Reading- https://bit.ly/2B62yt5
Watching- https://bbc.in/37VtR5t
Home Screen- https://bit.ly/3etPOuC
Legal- https://wapo.st/3drGIxa
Retirement- https://bit.ly/38jxPF6
Disney has earned another $6 out of my pocket because I will not miss out on being in the room where it happens. What am I talking about? I’ll share with you in a second. I’m Victor Medina, and this is Five Fact Friday.
It is the weekend before the Fourth of July. And before I get to the links for this week, I just wanted to talk a moment about how grateful I am to be celebrating independence that we have earned here in the United States. For as much as we’ve got struggles that we’re going through and for as much as it may seem that it is a lot of hard work, in the end, it really is worth it. And this has never been highlighted more than the adventures that was shared by a friend of mine who took his family across the globe experiencing lots of different cultures. And it was only in experiencing those cultures and what they had to deal with that we really appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy here. So I’ll tell you something, I have been able to make my fame and fortune, for whatever that’s worth, here in America and I am happy that I give my kids the opportunity to do the same. So I’m really gonna spend this weekend in deep appreciation for the freedoms that we’ve got and I hope that you do the same.
So what did I talk about when I led off this video? Well, it turns out that one of my links is talking about the debut of “Hamilton” on Disney Plus. And I’ll get to that in a second, but let’s go through each one of them in order.
The first link for this week is what am I reading. And I tell you, we came across a fantastic find which is the “The Wills of our Forefathers,” our founding fathers, and so there’s a link that shows exactly what their wills look like. And by the way, it does help support one of the things that we’ve talked about for a while which is you may want your estate plan to be private, and if you have a will, it’s not private. And we’re gonna see exactly why on this link. So anyway, enjoy that.
The next link is what I’m watching, and I found this great link to a BBC show called “A House Through Time.” And essentially what it does is it figures out an old property and tracks all of the families that have lived there. Now, this has a special place in my heart because I actually own a home that was built in 1878, and it turns out that there have only been about three or four families that have lived in that home since it was built 140 years ago. In fact, it was started out first as a sort of like a speakeasy. So it was a bed and breakfast, of sorts, called The Rose Garden Inn. And in fact, in my backyard, we still have some of the original rocks that made up the first Rose Garden that’s there. And anyway, this link is a fantastic journey through the history of the families that have lived under one roof. And I encourage you to check it out.
Now, what’s on my home screen, I kinda cheated about this one because actually, you can watch it on an iPad, you can watch it in an iPhone, but in our house, “Hamilton,” which debuts tonight, July 3rd, is on Disney Plus and it’s available. And I’ll tell you, everyone in my family loves this musical. One of my favorite stories is that my mom was able to play the lottery to get a ticket in the first two rows of this show in New York City when she was there hanging out in her apartment. And it turns out that she won the lotto, and those tickets were only $10 each. So she called me and said, well, what are you doing because she knew that my middle son was a big fan of “Hamilton,” and said, well, why don’t you take him to the show? So I said, okay, no problem, I got him going, figured that he was gonna watch the show with my mom and have an opportunity to experience it with her, and along the way, she let me know, actually, you know what, I think it would be better if you watched the show with him, and so I’ve got pictures of the two of us right there in the first two rows and saw “Hamilton” right in New York City, and it was $10 a ticket. And I tell you, my mom and dad being so great, they didn’t even charge me for the $10. But it was fantastic, I later went and took my wife, and I took my parents to go and see it. My mom, we went to Chicago and saw it over there. I’m in love with this musical so don’t miss it. Pay $6 to Disney at least for this month and catch “Hamilton” on stage as it was recorded by the people who were part of the original cast.
Now, the last two links, the first one is what’s new in legal. Everybody received their stimulus payment, and I would tell you that a lot of nursing homes saw that as the opportunity to grab that money if the residents were essentially on Medicaid. And there were some clarification that came out that said, actually, that’s not even income. It’s an advance on a tax credit, and so you’re not allowed to take it. And so the link sort of clarifies why nursing homes are not entitled to the stimulus check for people that are on Medicaid.
And finally, what’s new in retirement. This one is important, so I want you to pay attention to this. If you received a required minimum distribution in 2020, the link that I have provided will show you, A, why you don’t need to take it out this year. That’s actually a law change that you don’t have to take your RMDs out, especially because of all the craziness that’s been going on in the stock market, and then the economy and obviously the pandemic. You’re actually able to return that money and it fives you the mechanism for doing that. So what we’ve been doing with our clients is actually going over their income tax profile for this year to try to figure out whether they should return it or whether they should keep it. What’s the answer, is it yes or no? And the truth is that it actually depends because for some people, taking advantage of the tax structure and the way that it is right now might say that you should keep that. Even though you’re allowed to return it, it might be worthwhile for you to take some of this money out and take it out at a lower tax bracket. And for some people, it might be better to avoid it altogether. So really, here’s the point of that, you should be working with a planner that actually knows the difference and it is coaching you through trying to figure out what you should be doing. So all of our clients have had that education, and maybe you wanna become one of our clients as well.
Now, listen, before I wrap up for this week, I did wanna let you know about a brand new program that has got me really excited. We have launched our 3X Refer A Friend program. And what that is is essentially an opportunity for you to get three times of a win for sending somebody over to us, to help them out with their estate or retirement planning, and it works like this. There are three wins that are involved. When somebody calls our office and mentions your name as the person who referred them over. The first thing that we’re going to do is obviously we’re gonna help that person out. So the first one is we’re gonna help them get their ducks in a row. The second win is that we’re going to provide lunch to a first responder or facility that has been on the forefront of fighting this pandemic. Now, you might have a favorite. You might have a relationship with a hospital or a first responders’ unit or a facility, and in fact, if you tell us who that is, we will provide lunch on your behalf with you as the sponsor. And finally, the third win is that that lunch is gonna be provided by a local restaurant that might be struggling in these days. So that’s the three wins. We’re gonna help out somebody that’s local. We’re gonna be able to help out somebody that needs an estate plan. And second is we’re gonna give lunch to a first responder, and we’re going to use a local provider to do it. So if you’re interested in the 3X Refer A Friend program, the three times the wins, what you have to do is refer somebody over to the office and make sure that they mention your name so that we can contact you with our words of thanks and help coordinate how we can go and spread the love a little bit further.
So recap for this week. We’re gonna show you the wills of the founding father. You’re gonna take a trip through a house in time. You’re gonna watch “Hamilton.” Don’t miss this. And then don’t forget, they can’t grab your stimulus check if you’re a nursing home, and you wanna be talking with somebody about whether or not you should keep your required minimum distribution this year or whether you should return it. That is it for this week. Thank you so much for watching Five Fact Friday. Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend. Help celebrate the independence that’s made this world possible and this country and we’re really excited to do that. I will catch you in a couple weeks on the next Five Fact Friday.