Show Notes

• 00:00 – Intro: This Week on the YMYW Podcast
• 01:03 – Watch Your 11-Step Path to Financial Freedom on YMYW TV, Calculate your free Financial Blueprint
• 08:56 – Trump’s New Tax Law: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Rundown
• 09:59 – Other Advisors’ Roth Strategies (Michael, CO, and Richard, CA)
• 17:53 – Why Does Ed Slott, CPA, Advocate for Permanent Cash Value Life Insurance? (Brian, Queens, NY)
• 25:23 – Download the Ultimate Guide to Roth IRAs
• 26:18 – “If I Knew I Was Going to Live This Long” Mantle Quote… Becomes Death Trivia!
• 30:15 – 8th Annual YMYW Podcast Survey Results
• 36:09 – Next Week on the YMYW Podcast
• 36:51 – YMYW Podcast Outro

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Transcription

(NOTE: Transcriptions are an approximation and may not be entirely correct)

Intro: This Week on the YMYW Podcast

Andi: One Big Beautiful Bill is now law. How does it impact your Roth conversion strategies and other financial decisions? Plus, you may have seen or heard other advisors talking about their strategies for getting your retirement savings into tax-free Roth accounts. How are these different from a good ol’ Roth conversion, and what do Joe and Big Al think of them? Find out today on Your Money, Your Wealth® podcast number 545. Plus, why is Ed Slott, CPA, the man known to many as the IRA guru, such a fan of permanent cash value life insurance? Finally, an attempted correction from a YMYW YouTube viewer turns into a rousing game of death trivia, and we’ll share some of your opinions from the 8th Annual YMYW Podcast Survey which just closed. Thank you to all of you for helping us make this podcast better for you, and congratulations to Larry, our randomly-chosen winner of the $100 Amazon e-gift card. Let’s kick things off today with the new tax reform. I’m Executive Producer Andi Last, and here are the hosts of Your Money, Your Wealth®, Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA.

Trump’s New Tax Law: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Rundown

Joe: Hey Al, it’s been a while since this bill came out, so I thought we’d just give a brief overview of the beautiful badass bill of Don’t you love the name? I do. One big, beautiful bill. So let me, yeah, kind of scoured through this. Okay. Me too. some interesting changes and some more of the same.

Yeah, I agree with that. So I think we talked about Roth conversions quite a bit. So there’s a couple things that would affect conversions. let’s see, what, are the main things that, that you see that could affect someone’s Roth conversions? to convert or not to convert?

Al: Yeah. Well, I think the first thing, Joe, right off the bat is the, lower tax rates continue, right?

So we’ve been saying all along, get your Roth conversions in now, right before the end of 2025, because the tax rates are gonna go up. Well, the tax rates, have been extended. Not only have they been extended Joe, but they’ve been extended permanently. Yeah. But what does that mean until they change it?

Joe: Right. Well, you know what permanent means? So we got the 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35, 30 7% tax bracket. So, still really good opportunities to, to convert the 10, 12, 22 for sure. Yeah, the 24 is still a giant bracket. It is, and they’re going to increase those 10, 12, 20 2% brackets. They got a little inflation boost. I don’t know what the hell that means, but maybe it’s a little bit larger than all the other brackets or the other brackets are not getting inflated, adjusted throughout the years.

Al: You know, I don’t know what goes, what’s behind the Iron curtain or the green Curtain or whatever you wanna call it, but, at any rate, yeah. So, I mean, as of right now we’re looking at about $200,000 taxable income for single and about $400,000 taxable income for married. You can do a Roth conversion and stay in that 24% bracket, which is a good bracket, for many people.

And so, yeah, that’s what’s gonna go on. Maybe by another 10,000.

Joe: Okay. what else is gonna affect Roth conversions?

Al: let’s see. Well, I mean, some of the, changes in deductions, like the, you wanna talk about the salt deduction? Yeah,

Joe: that’s interesting. $40,000. They increase it from 10 floor to 40,000, but then it decreases depending on how much income that you have.

So it phases out on you.

Al: It does. And so, yeah, we used to be able to deduct all of our state taxes and property taxes. And then in 2017 with that bill it was reduced to $10,000 as a maximum. now it’s up to $40,000, but that starts phasing out with taxable income, single above 250,000 and married 500,000.

So if you’re below those levels, yeah, you can take up to $40,000 of taxes and that would be a huge benefit for. For some, particularly those that live in California and other high tax states, and for those that make a lot of money, maybe it won’t really impact ’em that much. what about the tax credit?

Senior, tax credit. Yeah, that’s an interesting one. So we already have, that seniors can take additional benefits for being over 65 and or blind. Oh, you, so you’re one of the two. I’m right in there. Wait, one of those, anyways, so they’ve got the, they still have the extra, deductions I should say for those.

Over 65 and or blind, you get even more benefit if you’re over 65 and blind. But Joe, now there’s like a $6,000, additional amount, but that phases out pretty low. right That phases out at about $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single and 150,000 for married. what else? Anything else interesting?

Well, I mean, I think, I’d like to maybe just recap the, some of the extensions. ’cause we all thought the tax rates were gonna change and you know, all these things were gonna come roaring back, but they’re not so permanent. You’re right. Permanent means whenever they change it again, but the tax rates are lower, both individual and corporate so that the current rates just continue.

The higher standard deduction continues the higher child tax credit. The estate tax exemption. So that’s gonna be 15 million next year from about 14 million next year. On the federal level. On the federal level, yeah. It doesn’t affect the state. And QBI qualified business income. So that will be the same as it was.

Joe: What about, I don’t know. There’s a lot about over time.

Al: Yeah.

Joe: You got tips.

Al: Yeah. So this is,

Joe: tips. So you side hustle, you looking

Al: for tips, aren’t you looking for tips? Yeah. So, anyway, so this is between 2025 and 2028. So your tips can be tax free, up to $25,000 a year of tips, and then that starts phasing out at about 150,000 of taxable income over time.

Up to $12,500 of overtime can be exempted from income tax with I think similar phase outs. What’s the phase out? I think it’s 150,000. Well, it’s still pretty high income. Pretty high. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right. So let’s see, a couple other, things we haven’t touched on. Car loan,

Joe: when does this all come into effect?

Like already retro 25, 26?

Al: Yeah. Most of it’s 2025. Yeah. Of this year. This year. Yeah. Car loan interest is potentially deductible up to $10,000 of interest. if, it must be a new car for personal use, purchase after December 31st, 2024. And there, and it must be the, final assembly needs to be in the United States.

And there’s all these regulations on what’s the final assembly. But, stay tuned on that.

Joe: What, what about. Primary residents, the sale of that to be tax free. You see some of, some language on that’s

Al: coming through the press lately. You know, I’ve heard a lot of talk about that, but no, I haven’t seen anything official yet.

Joe: Well, yeah, I think all it is talk. It’s talk. Yeah.

Al: Yeah.

Joe: yeah. But that would be interesting too because I think the argument is that people are locked into their house. They don’t, they can’t sell because of the gains. Yeah. Yeah. But, that only affects a very small. Portion of the population because you still get the 1 21 exclusion of $500,000 in whatever repairs or maintenance or, you know, additions and things like that you put back into the property.

Al: Maybe if you live in Southern California, that’d be nice, right? Yeah. But for a lot of places where they don’t really have enough gain for it to matter that much. something else I thought was kind of interesting. Trump accounts for kids. You hear about that? Yep. Yes. So children born in the US between 2024 and 2028, they’re gonna receive a one-time deposit of a thousand dollars in their name, from the US Treasury, managed in a federally managed account.

And parents can add to that if they want to. up to $5,000 per year, all the way up to their, the kids’ age. 18. Is it, Roth. It? No, it’s just savings could be used for school or home or whatever. No, it’s

Joe: taxable on an annual basis. What is it I that I’m not clear on? Huh? Okay. Yeah, you really did your research there.

They do. Well, wait a minute. Your crack research, you just killed it on that one.

Al: Wait a minute. let me just tell you, first of all, this was July 4th that was signed, so we’re not. Too far and it was a thousand pages. So give me a break. I haven’t gone through all of them yet.

Joe: well, I think we’re good.

Al: Yeah, me too. Yeah, a lot of the same.

Joe: And then if you get in the weeds, you know, so if you have questions on it, you know, feel free to call Big Al.

Al: Or Joe.

Watch Your 11-Step Path to Financial Freedom on YMYW TV, Calculate your free Financial Blueprint

Andi: Only about one in ten Americans are living their definition of financial freedom. 54% say that means living debt free, 50% say living comfortably, 32% say financial freedom means not having to work, and 13% define it as being rich. But too many of us fall short of financial freedom because of lack of retirement savings, salary constraints, debt, or unforeseen emergencies. This week on Your Money, Your Wealth TV, Joe and Big Al put you on Your 11-Step Path to Financial Freedom. Find out how to take inventory, invest in yourself, and sustain your financial dreams and goals. Our Financial Blueprint tool will help you with that first part, taking inventory. Click the Financial Blueprint link in the episode description, enter your details, and you’ll get an analysis of your current cash flow, assets, and projected spending for retirement, along with three scenarios that will help you determine your probability of success. Click or tap the links in the episode description to watch Your 11-Step Path to Financial Freedom on YMYW TV and to calculate your Financial Blueprint.

Other Advisors’ Roth Strategies (Michael, CO and Richard, CA)

Joe: Let’s move on to Michael from Colorado. He goes, hello Joe, Big Al and Andi, this is Michael. I’m in Colorado. I turned 72 in 2025, and I’m concerned about my RMDs beginning in 2026. I just listened to a webcast by Craig Wear. Who’s that? CFP®?

Andi: He’s a CFP®.

Joe: I had no idea. All right. Probably pretty smart. CFP®.

Al: Yeah. Like you.

Joe: Just like me.

Al: Just like you.

Joe: Yeah. On Roth conversions, he says that if one has $1 million or more in traditional IRAs, it is far better to immediately convert as much as possible.

This is devices contrary to where you recommend converting up to. the top of one’s tax bracket, please discuss and I thank you. Yeah, I don’t know, maybe I retract my statement on Craig Wear.

Andi: Not so smart?

Joe: He said if one has a million dollars or more in IRAs, convert it all, convert all rip off the bandaid and paid 50%

Al: tax.

Well, but he says. Immediately convert as much as possible. What does that mean? Up to the tax bracket, which is the same as us, or is that everything? I don’t know. We don’t know either. Yeah, I know either as possible. I don’t know what that means, that is, that, you can afford from taxes. I, don’t know.

Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much about Craig, where we, whatever, CFP®, it’s, the, it’s common sense really. If you think about it, it’s like, what tax bracket are you in now? What tax bracket are you going to be in retirement when your armies kick in? Those two tax brackets are gonna help you decide what’s appropriate for you to convert.

And of course you gotta have money set aside that you can pay the taxes on it so you, it’s. There’s no one size fits all, but I certainly don’t agree with anyone that’s telling you to convert a big pile of money in huge tax brackets when you’re gonna be in a smaller bracket later. Makes no sense to me.

Jeff.

Joe: Y you know, there was a, a listener that sent me an email, and he was like, Hey, I’m, seeing these things on social media, and of course they always use a million dollars or, more. Yeah. Right. So it was like, here was a Roth rescue it was called. Okay. They didn’t call it a Roth conversion.

Okay. It’s a Roth rescue. Okay.

Andi: We’ve got that one in the, list as well. That’s in there. Complete with screenshot from Instagram.

Joe: Yeah. Or so It basically, what it is, it’s, you are, you’re taking all your money out of retirement account and putting into an index universal life insurance policy.

Okay. That’s what I thought you might say. It’s a rescue You’re getting money out of a tax deferred account. You’re gonna pay the tax now and then put everything into an IUL. because then you’ll enjoy tax free growth for the rest of your life, and then you get the benefit of, tax free death benefit to the beneficiaries.

Got it. That’s a rescue.

Al: That’s a

Joe: rescue. Are you a fan of that? No. No. I’m assuming. No, it’s terrible. then there’s another one that’s, out there. and this one is like if you had $2 million in a retirement account. Okay. Oh, I only could take one client per week and only if you have $2 million or more.

Got it. So it’s a Roth. We can make, it’s another Roth rescue. Without paying the tax, you don’t have to pay the tax. Okay. So did a little research for our listener. Like it, and basically what I mean, this thing is convoluted and I, upon audit, Alan, I don’t know, might not play. It might not. I’ve never seen something so complex.

It’s taking retirement dollars, putting it into a trust. Okay. And there’s gotta be a charitable, and they didn’t really talk about like what type of trust it is, but then there’s a tax credit or a deduction that would offset the taxes that you pay as you’re distributing the money out of the retirement account into this trust.

Okay? But then what do you buy when it’s in the trust? In Index Universal life insurance policy. Here we go again, it’s another way to tell, to get a tax credit or a deduction by putting the dollars into a specific trust, but you have to buy the index universal life insurance policy within the trust, so it’s still a Roth because you get the tax free growth.

Okay. I mean, you know, I mean really good marketing. Yeah. This guy was like, yeah, and I worked with his top law firm in, you know, Washington, DC and they’re the smartest people on the face of this earth, and you know. And I was like, wow, this is interesting. What the hell is this? And that’s, you know, that’s good till someone discovers it and Well, yeah.

I mean, it, I think what this person here too, which Michael’s talking about, he is like, he says if one has a million dollars or more in a traditional IRA convert as much as he can. I, don’t know if that’s a marketing ploy or maybe Michael as he was watching a webcast. Maybe misunderstood what this guy was saying maybe because I agree if you have a lot of money in a retirement account is, as all of our listeners know, that as that money continues to compound in a tax deferred environment, you’re going to potentially pay more tax because those dollars are growing and you owe tax on ’em.

So. Makes sense to bite the bullet at a lower tax rate or at the existing tax rate to get those dollars out to have tax free growth. I’m a hundred percent in favor of that. Yeah. And the more dollars that you have, I think the more that you should be thinking about converting and probably the more dollars that you have, you probably have to convert more than other people that don’t have as much in a retirement account.

Yeah. But if it’s like, Hey, I’m targeting people that have a million dollars or more in a retirement account and telling them, convert everything. You know, or without any type of strategy or plan. I, would just be cautious with that. I mean, it’s, math. You just have to run numbers. What tax bracket are you in now?

What tax bracket do you think you’re going to be given certain assumptions? We don’t know what inflation’s gonna do. You have no idea what the market’s gonna do. You have no idea what tax law’s gonna do. So you have to make educated guess on this. So by converting willy nilly, I think is the wrong move.

But if you take an educated guess of saying, Hey, I think. Tax rates might stay the same or go up a little bit. I feel that inflation could be at the same historic inflation rates of the last 30 years and maybe a conservative growth rate on your investments over a 10, 20 year period. You know, I think that’s the right way to think about it.

Al: I think some of these schemes, maybe I’ll call it a scheme. Well, scheme, that’s strategy could be strategy, could be just be careful. Just be careful. If it sounds too good to be true, it may be, I’m not saying for sure it is or it isn’t. I, I. I’ll give you an example. I had a client years ago when I had a tax practice who, he had a company that he wanted to sell Joe.

He wanted to sell to investors and cash out, and he went to this law firm and he, was told, you know what? You, put your, stock in this partnership and the partnership buys into this trust, and the trust buys into an S corp, and then you got. This need, doing this and, then pretty soon you get all the money and it’s return of capital, no tax.

And he said to me, what do you think? And I said,

Joe: run away.

Al: I said, first of all, it’s way over my head. And secondly, I can’t imagine, I mean, that’s, this is not the spirit of the law. Anyway, so he paid all this money to this law firm and right before he was about to execute the law firm said, we, we found it didn’t work.

They probably got cut, had to return the money, and they did.

Joe: Oh, good.

Al: So just be careful some of these things. I don’t know, just if it sounds too good to be true, it, that may be the case.

Joe: It just depends, I guess on how aggressive that you want. Yeah, well I suppose, yep. So, yep. alright, let’s, let’s continue on.

Why Does Ed Slott, CPA Advocate for Permanent Cash Value Life Insurance? (Brian, Queens, NY)

Joe: Hey Joe, Big Al, and Andi, this is Brian from Queens. It’s been about three years since I last wrote in. Well, Brian, where have you been bud? So perhaps it’s been enough time to write back. I’m so glad I made the highlight reel in episode 500, poking fun at my midlife crisis Red convertible, which I don’t have, instead still cruising around my 2012 Honda Odyssey minivan. Don’t remember making fun of Brian.

Al: Well, I do. We’ve talked about red convertibles from time to night. Yeah. Because you had one. Yeah. That was my midlife crisis. So I, we kind of relay, we kind of, you know, expounded that on that.

Joe: When, does that leave? When did you get it and when did it dissipate?

Al: I think I got about 45 and it, took me a while. 54. Yeah, it took me like seven or eight years. Some people, it’s like six months. Me, I’m just cruising around. It’s winter in San Diego. I got the heat blast it. I mean, it’s not that cold here, but it, still was cold driving down the freeway in December. I came into work.

My hair was always like, but boy, that was fun. Yeah. Yeah. Did,

Joe: yeah. Oh yeah. Mike Schmidt, big mustache. Oh yeah. I had it all.

Al: Yeah, I was, quite the catch back then. Even though I was married, happily married, by the way.

Joe: let’s see. My drink of choice has changed off the Jack and Cokes to a light beer on occasion. Oh, look at Brian on the health kick. the sugar gives me those headaches. All right. Okay, my question is the following. I am reading Ed Slott’s new book, the Retirement Savings Tax Time Bomb Ticks Louder. Excellent book, but can make my head spin with all the complicated tax rules, particularly with IRAs. I believe many in the financial space, you guys include believing any life insurance other than term is usually a lousy product and not to be purchased. Why then does Ed seem to be a strong advocate of the permanent cash value life insurance policies? Basically taking withdrawals from your IRA and paying the premiums from that and your beneficiaries receive the benefit tax free and clear.

Would it make more financial sense to simply do Roth conversions? Aren’t you essentially getting to the same place? I would think those cash value life insurance premiums would cost a fortune. Thank you, Brian. I’m a big fan of Edon. Yeah, me too. He was just, he was on, I don’t know, when was that couple?

It’s been on a couple of times.

Andi: Yeah. Ed and Al had a conversation at the Horizons conference there in San Diego.

Al: We did.He was really fun to interview too.

Andi: he’s a live wire.

Al: I mean, for a CPA at a interview. CPA. Can you imagine?

Joe: Oh, sounds like a blast.

Al: Oh, it’s amazing.

Joe: I don’t know. Do you wanna take a stab at it? I have, I got a couple. Couple thoughts around this?

Al: Well, in my way of thinking, it can work and not all non-term life insurance products are terrible. Some are lower cost and depending upon your situation, I actually think, Joe maybe. If you’ve got a lot of money over and above the estate tax exemption, I think there’s some possibilities there. I don’t know, but, I would say for the average person, I’m not a huge fan.

Joe: What I think what Ed is referring to is leverage, and it’s not to live off, so you put money into. Roth IRA, which is great. I would first absolutely go there if I’m converting dollars because the Roth IRA is gonna be a lot less expensive. You can go into very low cost funds, you’re gonna get a better growth rate because there’s no cost of insurance dragging you down. So, but what. When life insurance makes sense is that if you absolutely do not need the money and you’re trying to use leverage on your death, right? So for instance, let’s say that you have a million dollars in a retirement account and you’re converting that over time and then you’re hopeful to get the full million dollars into the Roth IRA before you pass, and then it goes to the kids or your spouse or whoever, you know, that it’s a hundred percent tax free because everything is in the Roth and you pay tax over time, and so you plan it out perfectly, and you didn’t need the dollars, or you could say, Hey, I’m going to take the same conversion amount, but I’m not gonna convert it into a Roth. I’m gonna take that $20,000 a year, or whatever the dollar is. I have no idea how old is, Brian from Queens? It doesn’t say.

So I don’t, I have no idea. But let’s say you’re taking those dollars and you’re paying a million dollar death benefit, right? So if you die prematurely and you put $20,000 in, right? The kids get the million dollars and it only costs you 20,000 to get the million. That’s true. So you have to die. You have to die to get the benefit for this, the internal rate of return On the death benefit.

Yeah. Yeah. So it’s a legacy play. It’s like, all right, well I have so much dollars that I wanna get these dollars or leverage the amount of dollars of tax free going to the next generation. It’s not used as a retirement income strategy. You don’t wanna put. in my opinion, this is not advice, this is just my humble opinion of I’m not a big fan of, all right, let’s utilize life insurance as a cash value mechanism to create income in retirement.

Just because there’s a drag on fees and costs and there’s a cost of insurance there, I would much rather get it into a Roth IRA. you’re going to have way more flexibility and then you’re gonna get a lot higher growth potentially because of the lack of fees and costs associated with it.

Al: Yeah. Well, I like the way you said it and just to, no, thank you.

Sort of relate that to, I think what I said or tried to say is. When, you have a, an estate, you, know, you have, so you can buy life insurance. You get it outside of your state and there’s, you have to be careful how you do that. You have to have a beneficiary outside the estate that pays for the life insurance or you make contributions or you, you have gifts to this individual that goes to life insurance and there’s a workaround, but they have to sign a letter. It’s called a crummy letter,

Joe: Crummy letter.

Al: It’s a whole nother topic. But you can do that to where, when you pass away your life. Insurance policy is not part of your state. And again, where you see this done mostly is when there’s either a desire to get a lot of money out of the estate tax drain.

Usually that’s because you’re up against the estate tax limits, which Joe, and, when I started my career, it was $600,000 and then it was up to a million, and then 5 million. Now, next year’s gonna be 15 million. So for the average person, it’s not terribly relevant, I would say.

Joe: Yeah, I don’t know. I, let’s say if you had a special needs child if you, I don’t know. there, there could be instances where you wanted to make sure that there’s a, big chunk of money in case something happens to you Yeah. That’s available. Yeah. Right. And you have a lot of money in a retirement because retirement accounts are the worst account that you can transfer to the next generation.

Yeah. Right. They gotta distribute it within 10 years. It’s all ordinary income tax. So in, in some small cases, yeah. insurance could be. the solve. Yeah, it could be. So like I said, small cases, small doses now. Okay. All right.

Download the Ultimate Guide to Roth IRAs

Andi: It’s important to understand Roth accounts and how they work so you can take full advantage of the lifetime tax-free investment growth that they offer. Click or tap the link in the episode description to download the Ultimate Guide to Roth IRAs for free. You’ll have valuable information – in print, mind you – about how Roth contributions and conversions allow you to keep and grow more of your money. Plus, you heard the fellas mention the infamous Backdoor Roth strategy earlier? This guide explains how it can help, even if you make too much money to contribute directly to a Roth. Plus, learn the differences and pros and cons of saving in a traditional IRA vs. a Roth IRA vs. a Roth 401(k), the rules for taking money out of your Roth account, and much more. Click or tap the link in the episode description to download your copy of the Ultimate Guide to Roth IRAs, and share YMYW and all the free financial resources with anyone you know who would benefit.

“If I Knew I Was Going to Live This Long” Mantle Quote… Becomes Death Trivia

All right. Dan writes in, he goes, tell, Hey, tell Joe the quote. “If I would have known I was going to live this long, I would’ve taken better care of myself was from Mickey Mantle, not Roger Maris.”

Andi: Yeah, I went and dug it up. That’s actually from an episode of the TV show, and you did actually attribute that to Mickey Mantle, but then you mentioned the fact that you watched a movie about Mantle and Maris, so I think there might have been some disconnect.

Al: Maybe got confused.

Joe: 31 61.

Al: I sort of remember you talking about that too. And I remember you saying Mantle as well.

Joe: Yeah, I think it was even on the, it was on the graphic. It was a picture of Mick.

Al: Yeah. Yeah.

Joe: And it said Mickey Mantle.

Andi: And it’s in the transcript.

Al: And had you said, Roger Maris, I would’ve corrected you. ‘Cause I knew it was Mantle that said that.

Joe: Yeah. Well, Roger Maris was the one that was he was always in shape. The married man, the,

Al: yeah.

Joe: You know, kind of the goody two tissue kind of guy. And Mantle was the one just pounding cocktails and smoking

Al: cig. Yeah, he was. Yep. Yep.

Joe: Oh, how long did Mickey Mantle live till?

Al: I wanna say 90 now, eighties, I seventies. Maybe Andi will check it out for us.

Andi: He was actually, he was only 63 when he died. 63. Yep.

Joe: Oh, well, we’re, what about Roger Maris?

Andi: one moment. What do you wanna bet that he lived a really long life?

Joe: That’s tragic. 63.

Al: I know. Yeah.

Andi: Maris lived to 51.

Joe: Maris lived to age 51.

Andi: Yep.

Al: I, think somehow I knew that he died young. I don’t know of what, but I think I knew that.

Joe: Oh damn man, this is just depressing.

Andi: Oh, al alcohol induced cirrhosis and Hep C was Mickey Mantle. That’s how he died.

Al: Well, yeah. Well, that I get, how about Maris?

Andi: and inoperable liver cancer, man, talk about rough.

Al: Yeah. Yeah.

Joe: Okay. Geez. Okay. All right.

Andi: Well. That was fun.

Joe: Yeah, that was great. we’ll, move on. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know what, if you look at like the Rat Pack Sinatra, I mean, they lived, those guys lived a long time. they lived long time. And I would imagine they partied just as hard as Mickey Mantle.

Al: I would think so, yeah. I mean, they, had that reputation anyway.

Joe: Yeah. But, well, who’s the one that was, he kind of always acted drunk. Dean?

Andi: Dean Martin.

Joe: Oh yeah. Dean. Dean Martin.

Al: Dean Martin. Yeah.

Andi: So Sinatra died at age 82.

Joe: Yeah. Okay.

Andi: Dean Martin lived to be, 78.

Joe: 88?

Andi: 78.

Joe: Oh, 78. 78. Okay. What about Sammy Davis?

Andi: Let’s see.

Joe: We’re playing death trivia here. This is wonderful. This is amazing.

Andi: Sammy Davis Jr. was only 64 when he died.

Joe: Oh boy.

Al: 64. Yeah.

Joe: You know, when you get a certain age, it’s like weird how you just, you don’t, because you’re just a health freak.

Al: Well, I’m already there. So that, that’s why I say things like, every day is a gift.

Joe: Oh yes. It’s, a present.

Al: That’s why they call it, that’s why they call it a present.

Joe: That’s why they call today a present.

Al: A present, yep. The past is, history. Future’s a mystery, but today is a gift.

Joe: I’m, that’s, why they call it, that’s why they call it a present.

Andi: The present. Yeah. I’m always surprised when people are like, you know, really down about the fact that, oh, tomorrow’s my 70th birthday or my 75th birthday. It’s like, man, celebrate. You’re still here. You’re above ground. That’s amazing. That’s awesome. Enjoy.

Al: You got another day or it’s more.

Joe: Yeah.

Al: You think about those have those thoughts?

Joe: Yeah. It’s like, oh my g Wow. That’s 20 years

Al: And you’ve outlived Maris already.

Joe: And then it’s like, oh yeah, I know. Yeah. Like 20 years. I’m gonna be 70. My kid’s gonna be like 21. We could finally have a beer together when I, yeah, finally. Yeah.

Al: Right. Hopefully you’ll still be able to drink by then.

Joe: 70. Oh, come on, dude. I’m gonna be the sexiest 70 man you’re you’ll ever see in your life.

Andi: Stop drinking now so that you can actually have a whole bunch of ’em later.

Al: Sometimes doctor’s orders, you know, things happen.

Joe: Yeah. I’m a beacon of health Al.

Al: I can see.

Joe: Yeah.

Al: Thank you.

8th Annual YMYW Podcast Survey Results

Joe: Survey time. Survey says?

Andi: Survey says people love the show. That’s the overall overarching thing.

Joe: How many people responded? Seven? You can exaggerate a little bit too.

Andi: Okay. Well then it’s thousands.

Joe: Okay, perfect. We’re at 5 million downloads though, right?

Andi: Correct. By the time this airs, we will be over 5 million downloads.

Joe: Wow. Wow.

Andi: And it’s not all Ruthie.

Joe: She gets bored. She’s retired. So, what’s the findings they’d like to see?

Andi: What financial topics are of most importance to you today? Somebody said more discussion on optimizing as opposed to maximizing also how to pass wealth on without having to die. So that’s an interesting one.

Joe: Okay. Like more charitable planning or like I wonder giving to the kids.

Al: I think to the kids probably.

Andi: I think it’s probably to the kids.

Al: Kids. Yeah. Gifting strategies. Gifting strategies. Yep. We could think about that.

Joe: Optimizing versus maximizing. Mm-hmm. Tell me more. What is, what, what, what do we think we need by mean by that? To optimize. What’s the difference between, I mean, so we talk about maximizing versus optimizing. I didn’t know there was much of a difference.

Al: I don’t think so. Maybe there’s a sliver of a difference.

Andi: Another interesting thing was how people discovered the Your Money, your Wealth podcast. Obviously a lot of people said that they actually specifically searched for a term in their podcast app, or it was suggested in their podcast app because of other things that they listened to. But we had some other interesting ones as well. Years ago I read an article about the best retirement pods and yours was listed. Yeah. Somebody said, searching for what to do with the money. We’ve been diligently saving for 30 plus years. That’s how they found it. And ours came up on that. Yep. Wow. Somebody said it was suggested on Reddit as a good podcast for retired people looking to preserve their wealth and minimize taxes. So thank you Redditors. And then also somebody said that they were reminded of it by David Graham, who, if you’ll recall, is the physician who does fiphysician.com and for years now, has rated your money your Wealth the Best Retirement podcast with humor. So thank you to FI physician.

Al: I have seen that.

Joe: Yeah, it doesn’t have sophistication, but it’s funny.

Al: You can’t really trust what they say. It’s funny.

Andi: So under what keeps you coming back? Somebody said, I’m glad to see that the show has a CPA for additional perspective. So yeah, shout out to you Al. Love the stories and analysis of the situations. I’m an absolute junkie for this and I do it professionally. So that’s somebody in the business that likes the show.

Joe: All right. Okay. Keep sending in his client information.

Al: Yeah. Right. Yeah. We, we know that that happens

Andi: in response to what keeps you coming back. Somebody said the content. Love Andi and the shenanigans. So that sounds like a band name to me, Andi and the shenanigans.

Al: Okay. Challenge accepted.

Andi: It’s hilarious. I’d be the drummer, of course.

Al: Yeah.

Andi: It’s hilarious. I’ve nearly fallen off of my elliptical machine while working out on several occasions.

Al: Oh, that sounds dangerous.

Andi: Yeah. Somebody said good, honest information in an entertaining manner and Joe’s excellent reading.

Joe: Killed it. Yep, hooked on phonics.

Andi: We had a few different people who said, I like to test my knowledge. I like to guess if my answer will be the same as yours when you’re doing spit balling.

Joe: Cool.

Andi: What are your favorite things about the YMYW podcast? I enjoy the financial discussions, but also when Joe and Al get off topic, they’ve got great chemistry.

Al: Woo. See we hold on now there.

Andi: I like that there are no commercials. Many other podcasts have so many commercials and I like that Andi is there to either show the guys something that someone mentioned, a picture of their car or dog or I helped to clarify what the writer is trying to say.

Al: Helpful for us too.

Andi: Well, good. What would make it better for you? Somebody said, I really can’t stand the listener audio submissions, they usually take way too long and I lose interest every time. We may have to discuss whether or not we wanna continue that feature. I think that there’s been an overwhelming response of people who love listening to Joe struggle through these emails.

Al: That’s what makes the show, right?

Joe: Yeah, it’s terrible. That’s why they can only listen for like six months.

Al: I know they’re done.

Joe: They’re like, this guy is an absolute, it’s just not funny anymore. It, it’s just awful. Like, come on dude. Learn how to read already.

Andi: Aa number of people said that they really enjoyed the guests that we’ve had recently and they’ve liked to see us bring some more of those back to mix things up. I like that Al usually does some homework for the questions. That’s a good one.

Al: Okay.

Andi: Somebody said more millennial content and high earners content. It’s interesting. We have a lot of things for high earners, but somebody would like more. And in response to what would make the show better for you? Somebody said, I mostly read the transcripts.

Al: They don’t wanna listen it, not wanna listen to this, but you would you wanna read the transcripts?

Joe: Absolutely not. That’d be worse. No.

Al: That would be worse.

Andi: So there you go. That’s the eighth annual 2025 YMYW podcast survey.

Al: Well, thank you. Thank you all. That’s a lot of nice things that you said. Yeah, so really appreciate it.

Joe: Yeah, we take the good and bad and we try to implement it into the show, try to improve if that were possible.

Andi: And congratulations to the winner of our $100 Amazon e-gift card, if you’ll remember correctly somebody actually wrote in that was last year’s winner and said that they bought dishwasher pods with it. So maybe somebody else will get such a good thing.

Joe: Alright. Okay. Well, very good. Alrighty. Okay, well thank you. I’ll keep the questions coming and we’ll  keep struggling through  reading them. And that’s it for us. Andi. Wonderful job. Good day, mate.

Andi: G’day. Thanks very much.

Joe: How about you, Aaron? How you doing over there?

Al: He’s the silent partner.

Joe: Just switched the camera twice. Wonderful job. All right. Big Al, you here next week?

Al: Yes I am.

Joe: Okay. Alright, we’ll see you guys next week. Show is called Your Money, Your Wealth®.

Next Week on the YMYW Podcast

Andi: Thanks again for all of your input. Your Money, Your Wealth is your podcast, we just make it for you. If you have more thoughts to share about YMYW, email me at podcasts@purefinancial.com. A lot of you have been telling us you want to hear about more people with not-so-fat wallets, so next week, all of the spitballing Joe and Big Al do are for YMYW audience members with less than 2 million bucks. See? We do listen. Joe and Masako in Washington, Reid in Indiana, Old MacDonald in Maine, Conshohocken Kurt, and Mr Buckeye in Ohio, you’re up next week on YMYW, so tell a friend to tune in and to follow in their favorite podcast app or to subscribe and watch us do this silliness on YouTube.

YMYW Podcast Outro

Andi: Your Money, Your Wealth is presented by Pure Financial Advisors. It takes more than just a spitball from these fellas to map out your entire retirement future. Book a free financial assessment with one of the experienced professionals on Joe and Big Al’s team at Pure. They’ll help you save as much tax as possible now and in the future, they’ll make sure your investments are aligned with your tolerance for risk, and that your overall financial plan is tailored to not only meet your retirement needs, but also your retirement lifestyle. Click or tap the free assessment link in the episode description or call 888-994-6257 to schedule your assessment now. You can meet with the Pure team either online via Zoom, in person at any of our nationwide locations. Tell ‘em you heard about it on the Your Money, Your Wealth podcast.

Pure Financial Advisors is a registered investment advisor. This show does not intend to provide personalized investment advice through this podcast and does not represent that the securities or services discussed are suitable for any investor. As rules and regulations change, podcast content may become outdated. Investors are advised not to rely on any information contained in the podcast in the process of making a full and informed investment decision.

_______

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