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You know, I always say to make smart financial decisions. So let me ask you this. What exactly is that old car in your driveway doing for you right now? Seriously, is it an extra car? Nobody drives anymore. Maybe it doesn't run. Do you keep saying you'll sell it one weekend and suddenly it's been two years? Meanwhile, it's taking up space, costing you money, and slowly becoming part of the landscape. Here's the easy solution. Donate it to Cars for Kids. And yes, it's that Cars for Kids. The the one with the jingle you absolutely know already. 1877 cars for kids. Here's why people love to donate to Cars for Kids. It's ridiculously simple. You go to carsforkids.org Jill that's cars with a K. Answer a few simple questions, and you're done. They'll come pick up the vehicle for free, tow it away, handle the paperwork, and you'll receive a tax deductible receipt. Done. Cars4Kids has been doing this for over 30 years and has accepted more than a million vehicle donations. So if you've got a car you're not using, turn it into something meaningful. Go to carsforkids.org Jill that's cars with a K. And fair warning. Now that jingle is going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Hey gang, Summer is here and I know all you want to do is focus on booking flights and find the perfect beach rental. You don't want to sit under an umbrella wondering if you've actually budgeted enough for those sunset dinners. So if you want to get your financial house in order now so you can actually relax when you're off the clock, you've got to know that the math is already done. Monarch is the personal finance app that tracks everything accounts, investments, savings goals, and spending. Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off just 50 bucks with promo code JILLONMONEY. It's like having a financial advisor in your pocket. They've got beautiful visual flows of money, and it can give you total clarity. You might realize that your lifestyle expenses are quietly creeping up, and maybe your monthly savings rate had just fallen short of where you wanted it to be. Most apps just tell you what you've already spent, but Monarch helps you map out big purchases to see if you're on track before it's too late. Use code jillonmoney@monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core Half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code jillonmoney. Welcome to the Jill on Money Show. It's Wednesday, July 1st. Yep. The first half of the year is over. I cannot believe it. I know you can't believe it. But anyway, we are here trying to help you manage your financial journey, wherever it is taking you. So if you have a question about maybe a new job opportunity, maybe you've got a question about buying a home or selling a home, maybe you're thinking about how to make sure that you can help your kids buy their first home. Oh, by the way, make sure they want that, not just you wanting that. If it's anything remotely having to do with a dollar, get in touch with us. Go to our website, jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, write us a note, and if you'd like to join us live, check the box. There are two different boxes there now because we have a new show called Money Moves. And so that show we can actually bring you on with video. But you know what else I really am looking for is ideas around different things that you guys see out in the universe. Maybe it's on social, maybe you're getting solicited. And if you see something, as we say in New York, if you see something, say something. If you run, run across a social video where they're advertising something or you just have something that was sent to you by someone else, why don't you forward it to us? I'd love to see that. Mark and I are trying to see what else is out there after all these years. Mark, we now finally have to deal with the thin fluencers, the financial influencers that are out and about. And you know, some of them might be completely legit and a lot of them are not. So do take a moment to send that along to us. We'd love to hear from you. Go to jillonmoney.com, click that contact us button. You can upload video, you can upload yourself, you can ask a question, you can just check the box, you can write us a note, jillonmoney.com, contact us. And Mark will do everything else. Okay, so today let's get on to some emails because I do feel like we've shirked our responsibilities. We have not gotten to many of you because there's just so many people who want to come on the air. And I love the on the air folks because remember, we get to ask those follow up questions. But let's start with Jamie who, who writes we're 65 and preparing to move To Idaho or New York.
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Wow.
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Those are two very different places. We intend to stay in this home for 20 years until we may need help due to our age. Okay, so here's the question. Is it smarter financially and cost wise to buy a more expensive home in Idaho? $550,000 with lower property taxes, say $1,500 a year or, or upstate New York where we have family and purchase a cheaper home, $275,000 with higher property taxes. We would probably put down about $60,000 on either home. And so this is interesting. This is going to happen like this summer. Mark, this is an interesting question here. We know that you can certainly write off interest on a mortgage. So they're going to put 60 grand down. So on one home they would have a higher mort amount with lower property taxes. But you can also write off property taxes. You know, you can put, especially in New York. Now there's that salt has been, you know, increased. But the state and local tax deduction. I would make this less of a financial decision. Exactly. I would really think of this more as where do you want to be? And in my mind I wonder if like in either way, like let's just say you do one or the other is the alternative that you would then be able to say well we'll rent in the other place or not. You know, so I just think you need to decide where do you really want to make your home base? I wouldn't do it based on taxes in general. It would seem to me that it's probably a better idea. I don't know. I'm going to just put it out there. I'm going to say upstate New York. What do you think, Mark? Yeah. Just because there's family there. Exactly. And if you're really thinking about where you're going to be eventually, that's, that's kind of what I think. But you know, we'd also have to know other things going on in your life and I know know that these decisions, you might seem financial but they're usually less fine. I'd rather, you know, say this is what I want to do. How can we make it work financially? Okay. Mike says they've got 529 college funds for each of their four grandchildren. Now two of them have graduated high school and elected to join the workforce and are hard working and responsible young men. They're 23 year old twins. The other two are 18 and 15 year old granddaughters. The 18 year old just graduated high school, she's going to college and we will use 529 funds for the 18 year old and anticipate the 15 year old will attend university after high school graduation. Of course, you never know. What could we do, money wise, for the two grandsons in the workforce who are not at all interested in further education? We want to do something equivalent, money wise, as we are doing and probably will do for the two granddaughters. Well, first of all, if there are already four separate 529 plans, a couple of things to think about. One is to just leave these plans alone for the two boys, okay? And wait until those plans have been, I don't know how long they've been open, but if they've been open for 15 years, you can then roll the each plan for each of these young men up to $35,000 total into Roth IRAs. So that would be something to do. And Mark, the rule is that you can roll whatever is unused based on the limit of the Roth limit of that year. Meaning. So let me just spell this out for Mike. So let's say this year, let's just pretend these accounts were open for 15 years. So here in 2026, the regular contribution to a Roth IRA is $7,500. So if you had, I'm going to make it up $30,000 in each of these accounts for the, for the guys, for the young men, you could roll $7,500 from one of these plans into the, into a Roth ira. And then whatever the, the IRA contribution amount is for the following year, you can keep doing it till you get to a maximum of $35,000. And I think that's a great thing to do. Now alternatively, if you decide, hey, we want to take all of the money and shift it to the granddaughters, then you would just true it up and you know, give them money. Otherwise. But I would just make it simple. I'd say whatever was in that 529, if it's more than $35,000, get back in touch with us. But if it's less, I would just roll them into Roth accounts. I think that's good. A pretty perfect thing to do, don't you think, Mark? It's a great way to get them started for sure. Amazing, Amazing. Okay. Patricia writes that she's thinking about leaving everybody's leaving money to their grandkids. 50 grand to each grandchild. So question, should I give it in a lump sum or two equal payments, 25 grand at 25 years old and then 30, and then 25 grand at 30 years old? Is there a tax liability for inheritance. Okay, wait a minute. First of all, the thing. So Patricia's 82, and she said, I keep making this. I keep postponing this decision. Okay, the thing is, if you are single, you can leave not. You can gift $19,000 to each child during your life. To any person, not even a child. I should just say to any person throughout your life. If you are just putting this in a will and saying, I want to have payments of a certain amount for each kid, I think it's complicated. And this is not enough money where they're going to go crazy. So if I were you and they. You want to leave 50 grand in a will, just leave 50 grand and say when they're 25 years old, they get this. That's it. I don't do the 25, 30 thing. I actually don't like that they doling it out when it's this kind of money. So I would just give it to them and call it a day. Okay. J. Subject to buy or not to buy a vehicle. Okay, so Jay is a longtime fan, and he says, I'm 49 years old. I've got a Roth IRA with 240,000. My spouse has a Roth of 120,000. We max them out every year. We also have a brokerage account with $160,000. We add about seven grand a year to it. And a thrift savings plan with 55,000. Oh, my gosh, Mark, check this out. Jay is going to receive a military pension of about $4,000 a month at age 58. It will be inflation adjusted. Kids are launched. Okay, here's the critical question. I'm thinking of buying a vehicle for $50,000, but I'm so hesitant because I'm a saver now. Hero goes on to say, I usually keep my cars till the wheels fall off. I plan to put down $15,000. Remember, he's got $160,000 in his brokerage account. He wants to put $15,000 from his brokerage account and then, I guess, finance the rest. He makes 100 grand a year in a civilian job. Spouses staying at home, houses worth 330 grand. They've got a mortgage left of 230 something thousand, and he wants to retire between 60 or 62. By the way, Mark, great little factoid. His current vehicle is. Okay, Jay, take a breath. I know you're a saver. Just take the money from your brokerage account, sell whatever is in there, and buy yourself a $50,000 car. Mark, that is not happening. But yes, 100% right. That's what he should do. But he's very funny. He says, I'm feeling stressed. I just don't know if this is a wise decision. It is a car I've wanted for many, many years. I've never made $100,000 a year until recently. Even though we've had low yearly income for many years, they have been able to save. I think we're doing okay. What to do, what to do? Okay, Jay, you're doing great. You're amazing. And I think it is time to just remember you're going to have a pension that's going to be really helpful for you. You're still working. You're doing a great job. Take the money in your brokerage account. Look at that. See if you want. You can even just come. You can come on the air with us, or you can send us a. Just send us a screenshot of the brokerage account where we can look at the cost basis of the stuff that's in that brokerage account and help you decide what to sell and buy the car in cash, unless there's some great financing option. If there's, like, you know, some of these car dealers. Dealers, some of the car companies will offer amazing financing deals even though interest rates are pretty high. Just go out and buy your car. Come on, man. Do it, do it, do it, do it. Okay, this is a question from Ken. And here's the question, Jill. When is Congress going to wake up and increase the Social Security wage base? Currently, a worker making $40,000 a year pays 6.2% of his salary. Because of the wage gap, a CEO making a million DOL only pays 1.1% of his salary. I'm not sure that's fair. So I'm concerned about the future of Social Security. Okay, Honestly, Ken, I totally agree with you. There are a lot of ways. So we just had a great session with Social Security expert Heather Schreiber, and we talked about the different ways that the Congress could address fixing the Social Security problem. And one of those ways is by changing the Social Security wage base. So if that's something you've never really heard of, that is the amount of money on which you pay into Social Security. So for this year, it's $184,500, and that means up to $184,500 that you earn. You pay 6.2% into Social Security, and so does your boss, your employer. So that's 12.4%. Now, what Heather pointed out was, you know, first of all, Medicare, there is no cap on your wages. You have to pay 1.45% for Medicare on every single dollar you earn. But Heather did point out that there's been some conversation about not just raising the wage base, but maybe saying, okay, we do a lot of things in the social, in the tax system where it's like $200,000 as an individual, 250 as a. Then maybe you raise it to that amount and then you have a jump above and then you have like, maybe you pay again over 400,000. But the answer is that there are a lot of ways to fix the Social Security issue, which is, you know, raise the wage base, maybe raise the actual percentage. So instead of 6.2, maybe it's 6.35 on each side. That would add up. I'm not crazy about changing the system by making people work longer because I think this really hurts blue collar workers. People are on their feet all the time. But I think that there are ways to do it. And I can't agree with you more, Ken, that like, let's just get this done. Why we keep talking about it. That's the thing that's so annoying. Okay, let's see. We have one more here. This is from Elaine. And the subject is one spouse retires, the other works and managing cash flow. Okay, so my husband is retiring, kind of forced at age 57. He has saved about four years of his half of our living expenses in cash. And he's got $1.7 million in retirement and investment accounts. Now she has $2 million in retirement and investment accounts, will work another five years until her age, 55, then maybe part time. Okay, how do we cash flow this interim, before full retirement age, we split expenses. I am still in a high tax bracket. We are assuming that he will use the cash he has set aside and won't touch any of his investments or retirement accounts until she goes part time. If he takes money out of his investment accounts before then, since we filed jointly, he will have to pay a high tax bracket and even capital gains because I make so much. So she says we're in good shape, but I don't want to do anything stupid. Am I worrying too much about taxes? In a word, Elaine, yes, you are worrying too much about taxes. First of all, I think, yeah, that's. He saved money in cash for this very reason. So use that. Second of all, I think that as soon as that five year time horizon is up, when you're 55, that's when I will start. I would start looking at this money that has not been taxed yet. And for both of you, thinking about either converting, not sure like where all the dollars lie and how the cost basis of the investment accounts looks, either converting or just for him, pulling money out of those retirement accounts. But yeah, you're worrying too much about taxes. You got plenty of money. Relax, Mark. It's so funny, isn't it? I mean, I hate to say that it's the lengths, the lengths that people will go. It's not. It's okay. It's really okay. Anyway, hey, we'd love to hear from you, gang. And again, I all the things that you hear that people are writing in about, I know there are some of you that are judgmental. There are some of you who write to us who say, like, why these people acting, asking such dumb questions when they're millionaires? Because we're all crazy about money, that's why. So we don't have any judgment here. We are very clear about that. Everyone has their money issues. We understand that and we want to be here for you. And so if you, if you're really just feeling like a little bit at sea and you don't want to ask a dumb question, ask us. There really are no dumb questions. Go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button, write us a note, and if you'd like to come on the air, just check the appropriate box, either audio or video, and we'd be happy to get you on the air with us. You can subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. Please leave us a rating and review. Wherever you listen. Put your hands metaphorically on someone's back. Someone needs a little hug. Virtually Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening and we'll talk to you tomorrow.
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What is Toyota Affordability? It's buying smart Right now, your local Toyota dealer has great deals available on some of the most reliable trucks on the market, like the off road ready Tacoma, rugged full size Tundra and the legendary 4Runner, each with the space tech and features to handle it all, from the work site to the trails. It means driving for less with efficient hybrid options available, extending your overall driving range and delivering great mpgs, meaning bigger savings at the pump without sacrificing power. And it means trading for more. The Tacoma and Tundra are ranked number one and number two in resale value over all vehicles according to Kelley Blue Book, which can mean thousands more than average when it's time to trade in. That's Toyota Affordability. Buy smart. Drive for less and trade for more. Shop toyota.com or your local dealer for deals and details. Vehicles Projected resale value is specific to the 2026 model year. For more information, visit KelleyBlueBooksKBB.com Toyota Brand Average resale value is 53% versus the average vehicle at 45%. Toyota let's go places.
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Hey there, it's Jill Schlesinger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves, and your money is going to move. We're going to help you make better financial decisions. We're going to call out the B.S. you're finding all over social media. We're going to give you actionable guidance to make your financial life clearer, less stressful. We're going to answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Schlesinger. Wherever you get your podcasts.