You've got more than money.

You've got to gets in your house.

Your personal financial advisor.

You have Megan, smell your financial correspondent.

You have an entire PBS team bringing you our show this evening.

It's a group effort, without a doubt.

Hopefully you are a loyal viewer of More Than Money, and you've seen us many, many times before.

These are eighth season, so there's lots to see.

But if you're joining us for the very first time, I think the first indicator you might want to pay attention to is the title of the show, More Than Money.

It's not just about money.

It's far more often, far more often you.

It's about you, the people that you care about, the people that you love, and how we can best serve them.

That's typically what we are faced with, with most of our questions here are more than money.

Again, if you're new, you're saying most of your questions.

Where do they come from?

They come from our audience.

You send those to us.

We select some to air on future shows.

We couldn't possibly air all of them.

That's how many we get.

We're very, very blessed.

But every single question gets answered back to you by one of our staff, one of our financial advisors, and they are happy to do so.

There's absolutely no cost.

There's no obligation.

There's no concern whatsoever except that you get very, very good information to help you meet your challenges, whether it be something simple, something a bit more complex, maybe it's an opinion that needs to be expressed or maybe even corrected on occasion.

That's probably my job.

But most importantly, we want to serve you.

And because you are so kind and so engaging that you share your questions with us, we have become, I think, very well known, certainly well known in my world as the most relevant financial show on television today.

All the big names, all the big stations, coast to coast and border to border, they can't hold a candle to us because they all have things they want to inflict.

Share with you.

We have things we want to respond and serve you.

So you set the tone.

You make us the most relevant.

We add my 780 years of experience and happy to do exactly that for you.

So with no further ado, let's turn to our financial correspondent and ask Megan.

Megan, where do we start this evening?

Hi, Jean.

Our first question tonight is about changing up their living situation.

These emails ask or say my husband and I are 70 and 72.

We are currently looking at continuing care retirement communities starting at the independent Living wing.

I wonder what you think of these.

There will be a sizable upfront fee, approximately $750,000 depending on the size of the apartment, with 80% return of principal upon leaving or death, along with approximately $6,000 a month rental that includes both of us.

There are many amenities in each community, including food, housekeeping, entertainment, etc.

we can afford this, but we do have an emotional tie to our family home and three floor living might not be manageable as we age.

There is also the legacy of leaving our home to our children upon passing stepped up in basis versus the return of principal to them from the CCRC with a sizable tax basis.

Do you have an opinion on aging in place versus ACC?

Thanks.

Well, goodness.

Asking my opinion.

It's it's so unlike me to express that so openly.

Yes, I'll be happy to share my opinion with you.

First of all, you are incredibly young.

1772.

What do they say?

70 is the new 50.

So hopefully you're in great health.

You're enjoying your life to the max.

That's fantastic.

Happy healthy hundred.

Our triple H club means that you've got three decades or more that you should be enjoying your life.

And while CCRC have some decided advantages, decided advantages, goodness, some of the references that you make in your email lead me to believe that you're not ready, that you're not ready.

One of the references that you make is is the issue of legacy.

And if your home is where your family ties are, where your family memories are, where your emotional ties are.

I would not be quick to give that up.

I would absolutely have some conversations with my children.

How do they view the home?

How do they emotionally view the home?

You may be surprised in either direction.

You may be surprised to find them having no interest whatsoever.

They have their own homes.

They're grown.

They have their own families, they've built their memories in their own home.

And the legacy issue around your home becomes almost irrelevant.

You may find the exact opposite.

I just talked recently briefly to a very good friend who talked about a family vacation home that is generational.

It's already planned.

It's grandparents, parents, grandchildren.

Gosh, it's going to go on and on and on.

Legacy means a tremendous amount to that family.

You've got to determine that.

You've got to make that a priority.

To understand what exactly are the challenges.

You may find that they are significant, that you may find that they are irrelevant.

So that's a very important first stop, knowing absolutely that you are guaranteed, guaranteed to have your capital that you're infusing in the sea.

Drop the the 80% refund much less than you're putting in.

And 6000 a month is not a small number.

It may actually be, relatively speaking, what you're spending now.

If you and your bride have Social Security, perhaps a pension, you might put all that together and come out with 6000 a month.

So it may be fine to to fund out of pocket.

And if that works out, if you're home being what transitioned into the Carsey and your cash flow current cash flow allows you to to pay the the monthly stipend, which will go up every, every year, if that all works to you and your benefit.

Goodness.

One of the attributes of his Carsey that lots of folks have taken advantage of is that they typically provide you with a continuous care, no matter what happens to your health.

So for a lot of folks who have been frustrated with long term health care, long term care insurance, my apologies.

They have found the solution for them in the Kark, because most of these you mentioned starting in the independent living.

Excellent.

You're absolutely right.

It's like staying at a very high end hotel with lots of of food options, restaurants and entertainment and trips.

It can be fantastic if you start there and then unfortunately, as you age or through an accident, etc., your health requires some advanced level of care.

Maybe already still in your independent apartment, or later nursing care, or later sadly, memory care, all that is included.

All that is part and parcel to the Carsey mandate.

That's their mission to provide you with care from wherever you enter to wherever you exit.

So you must determine your priorities.

Don't let the tax issue be the issue.

Let your legacy, let your expectation of care in your more senior years drive it.

And the other thing that, in my opinion, what do I think that is an important consideration.

You mentioned you you you expect that managing three floors as you age might be difficult, might be, might not be might not be.

I see lots of folks in their senior years going to one level living.

I'm not really clear that that's healthy.

I'm fairly clear that steps can be a challenge, and maybe that's good.

Maybe that keeps you healthier.

Maybe you do a little more movement, a little more engagement with your with your environment.

I wouldn't be in a hurry, but I would be very clear about what my priorities are.

And if having that assurance that peace of mind that no matter what happens to either or both of you, you will be cared for, it's probably the right move for you.

Lots of challenge there.

You've got some homework to do, but gosh, if you have further questions, as your homework gets intense, circle back.

We'll be glad to help.

By the way, I didn't mention before we get started, I mentioned that we accept your questions.

How do you do that?

You send those emails to me, Jean at.

Any at ask, ask MTM and happy to respond to all this.

And by the way, we have our bimonthly news by monthly and it's every other month newsletter.

Our most recent one was was published last week.

Comes free to your email inbox.

And if I do say so myself, it's pretty incredible.

I used to say that because I wrote the whole thing.

Now I say that because I wrote a very small part of it.

But we have a tremendous team, tremendous team that authors their own columns, and they're far more interesting than anything I might put together.

So if you like a newsletter, just ask for that as well.

Megan, who do we serve next?

Well, the next one actually isn't an email, but it is definitely interesting and we want your thoughts on it.

This one says Al Pacino lost $50 million to a corrupt accountant and lavish lifestyle.

Buying 23 cell phones and 16 cars forced him to take roles he didn't like at 70.

Legendary actor Al Pacino revealed that he went from having $50 million to nothing after a corrupt accountant mismanaged his finances.

In what later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

I was broke, Pacino wrote in his 2024 memoir, Sonny Boy.

I had $50 million, and then I had nothing.

At the same time, his spending was extreme.

He has described blowing money on excess purchases, including buying 23 cell phones and 16 cars on top of the luxury lifestyle.

Quote the landscaper was getting $400,000 a year, he wrote, adding it was for a property he didn't even live in.

He described the situation as a crazy montage of loss, where money was constantly going out with little control.

By the time he realized what had happened, Pacino was already in his 70s.

The big paydays that once defined his career were no longer guaranteed, and roles were becoming harder to find.

What are your thoughts on this gene?

One of the reasons I found this intriguing is that our society seems to imbue folks who are famous for whatever reason.

It could be sports, could be acting, could be singing with some heightened sense of insight and intelligence.

Al Pacino is very political, very political, says some controversial things to be.

To be fair, he says some vile things on occasion.

But cash from the point that he wrote this book and that this was reported, I'm guessing he's now in his 80s, and there could be any number of explanations for some of that.

But the reality is that we meant not we, not not.

We're PBS.

We're pretty bright folks.

But lots of folks seem to believe that if you're famous, you must have tremendous insight.

You must have intelligence way beyond your years.

Wisdom that just flows.

Apparently not.

Apparently not so many of of what's described here as excess is is almost embarrassing.

If anyone there, many of you who are watching, many of you that we know personally have done extremely well in your life and yet.

You own 16 cars.

Not likely.

The vast majority of folks that I know who have done extremely well are very thoughtful about how they spend their money.

My bride, Diane, if that is her real name, and I recently had the experience of being at a very, very high end business resort, we were the guests of the organization asking us to participate.

It was lovely.

Everything about it was exceptional and the service was quite, quite good.

Except that when you look at the actual charges, they were what's the right word?

Oh yeah.

Obscene.

The only reason you would pay that kind of a rate for that kind of experience is to just be able to say that you can.

To be able to.

Hey, look at me.

What I can spend.

That's a fairly.

What's the word?

Not embarrassing, perhaps.

Or perhaps worthless, maybe worse.

He lost $50 million.

Now, admittedly, he didn't lose it all on cars and spending $400,000 a year on landscaping at a house he doesn't live in.

There are some judgment calls that we wonder about the word.

The words corrupt accountant and Ponzi scheme are really important for you and I for you and I not because we have 50 million that we're going to blow.

Not because we're going to make the same kind of errors in judgment that Al Pacino made.

But because there are some very simple things that everyone should be aware of in terms of how you manage your own personal finances, one of which is the issue of a Ponzi scheme.

Bernie Madoff, perhaps the most famous Ponzi scheme purveyor in our world and certainly in our time, cash billions of dollars.

The the trust that he accepted could have been easily managed by an independent custodian.

Now, what do we mean by that?

In our world, in the investment world, there are two ways financial advisors can handle investments from their clients.

They can accept the investments themselves personally in their company, commingle them with other investments, other invest investor assets, and produce reports based on whatever they decide to share with their clients or if they are.

And I'm being very clear about this reputable.

They don't do any of that.

They never touch the money.

They allow the money to be held by a third party custodian.

In our world, we use Charles Schwab.

Lots of advisors use fidelity.

They might use Vanguard.

There are lots of different, very high quality, very well respected, independent third parties that actually hold the assets.

The financial advisor does exactly that.

They advise, they instruct, they manage the funds.

They don't touch the funds.

The funds cannot leave the account and head back to the advisor in any way, shape or form other than what the client gives permission to to occur.

So it would have been the simplest thing in the world for Al Pacino to have set up a situation where his advisors, accountants, investment advisors, financial advisors would have had no access to his money whatsoever, no access whatsoever.

And for the vast majority of you, that's the relationship you have with your financial advisor.

It works beautifully.

And you can then what?

Cross-check comparison between the account statements you're getting from your custodian and the reports that you're getting from your financial advisor.

It's a wonderful way to make sure that you are in sync, and that your money is doing exactly what your advisor says that he or she is doing for you.

So the corrupt accountant part taxation can be very confusing.

And yes, many financial advisors don't provide any tax information, don't provide any tax guidance or tax preparation.

Some firms as as as ours do are the more than money firm they do.

So they provide that in-house.

So you have a little more.

Again checks and balances and multiple people looking at your money from multiple directions and allows you to try and triangulate into a, a very precise, very precise understanding of your money.

If you intend to be a world famous actor who ends up basically broke, then you should follow the Al Pacino model.

If, on the other hand, you intend to be one of those folks who quietly most of our clients very quietly have been very successful and have shown good judgment.

Yeah.

Use him.

My dad used to say everyone is very, very useful, even if their use is to be used as a bad example.

Maybe Al Pacino is useful in that way.

Makes it fascinating.

Fascinating, indeed.

Where to next?

Well, we're going to get back to our viewers questions now.

Excellent.

This one says I recently inherited $100,000 from my grandma.

I am 26, single male.

Would like to invest it like a pension.

So I could have guaranteed income in 40 years.

Wondering, should I invest in an IRA, Roth IRA or an annuity?

Please advise.

Thanks.

Well, first of all, congratulations.

That's.

That's a lovely bequest.

What a wonderful thing your grandma has done for you.

Thank you.

Grandma, indeed.

It's a obviously bittersweet.

You don't want to lose your grandparents.

The goodness.

The money doesn't make up for that in any way, shape or form.

But.

But obviously she saw something in you that she wanted to support.

She wanted you to have that opportunity to be given a leg up.

Most 26 year olds $100,000 is 10 or 15 years away if they ever get there in terms of their savings.

So she has put you so far ahead of the game.

It is a magnificent thing to see.

I, I guess I'm intuiting the reason she gave you that money, because you're already asking really, really smart questions.

You're already targeting this money for a really, really impactful result in your life.

In your life.

So good for you.

I think grandma saw that in you.

And that's the reason why she entrusted you with what everyone would agree is a very substantial sum of money.

Now, if we do this right, if we do this right, this can have life changing effect.

If we do it wrong, it could be two cars and two kegs of beer and gone.

We can't have that happen.

We just simply can't have that happen.

To give you maybe some inspiration in terms of making the right choices.

I think you're already on the right track, but maybe give you a little more support.

If you are 26 and you intend to retire at at 66, 40 years from now.

You were how about 68, 42 years from now?

You'll see in a second why mental math?

If we can average, if no guarantee, if we can average 10% return a year.

Your money is going to double that.

Money is going to double about every seven years.

So in 42 years, it will double six times.

You're following so far, pretty simple stuff.

100 becomes 200 becomes 400 becomes 800 becomes $1.6 million, $3.2 million, $6.4 million, 10% return, doubling every seven years.

For 42 years, your grandma could very well have set you on the path where your retirement at 60.

What did we decide?

68.

Leaving you 32 years to hit triple H?

Happy, healthy 100 will be populated by a tremendous amount of money with her one bequest.

If you make the right choices, the three things that you're describing the IRA, the Roth IRA, the annuity they all have pros and cons.

I would ask you to stay away from the the IRA, and the reason I ask you to stay away from the IRA is because you will get a tax deduction now when you likely don't need it very much, and you will pay taxes much later when you've got 6 million or more dollars producing income, your tax bracket likely to be very high.

If you're using an IRA, use a Roth.

If you can avoid using an annuity right now, you should avoid it.

I'll explain that here in a moment, but one of the advantages that you might look for might be found not in an IRA or an annuity or a Roth IRA, but if you are employed in your employee, employee employer offers you AA41 or a 403 B, there are roughly equivalent.

We'll talk about the 401.

If they offer you a 401 K, your maximum contribution at this moment in your life is likely far out of reach.

Your maximum contribution around 25,000 bucks.

I'm going by memory for a very young person, about 25,000.

Most 26 year olds are going.

Look, I've still got bills to pay.

I've got a car I need, I've got, I've got.

I can't possibly do 25,000.

Even if you're making 75,000 guys, that'd be a third of your income.

Most young people can't do that.

You're not most young people.

You've got 100,000 bucks.

So you could if you're involved in that 401, use this $100,000 in a very indirect way.

You would instruct your employer to withhold from your paycheck an amount equal to that 25,000 or so a year, a couple thousand bucks a month.

And because your paycheck is going to drop, you will have the 100,000 in reserve, and you'll replace that drop with money from your $100,000.

So on this side of the coin, we've got 100 well invested conservatively, but well invested.

It might make three, 4 or 5% return.

Whatever it makes, it's it's wonderful.

It's great money, 3000, 4000, 5000, maybe more.

That'd be fantastic.

But it's going into a tax sheltered 401 program, allowing you to grow for the next 42 years without Uncle Sam being interested and most appropriately, most appropriately, if your company offers A41K with a Roth option, that's the one you want.

Again, your money's going in taxable if there's no tax savings.

But many years from now, $6 million later income from $6 million, maybe 100, 200, 300, $400,000 a year, tax free, tax free.

So if you're in a position where you can do exactly that, if you have the self-discipline, it's going to take a little time, a little bit of mechanics, because you're going from an IRA that you might be allowed to put 7 or $8000 a year away into a program that will allow you to put dramatically more money, but it's still going to take you some transition time to go from the 100,000 in your checkbook to $100,000.

Actually, it's going to end up being far more.

You'll hear that in a moment.

But 100,000 plus in a Roth 401, then that can grow for 42 years and come out income tax free.

I said we'd circle back to it's probably going to be far more if in the first year you moved 25,000, you still have 75,000 earnings, something.

If it's earning 5%, it's earning roughly 4000 bucks over the transition of three, four years of getting this money into a Roth's IRA.

I'm sorry, Roth for one K, you're likely to end up on the outside with an extra ten, 15, $20,000, so you're not likely to get three contributions or four contributions.

You're likely to get five.

So instead of $100,000 over 42 years, you're likely to have 125,000.

And it's just going to make millions more.

What a beautiful opportunity.

What a bright young man you are for asking the question.

We've got a lot of bright young viewers of our PBS show.

We're very, very proud of that.

And goodness, it's a legacy that your grandma has given you the opportunity to turn into an absolute fortune.

What a lovely thing she has done for you.

Speaking of lovely, it's been very lovely of you to spend your part of your evening with us.

You could be anywhere.

You could be watching the World Series, for goodness sakes.

Sure.

That's up and running by the time this this show views.

But bottom line is we thank you so much.

You allow us to become the most relevant financial show on television.

You allow us the honor of serving you of, of of embracing the needs of you and your family, the people that you love, and giving you at least some ideas that can get you from point A to point B, and that's a that's a great honor.

The trust that you give us means the world to us.

Hopefully, hopefully you've you've found yourself educated, inspired, perhaps maybe even a little bit entertained along the way.

Enough so that when the next edition of More Than Money rolls around, you're going to want to rejoin us.

So perhaps next week we'll see each other again, right here for another edition of more than one.