if it is in the best interest of the child to sell the stock, fantastic works beautifully.

They have the authority.

They have the responsibility to do exactly that.

If, on the other hand, for example, our, our, our Annabelle is one year old, if we think the custodian believes that holding in this case Apple stock until she is much older might very well be a, a strong investment.

That's exactly what they can do.

The reality, however, is that we have now or the impact that that, that we have created is that the stock, appreciation will no longer be taxed to grandpa.

It'll be taxed to granddaughter, and in all likelihood, her taxable income.

When that stock is sold will be at a level where her capital gains tax rate will be zero.

So if we are transferring, 100 shares, and if the tax to grandpa was 20.

Yeah, $20 a share, 2000 bucks, would that then drop to zero?

If we do this transfer to the granddaughter, the answer is yes.

2000 extra bucks for a grandbaby that you love way more than you love the IRS.

So that all kind of makes sense.

Of course it does.

Now, this is one technique.

There's lots of ways to help.

Grandbabies.

Direct gifts.

529 educational plans, gifting, appreciated stock, etc.

so don't take this as the way to assist.

Take it as a way a way that you may, employ to help, a little one that you care about very, very much.

Excellent question.

Certainly for me.

Where to next, my friend?

Very good piece of minds are really important thing.

Let's see what the question is.

Our home is worth 480,000.

We have a mortgage balance of 121.

The interest rate is 1.99%.

We want to retire in three years and think it's a good idea to pay off this home and be debt free and gain peace of mind.

What do you think?

I understand the temptation.

Paying off a mortgage is such a satisfying thing to do.

It is such a personal accomplishment, and that would certainly put a smile on your face.

Would you gain peace of mind?

Probably until I complete my discussion with you this morning.

Probably.

Did I say morning this evening?

You understand?

Bottom line is, if you don't think about it too much, if the only thing that you consider is that we have paid off our mortgage and we are debt free, it's a cool thing.

And the vast majority of, folks, 99% plus who pay off their mortgages are over the moon happy.

And gosh, what's the phrase?

Oh yeah, ignorance is bliss sometimes.

It really is.

If you don't think too far into the idea, just pay it off and be done with it.

However, part of my responsibility as your financial advisor is to think below the surface.

So for example, in this particular case, $121,000, call it 120,000 so that my quick mental math will be a little easier and I don't get as big a headache.

Bottom line is that we're currently paying interest potentially tax deductible, but we're certainly paying interest of 2%.

So if we were to do something just this simple, invest that 120,000 that it will take to pay off the mortgage, invest that in something that will produce a rate of return higher than 2%.

Currently there are investments conservative and there are guaranteed investments at 4%.

But if we look at just a little longer term, something that maybe isn't 100% guaranteed but has, a very conservative approach, and perhaps could average over a number of years, 7%.

So we're paying out 2%, we're bringing in seven, we're netting after all our expenses are paid five percentage points on a $120,000.

6000 bucks a year for not paying off your mortgage.

This is a, a realistic, certainly worthy of consideration.

Option two paying off your mortgage.

One of the reasons you might find this option.

What?

Accommodating.

You might find this option, palatable is that if you pay off your mortgage, the cash is gone.

You're done.

You're free and clear.

If you want that money back, you're going to have to jump through some hoops.

And maybe you still won't be able to get that money back in your hands if you accept that my premise of keep that 120 working for you.

The fancy term, by the way, is arbitrage.

Paying a very low cost of money over here to gain a significantly higher rate of return over here, and netting out a profit that arbitrage, if you are, so inclined to give that a go, it will be reversible, easily reversible.

You could try doing exactly what I'm recommending for six months, for a year, for whatever period of time you need to either be, agreeable that this worked out really well and that you're really, like the extra 6000 bucks a year.

And if you don't need the extra 6000, give it away.

If you have grandbabies.

We just talked about that.

If you got a chance to give your grandbaby 6000 bucks a year, how cool would that be?

Maybe you have grandbabies that are teenagers with part time jobs, and you could fund a Roth IRA for your grandbabies, not based on anything other than arbitrage money.

I would have paid off my mortgage with anyway.

It would not be available to make me additional income and I didn't.

I chose a different route.

I turned a profit and now I can give that to someone I really love.

If you decide after six months or a year, I wish I hadn't done that.

Your 120 is still there.

It's actually probably higher than that because you've made more money than that.

But let's assume it's exactly 120.

Pay off your mortgage and you're done.

So it's not a forever decision.

It's, let's give it a go.

And if at the end of a year you're looking at your, bank account, you're saying I got an extra 6000 bucks?

My guess.

So, yes.

You're going to want to continue that for another year or two or longer.

If you've got ten more years on your mortgage.

6000 bucks a year.

I don't know where I come from.

6000 bucks is a lot of money.

Something for you to consider and maybe worth a little bit if your peace of mind.

Outstanding question.

Thank you so much.

Do we have another one back there, sir?

Oh, apparently we do.

Sister to her brother.

Oh.

This can be, a challenge.

Young lady writes I love your show.

Thanks for helping your audience understand money issues.

Thank you.

You're very kind.

I'm 78.

I have a brother who's 75 who has bipolar and schizophrenia issues.

My parents recently left us 100, $100,000 each in their trust.

They stipulated I make a trust for my brother, for his medical needs.

And of course I did.

He is now in assisted living and doing well, and the cost is manageable.

His social security covers about three quarters of the monthly fee.

I am his poha, his health care poha, trustee and executrix.

You have taken on a lot.

So my question is in the future, if my brother should enter a nursing home, would he be eligible to get Medicaid after the five year look back from when the trust was drawn up?

There may be 60,000 or so left in the trust at that time.

He has two adult children and a grandchild.

It would be nice to pass on an inheritance to them.

God bless you for your help.

Well, God bless you as well.

Well, and when I say God bless you, I mean that on many different levels.

God bless you, of course, but also God bless you for the service that you're giving to your brother.

There are a lot of folks who would say, no, thank you.

At this stage of my life, I don't want the responsibilities and you have taken them on and done an outstanding job.

You're asking a very appropriate question.

There's a piece of the puzzle that that we're currently missing that I will tell you what I suspect is the truth, but we're going to need to confirm it based on the description of your family interaction.

I suspect that your parents were well aware of your brother's challenges.

Obviously, they instructed you to put it into a trust for his medical care.

So.

So certainly they were aware and being aware and the fact that they had a trust and their recommending that you have a trust which you've established, I strongly suspect that the trust that's been created will become, Medicaid eligible, Medicaid protected after the five year look back, I strongly suspect that I haven't read the document.

That's the missing piece of information that I haven't seen.

So I can't confirm that, with 100% confidence.

But based on all of the, support, all of the guidance that you have already received, I strongly suspect that the trust will allow exactly that.

Translation.

It was established.

It's been being spent down to help support, your your brother's care at whatever point, it passes that five year rule when he passes the balance in that trust should absolutely go to his family.

The five year rule for folks who are not familiar, says, in essence, that not Medicare, but Medicaid, medical welfare will care for a patient if they have no resources.

And the rules are very specific.

And the numbers are very specific.

If you are faced with this challenge, you will need to have a professional, guide you through the process.

But in reality, in, in, in effect, nothing they, they have to have no assets of their own.

The assets in this trust are not his.

He is the beneficiary.

And if the trust was drawn, as I suspected, as I suspect it was, his family, his children, grandchildren, they are the ultimate beneficiaries.

If there are funds left, they will automatically go to his children and grandchildren.

So with any luck whatsoever, this is a, as, it's a moot point.

It is.

It is nothing that needs to be addressed because it's been addressed.

I would certainly to confirm all of that.

Look carefully at the document.

Confer with the attorney that draft of the document to confirm, that what I suspect is true is indeed true.

And give yourself the peace of mind of knowing that you've done everything for your brother.

That you possibly can.

And if, during the course of his lifetime, this trust is, dissipated, that's what it was set up for.

It was there to care for him when he was sadly unable to care for himself.

So, Bless you.

You're doing a fantastic job in service to your brother.

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

I'm still very excited about being, here two days from now as we have live event on March the 6th.

If you are still, Hey, I just found out about.

I'd love to be in the live studio audience when we produce two to More than money shows, then reach out to me, send me an email Gene at ask mtm dot com, and we'll do the very best we can to squeeze you in.

We've got a pretty full house at the moment, but the more the merrier.

Isn't that how that goes?

The more the merrier?

Absolutely.

And of course, if you can't make it for our live shows on March 6th, but you would like to have your questions asked and answered, send those to me as well.

Gene at ask mtm dot com.

We have a tremendous team at More Than Money.

Advisors that are very smart, very experienced, very trustworthy, that will reach out and give you the information that you need.

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

It's just an opportunity for us to serve you as best that we possibly can.

And just maybe you'll see your question asked and answered on a future show.

And wouldn't that be kind of fun to be able to tell your friends and family about folks?

Thanks for spending part of your evening with us.

We know you could be lots of places, but you were here with us.

Maybe you learned enough that you want to return next week for another edition of More Than Money.