Feb. 24, 2026

10 Years of Tuesday with Tom

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On February 23rd, 2016, we aired the very first episode of Tuesday with Tom. At the time, we didn’t know if anyone would listen. We didn’t know how long it would last.
We just knew there were questions people needed answered.

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Well, good afternoon, Michiganders, and welcome back to Tuesday with Tom,

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Michigan's only podcast where we talk about estate planning, a

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state settlement, and everything in between. As always, I'm your host,

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Tom Doyle, a state planning attorney, lifelong Michigander, and your

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guide to planning for your future. Our last episode, why

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you should not prepare your own dan. If you've got

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real estate and you're considering transferring that real estate, you

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know that a deed needs to be prepared for it.

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Maybe you're thinking about downloading something from the Internet or

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from an office supply store, or maybe even using some

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service online that professes to prepare a deed for you,

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which is essentially you really preparing your own deed. I

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encourage you listen to last week last episode, in which

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I talked about why you should not prepare your own deed.

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Today's episode, well, this week marks something pretty special for

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Tuesday with Tom, because on February twenty third, twenty sixteen,

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ten years ago, we aired the very first episode of

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Tuesday with Tom. At the time, we didn't know if

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anyone would listen, we didn't know how long it would last.

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We just knew that there were questions that people needed answered,

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and ten years later, here we are. So today, instead

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of tackling a brand new topic, I thought I do

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something different. I want to look back at the data,

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the episodes that you've listened to the most on Apple podcast,

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and we created a top ten countdown of those most

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listened to episodes. Now, these might not be the flashiest topics,

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they might not be the most dramatic headlines, but they

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are the ones you chose and what's fascinating is what

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they reveal. So let's go number ten. Should you use

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a DST for your ten thirty one exchange? Now that

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might not apply to many of you in the listening audience,

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might not know what a DST is, might not know

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what a ten thirty one exchange is, But enough of you,

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we're interested in listening to that podcast that made it

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into our top ten podcasts. So for lack of better

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simpler discussion at ten thirty one exchange, it is the

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way to try and defer capital gains on real estate,

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let's say, and at the same time preserve stepped up

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basis for children. So if it's something that you're interested in,

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I invite you listen to that which is number ten,

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Should you use a DST for your ten thirty one exchange?

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Number nine? What is an inheritance tax? A lot of clients,

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when we're talking to them, are concerned about how much

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their children or their heirs might have to pay in

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taxes for inheriting an estate. And the good news here

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is that in the state of Michigan, we do not

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have an inheritance tax, So there is no tax that

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your heirs are going to have to that your heirs

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are going to have to pay for inheriting assets from you.

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The only taxes that we really concern ourselves with then

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are potential federal estate taxes that would be based upon

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the size of the estate, or if you have an

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IRA for one K, some sort of retirement plan where

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distributions from those plans are going to be taxable to

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your beneficiaries. But none of those are an inheritance tax.

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Number eight. Revisiting the five year Medicaid look back period,

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many of you have questions about Medicaid and how do

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you qualify for Medicaid, And part of that conversation is

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always I tell clients to think that Medicaid is a

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plan to pay for long term care for poor people.

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So the real question is under Medicaid, what can you

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own and still be considered poor. But one of the

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big things that clients sometimes think they can do is, well,

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what if I just give my stuff away? What if

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I give it to my children and then I go

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and apply for Medicaid and because I'm poor. Well, the

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problem with that strategy is Medicaid's five year lookback period,

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which basically means when you do apply for Medicaid, you

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have to report anything that you gave away during the

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last five years. Why because obviously Medicaid the government doesn't

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want you to give your stuff away and then turn

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around and qualify for Medicaid. So if you've got Medicaid questions,

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I invite you listen to that episode number eight revisiting

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the five year Medicaid look back period. Number seven. Living

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trust What they are.

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And why you might need one.

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Lots of questions over the last ten years, lots of

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discussion over the last ten year years about living trusts,

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what they are, and how you can determine whether or

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not you might need one. And a living trust is

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basically a trust that's created during your lifetime. Contrasts that

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with what used to be pretty common when I started

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practicing law forty five years ago. Where clients might have

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trust inside a will, which is called a testamentary trust.

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What we were talking about here are living trust which

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our trust created outside of a will. And in that

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episode I discussed why you might need one, what sort

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of purpose they have. So if you're thinking about having

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a living trust wondering if you might need one, I

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invite you listen to that episode number six. Number six

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was important at the time, but it's not really so

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import now. But number six was that the IRS eliminated

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stepped up basis. So what is stepped up basis, well,

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stepped up basis is this idea. I own an asset

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and let's say it cost me fifty dollars when I

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bought it, and now I want to give that asset

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to one of my children, and let's say it's now

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worth two hundred and fifty dollars. Well, if I sold it,

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if I had it for fifty sold it for two

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point fifty, I have a two hundred dollars capital gain.

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If I give it to my child, I give them

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my basis in the asset, which means I'm passing on

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to them the capital gains tax under the law currently,

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they would get a stepped up basis in that asset

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if they received it at the time of my death.

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So rather than give giving them the asset during my lifetime,

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if they received my asset at the time of their death,

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their basis would be whatever the value is of that

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asset on the date of my death, which basically means

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we're stepping up the basis in that case. Well, for

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one year, because of some of the laws that were

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enacted previously, step up basis went away, and it made

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it very difficult or much more difficult when we were

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looking at handling assets and how we were going to

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pass those assets on to our heirs. Periodically, though, every

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time that there's a conversation about changing federalist state taxes,

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inevitably there is part of that conversation about eliminating stepped

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up basis. So even though we still have step up now,

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it's still a good refresher to know what happened and

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what could happen if the irs again eliminates stepped up basis.

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Number five six reasons to choose a trust over a will.

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You're trying to put your state plan in place, You're

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looking at the different strategies that are available to you.

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One might be a will, another might be a trust,

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et cetera. In this episode, I discussed six reasons why

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you might consider choosing a trust over a will. So,

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if you're in that situation and you're wondering, you know,

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I've heard about trust, I've heard about wills. Why would

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I want to have a trust? Maybe? Why would I

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want to spend money more money on a trust than

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over a will? I invite you to listen to that episode,

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Six reasons to choose a trust over a will? Number four,

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What the heck is an islet? What is an islet? Well,

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if you had one, you would probably know what it is.

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But if you're planning your estate and someone is saying

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to you, hey, you might want to consider having an

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islet as a tool or part of your estate plan,

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I invite you listen to that episode What the heck

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Is an islet so that you'll have a better understanding

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about what an islet is and when they are used

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as part of an estate plan. Number three So now

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we've just had the Olympics. So now we're going to

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have the bronze, silver, gold, and our bronze number three

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is should you have an irrevocable trust? The trust that

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most clients have as part of an estate plan is

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a revocable trust. It can be changed, the client can

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still be in charge of it, the clients can still

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receive benefits from it, whereas an irrevocable trust is much

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more limited. Normally, the client can't be in charge of it.

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Normally the client can't receive much benefit from it, and

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normally it cannot be changed. So if you're talking to

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your planner or friends about irrevocable trust something you might

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be considering, I invite you listen to the number three

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most popular episode, should you have an Irrevocable Trust? Next up,

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silver number two. Six mistakes to avoid when you settle

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an a state. Pretty much everything in the podcast at

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the high The ten through three if you will are

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all pretty much related to putting in a state plan together.

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What should you do? What should you include? Should you

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have a trust, irrevocable trust, et cetera, et cetera. This

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number two has everything to do though, with settling an

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a state. So I talk about the six mistakes to

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avoid when you settle an estate. So, if you're involved

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in settling a loved one's estate, or you think you're

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going to be involved in settling a loved one's estate,

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I encourage you listen to that episode so that you

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don't make the mistakes that are discussed in that episode.

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And now the Gold Medal. The number one the most

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listened to podcast episode of Tuesday with Tom has to

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do with discussing certificates of deposit and CD ladders across

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multiple episodes and updates, This topic towers above the rest

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has to do with Obviously, safe money has to do

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with predictable income, has to do with stability, and many

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of you are likely familiar with certificates of deposit and

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you might have them as part of your own estate

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plan or more financial plan that coexist with your estate plan.

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But in this episode, I talked about the different types

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of certificates of deposit, what they are, because there's more

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than one kind, and I discussed what a CD ladder

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is and the whole point of having a CD ladder

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is to maximize the income that you can receive from

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those CDs that you own or plan on owning. Interesting,

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after ten years of conversations about a state, taxes, trusts,

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medicaid rules, and IRS, changes. The episode you've listened to

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more than any is about something pretty simple and steady.

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What are certificates of deposit and how can you increase

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or maximize the interest that you're going to receive on

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them by using a CD ladder. So in ten years,

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markets have soared, markets have crashed, interest rates went to zero,

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and then they didn't anymore. Tax laws changed, headlines came

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and went, But what really hasn't changed. What people want

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is security. They want clarity, they want to protect their families,

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and they want the confidence that comes from knowing that

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they're not making costly mistakes. So if you look at

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these top ten episodes over the last ten years, they're

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not about chasing returns, about avoiding regret, and that is

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really what Tuesday with Tom has always been about. Answering

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questions that you have before they become problems, helping you

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make thoughtful decisions, not rushed ones, and walking through complicated

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topics in plain language. So, whether you've been with us

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since twenty sixteen or you just found us last month,

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thank you, Thank you for listening, thank you for sharing

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the show with friends and family. Thank you for asking

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great questions which are often the topic of a particular episode,

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and thank you for trusting us with conversations that matter.

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Ten years ago we hit record, not knowing where it

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would lead Today, though, we're grateful that it led here

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and we are really just getting started.

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Tuesday with Tom has been brought to you by the

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estate planning attorneys at Doyle Law PC. To learn how

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we can help you with your estate plan or with

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settling a loved one's estate, please call us today at

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five one seven three two three seven three sixty six.

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That's five one seven three two three seven three sixty six.