Year-End Money Moves: What to Do Before December 31 So January Doesn’t Suck SB1921

December has a way of arriving all at once. Joe Saul-Sehy and OG each bring a top-five list of money moves to make before the calendar flips, and compare them in real time while Doug watches for overlap. The lists cover taxes, retirement accounts, investments, and one move that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with how 2027 will feel. Do the work now,before Thanksgiving sneaks up on us and the holidays are off and running. What You’ll Walk Away With Why a quick tax projection now can spare you an April surpriseHow tax-loss harvesting works, why most of its value shows up earlier in the year, and the wash sale rule that trips people upWhich retirement and HSA deadlines hit December 31, and which ones you can finish after New Year’sHow to max out contributions by leaning on your cash cushion, and when that is smart or riskyWhy buying into a taxable mutual fund in December can hand you a tax bill on gains you never earnedWhat an FSA deadline really means, and how to avoid a contact lens stockpileWhy Roth conversions come down to an educated guess, and how to make a choice you will not regretHow giving to charity straight from a retirement account can lower your taxes, and what changed this year for charitable deductionsThe calendar move that has nothing to do with money, and why it came in at number oneWhat a retirement plan that sailed off the map teaches about planning for the unexpectedWhy This Matters Now Year-end deadlines do not move, and the holiday season is when budgets get tested. A few hours of attention before the spendiest month of the year means January starts with a clean sheet instead of a cleanup. This episode is general education, and a tax professional can apply it to your situation. From the Basement Doug challenges everyone to say a very difficult tongue twister about Bitcoin five times fast, then runs trivia about the back of the $5 bill. OG explains his holiday budget approach, which involves fun coupons, and Joe Saul-Sehy and OG debate whether one-click shopping is genius or a trap. Doug also offers a “Dougalicious” tip for next year. Resources Mentioned Planning for charitable contributions in 2026 https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2026/02/18/planning-for-charitable-contributions-in-2026/178317/: a guide to what changed this yearEndless cruise goes broke https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/28/lifestyle/endless-cruise-goes-broke/: coverage of the story about retirees stranded abroadYour own top five: share yours at stackingbenjamins.com/basementIf you heard a rumor about a children’s book on what money really means, Mama, Are We Poor?, we can neither confirm nor deny where. But if you happen to want a copy, here’s a link https://www.amazon.com/Mama-Are-Poor-Monica-Scudieri/dp/B0HN6P9M6Q. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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  Use our link so they know that we sent you. Terms apply. Subject to approval and eligibility. Built cards are issued by Column NA. Member FDIC pursuant to license from Mastercard International, Incorporated. Maybe it's time we talked. Kiplinger calls it the trillion dollar talk, a conversation about inheritance, estate planning, wills, and the questions families should be asking before those decisions become urgent. Because knowing what your family wants and having a plan for it can be one of the most important financial conversations you will ever have. Ready to start yours? Visit kiplinger.com to learn more about the trillion dollar talk and what this historic wealth transfer could mean for your family.

• 1:29Speaker 01

  Can you fly this plane and land it?

• 1:32Speaker 02

  Surely you can't be serious.

• 1:33Speaker 01

  I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.

• 1:41Speaker 00

  Live from Joe's Mob's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show.

• 1:56Speaker 00

  I'm Joe's Mob's neighbor Doug, and what money moves should you make before year end? OG and Joe have plotted out their top five and will compare lists in real time on today's show. But that ain't all. Of course, I'll let you in on a little secret I think is our biggest hit segment, my beautiful, creative, and incredibly shareable trivia question. You're gonna get this one right. I just know it. And now, here come two guys who, if they're wrong, I don't want to be right. It's Joe and OJ.

• 2:40Speaker 00

  Hey there, stackers. Happy Monday. Welcome back to the Stacking Benjamin Show. I am Joe Saul Sehy. Super happy you're here with us. Sit back, relax. Actually, don't relax too much because we're getting ready to make sure your January doesn't suck with some year end moves with your money that are gonna put a pin in 2026. And the guy who puts a pin in every day he visits, Mr. OG is here. How are you, man?

• 3:08Speaker 03

  Pretty good. Thank you for asking. How are you, Joe? How's your, you know, blown tire? Is it getting better?

• 3:15Speaker 00

  Let's not even go there.

• 3:16Speaker 03

  Your cankle is still not good?

• 3:17Speaker 00

  Did somebody slash your tires again? That's right. I got eight days to go, gents. I gotta tell you, a cast sucks. Trying to sleep with a cast sucks. This little cart I have sucks, but you know what? I get to spend the day with you guys, and that is fantastic.

• 3:34Speaker 04

  Did you get all the kids in class to sign your cast?

• 3:37Speaker 00

  I did not.

• 3:38Speaker 04

  Some Snoopy's and some flowers.

• 3:40Speaker 00

  I'm behind the eight ball on that. We gotta record this fast, so I can get that done, Doug.

• 3:46Speaker 03

  Okay, we only have eight days to shove them down the stairs. We need to get our shit together.

• 3:52Speaker 00

  Well, OG, this time of year, you know, it's funny because people, I was like, ooh, fourth quarter, year end tax planning. And before you know it.

• 4:00Speaker 03

  Four, four, four. Is that not the fourth quarter you guys are talking about?

• 4:04Speaker 00

  But as you know, by the time Thanksgiving gets here, your head's someplace else. You don't want to be December 28th going, oh, what are my year end tax things? I don't want anything to do with that. Let's do it now. What do you think?

• 4:16Speaker 03

  My head's already on other things, so sure. Yeah. Good thing I wrote this down in advance.

• 4:21Speaker 00

  It is. It is.

• 4:23Speaker 03

  Pumpkin pie.

• 4:25Speaker 03

  And cool whip.

• 4:26Speaker 00

  Here is the way this works, stackers. OG has five. I haven't seen any of those. He hasn't seen my five. Doug's probably gonna throw in one or two of his own. I don't know. We could get crazy here today. Maybe you've got your own that you can call in with the right me, [email protected]. Tell me if we maybe missed some, but we're gonna get into that in just a moment. First, we've got a couple sponsors who make sure that this is completely free for you. We're gonna hear from them. And then, OG, Doug and I going over our top five ways to make sure January doesn't suck by wrapping up 2026 with some fantastic financial moves. If you're already somebody who uses FieldKit for your budget

• 5:10Speaker 00

  and your net worth, you already got the email from us about big changes to FieldKit as we promised. We're gonna be continually upgrading FieldKit all the time. Our Trail Readiness Survey is a big one. When you first open up FieldKit, we have this readiness score so that every few months you can see how we've helped you improve your financial acumen. Head to fieldkipfinance.com and begin your journey to better money habits, starting right now. Fieldkipfinance.com. Today's episode is brought to you by Kiplinger. The holidays are coming, and you know what that means. Family gatherings, great food, questionable gifts, and at least one conversation everybody wishes they could avoid. Usually, that's politics, or why you're still single,

• 5:53Speaker 00

  or why Uncle Bob thinks he's suddenly an expert on cryptocurrency. But here's a conversation that actually deserves a little attention: your family's financial future. Get this: An estimated $124 trillion is expected to change hands in America over the next 20 years. Yet, according to research commissioned by Kiplinger, 51% of adults and their parents never talk about money. That's a problem, because when it comes to wills, inheritance, and estate planning, what you don't know can create some pretty expensive headaches down the road. That's why Kiplinger created the trillion dollar talk, helping families

• 6:33Speaker 00

  tackle those uncomfortable money conversations before they become real financial problems. So this holiday season, maybe the best gift you can get your family isn't something wrapped under the tree. Maybe it's a conversation. Visit kiplinger.com to learn more about the trillion dollar talk and how to get started. Well, you don't need me to tell you that rent mortgages are only getting more expensive. That's why Built created three credit cards designed to offer the richest rewards on rent, mortgage, and everything else you spend on. Whether you rent or own, you can earn up to 1.25 X points on every housing payment without the transaction fee, no matter where you live. Points can be redeemed for flights, hotels, Lyft rides, a future housing payment,

• 7:16Speaker 00

  and much more. Turn one of the most unavoidable payments in your life into the most rewarding. Find the card that's right for you and apply at joinbuilt.com/sb. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com/sb. Use our link so they know that we sent you. Terms apply. Subject to approval and eligibility. Built cards are issued by Column NA. Member FDIC pursuant to license from Mastercard International, Incorporated.

• 7:55Speaker 00

  OG, over the years, year end money moves have gone from something that, I don't know, I had maybe 15 different things I thought people should do before the year ended. I don't know if it's better planning throughout the year, thinking about the fact that I don't want to spend a lot of time on this in the fourth quarter, whatever it is. For me, I didn't have a lot of honorable mentions here. There were really five that kind of stuck out, and not many more. How about on your list?

• 8:23Speaker 03

  My list is long and distinguished.

• 8:25Speaker 00

  Okay. You have any honorable mentions on the list?

• 8:29Speaker 03

  Exactly. Five total. Yes.

• 8:32Speaker 00

  There we go.

• 8:33Speaker 03

  None of them were honorable.

• 8:34Speaker 00

  There we go.

• 8:35Speaker 03

  Some of them were mentions.

• 8:37Speaker 00

  All right. We're gonna get into it. Let's not dilly-dally, as mom says. Oh gee, you want to take the first round and we'll take turns?

• 8:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, sure. No problem. Uh, number five for me is to take a peek at your tax bill while you can still change it. Let's make sure we do a tax projection. This is kind of year end bonus time. Are there any retirement contributions we can make? Any investment sales that have happened? Make sure you add up capital gain taxes, that sort of thing. If you're going to have an underpayment, can you increase withholding for the last couple of paychecks and maybe kind of ratchet that up? So there's not as big a surprise in, um, in April. I think really at the end of the day, knowing what your tax bill is versus how much you're gonna owe or get a refund for really empowers

• 9:26Speaker 03

  you to make really good decisions, kind of leading into the first quarter of, uh, 2027.

• 9:32Speaker 00

  I think this one OG is especially important if you have variable income from year to year, because the last thing you're going to want is a surprise in April that makes you decide, I'm going to push this off till October and maybe I can figure out how to write off the neighbor's dog.

• 9:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, definitely can't do that. But the other thing do is if you're going to have a penalty or if you're forecast to have one because of a big year or something like that, you know, you can make an estimated payment in January to avoid that. Don't wait until April to be surprised. Figure it out now.

• 10:01Speaker 00

  I also like the idea of doing this now too, before the spendiest month of the year, because you're going to know, well, do I have to save some money for tax time? Or can I have maybe a little happier holiday season? I don't know. My number five is similar, and I put it specifically OG at number five, because I think we make a big deal of it every year. I think for a subset of people, it can be a big deal. And this is tax loss harvesting, where we take a look at some of our positions that might've lost money and we sell those positions. Now, there's a thing called a wash sale rule. We have to stay out of those for 30 days. So we find something similar to that position. We move money out of the fund. We're

• 10:42Speaker 00

  able then to write off the tax loss against gains that we might have. So we can harvest those, set those aside, and then, uh, make sure though you don't go back into that same position right away, because then it won't count. So tax loss harvesting made my number five. It's something you should do before the end of the year. Take a look through your brokerage statement, see if you can do it. Not as big a deal, I think, as a lot of people make it.

• 11:06Speaker 04

  So that's why it's not working for me. I didn't know you weren't supposed to go right back. I mean, it's already low. Like, that's why I took the loss. It's low. So then I buy it right away again.

• 11:14Speaker 00

  Just buy it right back out. Oh, my goodness. I got all this. It's super low.

• 11:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, like buy low, right? They're supposed to do that. I've been doing that since 97. I've been waiting for my first bumper crop. I got nothing.

• 11:24Speaker 00

  And there's some easy ways to do this. By the way, if you're in an S and P 500 fund, maybe move to a large cap growth fund, a large company growth fund, or a large company value fund, or some other large blend that is close to the S and P 500. You just don't want to be in something that is exactly the same thing.

• 11:41Speaker 03

  Materially the same. That's right. And honestly, tax loss harvesting is something you need to be doing all year. This year, the vast majority of the efficacy of that happened in March. So if you're waiting until December, you kind of missed it, honestly.

• 11:55Speaker 00

  Because that's when the market was most down?

• 11:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:58Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. It shouldn't be a fourth quarter thing. It should be a where's my opportunity thing. Here's another question for you, OG. You know, some people talk about tax gain harvesting to get rid of this mental block of, well, I gotta have this big tax bill. So if I've got the ability to maybe short circuit that, sell something off, take some of the gain this year, and then get back into it, keep riding on. Do you like that move?

• 12:25Speaker 03

  Well, I don't know why you would sell something to turn around by the exact same thing. What I would say is if you're trying to rebalance from a position that is overweighted and also has a lot of gains, maybe an opportunity to, to be tactical on your capital gains tax and see, you know, maybe if your income is kind of right at that level where it's going to flip over from, you know, 15 to 20 or something like that, you know, get all the 15s now and do a little 15s next year, and maybe that helps you diversify. It's a great idea. Might be on my list in a little bit.

• 12:55Speaker 00

  Okay. Let's move on. Number four.

• 13:00Speaker 05

  Number four.

• 13:01Speaker 00

  Number four on my list is to, if you have the ability to do so, look at where you're at versus the cap on your retirement funds, on your HSA, and see if maybe you can squeeze a little more in there, maybe cap those off, get those all nice and, and take advantage of 2026 contribution numbers to the full extent that you're able. You know, this doesn't apply, again, it's, it's number four on my list because it applies to a subset of people. Most people are doing, I think, what they can. But for people that do have excess money, maybe a little overfunded emergency fund that they can, maybe a little overfunded emergency fund, or an emergency fund that has enough money in that they can squeeze

• 13:42Speaker 00

  a little more into their contribution. And then, uh, in January, maybe then make the emergency fund whole again, whatever it might be. I see too often people in January go, oh, I should have, oh, I should have put more in the 401k. Just look at the numbers and get it done now. That's my number four.

• 14:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, I actually have this as four also, and I'm with you. I think if you, you know, if you have a healthy cash reserve, if you have a healthy emergency fund and you can say, hey, it's a year, can I squeeze it down to 10 months and live on my emergency fund for the next two months so that I can max fund my contribution? Because that's the only way, you know, you can't take money from your emergency fund, send it to your 401k.

• 14:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:24Speaker 03

  But you were talking earlier about mental block. It's like, sometimes people have this mental block. It's like, this is all your money. You have cash flow coming in, that's your money. You have cash reserve, that's your money. You have brokerage account money that's yours. Like, it all can be deployed in any manner that you need to, to pay your AMEX bill on Tuesday. You know what I mean? Like, we think we can only use the money that comes from my paycheck. It's like, well, but if you take it from your paycheck and it goes into your savings account, and then you pay it from your savings account.

• 14:52Speaker 00

  Still came from your paycheck.

• 14:53Speaker 03

  Still your money, right? It's, this is all your stuff. So, you know, really evaluate that. Also be aware of the things that have to be done by the end of the year. 401k contributions have to be in by the end of the year. Um, excess contributions to your 401k, if you're over 50, have to be in by the end of the year. Roth contributions, backdoor Roth contributions don't have to be in by the end of the year. Those can be a first quarter of 27 problem. They have to be in by April of next year, tax filing deadline. Mega backdoor contributions have to be in by the end of this year. Buy the paycheck. And it's not even like the paycheck that you earned but got paid in January, right? You know, it's like, in your pay stub, it says, well, you've got paid for December 15th through December 30th, and that was paid

• 15:36Speaker 03

  on January 3rd. January 3rd is your paycheck. That's a 27. So you've got until that last, whenever that paycheck is in December. I was having this conversation a couple of weeks ago with some folks. I said, hey, I know my bonus is going to be X in January. You know, if you know that's the case, you can kind of plan for that now and say, well, can I live on my cash reserve? No, I'm going to fill it up. This only works if you know yourself, if you trust your company, you know, all that sort of jazz. You don't want to be surprised and let go, you know, or something. But use those strategically as opportunities to kind of max out.

• 16:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's funny, OG, you talk about, uh, knowing yourself and knowing your company. And a lot of the time, you want to make sure that it's in your account. But if you've worked for a company for a number of years, they're a good financial company, you know exactly what, uh, what to expect. Why wouldn't you raid the emergency fund now? Have it replenished on January 2nd, 3rd, 4th, whatever the number, number might be. But it is, it is interesting when people make some moves thinking that they're forever. In fact, as we record this, I saw this, did you guys see this report from Reuters a couple of weeks ago with the retirees that paid money to live on a cruise ship? And the cruise ship would just go around the world. So they thought they were going around the cruise ship for 15 years. They

• 16:52Speaker 00

  had this 15 year number, sold their possessions, sold their house, but many of them sold their vehicles. This is Reuters back at the end of October.

• 17:03Speaker 06

  We got thrown off the ship yesterday. They ran out of money. They don't have any money for fuel. So they told us we all have to get off. They're trying to raise money to move on to the next port, but nobody is putting money into it. So we're not going anywhere. So they threw us off.

• 17:20Speaker 00

  That is Steve Skulnick, who's, uh, one of the people that in retirement fell for this. Uh, the name of the ship is Villa V Residences. It was this deal where he just lived on a cruise ship. How great was that? Going to last 15 years? And I think it lasted, uh, three. So a lot of people stranded in Cambodia, by the way. They just kicked them off the, mostly Americans.

• 17:44Speaker 03

  Hell of a place to be shipwrecked. It's a little far away from home with no money and no anything.

• 17:50Speaker 00

  Right.

• 17:51Speaker 03

  Let's have an adventure.

• 17:52Speaker 00

  Uh, our bad, our bad, uh, didn't work out the way we thought that it would. So don't get into that situation. But OG, I think that if you've worked for a company for a, a number of years, and you already know what the number's going to be, I don't think in this occasion, that's a risk, uh, that I would be extremely worried about. I would not be.

• 18:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:11Speaker 05

  Number three.

• 18:12Speaker 03

  I kind of go back to your, I guess, number five on, on your taxable account. It's just a great time to look through everything. You know, some of it is tax loss harvesting. If you have that opportunity, I mean, the market's done pretty good this year. So, you know, there's probably not a lot of that. There's a lot of changes in the fixed income market this year. If you have some money in fixed income and you're just kind of not paying attention to that portion of your portfolio, because it's a little more complicated than buying stocks, then, uh, I think you're missing out there. So it's a good opportunity to look through that sort of stuff too. But as a overall checkup, is everything the way that you want it to be? You know, are you within the margin of error for your asset

• 18:52Speaker 03

  allocation? Are the funds that you have performing in line with the indexes that they represent? And I know a lot of people are going, well, I just have index funds. Okay, great. Good for you. But I bet there's a lot of people that don't only have index funds. They have little flyers here and there, or, you know, I've got my fun money account. This is a great time to review that and say, is this actually working the way that I expected to? Is this in the, uh, level of expected return and risk profile that I need? And do I have an opportunity to, you know, do something about that?

• 19:24Speaker 00

  My favorite part about doing that now is that in January, when we're thinking about our goals, we're thinking about the next 12 months. I don't want to go into my investment account and look at a garden that hasn't been weeded, you know, I'd like to have this lean mean machine so that my, my focus OG is just on the future. I want my future to be bright. It's difficult to have a bright future when I, all I'm thinking about is how do I clean up messes that I made in the past. I want to get rid of that today. Just leave it in 2026. So 2027 is a clean sheet.

• 19:58Speaker 04

  You guys talk about doing performance reviews. It's also a great time to do that with your spouse, your partner, you know?

• 20:04Speaker 03

  We do that in June on our anniversary.

• 20:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:07Speaker 03

  It's, I should say it's done with me in June.

• 20:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:12Speaker 04

  I received that in June.

• 20:15Speaker 03

  Somewhere, somewhere on or about May 31st, there's a discussion of what we're doing on June 15th.

• 20:20Speaker 00

  OG finds out how big is pace getting docked for the year?

• 20:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. What my bonus is or not. The other thing back to the investment piece is the end of the year is also a time where if you own taxable mutual funds, um, this is where they're going to have capital gain distributions and dividend distributions, the higher amounts of them usually, and companies forecast this. They give you an idea of what it's going to look like before you get there. And if you don't know why this matters, I think you probably have no business owning taxable mutual funds in your brokerage account. But suffice it to say, the gains that mutual funds make are passed on to the shareholders. Now, a lot of times the mutual fund managers can offset those with losses, like what we talked about earlier, but if they can't, they pass them on to shareholders. So if they have a particularly

• 21:06Speaker 03

  good year or a stock that they've owned for a long time, and there's a rebalancing that happens, you can get a surprise tax bill on a capital gain on a position that you never actually sold, which is just really hard to wrap your head around.

• 21:21Speaker 00

  And in some years on a position where you lost money.

• 21:24Speaker 03

  Oh yeah, that's even funnier. Yeah. Yeah. You lose money and you get a capital gain. I mean, these numbers can be, you know, if you have a hundred thousand dollar position or a $500,000 position in a mutual fund, I mean, it could be a 40, 50, $80,000 gain that's just added to your tax account, right? And you're like, well, I didn't have an $80,000 gain. It's like, sorry, you're paying taxes on 80 extra grand. So you have an opportunity when they, when they send out these distribution notices to say, do I still want to deal with this problem? Is it better for me to sell it? Do the wash sale thing like we were talking about before? It's better to pay taxes on that than it is to pay taxes on this. It's a dividend, you know, you got to look through these things if you have a large brokerage account for sure.

• 22:06Speaker 00

  This is a glaring example of the difference in architecture between mutual funds, which have been around since the early 1900s and exchange traded funds, which are much, much younger. You can just see, oh gee, the, the big difference in how these things are built. With a mutual fund, just the way they're built, it's impossible for them to take a capital gain and go, oh, you own this for 20 years. You've only owned this for six months. Just the way that the fund is built means that if they've been owned, if they've owned Microsoft for 20 years and you bought the fund six months ago, and they sold a bunch of the Microsoft during the year, which created a capital gain, let's say you own the same amount of the fund as somebody who's owned it for 20 years, you're going to get the same

• 22:51Speaker 00

  capital gain distribution that they get.

• 22:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:55Speaker 00

  If you're able to choose between an exchange traded fund with a newer architecture and a mutual fund, the exchange traded fund, more tax efficient, it's easier to figure out where the capital gain goes. Here's, it's yours, it's Doug's, it's mine. Uh, much, much easier there. By the way, and on that same point, this is a dangerous time to be adding money into funds in your taxable brokerage account. Before you put money in a mutual fund in a taxable brokerage account, look and see what that capital gain is going to be before you do it. There isn't going to be one, or it's going to be tiny. Well, then maybe you take it.

• 23:30Speaker 03

  Could you imagine taking your bonus, you're a big time lawyer and you just got a big time year end bonus, 200K and you dump it in this mutual fund. You've had it for 11 seconds and they go, we're issuing a 25% capital gain distribution. And now you have a $50,000 capital gain distribution on a position you've owned for 11 seconds.

• 23:49Speaker 00

  You're selling off a bunch of.

• 23:51Speaker 03

  And you owe $7,500 in taxes on a position that you just bought five days ago.

• 23:57Speaker 00

  Oh, and here's a bigger kick in the pants. Let's say you do that and you don't keep any liquid money, right? You don't have, you don't have any pushable emergency fund. And so now you.

• 24:08Speaker 03

  Guess where that money's coming from?

• 24:09Speaker 00

  Now you sell and OG, let's say it's gone up during those few days.

• 24:14Speaker 03

  Now you pay capital gains taxes on the distribution that you have to sell to pay the taxes on the distribution you didn't earn.

• 24:21Speaker 00

  Just a nightmare. Yeah. Watch out before you put money in a mutual fund this time of year. My number three is something much more ubiquitous. I talked about the HSA earlier, seeing if you can max that out if possible, but many more people have a flex spending account, right? It's this account that you have during the year that you have to spend the money before a deadline. We have two different deadlines with an FSA. We have a deadline to incur the expense. And then the second deadline we have is to submit the claim. So don't assume those are the same, but for a lot of them, it is the

• 25:02Speaker 00

  same day as the year ends. But no matter what your FSA is up to, it usually is right around now. Now, you can carry over a little bit of money. Your employer has to offer it. So check with your employer. The maximum amount is $680 in 2026. So you might not have to spend all the money if you overdid it. But OG, there's something else going on here. Let's say that you do have the $680 and you're going to roll it over and not spend it this year. You also want to adjust the amount you're putting into the FSA next year. So you don't have a bigger problem next year where you're going. How many contacts can I buy before the year is over? We've had that at our house before where we're just

• 25:43Speaker 00

  loading up on contact lenses for the following year because we put too much money in the FSA. If you don't spend it, you lose it outside of that maximum carryover.

• 25:56Speaker 03

  Use it or lose it, baby.

• 25:57Speaker 00

  All right. Those are five, four, three. We've got number two and number one coming up next, but at the halfway point of the stacking Benjamin show, we scoot on over and move the mic over to Doug. And today's exciting because today is a cool day on the calendar. It's a holiday.

• 26:15Speaker 04

  It absolutely is, Joe. Hey there, stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor Doug. And as you've just witnessed today, we've been talking about five things you should do before the end of the year. And like the guy said, you should get working on those fast. Speaking of fast and, um, speaking, today is international tongue twister day. You know, researchers at MIT have identified one of the hardest tongue twisters in the English language. This is a great use of MIT labs, by the way. Here's the tongue twister. Pat Kidd poured curd pulled cold. Try saying that five times fast.

• 26:50Speaker 00

  But even before I say it five times fast, try saying that at all. Have you ever had that? I mean, I'm glad MIT researched it, but have you ever had that come out of your mouth? You know, I'm just casually, you and I are talking and I say, Pat Kidd poured curd pulled cold.

• 27:03Speaker 04

  Right. I can't, I mean, I've slowed down. I don't even know what it means, but it doesn't matter. You don't have to know for a tongue twister. You just got to try to say it. I tried it this morning and accidentally bit my own tongue twice, which is impressive because I was only on the first attempt. Uh, I've been working on my own way harder tongue twister. I don't think MIT found the hardest one. And I challenge anybody to say this one five times fast. Ready? Better buy Bitcoin. Go ahead. Try it. I'll wait. I'll wait. Too hard? Look, don't feel bad. I've been practicing for weeks and I could barely get through it myself. Watch. Better buy Bitcoin. Better buy Bitcoin. Better be, be by Bitcoin. See? I told you it's hard. I mean, that's why you never hear Joe and OG saying it, right?

• 27:48Speaker 03

  It's 100% why we don't say it.

• 27:50Speaker 04

  Anyway, all this talk about five times makes me think of the $5 Joe keeps promising me for my annual holiday bonus. There's a famous American monument pictured on the back of the five, and you can see the names of 26 states carved around the top of that monument. So here's today's trivia question. What famous American monument featuring the names of 26 states appears on the back of the $5 bill? I'll be back right after I send better buy Bitcoin to MIT. I'm thinking honorary doctorate, probably my own parking space right next to Stephen Hawking's.

• 28:29Speaker 00

  Ah, the holidays, that magical time of year where families come together, share a great meal, exchange gifts, and do everything possible to avoid certain conversations. You know, the ones, politics, family drama, perhaps the most uncomfortable topic of all, money. But here's the thing, some conversations are too important to keep putting off. An estimated $124 trillion is expected to be transferred by Americans over the next 20 years. Yet Kiplinger's research found that 51% of adults and their parents never talk about money. And that's a pretty big disconnect, especially when it comes to inheritance, wills, and estate planning. That's why Kiplinger launched the trillion dollar talk,

• 29:13Speaker 00

  helping families navigate those awkward but essential conversations about their financial futures. And look, nobody's suggesting you bring up probate while somebody's passing the mashed potatoes. But with families coming together this holiday season, maybe it's time to start talking. Visit kiplinger.com to learn more about the trillion dollar talk and how to start the conversation with your family. The best pieces in your closet are the ones you can count on, whether you're headed to work, going out, or keeping things casual. This time of year, Quince makes finding something great for everyone else just as easy. This holiday season is where I'm shopping for myself and everyone on my list. Quince focuses on high-quality staples made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere,

• 29:57Speaker 00

  14-karat gold, and Italian leather, all timeless, versatile pieces that feel special to unwrap and become everyday favorites long after the holidays. The cashmere sweaters start at just $60. The lineup doesn't stop there. Premium down jackets, wool outerwear, and cashmere accessories. Everything you and your loved ones need to stay warm and look put together all season long. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. That's because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middle bin, so you can give luxury quality pieces without the luxury price tag. I'm sitting here telling you about Quince and I'm so excited because my latest Quince piece is on the way right now. I got the Mongolian cashmere polo sweater coming. It is just going to be great for fall. Cannot wait.

• 30:43Speaker 00

  If you're with us on YouTube, you're about to see it. And then I'm going to hear the groans. Oh, we got to hear about Joe's sweater, just like I've talked about my pants. And just like I've talked about all my other Quince clothing. When it comes to gifting, Quince has a lot more than clothing, by the way. Think fine jewelry, leather bags, hotel-quality bedding, chef-grade cookware, and five-star luggage. Basically, plenty of ways to find something special for everyone on your list and on mine. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too, stackers. And when Quince asks where you heard them, let them know it was Stack Your Benjamins because it's the best way to support the show.

• 31:29Speaker 07

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• 32:02Speaker 00

  Hey there, stackers. I'm internationally recognized for my tongue skills and former professor of public speaking at Texarkana Community College, Joe's mom's neighbor Doug. Technically, the college said they didn't have any classrooms available. So I just held my lectures outside on the quad. Open enrollment, that's just what I do. Anybody walking by can stop by and listen. Almost didn't. But I did have one guy who attended three classes in a row. Turns out he was just waiting for the bus. Still, I gave him a B minus for the effort. Before the break, I asked you about a famous American monument featured on the back of the $5 bill. So what's the monument? It's the Lincoln Memorial. See ya.

• 32:44Speaker 00

  My sister and brother-in-law live in the DC area. And when their, their daughter was graduating from high school, a bunch of us went at night. We were just walking around the monuments at night and just seeing all the different monuments after dark. It's just a fantastic experience. And we actually sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And I just remember, out of all the places to just sit and have a great conversation as we're celebrating her graduation, just I hear the words Doug, Lincoln Memorial, and I always think of that time.

• 33:17Speaker 04

  Right to that great memory.

• 33:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. By the way, right around the corner from that, the Korean War Memorial. And this has a bunch of soldiers that are walking through a field. And the first time I saw it, it was foggy. We went there like first thing in the morning. And it's wild as you get there. You can't even see the monument. And all of a sudden, there's this soldier in front of me that just comes out of the mist.

• 33:42Speaker 04

  That'll get you contemplating a few things, huh?

• 33:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, spooky evocative monument. All right, we've got two more to go. Steve, light it up.

• 33:51Speaker 05

  Number two.

• 33:52Speaker 00

  My number two is before we get into December, oh gee, it's a fantastic time to review the budget. If you're somebody that's budgeting, I think this is the best time for two reasons. Number one is, as we mentioned before, we want to go in with a clean budget starting January 1st. But I also like doing it here in November before Black Friday because I think we get so caught up in the holiday season and we think about short-term and obvious, but we don't think about, does this mirror the long-term expenses that we have? I remember back in my financial planning days, working with this family around this time of year, and they decided they were going to severely cut the Christmas budget for the family. We got to January, oh gee, and not only did they stay within that budget,

• 34:37Speaker 00

  they also said that they had one of their best holiday seasons ever. They spent more time just focused on each other instead of at the mall. They focused on all the things that made for them this season special instead of a lot of the consumerism. And don't get me wrong, you can have a lot of fun buying people gifts, but guilt-free gifts that aren't on buy now, pay later, 100% be gifts that you're going to regret in January. So that's my number two.

• 35:09Speaker 03

  I prefer the bury your head in the sand and hope the bonus in January is good enough to cover the MX bill approach personally, but you know.

• 35:16Speaker 00

  Clark Griswold, new swimming pool.

• 35:18Speaker 03

  I can understand your approach, a little more pragmatic perhaps, but mine's full of fun. Who doesn't like to hand out fun coupons to everybody throughout the month of December? And who goes to the mall anymore, Joe? What the heck? What is a mall?

• 35:35Speaker 03

  They're tearing ours down and building a hockey stadium. Like, we don't even need this anymore.

• 35:39Speaker 00

  The mall called Amazon Online. How about that?

• 35:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's way easier. It's guilt-free.

• 35:44Speaker 04

  Doesn't smell as good.

• 35:46Speaker 00

  One click.

• 35:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, buy now, click.

• 35:49Speaker 00

  When I, when I read the book, The Everything Store, they really, really, really dive into one click and the fact that they got a patent for one click and how the people at the patent office had no idea. And the people at Amazon knew that they had no idea what they had done, that Amazon now own the ability to, with one click, go reach into your wallet and take money out.

• 36:11Speaker 03

  To be fair, somewhat similar to like walking into a store and buying the pack of gum that you want.

• 36:18Speaker 00

  Oh, totally disagree. I don't have to get out of my car. I don't have to walk those steps. I don't have to grab the pack of gum. I literally just go boom, one click.

• 36:29Speaker 04

  What's even slightly more insidious is that I'll be looking at stuff and there'll be a button that says add to Friday's delivery. Oh, I already got stuff coming.

• 36:39Speaker 00

  Why not?

• 36:40Speaker 04

  It's the same as one click, but just the sound of that added to, you already got stuff coming like day after tomorrow. Why don't you just throw something else in the delivery?

• 36:48Speaker 03

  You guys are acting like this is like the worst thing in America. I think this is the best thing that we have.

• 36:52Speaker 04

  I'm just saying, I'm not saying it's bad at all. I'm just saying it's ingenious.

• 36:56Speaker 03

  Decision-free?

• 36:57Speaker 04

  Right.

• 36:57Speaker 00

  That's what I'm talking about is ingenious and how Amazon got away with being the company that got to do it and put a patent on it. I mean, that's the, that's the wow. Don't get me wrong, for you, oh gee, if every company had the right to do that, the ability to do that without having to work their way around Amazon's ownership of that.

• 37:16Speaker 03

  Shopify's got a little bit, something similar, right? I mean, Shopify, you just click the.

• 37:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, everybody's figured out their, their kind of workaround.

• 37:24Speaker 03

  They like text you a code and you, and then when on your phone, it just automatically fills it in and bang, it's gone. I prefer friction-free shopping. I bought something for my wife for anniversary or birthday or something this year, and it required an appointment at a, at a location to buy it. And I was like, I just want to buy it. I don't want to talk to anyone. I don't need to like have, we don't need to start a conversation or have a relationship with any, like, I'm not interested in any of that. This is what I want to buy. How do you send it to me? And they're like, well, we have an online opportunity with an online internet advisor. And I'm like, great, that sounds good. Is that someone I have to talk to?

• 38:04Speaker 03

  Can I just give you my credit card? And they're like, well, you know, but we want to establish. So I might like, let's work on you by sending me the thing I paid for. I can decide whether or not I want to talk to this person again. So finally, they acquiesced via email. It allowed me to purchase their product without having a friggin' appointment and.

• 38:24Speaker 04

  This is the most OG holiday shopping ever.

• 38:28Speaker 00

  I know. This is, this is the rule of sales though, right? You talk about why companies don't get sales. They're still selling after the person's trying to buy.

• 38:36Speaker 03

  I know. Get out of your own way. I already said yes. Shut up.

• 38:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:43Speaker 03

  Remember those days, like those sales classes, Joe? You'd have to practice. You'd do the role play and you'd role play with somebody who was really good. And they'd be like, all right, sounds great. And you're like, okay, so let me talk about the, and the guy's like, stop. They said, okay.

• 38:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:57Speaker 03

  Slide the paper across the thing, hand them the pen.

• 39:00Speaker 00

  It's time to bring the contract out.

• 39:01Speaker 03

  Here you go. So just sign right there.

• 39:04Speaker 00

  One more cool thing we can do.

• 39:06Speaker 03

  I know. You're like, shut up.

• 39:09Speaker 00

  What's your number two?

• 39:11Speaker 03

  Uh, yeah, sorry. I don't know. Let me look. All right. All right. Uh, number two, I've got decide whether this is a good year to pay some retirement taxes early. So all the questions about Roth conversions, are they worth it? Are they not worth it? Is it better to do it? Is it better to wait? Should I wait until this happens? Should I do it now? Look, at the end of the day, this is all wild ass guess, right? What are you trying to guess? You're trying to guess that the taxes you're paying today are going to be less after accounting for the fact that you have less money than the taxes you're going to pay in the future with more money by not paying taxes today.

• 39:54Speaker 03

  If you have a sum of money today and some of that money goes to pay taxes and now the rest of your money, you never pay taxes on again. Or you have a sum of money today and you don't pay any taxes. So you're gonna have more money down the line, but now since you have more money, that more money has to pay more taxes, which is better? Guess what? No one knows the answer to this. This is a wild ass guess. You have to just kind of pick which side of the fence you feel like being on on this and make some educated guesses. For example, let's say that earlier this year you were laid off and you've been living on your savings and you have one quarter of income this year, one quarter of earnings, you know,

• 40:39Speaker 03

  like January through March before you were laid off. And after accounting for your normal deductions, maybe your taxable income is zero. I mean, I think it's a fairly safe bet that if you did a Roth conversion in the 10% bracket or 12% bracket, it's a pretty attractive rate. I can't prove to you that is better than it's going to be when you're 70, but I think it's a pretty attractive rate. If you have millions of dollars in your 401k or in your IRA and for some reason this year, you're in the 22% bracket. Probably a pretty attractive rate if you're 50 and you say, well, I'm not going to touch this money till I'm 75 when I gotta take it out. You know, you got three doubles on 2 million bucks.

• 41:21Speaker 03

  You know what I mean? Like you can kinda, you're kinda guessing, but you're making an educated guess. I'm not saying to do it. I'm not saying not to do it. I'm just saying have an opinion about it.

• 41:32Speaker 03

  Think through it and then decide. You know, you know, I'm a fan of filling up those kind of low numbers, 10 and 12 for sure. 22 gives you a lot of room. I'm a fan of that because I like certainty in some stages of life and paying 22%, I think for somebody that's got a few bucks in your qualified plan. I think it's pretty attractive.

• 41:54Speaker 00

  The problem with not deciding this time of year and not putting your foot forward on, I'm gonna do it or I'm not gonna do it is I think that's where regret comes from. Like, ah, I should have done it last year, but you know what? If you make your choice and you sleep on it, you decide I'm doing it, I'm not doing it. Well, now you actively made the decision. I don't think there's any regret there. Very little regret. I mean, you could Monday morning quarterback a little bit.

• 42:20Speaker 03

  I mean, the, yeah, I think the struggle that people get into the decision making on this is they say, well, is it even gonna matter? You know, if I did 50 grand, like, is it really even gonna matter? In most of the financial plans that we look through, you know, when it matters? It matters in the last eight years of your life. That's where the benefit really pays off. And you say, well, do I really care whether or not I have $8 million or $9 million when I'm 97? No, probably you don't. But I think it provides some flexibility in your decision. You know, we talked, we haven't talked today, but over the, you know, years of the show, we've talked about having different money in different buckets, right? Taxable, pre-tax, tax-free, just to every year, give yourself a, you know, like, what are we doing?

• 43:05Speaker 03

  What, what's, what's coming up? What do I gotta pay attention to? Give me some choices. I was just having this chat with my kid the other day. He was thinking about applying for a spring school project thing that was overseas. And he's like, I don't know which one I like, if I would rather go here, if I'd rather go here, if I'd rather go here. I said, well, what's the risk to applying to all of them? I mean, certainly you're not committing to all of them at this point, right? He goes, well, no, you apply and then they kind of whittle it down. And then I said, and so then when you get the offer back, you have some choice, right? Like, why would you not apply to all the ones you might be interested in? Just to give yourself the most opportunity to have more choices down the line, you know? So my, my thinking on a lot of things revolves around how do I make a choice today that gives me the most choices later?

• 43:51Speaker 03

  When I narrow it down to I've, I'm at the spot where now I'm making a binary choice where I will do this or do this. That's where I'm going to spend a lot of, a lot of mental energy to make sure that I make a really good choice. But I don't put Roth conversions in that one or other category because you're just, you're giving yourself some choices down the line of which bucket do I want to pull money from in the future? Or give money from, or, you know, set my kids up with money from or whatever, you know? It's like, I don't know what the next 50 years is gonna look like, but I, but I'm gonna like having choices. That I do know.

• 44:27Speaker 00

  You're gonna pay a little bit today for flexibility tomorrow.

• 44:30Speaker 03

  I think so.

• 44:31Speaker 00

  Here we go. It's time for the big one.

• 44:33Speaker 05

  Number one.

• 44:35Speaker 00

  Oh gee, what's the big number one?

• 44:37Speaker 03

  You know, I kind of lied. I did have some, uh, some honorable mentions, so maybe we can throw, throw one in there at the end, but um, this was not a hierarchy, by the way, on mine. I just kind of made a list of five. I do want to take a second and talk about charitable giving, being intentional about that. So this is kind of my number one today is charitable giving. There were some changes this year around what's deductible and how much is deductible and that sort of jazz. If you don't itemize, you can get a free deduction, so to speak, for your first thousand or 2000. So non-itemizers, which they've changed the level at which it makes sense to itemize or not. But if you're single, a thousand, married, finally joined, 2000, that's where the first, that first contribution should go. If you do itemize,

• 45:23Speaker 03

  there's kind of a new floor, right? So half a percent of your AGI is not deductible. So if you have a big AGI and you think, well, I'll just wipe this out with some charitable giving. Remember the first half a percent doesn't count.

• 45:35Speaker 00

  Doesn't count.

• 45:37Speaker 03

  And then the third piece is if you're still one of those folks that haven't done their required distributions for the end of the year. So you're over 70 and a half or 73, depending on what age, you know, you started yours. You can avoid taxes on your RMD if you use your RMD for charitable purposes. And you have to do it right from the IRA, right to the charitable institution. So if you donate money anyway, right? Back to that, remember we talked earlier about all of this money is your money? Right? Like all of the money is your money. So if you're saying, I'm gonna take my RMD, it's 32,000, that goes in my account. And also, by the way, I do $5,000 to church at Christmas. Well, hold on a second. Let's not do both of those transactions that way.

• 46:21Speaker 03

  Let's do 5,000 from your IRA as part of your RMD to church, knocking your $30,000 RMD down to 25. Now you're gonna pay taxes on 25, not 30.

• 46:31Speaker 00

  We cut out the middle man and we save money.

• 46:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, everybody wins, right? So just kind of pay attention to that a little bit if that's your age. So I think there's some opportunity in charitable giving, lumping contributions, that sort of deal. That was my numero uno.

• 46:44Speaker 00

  That is a great strategy, a fantastic strategy. Take your requirement of distribution, if you're old enough that you're taking those and use that for your charitable donation.

• 46:54Speaker 03

  If you're already doing that.

• 46:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's no reason not to do that.

• 46:57Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 46:58Speaker 00

  There's no reason not to.

• 46:59Speaker 03

  No reason not to. Yep.

• 47:01Speaker 00

  My number one OG was one that is very specifically number one. And what's funny is it started off kind of on my list on the periphery. And as I was narrowing this down, I thought about it more because at its heart, this is not a money move. It is a much bigger move that includes money. But really what we're driving at and all these shows that we do is it isn't about having more money. It's being able to live the life that you want to live, to do the things that you want to do. And what's the problem that most of our stackers have? You get to the end of the year and you go, where did it go? What happened? Where did all the time go? What happened to 2026? I didn't do half the stuff I wanted to do.

• 47:44Speaker 00

  So what I like doing this time of year, and I've begun doing this only the last seven or eight years, is blocking out the things that are important in 2027, right now before the year starts. So I want to know, you know what? If I have some flexibility at work and I'm able to pick the kids up from school and spend some time with them, I want to block that off on the calendar now. If I have vacations that are important to me, places I want to go. This year, my son and I went to a theme park together. I blocked that off before the year even started and said, you know what? This is going to be a father, son thing that we do. Take those moments that are really important to you and get it all on the calendar first. We tend to, we tend to do that last.

• 48:27Speaker 00

  And I think that by fencing that time off and then working around it, making the rest of your productive around it is huge. So that is my number one. Get a running start on 2027. Planning in January sucks. Rolling into January, you already have the time blocked off and now you can play on how you're going to be productive. It's the start of the year. I think much better way to go.

• 48:46Speaker 03

  I think you win this round, sir. I think that was, that was the gavel. That was the mic drop.

• 48:51Speaker 00

  Dude, it was wild how at the beginning that was just kind of sketched on the top of my list. And the more I thought about it, the more I'm like, no, that's number one.

• 48:58Speaker 03

  I like that. Yeah.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  Well, then that's a good place to end it. So great place. We didn't ask Doug his.

• 49:03Speaker 03

  That's okay. You said it was a great place to end.

• 49:05Speaker 00

  Doug did. Doug did like eat more publicious. Make your list, maybe fewer jawbreakers this year. So I'm curious, stackers, what's on your list that we missed? What are some things that make your personal top five? Share that in mom's basement, stackybenjamins.com/basement. We'll also share these on our social media channels, what OG's top five and my top five were. We do a TikTok live. I'm there on Tuesdays. I try to make it over to YouTube as well if I have time, but we try to do live and we could even talk about it live if you're available on Tuesday. If you have that job where your boss will let you just hang out on TikTok

• 49:48Speaker 00

  for a while with me. It's a dream job. Come, come hang out on Tuesday morning doing that or just write me, stackybenjamins.com and tell me what is on your list for 2027 planning. Let's mosey out on the back porch. Doug, what's going on in the community?

• 50:08Speaker 04

  As you know, or as everybody knows, listening, I'm pretty sure you know, we record our Friday episodes a little bit in advance. Sometimes I'm not sure if you're aware of that, but it happens. As a little preview to our Friday episode coming up, we got a great comment from somebody who watched us on YouTube as we recorded our Friday, the 13th episode with Evan Rate from Investing for Beginners. We got this great comment from at veganfire says, Hey Joe, another awesome episode as always. Great vibe with Paula, Chris and Evan today. That said, can we please put a swear jar in the studio and make people drop a dollar in it every time someone calls compound interest, the eighth wonder of the world?

• 50:57Speaker 04

  No shade. There's more. It gets better. No shade to Evan. He was great. And to his credit, he didn't drag poor Albert Einstein into it like 99% of finance bros do. Einstein never actually said that. It was literally invented by a Cleveland bank ad copywriter in 1925 to get people to open savings accounts.

• 51:16Speaker 00

  So good. So good.

• 51:18Speaker 04

  And this isn't me talking. This is all still at veganfire. This is great. So, and then they go on to say compounding is great. We all love making money in our sleep, but putting basic math next to the great pyramid of Giza is getting out of hand. Keep crushing it, guys. Thanks at veganfire.

• 51:35Speaker 00

  I think veganfire, that comment is the eighth wonder of the world.

• 51:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 51:39Speaker 00

  That is, but it is. It was a great vibe with Evan. It was about time we got him on from investing for beginners, a great show with him and Steven and Andrew. Andrew and I actually collaborated on a show called Money Tree Investing a long time ago. So great to have Evan on and also Chris, Chris Luger, who has the wonderful heavy metal money podcast and runs our stacky benjamins after dark meetup group. I got some news there, Doug, by the way, and we'll share more later. I've had great meetings with some fantastic people in the Washington DC area and the Bay area, the San Francisco Bay area.

• 52:16Speaker 04

  The San Fran area.

• 52:18Speaker 00

  Just throw salt on that as much salt on that as possible.

• 52:22Speaker 04

  Rice or roni, the San Fran treat.

• 52:24Speaker 00

  But the Bay area and DC, they are fired up. And if all things go the way that these wonderful people hope, you're going to see new benjamins after dark groups in both of those communities. So stay tuned. If you want to know if there's one where you are, stackybenjamins.com/bad benjamins after dark. Big thanks to you for hanging out with us today. You know, somebody who just seems to be a financial mess and maybe needs to lock down. Like, how do I just end my year on a high note? This might be a great episode to share with that person. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we will list these in the show notes, both OG and my top five. So you have those lists and we'd love to hear yours. But if you feel like, you know

• 53:09Speaker 00

  what? I need more than a top five list to get me into 2027. I seriously need better help in my corner. Well, OG, Anna and the team are accepting new clients. So to get on their radar, head to stackybenjamins.com/OG and you can schedule a meeting there and find out more. All right. That is going to wrap it up. The thing I like asking at the end of every episode is to my friend Doug, what was on your to do list listening to today's show?

• 53:38Speaker 04

  Well, Joe first, take some advice from you and OG. Set your calendar and take action on your top five money moves. That way you're grabbing opportunities and setting yourself up for a great 2027. Second, how about this Doug-licious idea I just came up with? Set, and I just came up with that word, set a calendar reminder to make these same ninja moves again in 2027. So you don't have to reinvent the wheel next year. Bam!

• 54:06Speaker 00

  That's a good one.

• 54:07Speaker 04

  That annual tickler takes one more thing off your plate. So you can focus on what matters, like your next latte or making jokes about Todd at the Sizzler or, you know, but my biggest takeaway from today's show, when OG shares his biggest year end moves, don't remind him of his big move from last year's dance party on the basement table after a couple of Woodfords. That should never be among his favorites. Seriously, nobody wants to see that again, man.

• 54:37Speaker 04

  This show is the property of SB Podcast LLC copyright 2026 and is created by Joe Saul Sehy. You'll find out about our awesome team at stackingbenjamins.com along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello. And oh yeah, before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor Doug, and we'll see you next time back here at the stacking Benjamin show.

• 55:25Speaker 00

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• 58:03Speaker 00

  Welcome to the after show. This is the part of the show that doesn't exist. What happens in the after show, normally we say stays in the after show, but today, not today. Today is a joyful day because two friends of mine that you've heard on stack your Benjamins before have a brand new book out and I want to talk about it. Monica Scudari is here and Dr. Bill Younts here. How are you guys?

• 58:27Speaker 02

  Fantastic.

• 58:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm fantastic too. Bright eyed and bushy tailed all the way from New Zealand this time, Joe.

• 58:33Speaker 00

  I was wondering, Monica, how long it was going to take Bill to say he's in New Zealand to do the flex?

• 58:37Speaker 02

  I think I owe you money.

• 58:41Speaker 00

  Bill, I don't know if you know this, but I'm in Texarkana. I don't want to brag, but I'm in Texarkana.

• 58:47Speaker 02

  I'm over here in Raleigh, North Carolina. So.

• 58:52Speaker 00

  Everybody's flexing. I think initially, just because of the name, the name of the book is Mama, Are We Poor? And there it is. Show it to everybody who's watching on video. I want to ask about the illustrations too, because the illustrations just are so beautiful and so awesome. First of all, Monica, this I believe originally started with you, the germ of the idea started with you, didn't it?

• 59:15Speaker 02

  It really did. It was an interview that I did on Bill's podcast where we were telling the story. And I told the story about my son asking that very question and the conversation that we had. And then it was Bill who sparked the idea of this would make a great children's book. And so the, the journey began.

• 59:33Speaker 00

  Bill, it's amazing to see you just recently retired as a physician and you're already have this whole new life and all this new stuff. How fun is it to be a children's author?

• 59:45Speaker 04

  It's really cool. And the fact that it was sparked by a statement that Monica made on a podcast where I thought that is awesome. It's cool. You just get these ideas when you have more bandwidth and you're not head down focused on catching up to five, so to speak. I've even written the lyrics to a song. All of a sudden this creative stuff that came out and I never thought I'd be a children's author. I'd never thought I'd write the lyrics to a song and doctors can do this too. We don't have to stick to just doctoring.

• 1:00:14Speaker 00

  Okay, Bill, just to be clear, I never thought you'd write the lyrics to a song.

• 1:00:22Speaker 00

  You're not the only one who's surprised, brother, but that is awesome. And it's, it is so cool to see creativity, but also it was the collaboration that created the creativity. Monica, dive into just a second, this subject matter, because a lot of people are going to see the title Mama, Are We Poor? And they're like, well, I don't, I don't want my kid just asking me if I'm poor. There's a whole background to this and there's a reason why that was such an important question.

• 1:00:50Speaker 02

  Yeah. When he asked me, he was in elementary school. And at the time, his dad and I, we divorced and I was unemployed and we were in a quarter million dollars of debt. And it was really hard to find a job. I actually went, I would find a job, temp job, and then lose that one. And it was going back and forth a lot. And I'm sure he could feel the pressure and his sister, but you try as a parent to, you know, make it okay. And you know, everything is fine, but kids, they feel, they feel stuff. And it's what prompted the question of, are we poor? And sparked a small conversation between us that seemed satisfactory at the time. So.

• 1:01:32Speaker 00

  And later on, it was satisfactory?

• 1:01:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was because the kids are not big into, you know, the latest thing. They don't have to have the latest toy or the latest whatever fashion. They seem to be as adults now, just happy with what they do have. They like shopping, the sales and you know, secondhand and there's a lot of pride in that. And they really do like the simple things in life. And so, you know, I think it's a nice lesson learned.

• 1:02:01Speaker 00

  Bill, you also have children, like how important are these lessons at an early age?

• 1:02:06Speaker 04

  They're critical because the book is really about what true wealth is and it has nothing to do with money. It's really about the simple things like we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, food on the table. And most importantly, we have each other. So basically we have enough. And the book defines for kids and families what enough is. And we get kind of all wigged out about having millions of dollars, then we don't realize that we can be free and happy and focused in the present with the people around us. So I thought it was a very powerful story.

• 1:02:43Speaker 00

  It is a very powerful story. Monica, there's a fine line, like you want to involve your kids in financial planning. You want to teach them lessons early on about the importance of planning and, and what Bill was talking about, about how critical these lessons can be, but you also don't want to scare them. How do you bridge this line when I'm sure you were afraid at the time and wondering, how are we going to get out of this hole? How do you protect them but educate them at the same time?

• 1:03:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, not going to lie. Those were some stressful years. There was a time I actually thought about moving back to Florida and moving into my mom's house, but the job market was better here in North Carolina. So I ended up staying, but it's just, you know, going back to just appreciating what we do have and focusing on that. And that life is going to happen and it's just, it's how we take it and how we're going to react to it. That's most important, you know, that, that things happen to all of us. We just chose to focus on, it was a hot day in the summer and we'd go to the bookstore and we'd hang out and sit and read books at the library or go to the bookstore and do things like that. We'd go to the park and hang out.

• 1:03:52Speaker 02

  And or maybe it was like a half off pizza day. So we'd get some of the neighbors and we'd go to pizza between the families and do simple things. And those are the things that they remember. They don't remember the toys. They remember the moments and I think that that's something that even us as adults, we forget.

• 1:04:09Speaker 00

  I forget Monica, the comedian who was talking about, they never realized the whole time their mom was playing the floor is lava. As a game with them really meant we're poor.

• 1:04:21Speaker 00

  Cause we were having so much fun with the floors lava, but I love the lesson. And I think that's really the critical one. It isn't that stuff happened to us. It's that stuff happens to everybody and it's the way we bounce back.

• 1:04:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, absolutely. Everybody gets knocked down. The difference is, is that we get up and we move forward. And that's really, really important lesson.

• 1:04:39Speaker 00

  Bill, I've said this to you over social media before, just congratulating you on your recent retirement. But we haven't been face to face. I mean, even the kind of long distance face to face we are now for me to say that yet. From afar, and even before you retired, just seeing your jam of collaborating with people and the power of collaboration. Talk to me for a minute about how you and Monica were able to collaborate on this, even though, you know, you're in Tennessee. She's in North Carolina, not necessarily a hop, skip and a jump to just go hang out together at a coffee shop and do a kid's book. How did this get done?

• 1:05:14Speaker 04

  First to address the retirement issue, I'm not fully retired, Joe. Actually I leveraged the power of five to get rid of nights. I fully retired from night shifts and I still work four to six days a month because I find value in the work. I didn't feel the need to go cold turkey. So, you know, retirement is a gradual thing and, you know, the doctoring still has meaning for me. So I didn't feel the need to give it up fully.

• 1:05:40Speaker 00

  I heard Jim Dolly from the White Coat Investor on our friend, Doc G's podcast, on the Earn and Invest podcast recently. He also is a physician. He talked about Bill, how he may never fully retire. He's kind of in the position that you're in where now that he's financially independent, has been for a while. He just feels a sense of purpose. Is that going to be the same for you? Is there going to be a Billy out retirement date?

• 1:06:03Speaker 04

  Well, it was funny because I had a semi-retirement party. When did you ever hear of a semi-retirement party? The nurses, the nurses from the night shift surprised me on my last night shift. And we had a countdown to that and they walked out and there was basically a line of people with streamers. And I wasn't quitting or leaving fully, but.

• 1:06:22Speaker 00

  Well, let's be honest, Bill, for a second, does that actually mean they're happy? They don't have to deal with you nights anymore?

• 1:06:27Speaker 04

  Nope, not at all. It's really nice to walk into a place as a doctor where you feel valued as a doctor. And they say, we love working with you. We, we trust you. We like how you take care of patients and us and families. And you can't necessarily give that up because there's a lot of purpose, meaning, identity in that. But the powerful thing is once I didn't have to do it, once I was work optional, I liked it more. It became something that wasn't as stressful and I could enjoy it more because if they didn't want to work with me anymore. And they said, you know what? You're too slow. You're too old. I'm like, that's fine. I'm done. I can walk out the door with my head up, my shoulders back and not with my tail between my legs and defeated and burned out.

• 1:07:10Speaker 04

  So the power of five really allows you to live life on your own terms. And that to me is the, the critical feature and retirement is a bad word because it comes from the French word to pull back. It almost feels like dying when you retire. And for me, it was just working on your own terms intentionally. The money is fine. It allows me to give more to my kids. So there's a lot of benefit to just not exiting the building like Elvis. At the end of the day, when you reach this number, because you can get to that point where you have what's called an arrival fallacy. And you don't know what to do next. And with Monica, and to answer your question, Monica and I met at the conference economy.

• 1:07:56Speaker 04

  We met in person. She had already written a book called Grab Your Slice and everybody should go grab that book too. And we created a relationship that grew over the years virtually. And we've seen each other many times in North Carolina because I grew up in Chapel Hill, very near her. And so we would get together, collaborate, and we look forward to seeking out independent bookstores and going to do a reading in her area. And then in my area Knoxville. And so. This has many purposes and the creation of relationships like those where we're best friends.

• 1:08:30Speaker 00

  I love the fact, though, that distance does not mean that you can't collaborate. I mean, you talked about being together in Cincinnati at Economy, but Monica, very specifically for the budding collaborators out there, how did it get done? Did you pass a file back and forth and use the power of text? Or, or how exactly did the book get written?

• 1:08:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I don't know about passing back and forth, but we did get online and review things. And I think one of the really cool things that Bill and I found early on is that we were eye to eye on so many things and it made things so easy and the things that I brought to the table, but he also brought things that that I didn't even think about. And so it was a really nice, easy back and forth of ideas. And we're both excited about the book. We both come from it, you know, all heart, all passion. And it made it just a fun project that we, we just really happy with the way it all came together, you know? So it was easy.

• 1:09:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, it sounds like you just had fun making it like just bringing into the world was fun.

• 1:09:33Speaker 02

  It absolutely, we did. We had a lot of fun. We're actually, if I can say, Bill, we're actually thinking about next year, doing a, another one to go and make like bookends, the two books that could go together and other children's book. We had so much fun doing this one.

• 1:09:47Speaker 00

  Is it going to be called Mama, Are We Still Poor? Or Mama, Are We Poor Again?

• 1:09:51Speaker 04

  No, actually, we do have a title.

• 1:09:55Speaker 04

  Because this is focused on mama and a boy. We're gonna have a girl and ask her father, Daddy, are we rich? And to try and define what does rich mean versus wealthy? And I, I envision it kind of like a children's millionaire next door. Wealth is what you don't see. And when people like doctors are flashy with their cars, their houses, they may be the poorest people in the neighborhood.

• 1:10:22Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:10:22Speaker 04

  So there is a millionaire next door aspect to what I think our next book will be.

• 1:10:27Speaker 00

  Monica, who did the illustrations? The illustrations are so cool.

• 1:10:31Speaker 02

  So we actually hired a thousand storybooks and they assigned a project manager to us and then she basically coordinates with the artists.

• 1:10:39Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:10:40Speaker 02

  Yeah. And they did a fantastic job, just a really great job. We're really happy with the work.

• 1:10:46Speaker 00

  They did such a great job. One more question. Bill, you are right now in, you're in New Zealand. You're going to be going to a FI conference in New Zealand, which is funny. We think about going to conferences in the United States, but you know, I went to Amy Meekley's conference in Bali. Now you're in New Zealand going to a conference. So how cool is it to see the fire spreading internationally?

• 1:11:10Speaker 04

  Well, what's cool about it is this little podcast has grown and grown and all of a sudden we had an audience in New Zealand, Canada, England, and Bronwyn Candish, who put together this first ever Kiwi FI in kind of an economy type style, but it's really sort of a TED talky in a theater with 150 people that sold out in like two hours because it really is a strong movement here. And she reached out to me and Jackie Kometkowski, my co-host. She reached out to Jordan Grummet, Doc G. She reached out to Gillian Johnsru. So she's farmed in talent from all over the United States to sort of, you know, fuel the fire, so to speak. And it's very exciting.

• 1:11:55Speaker 04

  When she asked me, I was really flattered and immediately said, yes, and realized I had to learn how to publicly speak. So I'm trying to.

• 1:12:05Speaker 00

  I thought you were going to say you needed to learn how to speak Kiwi. That's what you need to learn.

• 1:12:09Speaker 04

  Well, that's Kiora. Kiora means hello and good day.

• 1:12:13Speaker 00

  That is awesome. Well, Monica, show the book again.

• 1:12:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:12:16Speaker 00

  Available on Amazon, available at independent bookstores, bookshop.com, I believe.

• 1:12:21Speaker 02

  Yeah. It's a noble, books a million. Yeah.

• 1:12:25Speaker 00

  That's so cool. Mama, Are We Poor? We'll also link to it in the show notes at stackybenjamins.com. Well, Bill, we'll let you start your day over there in New Zealand. Monica, you and I'll finish our day here in the States. Thanks for joining me, guys.

• 1:12:37Speaker 02

  All right. Thank you.

• 1:12:38Speaker 04

  This is awesome. Thanks, Joe. Appreciate joining you as always on Stacking Benjamins.

• 1:12:44Speaker 00

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