The Truth About Social Security | What You Need To Know...

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Live Today with best selling author, America's small business tax lawyer, real estate investor and YouTube personality, Mark J. Koehler.

Thank you for that, James. Welcome everybody to the exciting topic of Social Security. Can you believe you're even freaking listening to this, people, though? This is good stuff. I've seriously had some conversations with people in the last two weeks where they're like, mark, you literally changed the future of my financial life for the next 20 years by talking about Social Security. And without it all being in the news and Social Security is going to go away and blah, blah, blah, I thought we need to hold live on Social Security. There's a lot of misconceptions about what Social Security is really about, what it's going to end up giving you. And a lot of people rely on it for what they think is going to be retirement. It's a scary thought. So we're going to break it down here. My name is Mark Kohler, a CPA attorney, author, podcaster, YouTube personality, blah, blah, blah. But I'm just on Main Street America, people. I have a small business myself. I love rental property. I love saving and investing. I buy crypto, I buy stock, I buy it all because I just, you know, you just don't know, right? So I'm just there with all of you trying to make it work. Now, I'm going to get right to it. If you're over age 60 and you've already taken Social Security, you've already said, I want Social Security, even early retirement, that's a conversation that's going to be a little more challenging because you found out already it's not enough. So we're going to come to that in a moment. But I want to and, and hang with me here. And I don't want to cause any depression or frustration on your behalf when this is, it's a scary time in life when you feel like you're on a fixed income. So we're going to, we're going to change that. So stay with me here during this broadcast. Now, for the rest of you, age 20, 30, 40, 50 in any of those decades, you've got to hear this because there's things you can do now to better prepare for retirement. And I need to give you a reality check of what your options are with Social Security. Now, let's just hit a few facts here, and it's a little crazy. Yes, in the news you've heard a few important facts. First of all, Social Security is 21% of the U.S. budget. Can you believe that 21% of it, every, all of our taxes and everything the government collects, 21% of it goes to Social Security. That's $1.2 trillion trillion dollars a year. So you're like, man, that's a lot of money going out. People must be living large. No. Next fact. The average Social Security check average right now is $1779. Now, there's SSI, disability, and some other types. And you might have two, couple, a couple both claiming Social Security, but the average individual average, because it's based over your 35 year earning history, which we'll come to a little later, too, because you got to understand how this calculation works, especially you entrepreneurs that think, oh, I'm going to take more payroll so I can pay more into Social Security so I get more Social Security. Wrong. We're going to talk about that. But the average Social Security. Now listen. $1700 a month. Wow. Maybe. What's that, 20 grand? What is that? I got to ask, Siri. 1700 times 12. $20,400. Thank you, Siri. $20,400 on average. Can we really live on that? And by the way, your Social Security is taxed, so I'm going to give you some suggestions. But here's the reality check. Social Security is insurance. It may be kind of cream on the top, gravy, whatever you want to say on the mashed potatoes, but we have got to help you, those of you again in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, we have got to start preparing more properly for retirement. And I'll give you some suggestions here, because Social Security is not what you think it's going to be. Now, let's assume it's even going to be there. Right now, the Congressional Budget Office CBO says Social Security Trust Fund will be insolvent in 11 years. 2033, or no, that's 10 years. Gosh, we're in 2023. Geez. Okay, the Social Security trustees, which are the secretaries of treasury, labor, and the commissioner of the Social Security administration, says, nah, we're okay till 2035. So we got 12 years till it's insolvent. Now, I'm, I'm going to say this. If our government came to the point of dissolving Social Security, I don't think that's going to happen. Politically, it would be suicide for any legislator or senator to go on or president to go down that path. Our government would have to be insolvent before they let Social Security go. I think they'd give up on national defense before they give up on Social Security. So we will see changes in the law. We're going to see us Americans that are not taking Social Security paying in more, and maybe even our Social Security benefits are going to get reduced even further. So I want, for what it's worth, my opinion is Social Security is going to be around, But I also feel strongly that Social Security isn't what you think it's going to be. It is not retirement. It's. It's a safety net of a few extra dollars that might make a difference. It's scary. 1700amonth before taxes. How many of you do your math on what your monthly budget is? That's Social Security. So we got to do some things that are different. I'm doing things that are different. I'm in my 50s. I know, I know. Ladies. I know you think, man, that Guy's in his 30s. He looks great, you know? Yeah, whatever. Okay, Now, I want to tell you how this works. Social Security, the truth. You can retire on Social Security at age 62. Wow. That's pretty cool. Wow. I'm going to retire on Social Security at 62. However, the full retirement age, they call it FTR. Full retirement. Did I say our full retirement age is FTA? Full retirement age is 67. 67. Maybe we're thinking of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR. FTA. Full retirement age is 67. So here's what the government's trying to do. Many of you don't know this. This was kind of news to me in my. In my book, Financial freedom. This is my tax legal playbook. I got financial freedom floating around here somewhere. I have a whole chapter on Social Security planning. It blew my mind with these three facts. Ready? And by the way, I'm going to open up this for Q and A, and I may not have all the answers. I'll do my best. So any of you that have a question, please put it down there. And here's a disclaimer. Any of this Facebook crap on, oh, my gosh, I just made millions in crypto with Mark Kohler. Blah, blah, blah. Do not respond to those. I am not commenting on Facebook right now. All I want to see is your questions. Ignore any comments from anybody trying to sell you or get you to do anything. Please, people, these bots are killing me. All right, here's the three facts. The government does not want you to retire at age 62. And some of you that are in your 60s may have already pulled that trigger. You can't undo it. I'm sorry. We're going to come Back to some ideas for you. But any of you that are age 55 or older and you're thinking about, ooh, age 62, I'm going to take Social Security. Three facts. Number one, there is an early retirement penalty. They will reduce your benefits by 30%. Up to 30% if you take retirement at age 62. The government wants you to wait till 67 because Social Security is on freaking, you know, life support. So we're going to. No pun intended. That probably wasn't a good example anyway. 30% reduction. So if the average benefit right now is $1,779, 30% of that is $533, your benefit just went down to 1200 bucks. $1,200. Number two, if you earn money, you, many of you have heard this, well, I took Social Security, but if I earn too much, they're going to reduce my Social Security. Damn straight. For every $2 you earn, and this is AGI, this is not just earned income. This could be rental property income, whatever. If you earn more than $21,000 up to $56,000, your Social Security is reduced a dollar for every two dollars you earn over 21 grand. Then when you hit 56 grand, it's reduced by a dollar for every three dollars you earn. People, government's reducing it with a 30% penalty. Then if you, oh, you can still work, oh, we're going to reduce your Social Security even further. And then number three, if you, based on your income level, so your, your, what's your AGI with Social Security? If it's over a certain amount, it can, it's going to be taxed up to 85% of it is going to be income taxed. I mean, I can tell you the real numbers here. So it is taxed at 85%. So if you make between 25 to 34,000 and you're single, it's going to be taxed up to 50%. If you make more than 34 grand in your single, it's taxed at 85% of it is taxed. You only get 15% off. That's not taxed. Then if you're married, filing joint, and you make more than 44,000, tax, 85% of it's taxed. So, people, here's the takeaway. The government does not want you to retire early. The benefit generally is not great or some may even say sucks. And if you try and take it early, before age 62, you get hit with a penalty, a reduction for all the money you earn. And it's still taxed. You know what the government does give you is a carrot. They say, hey, if you'll wait till you'll, you're age 70, don't take it early. But if you wait from 67 to age 70 and just wait three years, just wait three years, we're going to increase your Social Security by 8% for the rest of your life. 8% for every year you wait up until age 70. So it's a three year, three year bump. So three times eight, that's a 24% increased. Answer 1779 times 1.24 goes up to 2200. So that 1700 were going to get on average which would be reduced if you waited took it before 67. But if you can just wait three years until age 70, it's going to go up by 500 bucks for the rest of your life. Here's the moral of the story, people. This is a reality check this week of the news. And I'm so grateful for those of you that are watching this. Social Security is not your retirement. Get over it. It's not. Your retirement is building cash flow from real estate, cash flow from businesses, or cash flow from a business. As 30% estimates are high as 40% of Americans now have a side hustle, I love to see a side hustle. If you have a day job, what are you doing on the web at night, on the weekends? Is there some strategy of selling a product or service? Are you, you potentially even scaling up? Are you hiring employees? Are you partnering with others? Are you digging up any money you might get from inheritance or from anywhere and pulling it into an LLC and buying rental property and trying to create cash flow people, you got to scrap. If for those of you that are in your 60s and you may have already claimed Social Security or you're scared to death and I know some of you are watching and I'm, I am so sorry, but the only thing you can do right now is to start a business on the side. Start taking the money from that business and pummeling it into Roth IRAs, into real estate and building a nest egg. Hey, 70 is the new 60. 80 is the new 70. Life expectancy has continued to increase every year for both male and females. Start saving now. I love Dave Ramsey's message. You're never too late to save. If you're still sucking wind, you're still saving. Start putting away a dollar a day, $2 a day, whatever you can do. I love acorns, I love Robin Hood, I love stash. Three apps that I love to play with and automatically just take money out of my account. Don't even let me see it. Put $5 in my Roth every day. Just do it, people. It snowballs. It snowballs and you start earning on it. On compounding interest. Compounding interest. I love little Dave Ramsey's video on this. Go. YouTub accounting interest. Dave Ramsey. Great video. Love what he's doing to save America. Get out of debt. Save. Get out of debt. Save. Do not rely on Social Security, people. Pen drop. I gotta drop a pen. That's the message today. That's the truth about Social Security. The news likes to say, hey, you're gonna lose Social Security. There's Social Security's gone. You know, Social Security people, you shouldn't even be freaking planning on Social Security anyway. It's cream on the top after you build your own retirement. All right, James, I heard you there. What are our questions here? Anything I can comment on?

Well, here's our first question was from. I think it's animed BZ20. My mom passed away. Sorry to hear that. And I'm assuming she's talking about her father now. So. My mom just passed away. My father makes 200k, mom didn't work and her benefits are maybe $400 a month. He will now file single next year. They say he will pay up to 85% tax on his Social Security. Is it worth $60 monthly after tax? See, $60/m after tax.

Did he say. Did she say how old her father was? An.

Ahmed, if you could tell us how old your father is. I'm sorry.

Now, one thing while you're pulling that. Everybody listen. This is. This is a misconception. And the way I said it. I may have even said it in a confusing way. The Social Security is not taxed at 85%. Meaning if you got 10 grand on Social Security, the tax is 8, 500. That's not what I said. What I said is whatever Social Security you get, peel off 15% and then that 85% of whatever's left is taxed at whatever rate you're in. Now, some people you might be. This is tough. This is tough.

I get the father's 63.

63. Tell dad to not take retirement for seven more years. Tell him to start a small business to work on your board of directors to help you with your business. Start funding his Roth ira. Do not let him take Social Security. Now he's getting survivor benefits from his wife. That's fine. Take those 300 and something dollars and freaking put them in a Roth IRA. Start investing that money. Tell him to reevaluate his.

So apparently there's a little in 401k and a little in Roth. If he keeps it that way and rmd, would that count as income towards taxing his Social Security benefits? He would expect to make $4,000 on his own benefits when he takes his. I'm sorry, I'm just reading what she's putting up.

Let me cut you off here, James. And people, I love your questions, but don't be offended. Enemy. I can't do a consult on your numbers. I mean, I would have to ask a lot of questions and I'm grateful you're throwing this out. Your dad's 62, 63 years old. Mom's passed away. I'm sorry. And dad's on a fixed income. He's got some other income. A Little Roth, little 401k. Getting a little Social Security for mom. But what. I don't know. The. I wouldn't be able to consult right now on all those little numbers. But let me say this. There's some general rules all of you need to learn from here based on her situation or dad. Do not take retirement until 70. That's number one. Do not let dad go take Social Security until he's age 70 is going to ratchet up his benefits big time. If he can wait till age 70. RMDs don't even apply to a Roth IRA. And if he's got an old 401k, he better be chunking that into a Roth so by the time he's 70. This is principle number two. Number one, no retirement till 70. Number two, get all that retirement money into a Roth position. I call it chunking. Just. Just go to YouTube and type Kohler chunking IRAs. I got some great videos there. So get his money into a Roth position. RMDs do not apply. For those that don't know what I'm talking about. It's called required minimum distributions. You don't want to be there. Third, all of the income he is making is going to cause his Social Security to be taxed. Now, everybody, we don't know what the tax rate's going to be on your Social Security that's based on your bracket. But what I can say is that 85% of it is generally going to be taxed. So whatever bracket your dad's in, that's what the tax rate's going to be. So everybody, the takeaway here for her dad. And I know this is hard to. I'm being this may be body blows here, this is not fun to hear, but your dad, that's at 62 who wanted to retire, he's not retiring. He's got to figure out some extra ways to make income in a unique way. Maybe he does some consulting. Maybe he's got a unique skill set that he learned over his career, his life. Help him get on upwork, set up a consulting business. Help him serve on the board of directors of other companies. Help him start making some income and not spending it. Putting it in his Roth, Roth IRA, Roth 401k buying a rental property. Help him get him some education on real estate investing or basic investing. Maybe he is gonna, there's gonna be another run in crypto. Who knows when. But learn about the Metaverse, learn about cryptocurrency, learn about precious metals, learn about promissory notes, learn about real estate. People, you gotta freaking take your own retirement. By the, by the cojones and just do it. Great question. I'm sorry to have some hard hitting answers. James, what do you got next?

The next question is from Carolyn. If you live in a different country after taking early retirement and earn income in a different country, are those earnings taken into account in the U.S. yes.

Any of you that are. Once you're a U.S. citizen, unless you renounce your U.S. citizenship, you are taxed on your worldwide income. So if you leave the country, the United States, and go, I don't know, to Australia and start making money down there, and you're still collecting your Social Security, that's cool. You worked in the US you get your Social Security, but then you go to Australia to make more money because that's where you can do it. That's great. But you still have to fill out a US tax return and it's called an expat return. Expatriate. You're. I don't know what the hell they came up with that. But anyway, you're down in Australia now. There's some foreign tax credits, there's some credits for living in another country. You may not pay a lot of tax in the US but you still have to do you pay it. And if you don't and you try to get on a plane with your passport and you haven't filed tax returns, you may not be getting on that freaking plane. So if you're a US citizen, you still gotta deal with it. And there are accountants all over the country and in other countries that will help you file your US tax return so your passport doesn't get flagged, you do not want your passport flag. So learn study about it. And if you're living abroad and claiming Social Security, that's great. You still got to file a freaking tax return in the U.S. matt Damon, when he was living on Mars in the movie Martian, he had to file a tax return. Yes, he did. And if he would have made money selling potatoes to some aliens coming by, he would have had to pay tax on those potatoes, too. It's crazy world we live in. All right, next.

Got a question. This one's pretty simple. Chris Shine. I'm 64, own two companies, kind of retired. How can I claim my Social Security?

You're not. Don't. How do you claim your Social Security? Don't even think about it, Kris. So for Those that age 64, two companies, semi retired. Kris, if you've got enough money in the bank and you're loving what you're doing, keep doing it, but do not claim Social Security until age 70. I mean, you've got to be freaking every. You got to be living on the streets before. I would suggest you claim Social Security, wait till you're age 70. You're going to get a 24 increase and bump the benefit between now and then. Is sucks anyway. Stick to your businesses. Scale them, grow them. Be a better business owner. Go to conferences, come to some of my conferences, continue to listen to my podcast, watch my YouTube channel. Learn how to build your business. That's what I'm freaking doing. I'm trying to help Main Street America structure their business for tax, savings, protection, and growth. That's where it's at. There's a lot of people out there, oh, grow your business, blah, blah, blah. But then they don't deal with the next day of what's QuickBooks? How in the hell do I file a tax return? Guess what? Your number one cost in small business is taxes. So own it, learn it. I'm here for you, Chris. Be careful. Do not claim Social Security. I'm not gonna tell you how. Don't do it.

Nelson Holland's here. So there isn't an age cutoff if retired early regarding Social Security.

There, he says, is there an age cutoff if you retired early from Social Security? Let me. I probably take that in two different ways. First of all, you can wait until after age 70. You can claim Social Security when you're 90 years old. If you got it, you haven't got around to it, you can still claim it later. Maybe you were living on an island in the South Pacific and you never went into the Social Security office. And claimed your Social Security. And now you're 92 years old and you show up and go, yes, you can. There's no, too late. Now, when you say I'm retired, can I. Is there an age cut off to claiming Social Security? I, I guess I don't, I don't. I maybe know what that means, people. You know what? I'm just going to say it too. I'm going to, I'm going to be blunt. You guys ready? And this is going to be hard. You're never going to retire. I'm not. I'm never going to retire. If you own a rental property that's a business, you're not retired. If you have a stock portfolio, you're going to manage your stock portfolio. You're not retired. If some of you live in this panacea of belief that someday you're going to be sitting around eating, drinking margaritas and just on a beach somewhere, I'm retired. Guess what? You know the mortality rate of men, especially at age 59 and a half, that retire and say, I'm done. I retire, their mortality rate is like 30%. They die in two years because they have nothing to do. It's ridiculous. I don't know where we got in this concept in our world that I'm going to retire and just do nothing. What the hell? The beauty of life is making something out of nothing, Creating income, changing lives, finding something you're passionate about and doing it and making money at it. That sounds pretty exciting to me. The day I die, I'm going to be flipping a quarter out of my coffin and going file my tax return. I made some money this year. I mean, people that, that's how it works. And if you, who knows how long you're going to live. That's one of the biggest stresses of people over age 60 is like, I might run out of money. Well, then keep making money. What is this concept of retirement? I'm not retiring. I'm going to make money till the day I die. I'm going to manage real estate. I'm going to manage my portfolio. I'm going to have some side business. I'm going to be hawking lemonade on the corner on the lemonade stand with my grandchildren. I'm going to be frickin loving it. I'm going to be like, hey, let's go into business. Let's open the lemonade stand. My grandkids are like, I thought you retired. Hell, I'm retired. I'm starting a lemonade stand. That's how it works.

That's a good one.

Rob.

K's got a question about hsa. If I don't have a high deductible health plan, can I get one before April 17th and contribute to an HSA for 2022?

No. What's his first name again? I'm sorry.

Rob.

Rob. I'm sorry.

He's been here before.

Yeah, Rob. I apologize. Any of you out there that want to do a health savings account, which is like a supercharged Roth for healthcare? I love health savings accounts. But to contribute to your HSA before April 18th for last year, you had to have had a high deductible plan last year. So get your plan, get it now, and plan on contributing for 2023. But it's water under the bridge for 2022. As I take a drink of water, do you notice the parallel there? That was kind of sweet, Rob.

Water under the bridge.

Water under the bridge. I'm sorry, Rob. 2022 is over when it comes to HSAs, if you didn't have a plan.

Animate said. Thanks so much for your advice, by the way. Just wanted to point that out probably a few times.

Thanks, Rob. Sorry about that. Sometimes. Sometimes a right answer is hard to hear, but it's better than the wrong answer.

How about a quick question from Ryan Lee? Mark, can you please explain the Coverdell?

You betcha. Wow. I love it. You know what you guys are talking about? These questions are all about saving and building wealth. HSA is saving for the future. You know, the number one withdrawal of retirement accounts is for health care. Why aren't we building up our hsa? Number one? Next we hear about the Coverdell. The Coverdell is a savings account that grows tax free, that comes out for college. The Coverdell is great for kids that are under age 18. And as a parent or a grandparent, you want to put money in this Coverdell for the kids. It grows tax free. You can invest it in anything you want. After age 18, you can't put new money in. And then you can continue to invest it, but it's got to be out by age 30 or you have to bump it to a different beneficiary. I love the Coverdell because you can invest it in whatever you want. You're not suckered into whatever Wall street wants to sell you. But the drawback is you can only put in two grand a year. The 529 is nice because you can put a hell of a lot of money in there. Oh, but, oh, I'm going to be in a state Fund where Wall street controls it. And I don't even know what the fees are that are buried in it. And for sure they're not going to lose money. And oh, they're so wonderful. You're making great money. I don't know. I haven't seen a 529 plan that's transparent at all. I have searched high and low. I can compare them to others. They can tell me what their rates of return are. But can I really see what all the fees were and all the expenses were? And do I get to choose the investments? Hell no. So if you got someone that wants to give your kid a bunch of money for College and the529 is their choice, take the money. Me, I'm going Coverdell and I'm going Roth. Because I can put money into a kid's Roth account and pull out contributions tax free for college and let the growth continue to snowball. There is a three way combo there and I write about this in my ultimate tax guide. You can get it atmarkj.kohler.com use a combination of the Coverdell, the 529 and the Roth. If you're a parent, you want to use all three. Bring it together. A plan. Now. This is after you're out of debt. This is after we're doing your Roth. This is after we're doing your 401k. And you better not be taking out a home loan or sacrificing your retirement for your for your kids fricking education. They can go to the community college. They can get a scholarship or get a job and go to college. I graduated from college with no student debt. My kids graduated from college with no student debt. Did it take me 10 years to get through college? Yep. And I had a small business the whole way. I was a janitor. I cleaned carpets with a carpet cleaning van and did windows and cleaned buildings and restaurants. It was hard, but I didn't take student debt. Don't do it, people. Another trillion dollar problem. Freaking A. If you're filling out a FAFSA to get your kids student loans or you're draining your 401k or taking out a loan against your house for some kid's student loan. I don't know what you're smoking. All right, next question.

Next question is from Susan T. Does any other incomes count towards Social Security such as rental, dividends, VA pension, etc.

Now I think what Susan's asking is when you're determining if your Social Security is taxable. Okay everybody, the IRS says your Social Security is going to be taxable if you make over a certain amount. That definition of what you make is really broad. It's AGI essentially. So taxable rental income, dividends, interest. Now if you've got tax free cash flow from real estate, that's not going to come into the mix. You got depreciation and offsets. Whole other topic. But if you've got whatever your AGI is, that's going to affect how your Social Security is taxed. Number two, your income. Your definition of income for the reduction of Social Security benefits I believe is more earned than AGI. I want to look at that earned income. Okay, but let's do our next question and I'll look that up while we're talking.

Sure. We got Jay Brown, if you never spend the money in hsa, can you take it out for retirement?

Yes, you can, people, if you don't use your HSA for health care, which I've never seen, because the number one reason you take money out of retirement is for health care. And anybody asking that is young and they think they're going to be healthy for the rest of their lives. But yes, if you do not use your HSA for health care, crazy. If you don't, you're George Burns, you're smoking cigars till you're 103, then yes, you can pull money out of your HSA. It is taxed like a regular Iraq.

Got a question from NA not available. I guess should my spouse start a small business to offset with no real estate experience? Is short term rental a good idea? Would it even make a dent in the tax bill? Other investment ideas for this scenario?

Okay, people, I really like this question. What was her first name?

Not available.

So N A, she wants to be, you know, and what's funny is not available was asking questions of what to do with her husband. So no one.

Yeah, definitely. So no tax match for her.

Fair enough. Fair enough. Not available. You're like, I gotta get my husband freaking killing it. So let me ask some questions now. Let's, let's unpack her comment a little bit. I might need your help here, James. Yes, sir.

It's definitely a few parts.

Yeah, there's a few parts there. The first thing she said was should my husband start a business in real estate with no real estate experience? And then Sid said, what about a short term rental? Which for some of you that don't know, that means AKA Airbnb. I don't want anybody to start a business without experience to some degree as to what the businesses are Starting now, the phrase that not available. What I'd rather have you ask is

Chris the name Chris.

Oh, she came through with Chris.

He's.

She.

I'm not really sure what's going on here.

She came out. Okay, Chris. Here's what I would say. Chris, let's rephrase your question. Hey Mark, I understand short term rentals. I'll throw in there long term rentals. Storage units, commercial low income housing, mobile homes. There's a lot of asset classes in real estate that can be incredible investments. It depends on your expertise. How much time you have on your hands, how much money you have where you live. Lots of variables. So don't hang your hat on short term rentals. Be open to learning about real estate. Learn about real estate investing. So the question would be, hey Mark, to supplement our future retirement, would it be wise for my husband and I to get some education on real estate investing and consider short term rentals? What do you think my answer is to that, Chris? Damn straight. That's a legal term that we use in law school called yes, damn straight. So yes, go get some education and I'll be frank. There's a lot of real estate education out there. That's crap. I love Renatus. Myronatus.com M Y R E N A T U S myronatus.com I do not make money. If you go there and look into their education, I'm one of their educators. I've been there for 10 plus years. I love Bob Snyder, the founder. He's ethical, honest as the day is long and he's got an incredible education format. They have local meetings all over the country. Check it out. That's the place I'd start. Now you may even go to online education, some great books, go to some local RIA clubs and start wetting your whistle. But you're going to need to really double down on some education. And I would lean on Renatus.

Yeah, they know their stuff. There's. There's definitely another part of this question as it's kind of annoying when this happens. But Chris also commented. See previous comments. So I scrolled up and I see another part. So after maxing out every standard option to save on taxes, 401k, backdoor Roth 529s for kids, HSA. And then it's supposed to go into should my spouse start a small business to offset with no real estate experience? Is short term rental a good idea?

Yeah. Okay Kris. Now everybody listen to Kris's second part of her question. And Kris, I applaud you thank you so much for asking a question. On a live like this it can be scary. You're putting our financial lives are like opening up our kimono. It can be extremely embarrassing and scary opening up our financial situation. Especially on no one knows maybe who you are here but it's concerning. So I want to say Kris, thanks for bringing this up. Now everybody listen to what Chris said. That was another Kris I'm going to correct here. She has like this, this thing like I'm trying to save taxes by doing a Roth or 401k. I'm trying to save taxes by starting a small business. I want to save taxes by doing a short term rental. Kris, let's change the mindset here. How about we start a business to make some effing money. How about I start building a Roth to make money tax free. How about I buy a short term rental to create tax free cash flow. See, the mindset is you're not starting businesses to save taxes. You're starting your business to work your ass off and make more money. Now Mark, number two, what are some ways to save taxes on the income I'm earning with my business? Now Kris, that may have maybe what you meant. I'm not trying to be rude, but people, a lot of people think starting a business is to save taxes. No, no, no. Starting a business is to make more money. And then I'm going to help you have it taxed less than a paycheck. That's the difference. And if we can build tax free wealth in a Roth or tax free cash flow with real estate, great. But the first purpose is I'm investing and building a business to make money. We do not invest or do businesses to lose money or save taxes. We do business or invest to make money. And so Kris, you're onto some great conversations here. Please continue. If anybody put it in the chat, please. James, every get over to my podcast, Main street business podcast, over 400 episodes on how to build wealth, save taxes and protect it. There is so much education, there's so much you just, you don't know. And I, I listen to my podcast for the things I don't know. You just don't know what you don't know, right? So Kris, you keep working hard but change that mindset. Saving taxes is secondary to just freaking making money. I want you to make money. I want you to pay some taxes just as little as possible because I want you making so much damn money you got to write a check to the irs. And that's okay. We're just Going to make it as small as possible. Go ahead James. Next question.

Chris, we apologize for your, your comments were all over the place. If you could put them all in one comment that would help us out. Dr. My next comment is from Kala. Are you taking in new clients to set up a trust, will, will and LLC business? I have a unique situation upside down smiley face.

Thank you everybody. Yes. Now I want to say this right now for any of you out there that may see some hurtful comments about the accounting firm that I've really distanced myself from right now. They're getting their house in order. I know some of you had some, some poor customer service from the accounting firm of years past and I, I truly apologize for that. I'm going to talk more about that and, and I love my partners there. We got steered around by a, a consultant that really hurt the business. But I'm sorry about that. But our accounting firm, I don't want you to come to my office for accounting tax services. But my law firm, Matt Sorenson, our law firm kicks butt and we've got it dialed in. So if any of you need an entity, need a trust, need some asset protection, want to do some privacy planning. You want us to review your tax return and put together a freaking kick ass plan for this year, please call the law firm. Kkoslawyers.com James put it in the chat, please. You guys can make an appointment online in the middle of the night, meet with a lawyer and I promise you we're going to save you 10 times whatever you pay us. We want to have an incredible dynamic conversation about helping you build your business. Next, I am training accountants around the country under my new certified Tax Pro program. We've been doing it for two months now. The modules are finished. Next week we are rolling out the network of certified tax advisors around the country that you guys can interview. I don't make any money off you hiring one of these advisors. Get over to markjkohler.com if you want to become an advisor. You want clients or you just want to collaborate with other accountants and get good advice and network together? If any of you need an accountant within the next week or two, you can find one on my network at markjcohler.com file an extension. Don't worry about filing your taxes in the next two weeks or six weeks, people. You reduce your chances of an audit by filing an extension. So take a chill pill. Find a good accountant for last year and this year moving forward. And I'm going to have the network available within Days that you can turn to.

Yeah. Kala says, I've been a licensed agent since 1989 and I still don't know what's going on. And. Yeah, that's amazing. You just gave her that info. You're. You're in the right place, Kala.

Yep. K. Get over to markjcohler.com. you would love the network. I've got enrolled agents, 150 right now of enrolled agents and. And CPAs networking together in weekly trainings with me. You'd love it.

Next question I've got for you, Ron Johnson. My wife is in healthcare and her co worker is starting a healthcare business and wants my wife to become a part of the company. What should I look at for her as the best avenue for taxes and such?

Well, Ron, the wonderful question. And people, this is what I'm talking about. You're at work, you're networking. Ron's wife is like, ooh, someone's starting a business. They want me involved. Great. You should be all ears. But your hands are up here. You're not signing anything yet. No, no, no, no. Ron, bless your heart. Taxes are three steps down the road here. We want to see. You're going to do your due diligence on this person. You're going to do the due diligence on the project. You're going to look at the documentation this person's providing. Did they create an LLC or a corporation? You're going to hire an attorney. I, please, I beg of you, hire one of my tax lawyers for one hour to look at what they're proposing. You could avoid a train wreck or they could give you the ticket to get on the train. Because you've got to know what you're getting into. And if this person that your wife's thinking of doing business with goes, well, I went on LegalZoom and I set up the entity, and here's how we're going to do. And it's going to work out great. You probably have the wrong partner because anybody that thinks they can draft a new company and put it together and bring on a partner or investors or lenders and make it happen without good legal, sound advice. And I'm not saying spend thousands and thousands, but holy hell. So, Ron, you're on what's called the due diligence track right now. You're checking out the person, their documents, their structure, the idea, the. The business plan. Then once they lay that out for you, you bring that to one of my lawyers and go, how can I save taxes on this? Now, if. If your wife's going to be a partner. I'll Spoiler alert. And I have a whole chapter on partnering right here. Pick up my book on Amazon. You can have it tonight on Kindle or Audible or in print within two days. Prime delivery. Whole chapter on partnering. Probably you and your wife would form an S corporation and partner in the LLC of the parent company. That's this new healthcare company that's usually 80% of the time or more. Now we're not going to get there until you do all that due diligence. Matt Sorenson and I are starting in two weeks a three part series on buying or selling a business or getting involved in a business as a partner. Buying a business is the same as coming on as a partner in a business with others. Three part series on our podcast Main Street Business Podcast. Please subscribe. Hit the bells. Give us five stars. If you love the show and we have open forums every three weeks, you're gonna love it. So check that out. We're gonna start that series in a couple weeks. Ron, maybe one more question, James.

This is from one of our own, he, he's AKA Chad. I don't know if you want to give that away way, but Tyler Lazenby says, do you think the younger generation should be planning on Social Security as a resource at all for later in life?

No. No. Now should I? Am I saying that Social Security won't be there? No, I'm not saying that I Social Security is going to be there. The as as long as the US Government is operating, there is no way in hell they're going to let Social Security go away. Now what the benefit's going to be, how they're going to plan for it and how much it's going to cost all of us people. It is this holy grail. It is the sacred stone. There is no politician that would ever go to Washington and ever kill Social Security. They might as well like have death threats showing up on the front door. Social Security will be there. But listen to Tyler's question. Should young people plan on it as a resource? Hell no, Tyler. And all you young people in your 20s, 30s and 40s, and you're in your 40s, you're a young person. Start saving now. Start building a side hustle. Start buying rental property. Start getting good at something you're passionate about and making money on the side, will Social Security be there? Sure. Find the check. Hopefully payment for a car payment. I don't even want you to have a car payment then, but maybe it'll give you a few hundred Bucks a month for whatever. I don't know. But it is hell, no. Gonna not be a resource. It's gonna be a check that falls on the kitchen counter. That might help, but my definition of a resource is it's impacting your life. Social Security is not going to impact your life now or 10 years from now or 30 years from now. It'll be there, but people do not rely on it. That is the message today. The truth about Social Security, in my humble opinion, is it's going to be there. How much it's going to be? Not as much as you think. The government is pushing you to wait to claim Social Security later and later. The full retirement age has been changed to 67. They want you to wait till you're 70. If you're a young person. Don't freaking worry about it, Tyler. Don't even think about it. You think about your side hustle. You think about your investments in your business. That's what people you should be thinking about. That's the truth about Social Security. See you next week for another life.

Can we give away a few books before we leave now?

Let's roll it up. We're going to roll it up, people. Be here next week. Love you. Appreciate you. If you're here, you're here to learn, not to get a free book. You want to buy my book? Get over to Amazon. It's going to change your freaking life. A free book for you is not going to change your life because it's free to you. Go pay 20 bucks and buy a book and learn how to build the American dream. That's what's going to help you. I appreciate you guys. I love you. I'll give away some books next week. Thanks, James.