Money Matters with Greg
Needing guidance on finances, or just curious about investments? Join CEO and Owner of Farrall Wealth, Greg Farrall, as he dives into all things relating to money and often interviews interesting people he is fortunate enough to call his friends.
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Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC.
Money Matters with Greg
The One Big Beautiful Bill: What It Means for Your Money
Tired of wondering where your tax dollars go? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) aims to transform the way government spending is managed while delivering substantial tax benefits to Americans at every income level.
Think of it as cleaning out 47 messy junk drawers in your house and organizing them into one efficient system. Or, better yet, upgrading from dial-up internet to fiber-optic cable. This sweeping legislation requires government programs to demonstrate measurable outcomes to continue receiving funding, creating unprecedented accountability and transparency in how your money is spent.
The most immediate impact for most Americans? Tax cuts that were scheduled to expire in 2026 are now permanent. Despite political rhetoric suggesting only those earning over $400,000 would see tax increases, the reality is that anyone making over $35,000 would face higher taxes without this fix. A household earning $50,000 would have paid an additional $1,200 to $1,800 annually, while those earning $150,000 could have seen nearly $10,000 in increased taxes. That uncertainty is now eliminated.
Beyond tax stability, OBBA delivers targeted benefits across the economic spectrum. The standard deduction will become permanently higher ($15,750 for singles and $31,500 for married couples in 2025). Residents of high-tax states get relief with a SALT deduction cap raised to $40,000. Service industry workers can deduct up to $12,500 in tips ($25,000 for couples), potentially saving thousands of dollars. Families see an increased child tax credit of $2,200 per child with expanded refundability, while seniors gain a special $6,000 deduction that could eliminate taxes on Social Security for millions.
Business owners receive certainty with a permanent 20% Qualified Business Income deduction, enhanced depreciation options, and simplified expense deductions. For estate planning, the exemption increases to $15 million per person starting in 2026, significantly reducing the complexity of succession planning for family businesses.
Whether you're a server earning tips, a parent raising children, a senior living on fixed income, or a business owner planning your legacy, OBBA contains provisions designed to put more money back in your pocket while demanding your tax dollars work harder and smarter.
Ready to learn how these changes impact your unique financial situation? Contact our team at Farrall Wealth to customize these powerful new tools to your unique financial goals.
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC.
The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may suit you, consult the appropriate qualified professional before deciding.
Welcome to Money Matters with Greg, where we dive into the money conversations shaping your life, from investments to estate planning, insurance to taxes. We cover it all with a fresh perspective. Join Greg and his guests each week to get inspired and take control of your financial future. Let's get started. Securities and investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, member FINRA, sipc.
Speaker 2:All right, good morning and welcome to Money Matters with Greg. This is a podcast and a radio show on WVLP 103.1 about money. I am Greg Farrell, ceo and President of Farrell Wealth. It's a wealth management firm here locally in Valparaiso, indiana, and also serving clients in 23 states nationwide, and what we try to do on this show is talk about money. If you've seen any of our other 161 episodes, we try to add some value to your family and some of your investment ideas as well as a number of things that add some value to you to kind of help you save some money, minimize taxes, have conversations about with a lot of people and guests that can help you along the way as far as savings some of those hard-earned dollars. So can't talk this morning, but thanks for WVLP for an opportunity to be able to be on the air. We broadcast at 11 o'clock on WVLP 103.1 FM here locally and also replayed on Saturdays at 1 o'clock, so looking forward to be on there this week.
Speaker 2:We are here to talk about the one big, beautiful bill or act. So OBBBA is what it is. It's big and it's a lot to talk about and I want to be able to kind of dissect it today In a very short time. We might have to go into separate episodes down the line to add to it, because it is. There's a lot and I just wanted to kind of talk very just, straightforward, non-political, just talk the data, not get into what this means one way or the other. I'm not going to get into all that in any way, I'm just going to talk the facts started.
Speaker 2:I wanted to thank everyone at Valparaiso University and Shield 219 for the ability to be able to sponsor you for our Fair Wealth NIL group that sponsor you for the tbthoopscom tournament. The tournament is a national tournament of 64 teams of alums from throughout multiple different colleges and then also teams that don't have anything to do with colleges and universities, but really good players. It's on Fox Sports FS1. I highly recommend you check them out. We unfortunately lost in the first round, but it was a great experience for all involved and a great experience for us and really a chance for us to launch our Fair Wealth NIL, which is the business I started to help college athletes, student athletes, with their financial literacy and managing their NIL monies. Very excited to be able to do that. We did this last Saturday. We played at two o'clock against Butler's alums and lost by seven, which was disappointing, but a great experience in Hinkle Fieldhouse where the movie Hoosiers was filmed at the end for that state championship in the movie Hoosiers. So it was really cool, just a great experience. I want to thank the coaches there and the staff for the opportunity to be able to do it. I also want to thank Lativa Wolferk for all her hard work and her group at SoCo on the marketing side. So socially committed is the name of her firm and I highly recommend you reach out to her in any way. As far as helping with PR and marketing as well, she's got a great team. So the laundry list is done there. In regards to all of that.
Speaker 2:Now we kind of look forward to helping you guys out with the one big beautiful bill or act as it is. I'm getting used to actually calling it what it is, but it's a big. It's a big bill and there's a lot to talk about. So here we go. So I've been trying to think about how I can help everyone in the audience, and also clients, kind of figure out exactly what this is and what this looks like as far as what the bill entails. This has been a long time coming, all the way back to 2016, 2017, as far as the tax cuts were. There were made permanent.
Speaker 2:So we're going to go through some specifics, but really I just wanted to be able to talk about, initially, the main focus here and really kind of have a couple analogies that might help you. So imagine, in your house you have not one, not two, but 47 junk drawers and they're all a mess and they have screwdrivers, flashlights, paper clips you name it as any junk drawer would have and you have a lot of them and someone gave you the opportunity to take all of those, organize them all and put them in one big junk drawer. Basically, that's what's happened Benefit Act that helps clean up a lot of things in regards to the government, in regards to a number of different sectors, and if there is anything in it for anyone, it's in there. Literally, there's something for everyone inside this bill. It will affect every single American in some way benefits, negatives, whatever it might be, as far as ultimately.
Speaker 2:But there's a lot of really good stuff in here and some really positive things that force the government to be much more forward thinking, much more futuristic, much more accountable thinking, much more futuristic, much more accountable, and I don't necessarily think people have heard that out there in regards to what this looks like as far as the mainstream media and how they've been on both sides of this or whatever it might be. I'm not doing any of that right now. I'm just going to talk about the facts and basically say this is what it is and figure it out. There's definitely some good things. For sure, there's some headwinds, absolutely some things that are negative as well, but that's what I just want to start with. Imagine cleaning out your junk drawers in your house and starting all over, all right.
Speaker 2:So some of the benefits here for taxpayers. Let's talk about that first. So first of all is accountability and transparency. Programs now must show a measurable result to get funding. Get continued funding, a student or for a government agency. If you're failing and you're not fully transparent and you're not accountable, you're not going to get the dollars that you want. Efficiency is next, for sure. This cuts wasteful and redundant spending, without a doubt. So examples merging overlapping programs or eliminating outdated ones that don't necessarily exist programs or eliminating outdated ones that don't necessarily exist. They're also going to incentivize innovation and agencies are going to be rewarded in finding creative, cost-effective solutions that much like businesses are forced to do and have to do because they have to answer their shareholders. Local businesses can replicate what works and that's basically a bonus. You'll get more dollars if your agency is creative and innovative. Better public safety metrics, higher high school graduation rates, not just dollars spent and thrown at. So these things are, all you know, a part of what this bill looks like and not getting into the specifics, just talking about what or how it's framed and how it's set up for accountability and transparency. So this really makes a difference in your tax dollars. So your tax dollars will go further and this feels like is.
Speaker 2:Another analogy is going from dial up to fiber optic cable. You know, hopefully that's the plan in this whole situation, but there's a lot of dial-up in the government, right, we can all agree on that. There's definitely some frustrations that happen, whether it be at the DMV, whether it be signing up for Social Security, whether it be signing up for Social Security. There's just a lot of things that we see as financial advisors, with clients, and how inefficient some things are. Okay, so let's go fiber optic, let's see what this looks like. So citizens will now get dashboards or annual scoreboards showing what was accomplished, how it was accomplished and how their tax dollars were used.
Speaker 2:So, instead of wondering, basically, like you know, we pay taxes, we pay for our services, we pay for our roads, we pay for our cops and our police, we pay for our fire, without a doubt, and our infrastructure, that pothole that's down the street, like where did that money go? Like, why isn't that fixed? Kind of like you'll know exactly how many miles of roads will be fixed and how much it's going to cost per mile as well. I mean, isn't that a shocking revelation? Like that is actually what happens in business. That is actually what happens in business. That's what business we all have to make accountable as far as our books, in regards to the companies we invest in. They have to open their books to shareholders and be accountable to the street or they're going to get punished. And that's exactly what happens. Their stock will drop, their management will be criticized, they might be fired.
Speaker 2:All of these things are accountability that don't exist in the government today. So what are some of the issues with that? Initially, it's going to be the data gap. Some of these agencies aren't going to be able to. They lack the systems to be able to report any of these outcomes. There might be new leadership, obviously politically for sure, as these things change, because not everything is set in stone for forever.
Speaker 2:There are some permanent things in here I'm going to talk about in a second but these are long-term results, may take years to kind of show up and there are political cycles that obviously could change that. So short-term thinking versus long-term thinking is definitely a resistance. And then there's a resistance to change. I mean bureaucratic inertia is real. I mean we're talking about moving battleships. They don't move quickly, right? They're not nimble, they're big and maybe and wasteful at times for sure. So some departments may resist performance audits and that's already been seen. You've seen a lot of different resistance already.
Speaker 2:So to kind of recap in a simple term the OBBA and really your tax dollars going to the gym, they're going on a diet, they're hitting the gym and hopefully results matter and we'll see what this looks like. I think that's the first time you might have heard that. I hope it's not, but that's what I'm telling you right now. We're seeing some really positive things that we're trying to be positive with as far as the data goes and just focus on the data and how this helps clients on a daily basis, if not yearly basis, if not a decade long basis, for sure, all right. So let's just dig into this giant tax and spending smoothie that we're talking about here and dig into the benefits that might help put more money back in your pocket and help you plan smarter, which is the whole point of this show.
Speaker 2:Again, this show is Money Matters for Greg. I'm Greg Farrell, ceo and president of Farrell Wealth. It's a wealth management firm in Valparaiso, indiana, serving clients nationwide, and we're broadcasting today on 103.1 FM WVLP, locally and obviously streaming worldwide. And then also this is on all different places you pod, we podcast on Spotify, apple YouTube you can check us on a YouTube channel as well. The first big thing that actually is very powerful that I think everyone needs to hear about is the fact that permanent tax rates and a bigger standard deduction were thrown out and were made in this bill. So let's not forget that the permanent tax rates were going to expire in 2026. That meant that every single person making basically over $35,000 or more and that is real, it's not $400,000 like was politicized and publicized. It's not Based on the tax code and based on the tax dollars every single person making a little bit over $35,000 a year, especially as a household together. We're going to increase their taxes. We're going to increase.
Speaker 2:We did the math on multiple different places to help people out, especially with kids and grandkids of clients, to show you know they're making money. They're making 40 grand, 50 grand in a year now. Now what does that impact them? And basically the tax cuts were going to expire and those kids making 50, those people making $50,000 a year, we're going to see an average of between 1200 and $1,800 in taxes go up. So imagine you're making 50 grand and you're doing great and you're out of college and you're plugging along and suddenly your taxes are going to take away an extra 100 to $125 a month away from your spending, ability to spend, ability to save all these other things. For $100,000, it was close to $4,000. For $150,000, it was close to $10,000. So it just kept on going up on a marginal scale and obviously the math works in multiple ways. But with the tax code you know you zero, it goes zero to 10% and then it goes 11% and on up.
Speaker 2:So it's all sort of a pro rata conversation, but it was very impactful and on its way. I mean, basically that's what was pending and that's what changed. You don't have to worry about that now. One doesn't have to figure out what is going to be taken away. I think everybody needs to hear that. That that is really. In my opinion, that is, the biggest part of this bill is the fact that the tax cuts are now permanent and everything stays the way it was. That isn't necessarily impactful, but it is a massive impact as to what could have happened, and I think everybody needs to hear that.
Speaker 2:So, for example, a single filer earning $50,000 in 2025 stays at the 22% tax bracket and a married couple filing jointly at 100,000 stays at 22 percent as well. No surprises, just stability. That is what one thing the market loves. And also, you know, families can plan as well. So the standard deduction that's another big chunk. So the chunk of income that you can exclude from taxes without itemizing is now permanently higher. For 2025, it's $15,750 for singles and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly. So that's a nice chunk of tax-free income, especially if you don't itemize deductions like mortgage interest or charitable gifts. You know, for perspective, about 90% of taxpayers take the standard deduction, so this is a win for the majority across the board. This is not some minority thing. This is big.
Speaker 2:The next is the big deduction, and this is where you're going to see is the SALT deduction. So this is the state and local tax deduction. That is very important. It was always at $10,000. And if you live in a high tax state like New York or California or Illinois, this is a big deal. This really helps you. So the OBBA raises the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000 for 2025 through 2029. Now that is also with an annual 1% increase. So by 2029, $42,224 will be that deduction. So this means if you're paying hefty state income taxes and property taxes, you can deduct more of those on your federal return, potentially saving thousands. For example, a family paying $30,000 in taxes state taxes could now deduct the full amount up to $40,000 instead of being capped at $10,000, which would lower their taxable income significantly. So that's big. Now there's a catch this high cap phases for higher earnings or for higher earners and those modified, with that modified adjusted gross income of over $500,000, $250,000 of filing separately, and in 2030, the cap snaps back to $20,000, $10,000, unless Congress extends it. But in the first few years it's a nice break for folks in high tax states. Overall, all right.
Speaker 2:So I was a bartender in my day. Uh, I've waited tables. Uh, I uh was a busser as well. Uh, I did anything I could possibly do when I was in Chicago, uh, working three jobs, um, and I bartended late at night and I had lots of tips. I was making no money and yet I still had to pay taxes because my tips were taxed.
Speaker 2:Now this is one for you servers, your bartenders and your overtime warriors out there for sure. So the temporary deduction for tips and overtime pay from 2025 to 2028. And if you work in the tipped industry like restaurants, salons, you name it you can deduct up to $12,500 of tip income, or 25,000 for married couples filing jointly for your federal taxes. This is huge. It's a huge help to a lot of people that won't have to pay any taxes on this, and the same goes for overtime folks like nurses, first responders, factory workers they're all covered under the Fair Labor Act, all those that are covered in the Fair Labor Act. You look at farmers, farmhands. This is all really big and it's retroactive for 2025, meaning you could get a refund when you file next year. So a server let's just say this example a server earning $20,000 in tips could slash their taxable income by $12,500, potentially saving over $2,000 in taxes. At a 22% tax market, that's big. $2,000 to that family is a really big number, so something to seriously consider as far as how that helps.
Speaker 2:All right, the next one I want to be able to talk about, and coming up here towards the end of the show, I just want to be able to talk about the families. So, families, how does this help you? There are many families out there who want to know. All right, what does this mean? So this bill bumps the child tax credit to $2,200 per child in 2025, and that's up from $2,000. And it's adjusted for inflation as well. So, plus, there's a $1,700 credit that is refundable, meaning that you could get cash back even if you owe no taxes, and this is a permanent change, so families can count on it for years to come.
Speaker 2:For a family of two kids let's just put it here give an example Family with two kids that's $4,400 in credits. That would cover school supplies, maybe some extracurriculars, for sure. Now, I don't know, aau is not cheap, so I'll just and I can speak from experience but it certainly helps with some of those after school curriculars and maybe even nice family vacation. And this also expands the 529 plan benefits. You can now use up to $20,000. That's up from $10,000 for K through 12 expenses like private school, tuition, books, tutoring, you name it. It also covers credentialing programs like testing for fees for professional certifications and also classes as well. But this gives parents more flexibility to use educational savings for their kids' needs and we've talked about 520 hours on this show.
Speaker 2:A ton. It's tax free dollars that you invest. It's taxable dollars. You invest and then they grow tax free and you don't pay anything on the gains of that if you use it for higher education. And now they increased that to $20,000, which is just huge, so huge help for families. They're obviously pushing towards more money being saved in vehicles that are benefiting families overall and also getting a nice credit for those that work and that have a family and have kids.
Speaker 2:All right, obviously, just going to throw out the disclaimer there With all this, you need to be consulting your team, your financial advisors, your tax attorneys, your accountants as well, and getting good advice on all this. This is just an informative. These opinions here are not meant to be legal advice or accounting advice in any way, but I just want to be able to talk about it, because there's a lot going on here and I want to make sure you guys all know about what you can do out there. All right, so let's go to the seniors. Actually, I forgot Station identification. Wvlp 103.1 FM. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2:Today we're broadcasting live and then it will be recorded on. Let's see Thursdays at 1 o'clock, saturdays at 1 o'clock, as far as the production that goes there, and also podcasts wherever you can get your pods. So we talked about kids. Let's go to the other realm and go to the seniors and see how it helps seniors and how it affects seniors over 65. So for the listeners that are 65 and older, this bill offers a $6,000 deduction from 2025 to 2028, whether you itemize or take standard deduction or not.
Speaker 2:So it's senior deduction and social security relief. This phase out comes out of incomes above $150,000 for joint and $75,000 for others, but for many seniors it could mean paying no tax on social security benefits, which that's a novel thought. It's your money, you're the one that worked for it, you're the one that had it taken out of your check and paid into it all these years. God forbid, you don't have to pay taxes on something you put in money for, but about 88% of seniors and that's about 5 million people so that's big could benefit, potentially saving thousands annually and overall. As far as an example of that would be, a retired couple with $50,000 in income could use the deduction to lower their taxable income, keeping more Social Security in their checks. So it's really nice.
Speaker 2:And let's talk about business. So one thing I have to tell all my business owners and all the people that I meet and as far as businesses are listening up on this one the One Big, beautiful Bill Act makes 20% qualified business income or theBI deduction for pass-through businesses like LLCs or S-Corps, makes it permanent keeping your top tax rate on business income at 29.6%. It also restores 100% bonus deduction for assets placed in service after January 19, 2025, and boosts Section 179 that expenses up to $2.5 million. This means businesses can deduct more equipment and property costs up front, freeing up cash for growth. How's that sound to you? That sounds really really good for the business owners out there and a very positive thing. Considering the fact that most businesses well over 90% of all businesses in America are small businesses. This really, really helps. Now throw this in for investors and how this helps overall investors.
Speaker 2:The estate and gift tax exemption now jumps to $15 million per person and that's $30 million for couples. So starting in 2026. So if you're going to die, don't die until 2026. Okay, but this obviously has inflation adjustments. But this is huge for high net worth folks like planning their, their legacy and and basically what that is is you have anything above $15 million per person. Okay. So if a spouse dies, you lose that exemption. So you go from $30 million. 15 plus 15 is 30. That $30 million goes to $15 million. Anything as far as net worth in the estate, that's over $15 million. $1 over that gets taxed at 50% on the death tax. So the death tax is 50, five zero percent, not 15, five zero. So if you're a high net worth family, which many of the ones that we work with as far as our clients go, we're talking all the time about look, you know we got to figure out the numbers. Now. It's permanent. This is wonderful, but what about over $15 million? Do we need to be worried about what?
Speaker 2:about over $30 million do we need to be worried about if both spouses are living. So this is huge for financial planning and for exit planning for high net worth folks and their legacy, so for kids and grandkids. You talk about generational wealth. You talk about all of, let's say, sports, athletes and multiple different business owners and everyone. This affects everyone, which is really, really big. And then, plus the last thing is is the qualified small business stock, or it's called a QSBS.
Speaker 2:Rules have become more lenient. It makes it more easy for startup founders and early employees to exclude gains from taxes as well, coming up here in 2026. So let's see One last thing it makes a $750,000 mortgage interest deduction cap permanent, which is great. Homeowners can plan with that certainty. Auto loan interest up to $10,000 now deductible for US assembled vehicles. That's key Bought between 2025 and 2028. So thinking about planning ahead.
Speaker 2:And then charitable giving gets a huge boost starting in 2026. Non-itemizers can deduct up to $2,000 in cash for cash gifts to the charities, excluding private foundations. But these are little wins. Those are little wins but they add up and they really help out charities overall. I think if you are a charitable organization, you really want to dig into what this means for 2025, for your donors and then 2026 for your donors and the difference between the two. You might it might be more beneficial for someone to give money in 2025 and not 26 or both, or just 2026. You need to really be working on your messages and I'll probably do another show on that coming up, but that is basically a lot of stuff. It's really good stuff, I have to say. It's like finding extra cash in your couch cushions for sure, tax stability, bigger deductions, credits that make you and you make your life easier. You know, and, like with any financial plan, there are potential headwinds to watch over the next five years, but let's break those all down as we move along together so you're not caught off guard, and I'll do another show on the headwinds as far as what this looks like. But I hope that you were able to learn some things today about the OBBA Act and I hope there's some sort of help today overall.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm Greg Farrell, ceo and President of Farrell Wealth. It's a wealth management firm here locally in Valparaiso, indiana. We broadcast this show on WVLP 103.1 FM on Thursdays at one o'clock and then Saturdays replayed as well, and also on anywhere you pod, youtube, spotify and Apple as well. Thanks and have a great week, a very healthy and profitable week, as it is, see ya. One last thing, just to put it in the opinions voiced in this podcast or for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or family, to determine which strategies or investments may suit you, consult the appropriate qualified professional before deciding. All right, have a great week. See you guys.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to Money Matters with Greg. We hope you gained some valuable insights today. Remember, your financial journey is personal, but you don't have to go it alone. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe and share Until next time. Here's to making your money work for you. Securities and investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, member FINRA, sipc.
