Nordstrom (16:42)

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Vivian Tu (17:09)

Speaking of vulnerable communities, Rural communities hospital Closures hello. Rural hospitals, which rely heavily on Medicaid funding, are at risk of closure due to these cuts. The National Rural Health association estimates that rural hospitals will lose 21 cents per for every dollar they receive in Medicaid funding. Additionally, this could force residents to travel long distances for health care, increasing health risks and costs. When you or a loved one is having a heart attack or a stroke, minutes matter, seconds matter. So the closure of these hospitals could be costing actual lives. Over 300 rural hospitals have already been identified as being at immediate risk of shutting down, with another 742 hospitals on also at risk of closing. When hospitals close, everyone in that community loses access to emergency care, specialized services and routine medical providers, regardless of their insurance status or income level. And circling back to those Medicaid cuts for rural populations, nearly one in every four people is reliant on Medicaid for insurance. So that's a huge portion of their populations who are at risk of losing coverage. And as I mentioned before, this isn't just going to increase the cost of health care for people who are losing this insurance coverage. It's also going to increase costs for everyone. The loss of hospital services may lead to job losses as well and economic downturns in rural areas affecting the overall community well being. With fewer hospitals and clinics, there's fewer jobs for nurses, anesthetists, doctors, surgeons, and I'm not even just talking about healthcare workers. Think about the janitor. Think about the cafeteria worker. Think about the administrator or the person whose job it is to do all of the paperwork, the secretary, the person who checks people in at the front desk. All of these jobs are at risk. Now let's talk a little bit about students, Student loans and student repayment. Well, the bill is reshaping the student loan system as we know it. One of the biggest blows for students is the elimination of the Grad Plus Loan. The Grad Plus Loan is a federal student loan designed for students pursuing graduate studies. The elimination of this loan could force individuals to take out private student loans which more often than not have much higher interest rates, essentially forcing anyone who can't pay for graduate school to take on serious debt that might not not even make going back to school financially worth it. Additionally, the bill puts a cap on the Parent plus loans at just $65,000 per student, which once again forces people who want to go to school to take on higher interest rate loans. Pell Grants are also now limited to only full time students. It also reshapes the Income Driven Repayment Plan as we know it today, making it actually less beneficial for borrowers. The Repayment Assistance Plan RAP is based on your adjusted gross income and number of dependent children. It also provides less fle on repayment for borrowers in financial difficulty than previous income based plans such as save. With these changes, you'll be able to borrow less overall and have stricter loan terms. If you don't have rich parents or family to rely on, you might be out of luck. Or you'll have to take on private loans with much higher interest rates. And that's assuming you qualify. This is incredibly frustrating for me because as the child of two immigrants who really valued education, education still feels like one of the only true guaranteed ways to change and rise up in your socioeconomic class children from working class homes or middle class families won't be able to borrow enough from the federal government to get some of those good jobs. And I put that in quotes, but jobs like doctors, lawyers, fancy engineers, things that are high paying so that access to that socioeconomic mobility has really been stymied. And furthermore, cutting Pell Grants so that only people who are in school full time really negates the value of part time schooling for young people who may have to work, young people who may have to support their families. And this just feels incredibly unfair and in some ways very cruel. And last, but certainly not least, let's talk about climate change. Our environment certainly will take a hit from Bill this bill gets rid of a lot of clean climate initiatives, rolling back Most of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Getting rid of that act also rolls back a lot of pollution reduction programs and initiatives and it'll likely increase pollution in the air, leading to about 430 avoidable deaths directly associated with pollution every single year and increasing medical bills for the average American, according to the center for American Progress. Furthermore, this bill also eliminates the $7,500 tax credit for buying electric vehicles. My guess is Trump and Musk's breakup was so bad that he wanted to hit Musk where it hurt in his wallet. The takeaway here is we can expect more pollution and less incentives for people to buy smart energy vehicles. And overall, people are less incentivized to go green. People are less incentivized to make smart decisions for the environment and for our future. And this just really feels like us today, folks, borrowing from our future kids. Because if we don't take care of the planet now, they're not going to have one to live on in 5100, 150 years. Now let's talk about something that I feel like hasn't been spoken about enough. When does this bill actually go into effect? What's the timing? Well, here's the tricky part. The Medicaid cuts will not go into effect until 2027, along with cuts and changes to SNAP as well. For more immediate changes, Trump's 2017 tax benefits or tax deductions have officially been made into law and are effective immediately. Those tax cuts were set to expire this year, but now we are going to have more of them continued. No tax on tips or on overtime are temporary and are actually set to end on December 31, 2028, before Trump leaves office. My frustration here is that the benefits like tax cuts and deductions kick in immediately with some of them even ending ahead of Trump leaving office. But the policies that are likely to hurt many people and have negative outcomes and backlash don't go into effect until after the midterm elections. This worries me because many Americans don't realize this. So if there happens to be changes in our representatives during the midterm elections, the some of the blame may be placed on them versus where that ire should really be directed directly at this administration and current congressional leaders who passed this bill. Tldr this is incredibly shady. The good stuff happens now and expires when Trump leaves, but the bad stuff only happens when there could potentially be a shift in who our Congress people are. Okay, now onto the exciting part. We're going to go through some Q and A. I sourced these questions on my Instagram stories and these are all questions surrounding the Big Beautiful Will. If I don't get to your question, you can get on our wait list to be able to get your question answered@askdolly.com this is going to be a tech platform where you're going to be able to get all of your finance questions answered. You're going to be able to source information from my backlog of knowledge, but also speak to a live human CFP. So check it out. Ask Dolly.com let's get into these questions. Very first question Do I tip less now that waitstaff get a tax break? And I don't. I don't think so transparently. I think your tipping should still remain the same. And the reason here is this. More often than not, folks who are in tipped professions are making below the minimum wage. That's why they are allowed to be paid with tips as well. So your server is not making 750. Your server is not making $15. Your server is making $2 and change. And then those tips are supplementing that income. So if you choose to tip less because of some of these policy changes, you could very literally be taking food out of their mouth at the end of the day. I think of tipped workers in our society as some of the hardest working. I am someone who has worked unpaid internships. I know what it's like to get paid little to nothing. And for me, if I am going out to eat and I am sitting down and resting my butt and this person is running to and fro from the kitchen, making sure my food is warm and getting me a drink and asking and getting that side of ranch that I asked for. The least I can do is tip 20% when I go out to eat. If I am working with A beauty service provider, especially someone that I go to regularly, I think it's important to tip. It's just something that you should be doing out of courtesy. And frankly, the tipping system, I get it, you're probably tip fatigued because everybody and their mother is now asking for a tip. But I don't think that means you need to tip in every scenario. Folks who do not actually work service jobs, so you know when you are going to get a Chipotle bowl or there's somebody with like an iPad there, they're actually making minimum wage behind that counter. They do not rely on tips for their livelihood. You need to think about what that person is getting paid as their base wage. I don't think you necessarily need to tip. When you're getting fast, casual, you're going through the line, you're picking up your lunch and you're walking out with it. But if you sit down, if you go into a salon where your stylist needs to pay for their chair, if you're going somewhere that you are really getting a service tip, tip generously, especially if you can afford to do it. Question number two. The MAGA child account, can you explain it? I'm assuming you are talking about the new Trump accounts. This is going to be a new investment account for children. So let's go over kind of the pros and cons here. First, here are the details. The federal government is allocating a thousand dollars for babies born between 2025 and 2028. Adults can then also contribute up to $5,000 a year into the account. The money has to be invested in a US index fund. No withdrawals until Kiddo turns 18 and taxes on the growth are paid when the money's taken out. The purpose of the account is for expenses tied to higher education, buying a home or starting a small business. And while I do think this program will benefit people for two major reasons, one, it's universal and automatic, so it's easy. And two, it leverages investing starting day one of a baby's life, so the baby has a lot of time. It does have a number of shortcomings as well. First and foremost, from a tax perspective, it definitely isn't the most tax advantaged account out there. The tax treatment on 5 to 9 plans and custodial Roth IRAs are better since they grow tax free. Furthermore, Roth IRAs offer tax free withdrawals and you can take out contributions penalty free at any time. And 529s offer tax free withdrawals for educational costs and they unlock state tax benefits in over 30 states. Two Trump accounts are regressive, meaning rich and poor families get the same $1,000, but because rich families are more likely to keep contributing, they're likely to receive outsized benefits from these accounts. And three the fine print on these accounts is complicated. For example, only half of the cash value can be taken out between the kids 18th and 25th birthdays. And no surprise, wealth building programs work best when they provide ease of use. They have to be simple. So while these accounts are going to help many families, I don't want to deny that they're also just one more policy designed by and for the usual suspects, people who are likely already rich and least likely need the help. Question number three 2026 bride here should I take money out of my investment account now for deposits and before the market dips? Absolutely not. I do not encourage you to take out money from your investment account for your wedding. That should just be the first statement, period, blanket statement. But furthermore, I think you are making a big assumption about the market dipping and trying to time that. We don't know when that's going to happen. If it's going to happen in the next six months, we don't know. I wish I had a cryst ball for you. That said, I think I would be really mindful personally about making large expenditures at this point because there feels like there's a lot of economic certainty to come. What I would hate to have happen is you currently have a strong investment account you are planning for your wedding. You take money out of that investment account to pay for that wedding and then all of a sudden, God forbid, knock on wood. I hope it does not happen. Maybe you or your partner gets laid off and all of a sudden not only do you not have money coming in the door, you can't even rely on that investment account when you might actually really need it for housing or food. So this is all to say, please consider having a wedding that is in within your budget and does not require you to dip into your saving account, your emergency fund, or your investment accounts. Will Social Security be tax free? Hilariously, given how much this administration has talked about it, no, Social Security will not be tax free. That said, this bill does provide some tax relief for seniors, aka folks who are 65 or older. Qualified seniors, aka those whose modified adjusted gross income is up to $75,000 or $150,000 for joint filers, would get a $6,000 tax deduction. But long story short, overall, no, Social Security will not be tax free. And last but not least are we cooked? I feel like a Gen Z or submitted this one. So are we cooked? Like yes and no. Some of these policy changes is certainly, are certainly going to hurt some communities in America. Some of these policy changes are going to benefit some communities in America. And depending on where you sit and where you stand, you will either likely, you know, be on the receiving or the, you know, the receiving end of these benefits or the, the, the end of the spectrum where you have to give up some of the things you are currently receiving. That said, here's my opinion on it. No matter who the President is, no matter what administration is in charge, they can make whatever policies they're going to make and we have very little control over that, aside from electing representatives who truly fight for our values and our needs. But we cannot dictate this policy. What you can dictate though, is how you live your life. Whether you're budgeting appropriately, whether you're setting money aside and saving it in a high yield savings account, whether you are investing for the future. And regardless of who the President is and regardless of what policies are passed, you should continue to make smart financial decisions for you and yours because that is the only thing you can control. And no matter what happens, making smart money decisions is going to put you in the best possible position to have the most opportunities to be able to make your decisions out of a place of security. And that is never going to change no matter who is in the White House. To wrap us up today, this bill represents one of the largest wealth transfers upward in recent history. The rich are getting richer disguised as tax relief for all. While some provisions genuinely help working people, like tip tip tax elimination up to $25,000. The slashing of essential social services is going to cost people in all income brackets more. The healthcare system cuts alone will create a cascade of problems affecting everyone, regardless of your income level. And when rural hospitals close and millions lose insurance, the entire system becomes more expensive and less accessible. While researching this episode, I swear I thought my head was going to explode. I just need to state that this information isn't easy to find. Yes, we can see the big headlines and the shocking numbers, but the smaller details and when things go into effect and how it's actually going to be implemented is much harder to parse through. No matter the changes, all we can do is focus on building financial stability with the tools and resources we personally have access to. I wish I could leave you on a much brighter note, but the takeaway here is don't give up. We are still in control of our own ship. We are the captain. No matter who the President is, you are still in control of your life. See you next week besties. Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. If you liked the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcastourrichbff.com follow Net Worth and Chillpod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related news. And you can follow me at York Rich BFF for even more financial know how. See you next week. Bye.