The Jon Sanchez Show

Good afternoon, Northern Nevada. Today we’re talking about a part of estate planning that too many families overlook until they’re under pressure. “Imagine you’re in an accident, you’re unconscious, or you’re dealing with an illness that makes it hard to understand information or communicate a decision. Your spouse or children are at the hospital. Bills still need to be paid. The bank may need instructions. The doctors need to know what you want. “Who has the authority to step in? And even if you named somebody, do they know what you want them to do? “Today, we’re going to make this simple. We’ll talk about the financial power of attorney, the health care power of attorney, and the instructions that can help your family make decisions in line with your wishes. These documents do different jobs, and a trust by itself may not answer every question.”

Rental real estate can create wealth in more ways than most investors realize. Cory Edge, Dwight Millard and Jon Sanchez examine the five potential profit centers of a rental property: cash flow, mortgage principal reduction, appreciation, tax benefits and future rent growth. They also analyze a hypothetical property and explain why a good wealth-building investment may still be a poor source of retirement income.

Stocks are celebrating. Bonds are screaming. Oil is boiling. And the American labor market may be running out of gas. Welcome to one of the strangest economic environments we have experienced in decades. This week, the stock market once again approached record highs. Investors appear optimistic. Technology companies are rising. Artificial intelligence continues attracting enormous amounts of capital. Corporate earnings expectations remain strong. If you looked only at the stock market, you might conclude that the American economy is doing beautifully. But then you look across the street at the bond market. The yield on the 10-year United States Treasury is approximately 5.25%—near its highest level since 2002. That yield influences mortgage rates, business loans, government borrowing costs and the value investors place on practically every financial asset in America. Then we have oil. Brent crude is above $100 per barrel, threatening to push gasoline, transportation and production costs higher. Then we have the labor market. Last Friday, the government reported that America created only 29,000 jobs in September. That was not simply a disappointing number. Over the previous 12 months, monthly job growth averaged only 45,000. And yet the stock market rallied. How can all of these things be happening at the same time? The answer begins with understanding that the stock market is not the economy. Stocks primarily measure what investors believe publicly traded companies will earn in the future. The bond market measures something different. It reflects expectations for inflation, interest rates, government borrowing and the value of money over time. Stocks are voting on profits. Bonds are voting on the cost of money. And right now, they are delivering very different messages. The stock market believes that large American companies—particularly technology and artificial-intelligence companies—can continue growing their profits. The bond market is warning that inflation may remain stubborn, the government must borrow enormous amounts of money, and investors are demanding substantially more compensation to lend that money for ten or thirty years. Both markets could be correct—at least temporarily.

The most important showing of your home may happen at 11:30 at night, on a buyer’s phone, while you are asleep. That buyer is sitting on the couch, scrolling through listings. Your home appears on the screen for a few seconds alongside dozens of competitors. They see the price. They see the lead photograph. They swipe through the first few images. And then they make a decision: save it, share it, schedule a showing—or eliminate it. The seller never meets that buyer. The listing agent may never hear from them. But the showing still happened—and the house may already have been rejected. That is why selling a home today is not simply about putting a sign in the yard and uploading photographs. It is a digital product launch. The price determines whether buyers discover the property. The first photograph determines whether they stop scrolling. The remaining photographs, video, floor plan and description determine whether they become curious enough to take the next step. And in today’s higher-rate housing market, buyers can afford to be selective. Mortgage rates are once again above 7%, and more than one out of every five active sellers recently reduced their asking price. That means sellers cannot assume that simply being on the market will create demand. A listing can receive thousands of online views and still fail to generate a single meaningful showing. So, what does the technology tell us? If buyers see the listing but do not click, is the lead photo failing? If they click but do not save it, is the price wrong? If they save it but never schedule a showing, is there uncertainty about the property? And if they tour the home but do not write an offer, did the online marketing create expectations that the house could not fulfill? Today, I am joined by Realtor Aaron Clark, one of the most technologically sophisticated agents I know.

Welcome to The Jon Sanchez Show and Estate Planning Wednesday. Nearly every parent who creates an estate plan tells me the same thing: “I don’t want my children fighting after I’m gone.” So, they make what appears to be the safest possible decision. They divide everything equally. Three children receive one-third each. Four children receive 25% each. Nobody can accuse Mom and Dad of playing favorites because everybody receives exactly the same percentage. But is equal always fair? What if one daughter spent ten years caring for her parents while her siblings lived in other states? What if one child received $200,000 during the parents’ lifetime to start a business, while the other children received nothing? What if one son worked on the family ranch for 20 years, helped build its value and wants to continue operating it—but his siblings want their inheritance in cash? What if one child is financially responsible while another is facing addiction, divorce, creditors or an inability to manage money? And what happens when parents leave the family home equally to three children—but one wants to live in it, one wants to rent it and the third wants to sell it immediately? The trust may divide everything equally, yet the result can still feel profoundly unfair. This is how an estate plan that looks perfectly balanced on paper can fracture a family in real life. An inheritance dispute is rarely about money alone. It is usually money mixed with grief, childhood memories, sibling rivalries, perceived favoritism and decades of unresolved family history. The old argument about who Mom loved most suddenly becomes an argument about the house, jewelry, firearms, family photographs or who was chosen to serve as trustee. And when parents leave no explanation, their children create one. “She received more because Mom loved her more.” “He was named trustee because Dad trusted him more.” “I did everything for our parents, and they treated me exactly like the children who never showed up.” The reading of a trust should not be the first time a child discovers how their parents viewed the family. Today, we are going to discuss the difference between equal and equitable, how to plan for a caregiver child, what to do with a family home or business, how to select the right trustee and why sentimental possessions can create larger fights than financial assets. We will also discuss one of the most important pieces of estate planning: communicating the plan while the family can still ask questions. Because a successful estate plan does more than transfer property. It should also protect the family relationships that remain after you are gone. The final gift you leave your children should not be a lawsuit against each other. This is The Jon Sanchez Show.