Big changes are coming to the tax code—and that could mean big savings if you know where to look. On today’s episode, Joe, OG, and Doug break down the most important updates in the 2025 tax laws and share smart, simple ways to keep more of your hard-earned cash.
Whether you’re a spreadsheet-loving tax nerd or someone who still asks, “Wait, do I have to file?”—this episode will help you navigate the new rules like a pro.
Here’s what we unpack:
- The 2025 Tax Overhaul: What changed, what stayed the same, and how it affects your bottom line
- Credits vs. Deductions: Why that $1 credit might be worth more than a $5 deduction (math, but fun)
- Above-the-Line Moves: Claim valuable deductions without itemizing
- New Wins for Givers and Drivers: Above-the-line charitable contributions AND (drumroll…) personal auto loan interest is back!
- Family Tax Breaks: Expanded dependent care accounts and beefed-up child credits
- 50 and Thriving: New 401(k) catch-up rules that can help you max out your retirement
- Listener Mailbag: JJ asks how to contribute more to his 401(k) after age 50—and we bring the strategies
- The TikTok Minute: Because money wisdom can live on the internet too
- Doug’s Trivia & Financial Shenanigans™: Of course
You’ll walk away with clear, practical takeaways that could add thousands to your bottom line—without needing to read the tax code (you’re welcome).
Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201
Enjoy!
Our TikTok Minute
Our Headline
Doug’s Trivia
- Which beer brand do college kids spend more money on than any other brand?
Better call Saul…Sehy & OG
- Stacker JJ is turning 50 this year and wants to know what action, if any, he needs to take to increase his 401(k) contribution to take advantage of the higher contribution limit.
Have a question for the show?
Want more than just the show notes? How about our newsletter with STACKS of related, deeper links?
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Join Us Wednesday
Tune in on Wednesday when we’re joined by a guy who’ll teach us what math YOU need in your life, economist Ted Dintersmith.
Written by: Kevin Bailey
Miss our last show? Listen here: Fighting Fear on the Wealth Ladder (SB1713)
Episode transcript
[00:00:00] Joe: What a great Monday, man. I had a fantastic weekend. How about you og? [00:00:04] OG: Uh, yeah, probably my weekend that’s about to happen was probably amazing. [00:00:11] Joe: If I could remember that far back into the future as we, I can [00:00:14] OG: remember exactly what I did in a week from now. [00:00:16] Joe: Doug. Doug. Doug. DD Doug. Wow, that’s, what about you? [00:00:24] Joe: That was Monday. Tongue not working yet. Doug, how [00:00:27] Doug: you doing, man? Uh, fantastic. Joe, I’m doing this whole thing in reverse because I’m spending a lot of my mid weeks in a great spot, and then I go down to the Detroit area for the weekend. Do squat, but somewhere in there I’m having a good time. [00:00:44] OG: Those eight hour commutes. [00:00:46] OG: Yeah, exactly. Really quite amazing. [00:00:48] Joe: Exactly. Well, you know who stands in place for eight hours keeping us safe every weekend while you’re, uh, [00:00:53] OG: at attention the entire time. The [00:00:54] Joe: Buckingham Palace guards, it’s, well, no, the US versus the Buckingham Palace Guards, which is our own military members. So we begin every week by saluting our military. [00:01:07] Joe: So let’s raise our guys. You can do it [00:01:08] Doug: with, with cooler guns and no funny hats because who [00:01:12] Joe: needs the [00:01:13] Doug: funny hat, [00:01:14] Joe: right? Right. On behalf of the men and women making podcasts about funny hats in mom’s basement and the men and women at Navy Federal Credit Union, who serves our troops in our veterans? Here’s to you people who kept us safe all weekend. [00:01:30] Joe: Let’s all go stack and Benjamins together now, shall we [00:01:33] opener: clink? Hey, this is Joe’s sister Nikki. I think I might be the only girl in the world who has a brother who spends his entire day in the basement pretending he has an internet radio show. [00:01:52] Doug: Live from Joe’s mom’s basement. It’s the Stacking Benjamin Show. [00:02:07] Doug: I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and the Times que, they’re changing. If you file taxes, don’t worry if you don’t, I won’t tell. But I think the IRS will still be on to you. Today’s episode is for you. Government legislation has changed the tax game again, and today we’ll review some of the big planning opportunities for stackers just like you. [00:02:28] Doug: We’ll couple that with a call from JJ who wonders about 401k contributions and how they work confused by your workplace plan. We’ve got you covered. And you know what? I’ll also share a TikTok minute about the meaning of life. And then I’ll share what probably brings the most meaning to your life. My astounding trivia. [00:02:48] Doug: And now two guys who think debt snowballs are great as long as you’re throwing them at high interest rate loans. It’s Joe. Oh, and oh, [00:03:05] Joe: I swear to god, Doug, you said that because it’s uh, end of July, it’s like 104 degrees. So let’s talk about snow. Yeah, like a little psychosomatic. Yeah. Hey everybody. Welcome to Air Conditioning for the Wind Podcast. I am Joe Saul Sea. Hi. It is Monday in the basement and that means that we’ve got an action packed show for you today. [00:03:29] Joe: As Doug, you so eloquently explained. We’ve got tax savings, we’ve got 401k, we’ve got the meaning of life, and like the cherry on top, we got Mr. Og. How are you brother? [00:03:41] OG: Happy to be here. I’m just here so I don’t get fined. Sorry. Is that a football thing from uh, Marshawn Lynch? [00:03:47] Joe: Is it from Marshawn Lynch or have you said that like 50 times more than Marshawn Lynch has ever said it. [00:03:51] OG: I might’ve said it more than him at this point, but, but it really, really resonated with my soul. I was like, oh. You’re my people, bro. Like, I get it. [00:04:01] Joe: Yeah. But isn’t the thing that truly resonates with your soul tax savings? [00:04:06] OG: Uh, I think [00:04:06] Joe: that probably is it? [00:04:07] OG: Yes, it is by far. If you can figure out a way to not pay the man. [00:04:12] Joe: So we’re gonna warm o G’s heart today, hopefully. Finally, Doug, after all these years. We’re going to warm OGs heart with some tax savings, but first we have some sponsors to make sure that we can keep on keeping on. You don’t pay a penny for any of this tax savings, so hold on. We’re gonna hear from these awesome Stacking Benjamin sponsors, and then we’re gonna dive into what you need to know to save some money on your tax bill. [00:04:39] headlines: Hello Darlings, and now it’s time for your favorite part of the show. Our Stacking Benjamins headlines. [00:04:46] Joe: Our headline today, actually, Doug sent us. Doug, what’s up with you being on top of like current events? I’m killing it lately. I’m on my game. It’s incredible. Madera Lee wrote this piece. Madera writes, one big beautiful bill offers Americans lots of tax benefits. [00:05:03] Joe: Here are a few to plan for. We’re gonna dig into this brand new legislation and I’m sure there’s still a lot to come on ’cause this thing is around 900 pages long. We’ve heard of course, a lot of people talking about the $6,000 bonus deduction for seniors. That’s been well publicized. Also, no tips on taxes in overtime that’s been publicized, but there is, there’s gonna be [00:05:27] OG: no taxes on tips in overtime, not tips on taxes in overtime. [00:05:31] Joe: No tips on taxes. No, I’m [00:05:33] OG: planning on tipping. Tipping taxes. That’s a new thing. Did [00:05:36] Joe: I say no tips on [00:05:37] OG: taxes? No tips on taxes, yeah. Oh, okay. [00:05:40] Joe: No, no, no. Could you see the IRS agent at your house? No. No, no, no, no. [00:05:44] OG: No, sir. We are not allowed. No gratuities accepted. [00:05:49] Joe: I understand you’re excited. I’m here. However, [00:05:52] OG: please, please, please. [00:05:54] OG: Thank you. No, your patronage is enough for us. We, uh, it ensures [00:05:57] Joe: prompt audits. [00:05:58] OG: Yes. [00:05:59] Joe: Well, that’s what what I was thinking, Doug, was sometimes people kind of hint that they’re gonna tip well so they get better service. When the IRS agent shows up at your house and you start flashing ’em a few bills, like, is that tipping or just straight out bribery? [00:06:12] Doug: Yeah. I don’t think that’s gonna end the way you think it is. That might not go well. Well, especially [00:06:16] OG: now because there’s no taxes on tips. Maybe, maybe this is a new thing. Maybe you’re like, Hey man, look. Here’s the deal. We can come to an arrangement. [00:06:25] Joe: If you’re a stacker who’s tried this and you’re not behind bars, write me Joe and stacky Benjamins dot com. [00:06:29] Joe: There are a few terms stackers that you’re gonna need to know to fuel today’s discussion. Let’s start off with a couple of these that are gonna be important, og. Let’s talk. First of three is a tax deduction. How’s a tax deduction different than the next one on my list? A tax credit. [00:06:48] OG: Tax deductions versus tax credits. [00:06:51] OG: A lot of people use these interchangeably, but it really is a big difference. A tax deduction is going to reduce your overall income that you’re gonna pay taxes on. So if you make a hundred thousand dollars and you have a $10,000 deduction, then you are gonna pay taxes on 90,000. If you have a tax credit, tax credits go against your tax bill. [00:07:13] OG: So, for example, in that previous example, you have a hundred thousand dollars of income maybe you owe, at the very bottom of the tax form. It says this is your total tax, $10,000 and you have a $5,000 credit. Now you only owe $5,000. So credits go against the money that you owe. Deductions go against your income, which is gonna, you know, reduce the money that you owe. [00:07:36] OG: But it’s not a dollar for dollar thing. ’cause if you lose $10,000 of income, that might affect your tax bill by. 12% or 15% or whatever. So credits are better than deductions. If you flipped over a a Monopoly card and it said you can have $10,000 of credits or $10,000 in deductions, you want the credits? [00:07:55] Joe: Yeah. I mean, think about this. Let’s say they give you that $10,000. That is 10,000 bucks og. [00:08:01] OG: I mean, it’s as if somebody else is helping you write the $10,000 tax bill. [00:08:04] Joe: Yeah. Where if it’s a $10,000 deduction, you’re just deducting that, as you said earlier, from your income. So you’ll get a, you’ll get some money, but nowhere near. [00:08:12] Joe: Yeah. [00:08:12] OG: You get a benefit. Both are beneficial. [00:08:13] Joe: The third is what’s called the standard deduction. People are gonna need to know that for this discussion too. So we talk about deductions. What’s the standard deduction for our new filers out there? [00:08:23] OG: Several years ago, I think this was in 2017, I think the first tax cut jobs act in 2017 is where they increased the standard deduction. [00:08:32] OG: So when you do your taxes, there’s certain things that you can put as deductions. You can have interest, you pay on your mortgage, you can have some amount of property taxes and state. Income taxes, which is one of the changes. You could have some charitable contributions that you can deduct from your income, and you can keep track of all that stuff, healthcare expenses, that sort of stuff, and you can keep track of all that and put that on your tax form. [00:08:54] OG: Or you can just take what the government gives you, which is they say, Hey, if you’re married and you’re filing joint, you get 30 grand. So you can take our number of 30, or you can calculate your own number, but you always get the higher of the two. So 90, I don’t know the number. I feel like it’s 90%. Some large, large, large percentage, 80, 90% of people just take the standard because their normal. [00:09:18] OG: Lifestyle expenses or lifestyle deductions wouldn’t equal the standard number. It makes it so much easier for [00:09:23] Joe: so many [00:09:23] OG: filers. Well, you’d think so, but it’s, I mean, especially if you’re kind of on the on the edge, you still have to do it both ways anyway, to see [00:09:31] Joe: which one’s better, just to see which wins. [00:09:32] OG: Yeah. But then there’s also the component of keeping track of all this stuff. So you know, let’s say that you are close now, you have to keep track of all that stuff for longer. So just take that for what it’s worth. You keep your records longer, I should say, [00:09:46] Joe: as people are diving in. Speaking of records, one thing we used to keep track of that since 2017, a lot of people haven’t. [00:09:53] Joe: That’s charitable contributions because those rules changed a ton. However, they’re changing again, OG charitable contributions no longer just for itemizes under the OBBB. Year end charitable deduction planning could be beneficial. One of the contributors, this piece said, you can deduct a thousand dollars per person or $2,000 per couple in what’s called above the line charitable contribution deductions if you cannot itemize. [00:10:20] Joe: So og, even people that don’t itemize might want to make sure that they’re tracking their charitable deductions. [00:10:28] OG: Yeah. There’s another component of the charitable contributions too, which is now it’s also. Adjusted against your income, and I believe this is only for itemization, for the charitable contributions if you. [00:10:42] OG: Make a charitable contribution in 2026 or later. I think it might just only go through 2028. Like you said earlier, there’s so many pages of this that you like read one thing and you’re like, oh, cool, I got it. And then you go, wait a second, I got the page 640. And that says something, you know, that adds an addendum to page 300 or something. [00:11:00] OG: But anyways, there is gonna be an adjustment to your charitable contributions based on your income. So if you. Are gonna itemize and make charitable contributions, which that’s one of the components that people use to itemize. The first percentage of your income of charitable contributions isn’t gonna count. [00:11:19] OG: So if you make half a million dollars and you donate 10,000, you’d say, oh, I could put 10,000 on my deductions. No, the first 5,000 doesn’t count. That’s gonna introduce some little tax planning. Potentials for the end of this year. And also think about kind of lumping those contributions in subsequent years. [00:11:37] OG: Because if you do 10 every year, it might be better to do 0, 50, 20 [00:11:42] Joe: next year. Yeah, [00:11:43] OG: zero this year, 20 next year, zero for five years, and then do 50 to be able to use more of it, of a percentage. [00:11:48] Doug: Joe, in the spirit of trying to be a one-on-one level podcast, a couple of seconds ago, you said above the line, what’s the line? [00:11:57] Joe: Above the line means that you can take it without itemizing, without going through those itemized deductions. So if you’re somebody taking that standard deduction that we talked about earlier, you can still take advantage of this charitable contribution. Do [00:12:13] OG: that plus, yeah, you can do the standard plus this additional little bit. [00:12:18] Doug: I mean, I was gonna say all of that. You just said it a little clearer than I did, so that’s why I asked you to, to chime in and do that. [00:12:23] Joe: No, I’m glad you stopped there because this idea of above the line, below the line, something that hangs people up. Let’s talk about the next area. So that was charitable contributions. [00:12:34] Joe: What if you’re buying a car? Well, potentially good news for you two. Interest deductions on personal auto loans. The O-B-B-B-B has made new personal auto loan interest deductible for non itemizes. So again, what they call above the line, even if you don’t itemize, you might be able to deduct the interest on your personal auto loan. [00:12:54] Joe: First time this is ever happen. I laugh [00:12:56] OG: at this because. I can imagine these back alley deals with the, with the auto manufacturers. Like, does this not scream like somebody somewhere? Oh, it totally is grease, somebody’s palm and was like, we need to sell a few more Ford pickup trucks. Anything we do about that, loans [00:13:11] Doug: are getting close to the size of a home loan. [00:13:14] Doug: So they’re like, what’s the difference, dude? Let’s just let it all write off. [00:13:17] OG: You’re not wrong. I mean, you’ll see some of these SUVs are a hundred thousand dollars, $110,000. And now they’re doing eight year loans. You know, like people freak out when you do a 15 year mortgage. Oh, that’s so much money, dude. [00:13:31] OG: What’s an eight year car loan? It’s [00:13:33] Doug: like, [00:13:33] OG: can [00:13:33] Doug: I get a car equity loan? [00:13:35] OG: I, I know. [00:13:37] Joe: By the way, personal auto loan interest used to be deductible until 1986 that eliminated that. But this, to be clear, this is only [00:13:46] OG: person that could have taken advantage of that on this call. Is Joe [00:13:49] Joe: easy? This is, this is deductible. [00:13:52] Joe: I like that one. This is, yeah. Very funny. Old guy. That was pretty good. Joe’s [00:13:56] OG: like, I remember those days. Those were the golden days and I could write off my car. [00:14:01] Joe: Oh man. Uh, this is the first time that even if you just take the standard deduction, you also still have an opportunity. So, so [00:14:10] OG: let’s go buy cars [00:14:12] Joe: Under the OBBB, Americans could deduct up to $10,000 of. [00:14:17] Joe: $10,000 of interest on your car back to your a hundred thousand dollars car. Yeah. You can deduct up to $10,000 of interest on your taxes beginning in this one begins in 2025. [00:14:28] Doug: Yeah. [00:14:28] Joe: And it sunsets in 2028. So some of these are right now. This one, the charitable contribution to 26. This 1, 20 25 sunsets in 2020 for the economy. [00:14:39] OG: Baby. Damn. [00:14:39] Joe: Why did I pay my car loan off? It’s the [00:14:41] OG: economy’s stupid. Go get another one. Go get a car equity loan. Yes, [00:14:45] Joe: go take another one. Now this one you’re gonna need to read more about stackers. If you’re somebody with that a hundred thousand dollars car, there are specific requirements to qualify for deduction that could make it harder to take advantage of. [00:14:58] Joe: For example, the purchase has to be a new US assembled vehicle. This is where the lobbying comes in. If it’s a new. Us assemble vehicle for personal use and income limitations. There’s gonna be some phase outs. Those apply. Mm-hmm. Not phase outs, just income limitations that apply, but you might be able to deduct the interest on your car whether you itemize or not. [00:15:20] Joe: All right. Let’s go into a couple that are for families, which, by [00:15:23] OG: the way, hold on just a second. Thinking about that car thing. Sure. Now think about all the record keeping that has to happen at the car loan facilitators who now have to be able to provide to the IRS like your mortgage company does. The documentation. [00:15:39] OG: Documentation, you know, a 10 98 or whatever it’s called, is it gonna be a 10 98 C for car? Maybe. I don’t know. And by the way, where does all that cost of all those people paper and process go? Um, I’m gonna guess it’s gonna be rolled into that loan that you’re now able to deduct. That apparently is good for you. [00:15:57] Joe: Yeah. Go out and take a huge car loan now. ’cause it’s tax deductible. It’s [00:15:59] OG: awesome. We get to deduct it. I mean, what could be, what’s your payment limit? Oh, great news. This is deductible. Who cares about the payment? It’s a write off. [00:16:06] Doug: You were joking, og, but that’s exactly what it’s for. A 10 98 C is for contributions of motor vehicles, boats, and airplanes. [00:16:16] Doug: I can, you’re a genius when you are not even realizing you’re being a financial genius. That pisses me off. Can you see this conference room at the IRS? What are we gonna call it, Betty? I think we call it 98 C. It’s the same team of crack professionals that came up with all the abbreviations for the states. [00:16:35] Doug: Wait for it. Everybody wait for it. The [00:16:36] Joe: C is for automobile. Let’s move on to people with, uh, families or stackers with families. If your employer offers a dependent care, flexible spending account, I love these things. I, if you have kids in daycare and you’re not using the dependent care, flexible spending account, take a couple aspirin, lay down, then tomorrow go and sign up. [00:17:00] OG: Well sign up at your next open enrollment. [00:17:02] Joe: Yeah, agreed. Funds for these, uh, get withdrawn for your paycheck before taxes are deducted. So pre-tax childcare or for adults unable to care for themselves, the OBBB permanently increases the annual maximum contribution to 7,500 bucks. Doug’s pointing at himself. [00:17:22] Joe: He says he qualifies. I haven’t been able to care for myself for 12 years. I think you’re under barely able to care for yourself, but the OBBB permanently increases the annual maximum contribution to $7,500 into this account, or 3007 50 for married couples filing separately. Just another reason among 50 bajillion to file jointly. [00:17:47] Joe: That’s up from $5,000 og. I mean, this is a 50% increase in the amount you can put into that account. To your point, I think at open enrollment, this is the big go-to if you’ve got childcare. [00:17:58] OG: Yeah. The biggest thing to keep track of here is it’s a reimbursement plan, so you put money in and then you take it back out, and then you move it all about, it’s like the hoy pokey. [00:18:09] OG: You have to use it all by the end of the year. So you have to, well, you have to earn through it by the end of the year. Most of the time, they give you till the end of January to take the money out. So just be sure that you’re gonna use $7,500 of childcare, which kind of hard not to. If you have a kid in childcare, you’re probably spending $25,000 for childcare. [00:18:26] OG: But it also affects your cash flow. So as you put the money in in January. Your paycheck’s gonna go down, and then in the end of January you’ve accumulated a, you know, a month’s worth of money in this. Now you can send in January’s childcare bill in February to get reimbursed for your out-of-pocket. You know what I mean? [00:18:46] OG: Yeah. So you gotta be okay. From a cashflow standpoint, this is where it gets kind of confusing, is, you know, you’re gonna be taking $500, $600 out of your paycheck for the first month and a half before you get that money back. That could have an impact on your cash flow. You have to have to prep for it. [00:19:00] Joe: This is where the emergency fund really serves its purpose. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it’s, [00:19:04] OG: yeah. You [00:19:04] Joe: have to have, because if you have an emergency fund, you dip into the emergency fund here till you get that one month, six weeks ahead. Yeah. And then you’re just, then you’re rolling and you’re saving a ton of money. [00:19:13] Joe: So [00:19:13] OG: basically with dependent care, flexible savings account, you’re putting money into this account. Pre-tax, so you’re getting a tax deduction. Back to our first conversation, you’re getting a tax deduction on this first 7,500 bucks and you’re turning around and reimbursing yourself for your out-of-pocket costs. [00:19:26] OG: So effectively you’re paying $7,500 of childcare pre-tax, if that’s how you think about it. [00:19:32] Joe: Fantastic. The increases begin next year. Stackers. It should be freaking [00:19:36] OG: 25,000. I don’t know why it’s, yeah, I dunno why it’s been five or 75. Like it’s, it’s like it’s not even in the ballpark of really. Making an impact, but it’s something, [00:19:45] Joe: the increase begins next year, but open enrollment this year is when you’re going to sign up. [00:19:49] Joe: Mm-hmm. So if you’ve got open enrollment coming up in the fall, you are gonna want to jump all over that one. We’ve got two more here that are kind of just a one two punch. The child independent care credit gets a double boost starting in 2026. The credit. Rate increases to 50% from 35% of qualifying expenses, up to $3,000 for one child, up to $6,000 for two or more children. [00:20:15] Joe: For families with the lowest incomes, the percentage gradually decreases as your income rises. The child independent care, credit og. So for our stackers that have very, very low income, this can be a game changer because this is a tax credit. Mm-hmm. And it’s jumping. By a substantial amount. [00:20:36] OG: Yeah. The other piece about credits, by the way, is they’re refundable. [00:20:41] OG: Is that a good way to say that? It’s basically, if you have a tax deduction, you know we’re using an example, you make a hundred thousand dollars, have a $10,000 deduction. Now you owe taxes on 90. If you have a hundred thousand dollars of income and have a $200,000 deduction, I don’t know how you do it, but let’s say you did. [00:20:57] OG: You don’t get a negative a hundred, you just go to 0 [00:20:59] Joe: 0 1 star. I’m giving the IRS one star for [00:21:01] OG: that. Yeah. However, on the credit side, let’s say that this person that you’re, you know, you’re talking about, has a tax bill of 1500 bucks. After all the dust settles, it’s $1,500, but they have a $6,000 credit. [00:21:14] OG: They don’t go to zero, they go to negative 4,500. They’re gonna get a check for $4,500. So credits, if you end up in the black, I guess is a way to put that. If you end up in the black, you’re getting the cash. If a deduction you end up in the black that just, they just go, oh, well we’re square. You know? So you definitely wanna work to optimize those credits. [00:21:34] OG: And I think from a tax planning standpoint, maybe this is kind of where you’re going with all of this as the technology catches up. We talked about this a couple weeks ago, it’s not quite, I haven’t known any taxed programs that have like perfectly mastered the planning yet for the new bill, but as this becomes more prevalent, you know, let’s say September, October timeframe, I don’t know why you wouldn’t be. [00:21:56] OG: Jumping on TurboTax and putting in a sample tax plan for 2025 and saying, here’s where my income is. Here’s where I think I’m gonna be. Like, what does this look like and what can I adjust? Because if you’re right on the edge of one of these things and you have the fourth quarter to say, oh, I can put a little bit more money in my four one k, drop me be below this number, and now I get this $6,000 credit. [00:22:19] OG: Like you wanna know about that in October when you go to do your taxes, they’re always backward looking. And so taxes, CPAs, enrolled agents, very few of them do tax planning in advance. They always, my, my, the, the thing I hate the most about taxes is the CPA will go, oh. Well, you should have, uh, done this. [00:22:37] OG: And you’re like, well, dude, where were you in October when I could have done it? You know, it’s March. I’m, I’m out of time because of this. I would really strongly encourage people to, if you don’t have a planner or an advisor who’s doing this tax planning stuff, you need to be sitting down in, you know, October downloading TurboTax or whatever, and just kind of putting in a sample, a sample attack. [00:22:56] OG: Like, here’s where I think I’m gonna finish the year. What does this look like? What, where am I at? ’cause TurboTax and these other tax softwares will tell you, Hey, you’re $500 over this limit for this deduction. And you go, oh, what can I do? I got three months to figure out how to manipulate this data so that I qualify for this new thing. [00:23:14] Joe: Well, so much has changed, as you mentioned, that you’re gonna get some surprises. I mean, uh, there’s a lot of people thinking, oh, I’m not gonna be eligible for this, uh, for this credit. Listen to this. The way the new credit rate phases down for taxpayers is also changed. The income threshold to receive the lowest 20% credit has jumped from 206,000 for a married couple filing jointly, and 103,000 for individuals from pre OBBB income levels. [00:23:43] Joe: Yeah. You know me of 86,000 to 43 and 43,000. So we’ve gone from 86,000 OG to 206,000. The number of people qualifying for this has exploded. Like there’s just a ton of people now that think, yeah, this doesn’t apply to me, and it does. These changes result nearly 4 million families seeing an increased tax credit. [00:24:04] Joe: According to first five years Fund nonprofit focused on ensuring families of affordable access to quality childcare and early learning programs. Lots of planning opportunities here. We will link to this piece in the show notes, and of course we’ll talk about this a little later. We have a text guide where we update it every single month. [00:24:23] Joe: That text guide is going to be more expensive starting on August 1st, so Stacking Benjamins dot com slash guides gets you to our guide if you wanna start digging into the tax planning immediately. [00:24:35] OG: I just wanna know one thing. [00:24:36] Joe: What’s [00:24:37] OG: that? Hey Doug, are you down with OBB? You know me. Yeah, I [00:24:42] Joe: thought [00:24:42] OG: so. [00:24:43] Joe: And uh, we also know that Doug is down with some trivia. [00:24:47] Joe: Doug, what’s going on man? [00:24:53] Doug: Hey there, stackers. I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and I’m loving St. Patrick’s in July. Festivities here in mom’s basement. We’re drinking shiner, say Patrick’s in July. Yeah, I mean, it’s every year, Joe. Don’t act like you haven’t done this. Were. Hammered last year probably. Why you don’t remember it? We’re drinking shiner. [00:25:12] Doug: We’re watching old Irish movies, by the way. Hold on. Shiner Irish. A lot of Irish people here in Texas drink shiner, so it counts. Okay. We’re watching old Irish movies like that one that came out today back in 1978, animal House, this classic starring again, I think there was an Irish like boom mic operator on that. [00:25:33] Doug: So it count. This classic starring John Belushi and a host of other comedy stars details the story of a fraternity in trouble all the time. Like us, you know what gets fraternities in trouble? Well, a ton of things. Pretty much everything. But at the root could be, oh, I don’t know, beer. So let’s talk about which beer brand do college kids. [00:25:55] Doug: The legal ones I’m talking about spend more Benjamins on than any other brand. Let’s focus even more according to CR Research. Which brand is the most popular on college campuses? I’ll be back right after I go hunt for some leprechauns, but that sounds wrong. [00:26:23] Doug: Hey there stackers. I’m renowned Leprechaun Hunter and guy who loves Lucky Charms. It’s getting worse. [00:26:35] Doug: The classic film Animal House cash in a ton at the box office. On a budget of only $2.8 million at Halden, a whopping $141 million. Wow. I’m no math major at, but that’s a ton of coin. College campuses are also known for being places where tons of beer is consumed according to CR research. Which brand is consumed the most? [00:26:59] Doug: If you said Budweiser, Hey, boomer, how are ya? But you’re wrong. It’s Corona. And now the guy leading this Irish holiday in July celebration, it’s Joe o Sal. [00:27:13] Joe: I, I think you’re leading the celebration and Corona. Would you have expected OG that Corona on college campuses? That that’s the beer? [00:27:22] OG: Uh, [00:27:23] Joe: yeah. I, [00:27:24] OG: uh. No, I [00:27:25] Doug: wouldn’t have no, no. [00:27:28] Doug: Who knew? Find this hard to believe. See, our research just dropped a couple of pegs in their credibility rating. I think [00:27:33] OG: it’s gotta be like Natty Life, right? Like that makes way more sense. [00:27:37] Doug: Yes, Keystone. If you’re a college student listening right now, or a recent college student in the last whatever, five years, please write us and let us know, because I just seriously doubt. [00:27:49] Doug: Kids are buying kegs of Corona. Hold [00:27:51] OG: on guys. Uh, before I open this, another beer, uh, who’s got a lime? [00:27:55] Joe: Yeah. [00:27:55] Doug: Can we [00:27:56] Joe: put a giant lime in the keg time for our TikTok minute? This is the part of the show where we shine a light on a TikTok creator either, uh, sharing some brilliance or some air quotes. [00:28:06] Joe: Brilliance. Oh gee, we’re going to, Tanya sent this to us and she said, we’ve been talking a lot about purpose and meaning lately. We are gonna hear some brilliance or some air quotes, brilliance from the one Tanya sent us. [00:28:20] OG: Well, if it’s about purpose, I’ll say probably fine. It’s fine still. TikTok is the devil. [00:28:26] Joe: This is, uh, Marjorie, age 92, who’s been asked a question about her favorites. You, you [00:28:34] OG: said you traveled. Yes. [00:28:35] bit: Almost [00:28:36] OG: entire world. What was your [00:28:38] Joe: favorite place that you’ve [00:28:39] OG: been? [00:28:40] bit: Wherever I am at the moment. [00:28:45] Joe: Sharp at Sweet. Wisdom from 92 years old. I think you nailed it, oj. That’s such [00:28:49] OG: a cop out answer. [00:28:50] Joe: When [00:28:50] Doug: you’re [00:28:50] Joe: on the right [00:28:50] Doug: side of the grass at 92, you’re happy wherever you are. [00:28:55] OG: True. [00:28:56] Joe: But I think if you’ve got that attitude at 32, wherever I am right now, like how many people do you know? They’re so distracted. [00:29:03] Joe: They’re checking their phone. They’re checking their watch. They’re onto the next thing. Jerry Seinfeld. Doug has that whole bit about that. I wake up, you’re like, I gotta get to work, man. I gotta get to work. The second you get to work, you’re like, oh, I gotta figure out where I’m going to lunch. And then you get to lunch, you’re like, I gotta get ready to go home. [00:29:16] Doug: Yeah. Always looking forward. [00:29:18] Joe: Be happy where you are. Thanks Danya for sending that to us. And we have talked a lot about meaning lately, and I think, uh, Marjorie nails it all right on to, uh, longer, uh, segment and one that is meaningful, especially to stacker. Jj, JJ thought, you know what? I better call Saul. [00:29:34] Joe: See, hi and og. This is when a stacker calls in like JJ and asks a question. If you’ve got a question for us, head to Stacking Benjamins dot com slash voicemail and uh, you can ask a question like JJ is today. Hey jj, what’s going on man? [00:29:53] caller: Hey, Joe, OJ and of course, Doug. Uh, I’m a long time listener and a third time caller. [00:29:59] caller: Uh, I realized, um, that my t-shirts are worn out and I wanted a new T-shirt. So just thought I’d make a call. Um, getting, uh, getting to see this business. Actually, I am touching 50 this, uh, year and, uh, I wanted to know, I, I understand that the 401k contributions, uh, you have a 7,500. And a dollar increase in this 401k contributions after 50. [00:30:23] caller: Just wanted to check how does it work? Uh, does like, do I automatically get to contribute or my employer or my 401k provider needs to do something at their end or will it auto or can I automatically increase my contribution? Uh, thank you. And, uh, also thank you for all the great work you do and, uh, for helping the community. [00:30:43] Doug: You’re welcome. Guys, I never imagined that. That’s what former Michigan quarterback and current Minnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy would sound like. [00:30:52] Joe: And he’s 50 years old. He looks much younger than that. Yeah, he’s doing well. [00:30:56] OG: He was redshirted red. [00:31:00] Joe: Just took a couple years off. Jj, good to hear your voice again. [00:31:04] Joe: NOG This is cool. First of all, he’s turning 50 and he talks about this $7,500 increase before we get to his call. What’s, what’s that all about for people that don’t know this little magical rule? [00:31:15] OG: Yeah. When you get old, super old, uh, you get to put more money in your 401k, and then when you get super duper old, you can even do more. [00:31:22] OG: So from 60 to 63, you can do even more than the old people. From 50 to 60, um, and it’s, uh, what, what do you, [00:31:30] Doug: come on man. What? You just fired like seven shots at us. ’cause you’re two and a half years away from that magic number. [00:31:40] OG: Age is how you feel on the inside. Honestly, right now I feel beat to hell. But for what it’s worth, I did just text my brother and I’m like, God, I’m I sore right now. [00:31:53] Doug: What’d you do? I got outta bed. [00:31:55] OG: I got out of bed. I looked at a golf club. When [00:31:58] Joe: you were a kid, you’d fall out of a tree bounce. You’d fall off your bike on a gravel road, and now you just wake up. Funny. [00:32:05] OG: Yeah, I just like fold myself out of bed and hopefully somewhere between my bed and the ground, my legs. [00:32:11] OG: Start working. You’re like, please God. Work, work, work. Oh, sweet. They worked. Alright. So [00:32:16] Joe: at 50 he can put $7,500 more in [00:32:18] OG: them. Yes. Back to the point of day. Yeah. So the year it’s not 50, so it’s the year in which you turn 50. So if you are somebody that has a birthday, let’s say on January 1st, you can start putting in money. [00:32:28] OG: If you have a birthday that starts on, that is December 31st. You also are eligible for the 7,500 the whole year. So you don’t have to wait until you turn 50 to kind of. Flip that switch. And the question is, is how do I, how do I flip the switch? How do I, ’cause the max right now is 23.5. How do I get to that 31? [00:32:46] OG: And the answer is, you just keep putting money in. Now you are responsible. So to J’s question, he doesn’t have to tell his employer, Hey, by the way, I’m gonna turn 50 this year. I should be able to get to do that other 7,500. He needs to go on the 401k website and make sure that he’s contributing enough. [00:33:02] OG: To get to 31 because if his percentage is set at 10% and that 10% gets him to 23.5 spread out through the year, then he’s just gonna hit 23.5. He needs to go in and go, well, I got 31 this year. I need to go to 13%, or whatever the math turns out to be. And then they will continue the contribution. If you are somebody who’s under 50 and you say, well, I’m gonna turn my contribution up, well what happens? [00:33:27] OG: In October, they go, oh, you’re, you’re good man. You’re maxed out. You can’t do anymore. And so from October to December or whatever, you know, the math works out for you. Then you don’t put any money any money in, so there’s nothing you have to do. You don’t have to tell your employer, you don’t have to tell the 401k people they already know in the system that you’re eligible for that higher number for. [00:33:43] OG: You are responsible for actually putting in the higher number. And this also would affect if you were doing mega backdoor Roth contributions. So let’s say that you’re somebody that has been putting in 30 or 35,000 anyway every year because you were doing your 23 and then maybe you did another 15 and did the, the Roth conversion every year and all that sort of fun stuff. [00:34:01] OG: Well, now they’re not gonna default necessarily. They might. It depends on your plan. They’re not gonna default necessarily to keeping it in those same percentages. They may say, oh, well now he can do 31. We’re just gonna from 23 to 31, keep it as your 401k, and now you’re. You know, mega backdoor might only be 5,000, so you gotta get in and make sure those percentages are the way that you want ’em. [00:34:24] Joe: There’s a lot of people every time they reach this point that they have the ability to contribute more. Maybe in some cases, like we talked earlier with the OBBB, people are like, okay, how am, how am I gonna afford this? I think what’s kind of magical OG is if you don’t think you can put away more, just put in. [00:34:49] Joe: A little more just test it. Test it, and see. Yeah. It’s not like you can’t lower it again later. I know you’ve said this on, on previous shows, I don’t think you’ve ever suggested to somebody they start moving the number up that’s come back to you later and said, I need to move it down. It just, you find a way to afford whatever the paycheck gives you. [00:35:10] OG: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s a threshold for that. I mean, sure. Depending on your income, right? So that’s a thing. I wouldn’t say, my personal opinion about this wouldn’t be to like increase it by a little bit. My personal opinion would be increase it by a lot and then see how much pain you’re in and then come down. [00:35:26] OG: So if you’re at 23 and you’re like, I can go to 31 legally, but I, I mean, damn that’s $8,000, $7,500 more, right? Like, I don’t have that much money in my budget. I dunno, try it, you know, that’s whatever it is, $700 more a month or something. $600 more a month. I, I would do the 600 more a month and see what happens to your cash reserve. [00:35:47] OG: You know, if next month your cash reserve goes down by 600, I might try it again. It goes down by another 600. Well, okay, you’re right. You can’t do it. Or your credit card bill goes up by 600 and you can’t pay it off. All right. I mean, 600 is not gonna ruin you one way or the other, but it’s worth trying. [00:36:00] OG: And to your point, and just from an experiential standpoint, anecdotally. I think that if you’re in the go zone of income and you’ve got some pretty good income and you just kinda live and do your thing, you’re not gonna notice that 600 bucks being gone and your life will just adapt to having 600 fewer dollars in your account. [00:36:19] OG: For some people, I get it. There’s some people you know that would write in and say, no, everything’s budgeted. But if you got a little fluff, don’t just go, I’m gonna increase it by 50 bucks. You, no, screw that. Do go all the way and then come back if you need to. [00:36:31] Joe: I love this playfulness of looking at these things as if you’re a lab rat and this is this, you know, let’s just test it and see where my pain point is. [00:36:39] Joe: It turns this thing that can be onerous to some people, like saving and makes it really fun. I’m just gonna test the limits, see where it goes. Let’s see this. This is the second time today, stackers. We’ve talked about how that emergency fund, that cash reserve plays a role here because you can be elaborate if you’ve got the cash reserve. [00:36:58] Joe: So if you don’t have the cash reserve yet, get that cash reserve in place. And then regardless of whether it’s, you know, I’m gonna change my. Deductibles. I’m going to put more in my 401k in my Roth, whatever that might be. You can do that much easier. If you’ve got that little buffer account, you can start playing around. [00:37:15] Joe: Uh, jj thank you so much for the question. Stack of Benjamins dot com slash voicemail gets you to the line where OG can answer your question, Doug. I’m dying to get to the back porch. Can we get to the back porch Joe? Well [00:37:29] Doug: we are there now brother. What’s going on? Well, it occurred to me that today we talked about taxes and HR benefits ’cause of the, I dunno how many bees to say O-B-B-B-B. [00:37:38] Doug: BBBB. You only have a couple of days left. I don’t know if people get this, but you’ve only got a couple of days left to get our guides before the price goes up. ’cause you said, I think last week they’re going to like. 12,000 or $14,000 or something like that. So nowhere near that. But yeah, give or take. [00:37:55] Joe: So get ’em now because we update ’em every month. [00:37:57] Joe: It’s over 57 easy payments, and we’ve already been lobbying the administration to see if on the next bill people can deduct the interest. Can they write ’em off on their tax or their HR guide? [00:38:08] Doug: It’s a writeoff Jerry. Uh. We update ’em every month and the this B-B-B-B-B-B-B thing is huge example of why it’s key to get a guide like ours. [00:38:20] Doug: We update ’em as the rules change and then you just download the new one. So you pay for it once it’s like $27,000 or something. You pay for it once and then you just get it forever. Uh, there’s lots of new, cool updates coming in the next few months, so get ’em now. Bye bye bye. [00:38:37] Joe: I would love to tell you what one of the really big updates coming is. [00:38:41] Joe: It’s gonna make the guide, which is already pretty easy to use. People that have it already know that, but, um, it, it’s gonna make ’em even, even more easy to use. So stack of Benjamins dot com slash guides get you there. [00:38:53] Doug: Yeah, just go do it. There’s another reason I wanted to get to the back porch ’cause we haven’t talked about this in a while, but we’ve got some reviews. [00:38:59] Doug: Oh, awesome. We time for a couple of reviews. Yeah, let’s do one. Okay. I noticed it’s very convenient that, uh, you skipped over these for the last few weeks, but back in June, uh, interested bystander said, uh, interested bystander. Doug is an excellent, [00:39:15] Joe: interested bystander, by the way, who updates their review of our show quarterly. [00:39:19] Joe: We, we just got our quarterly review, so I feel like I go into HR and I sit across a reminiscent bystander. I’m like, however our show’s been the last three months, [00:39:28] Doug: well, we’re apparently doing a lot better and I’m just gonna read the beginning of it ’cause it’s long and you get, it’s very effusively. [00:39:34] Doug: Complimentary, but the beginning of it is really the key. It’s says Doug is an excellent addition. Like I just showed up, been here for like 10 years. Dude, I just got here barely. It’s a Well, to notice [00:39:45] Joe: you, you, you’re so demure that people don’t notice you at first. Yeah. [00:39:50] Doug: They have no idea. I know. So good. We also have, uh, it says, uh, LO LD multiple times today. [00:39:58] Doug: Gent 1702 was excellent. So it’s episode number 1702. It’s weird. They’re saying Skip Omaha. Well, yeah. We all try to skip Omaha. Oh, no, no, no. Sorry. It’s Skip in Omaha wrote that they LO ld multiple times today. [00:40:12] Joe: And then, uh, episode 1702 was our discussion about the 4% rule and the question around whether if the 4% rule truly is bigger. [00:40:22] Joe: Turns out the guy that created bill banging. Has said that it, it, for a lot of people can be over 5%. You can safely withdraw from your 401k or your retirement funds. So, uh, we gave all our stackers a raise, Doug. That must be why LOL And he skipped to the bank to take up more money. [00:40:39] Doug: Yeah. Laughed all the way to the bank. [00:40:41] Doug: And then we have another review that is lobbying to change the name of the show. And I’m carrying the flag on this one because apparently, uh, Shua in Arizona says it should be called Doug and Friends. No way. I mean, it’s the title of their review. That’s how I read it. It’s, I came for the finance from Joe, but I stayed for Doug and his trivia. [00:41:02] Doug: His questions are clever. Clever. No, clever, clever. His delivery is hilarious and the guy steals the show every time. I especially love deliver. This isn’t a real [00:41:10] Joe: review. [00:41:11] Doug: Swear. Did you write this? I know if I did, I wouldn’t have named myself Chua like Sure. I wrote it. Never. I esp. I esp. I especially love the way he delivers the result of the trivia on Friday. [00:41:26] Doug: Suck it og Despite the objections from og. No wonder Stacking Benjamins wouldn’t be the same. More. Doug, please Sure [00:41:35] Joe: checks in the mail. I love how Doug, as fast as possible. Just skims over the fact the guide price is going up in just a couple days so we can get to this review. Like this was the whole reason. [00:41:45] Joe: That’s why I wanted to get to the back porch right here. We wanted to get there. Thank you everybody for spending time with us today. We know your time’s valuable and we wanna make sure that our shows are a great use of time. If you know somebody else. Who’s just beginning their financial journey or they don’t know how well in today’s example, how taxes work. [00:42:03] Joe: Some strategies to put more money in your 401k, the meaning of life today on today’s show, I think there’s a lot here, but the end of every show, Doug summarizes it so you can take it to the water. Cool. And go guys. Guess what you missed on today’s Stacking Benjamin Show. Doug, what are the top three things people should have on their to-do list? [00:42:22] Joe: From today’s show, [00:42:23] Doug: well Joe first take some advice from our headline, stay on Top of Tax Changes. While recently it hasn’t felt like there were many planning opportunities, they’re back baby. Second, take some advice from Marjorie. Age 92. Where’s your favorite place? Hopefully it’s with us right now. But the big lesson when Joe’s mom yells toga party like it’s animal house all over again. [00:42:47] Doug: Just run. I’m telling you, run for humanity’s sake. Get outta here. You don’t wanna do jello shots with Joe’s mom. Trust me. Learned from that one thing back in 98. I’m still feeling it. Join us Wednesday when economist Ted Denter Smith joins us to teach you about the math you need to make better money and life decisions. [00:43:09] Doug: It’s math time in the basement with the man who truly makes math fun. There’s one guy who can do it. It’s Ted Denter Smith. This show is the property of SB podcast LLC, copyright 2025, and is created by Joe Saul-Sehy. Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. You’ll find out about our awesome team at Stacking Benjamins dot com along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. [00:43:39] Doug: Come say hello. Oh yeah, and 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 Moms Neighbor, Duggan. We’ll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show. [00:44:53] Joe: I got a note from stacker Jenny, who wrote, for those of us stuck in the sandwich generation, a lot of those people, OG people that have, yeah. Kids at home and taking care of parents, and even if they don’t live with you, I mean, Doug, there’s some of that that you help with, with your mom. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I try to help with mom, but as, as all our stackers know that that doesn’t always go so well. [00:45:15] Joe: My sister Nicole, also helps, uh, and Doug helps with mom far more than than [00:45:21] Doug: I do. Who’s Nicole? Do you have a sister named Nicole? Of course I do. You have a sister named Nikki. You don’t have a sister named Nicole. Just the confusion that [00:45:32] Joe: that helps Nicole created and Doug’s brain. But Jenny says, for those of us stuck in the sandwich generation, taking care of parents and kids at home. [00:45:41] Joe: She wants us to check out, uh, comedian Susan Rice. Here’s a little taste of what the sandwich generation is going through right now. Guys, [00:45:50] bit: care of my mom and dad for many years. I wasn’t good at it. They died, but [00:45:58] bit: when I say they died, they did, but they were very old. My, my dad was shy of 99. Oh, wow. And, and my mom was just. Just turned 97. They died two months, uh, apart. And they were married when Jesus was in junior high. Tell you this, my mom and dad never developed dementia or Alzheimer’s. They had their mind right to the end. [00:46:23] bit: They were there. Every day there, it’s, [00:46:30] bit: they just woke up happy. They woke up. [00:46:35] bit: What are we doing today? I’m like, I’m the cruise director. We’re going to Costco. They’re having a two for on coffins. Let’s measure. [00:46:49] Joe: Fabulous Susan Rice. It’s funny. Jenny, thanks for, uh, maybe, hopefully making a few people taking care of parents. Laugh on that one. [00:46:59] OG: A little chuckle.
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