Common, a lot of political courage and they were willing to make the compromises and sacrifices required gerri willis i jerry lewis is with us today. An anchor and correspondent for the Fox Business Network where the report ran nicely for five years. Before fox business, willisusins worked at cspan now imrkeda getting them turned around. She worked at cnn where she was the personal finance editor and host of open house and later at the bottom line. Pr before joining cnn, she was a longtime senior financial correspondent for smart money magazine. She is also owned to Business Books come in the guide to Real Estate Investing and she was born in North Carolina and lived in Westchester County new york with her husband of 22 years sol please welcome a geri lewis. [applause] can everybody hear me, am i loud enough . I have your book right here. Im so happy to be here in savanna. We had a great time and weo managed to go out and play golf. We had a fabulous time. But i have to tell you my brother is a minister and if he saw me up here i think that he and arbe completely appalled. You just heard im from North Carolina and my whole family is from the western part of the state of the mountains, population 4,000. I dont know, but if you are in georgia is that considered the south or is this somethin that e entirely . I dont know. I am wearing pink for a reason recovering from Breast Cancer so if i get a little tired, be u patient and i will fire it back up. Well, glad to be here. This is my love letter to those that want to make it on their own. A the people that want to getm, d ahead on their own. I bet all of you in here are that kind of person. You want to run your own lives. I am a big admirer of that and i want everybody to be financially successful. Harder i wrote the book because i thought that it was getting harder and harder to be financially successful. Ad we have a financial recession and its been hard to find a job that pays well and that keeps you employed fulltime. Th really difficult for people and then things we have never seen before. College tuition prices out of control. I tell people it is 3 over the average National Inflation and i look at me like im crazy so i say do you know how much moms and dads across the country, their kids that graduated from college and those that never even made it, they oweoo, desp 1. 4 trillion. Health care costs are out of control despite the promises ofr obamacare. It was all supposed to get better but it really hasnt and then people that are in retirement, trying to put money together for retirement. If you are saving money youve had a horrible time for about eight years now with the federah reserve i and keeping rates at zero, no rate, nothing for your savings, you are working to do the best you can and get no rewards for its im talking about those that want to do thee right thing t but have a heck oa time getting it done. I am on your side, absolutely. Did you see the movie manchester by the sea . Casey affleck, i saw him interviewed. Hes a member of the 1 no doubt about it. I saw him interviewed and promoting the movie. He has a man buying and scraggly hair down the side of his face, ripped tshirt, torn jeans and i thought is being wealthy that out of fashion . [laughter] i guess it is a. And may be out of fashion but its need to do what you need to do for your family to keep them safe, secure, happy and i understand the motivation. Its not t too where youre well on your sleeve to do what you b you need for everybody that you love. I have covered finances,ersona personal finance for 20 something years now. But i think you begin to realize when you talk to these Financial Advisors they prepare you for the challenges you expect. Youre going to get married, have kids, put them through college, all those things. Thats what they prepare you for but the surprises im talking about, the incredible cost of a college education, they dont know about that. They are not so sure what to do. They are surprised you pick up the phone, call your spouse and say we got the best news. They are not always there to help you with that. So today, but i am going to talk about is that moment when you get a call that the worst has happened and how to turn that into something good. Im going to start with a story from the first years of when i was a Business Reporter in 1987r my first job i was working for the virginia star in marvel virginia. Dont drink, dont smoke. I dont know if youve been there. [laughter] but i was excited to be a Business Reporter. My boss came to me on an october day in 1987 and sent the stock market is tanking. I need you to call some traders and find out whats going on so i got on the phone all excited, First Business job. I called my favorite trader in the world and ive got the phone handset is nohandsets not a celo my ear and ask him whats up with the market but i cant hear him. The news room was a noisy place. I keep trying and finally i crawled underneath my desk and i have this hand on my right ear, the handset is in my left and i realized there is a reason i cannot hear him. He is sobbing. Its october 19, 1987. The stock market is thinking like a stone. The dow is up nearly 23 of its value in a single day. It didnt happened before, hasnt happened since. Its a tragedy. This guy is having the worst day of his life, believe me. Newspapers the next day. Headlines like dow tanks, wall street chaos. People were really, really worried. A bad day. But let me tell you two days later it his readings 60 of its losses. Two years later it is up aboveth the levels that it was before it started tanking. It was a bad day that if you had been smart and you knew why you were in the market to begin with and if you had stayed steady, you would have been okay. Fastforward to today if you look at the chart, you can hardly see black friday october 19, 1987. It barely registers. It doesnt look like that big of a deal. If you would use the opportunity to buy stocks, you would have been very well. I was a kid tha i could barely e rent so for me it is a learning proporti extraordinaryry proportions. But my whole career is full of lessons like this where something that seems bad at the beginning turns out to be something that is really good. When i was at smart money magazine they were doing a bunch of books on different topics come heres your topic. I was assigned to real estate, something i knew nothing about living in a thirdfloor walkup in new york city. I was nervous. You have to rightclick 250,000 words. But i decided that i would do it and that is how i got over my anxiety i sat there staring at the empty paper and it is that book that propelled me on to tv and started my career in television, cnn, fox and on. So it can become good news. I didnt have one of the worst days of my life a little more than a year ago. This book had just droppe droppd by that i mean it had come out. Thats like industry jargon, thats what they call technicala wording. I had a great week that week. I had been on fox and friends, all the big show was promoting the at the same time, i felt something in my right breast that i knew wasnt right. So i set up an appointment with my primary care physician. I went in to see her and she examined me and said youve got to go get this tested. I pulled out my book and i said next tuesday looks good to me and she said no, no. Youre going right now. So i went to the white plains hospital and had a biopsy. They said this wont be painful. Ha y prim two days later my primary care physician called me and said the tests were positive. I said you mean my Breast Cancer tests are positive and she said yes. I said you mean i have breast . Cancer . They kind of clos close it, yout is positive. So, i then went on a multiweek journey of trying to understand what that meant and to sort of embrace it, right . I couldnt accept it. When i thought about it, the only thing i could think was i want to be done and get back to normal. The finish line is going to be maybe 12 months out when im going to be cured. That is the only thing i wanted to think about. I did everything they said. I had a vasectomy and aids treatment of chemotherapy. I have Breast Reconstruction and then five weeks of daily radiation treatments. It was the worst news and im sure everybody in this room has some experience with cancer. That is one of the learning curves. But i did have one day i turned around and stopped thinking about eight to ten comment ten to 12 months and that was my last red devil treatment. I was being treated at kettering and these people are fantastic. Nu the nurses are fantastic but even that day on my fourth treatment they couldnt get any of my games to hold up under a needle. They tried once, twice, three times, four times. They started bringing nurses from other places. The longer it goes the more anxious i get. My shoulders are up at my ears,m my hands are clenched and then realized this false passes across my brain scan. This could either be your worst day of treatment or your best. Its really up to you. The nurses, they dont want to kill you. They just want to administer this drug that you need to survive and get better and at that moment, my shoulders came down, i breathed, my hands opened up and i started participating in my recovery and treatment in a way i never had. The next needle by the way was number six. It went in like that and that ai was a turning point for me. After that, it was all different. I started realizing that people were arounwho were around me atg all the time. My husband, david, who is sitting over here was unbelievably patient and kind. He would make silly jokes if i got too grumpy he would let me know that. He was wonderful. We bought a small house, a second home and work shires. I dont know if you know the area but its western massachusetts and it looks like North Carolina. Its the same mountain range. We would go there a lot and it spent a lot of Recovery Time there walking in nature and walking in the hills, taking a breath enjoying my life. My brother came and visited. I told you he was a minister. We reconnected in a way that we havent since childhood. We got to know each other and it was magical. As i would walk the mountains i was filled with gratitude and happiness. I was surprised by joy if you know that book. It was revelatory. And i never would hav it never d if they had not had cancer. I dont think you should go have cancer. Im not saying that, i am not an advocate of that, but i am just sayinim justsaying as bad as td as bad as a kind of sentence i was facing, there were positives to come out of it. The worst they can translate into what was a great year ofow growth for me personally and for all of my relationships. I just want to say i hope that you get to experience the feeling of being surprised by joy. Most of you are used to hearing me talk about money and the stock market or four o. One k. Or what you need to do to get your kids to college. Theres rich in that way and in the way that i experienced it this summer, close relationshi relationships, being able to do what you want to do with your friends and family, enjoying your life and filling in fulfillment. I want you to have both sides of that coin. That is what i wish for you. Bact getting back to a story that i told earlier about black friday october 1987 remember what the level was then, can anybody guess . 1,738. 1,738. 117,000, but 1,738 and we are now at 20,000. Things do get better. You talk about how everything is so awful and so bad theres so much to look forward to. I appreciate you having me here today and listening to me speak. I would be happy to take questions. [applause] anybody have any questions . How will it play in the future . That is a great question. The question is how well bitcoin play in the future. I think theres something as the opening in the mind and its becoming increasingly institutionalized. Whether it can become a larger player depends entirely on how it is treated by the fed, congress and that to me is the real unknown. Bu innot predict that but it iss interesting that its gotten so much traction and we continue to watch it and we spent a lot of time thinking about it but it really hasnt been mainstream in my view quite yet. Ok the Pension System looks like it is coming under greater and greater strain. Its a question down the road. For more and more people necessary to provide their own pensions because a lot ofov companies are not providing them anymore. What can we do or wha with natil policies would you propose to help americans save more money . Thats a great question. Its funny you say the Pension System. Nobody i work with is going to be advantaged by the Pension System. We are all saving on our own. It is a generational change. But to me, this will sound somewhat circular but i believe what we neethat what we need tos more people working, earning a good salary so that they can save. Weve tried lots of different ideas. Barack obama introduced a lot of peaks to the system. I dont see that introducing more vehicles helped. Its already complicated enough. There needs to be more education at the elementary and secondary level. That to me is a way to go to help people understand the importance of it. Nobody is coming in to save you if you dont save. You have to do that on your own and have a Strong Enough economy so people can participate and have something to save to begin with. But without knowledge its difficult to get people to move forward. Thank you for the question. Do e what policies do we need to adopt to get back to 4 growth in this country . Its with donald trump says he wants to have 4 gdp growth which is hire. I believe it is all about getting companies to spend heree and that is what we are working towards right now. It is not easy or simple and our tax system in this country doesnt help people that want to do business here in fact it encourages them to go overseas in my view and that this tragedy for american workers. Right now the Corporate Tax rate is one of the things pushing American Companies out of this country. I think people think Companies Just do business in the usa because they like it here. Youve got to have more of it these days you have to have a competitive tax structure and by reducing that you will be much more competitive in the rest off difficult. T. Comp ireland has 12 or something tax rate. There is no reason for the companies to stay here these days and do business if they are automatically put on worse thing than other Companies Across the globe so that would be a great first start. There seems to be a conflict between the consumer driven society and 60 to 70 driven by consumerism but then that counters the savings so peopleay are always to spend, spend, spend and it comes out of the things that are fundamental to building the savings. How do we resolve that . You make a good point i think people love to talk about the fact the Consumer Society encourages people to spend at the detriment of their own savings and their own future. What was interesting to me during the Great Recession people actually held onto their money more and i think that is fascinating because all of the smartypants economists are making fun of consumers about how they cannot hold onto their money and here they were for the first time in my memory reallyir holding onto their cash. My feeling is why dont we get some of the companies to spend more money and invest more in their operations that will propel the economy forward and then consumers wouldnt have to be the last. We wont have to be the peoplebe that are buying everything. There is a more conservativepprc approach. Its been fascinating to watch as they get smart and outthink thoseit economists. What is your opinion on dodd frank . This is the wall that was wat passed. The idea is you have control from the bang so they would never do this again but what they ignore is the federal government played a big role in the housing policy and it was the federal government making loans that a lot of people underwater. What i saw personally is it discouraged a lot of small and mediumsized banks from doing business and especially in the Small Business dodd frank was too big for them to deal with. There were too many rules and regulations. We lost a lot of banks in that category and those are the very few. One of the reasons we cant get past 2 of gdp is the banks are not doing their job right now because they dont like dodd frank. They can make money because they keep raising the zero doing almost nothing and where do we fit . You want a loan for your business but you cannot get it. That would be my answer. Thank you for the question. I wan i want to thank you for sharing your soul with us. Very touching. I teach seniors in high school. For myself and most of the people i know we have the benefit if they go off to college. Ng what would you recommend toor seniors in high school now if they are going to have to take out Student Loans to go to college . There is a lot going on here and it has to be a partnership between mom and dad and the child. Its fine by me if they say i want to do this on my own but mom and dad have to be in the circle. Second, as you begin to look at the schools and youre deciding where to go, understand the Sticker Price may not be the price youre going to pay. Even a private school, they cant command the numbers they are asking for. Its a matter of negotiation. In the book i describe how you do that because it is tricky you cant call it negotiation. Its like what else can you do for me. Those are two things to think about. Th for the moms and dadsin this situation, the easy piece of advice, the simple thing is is a four year program, fiveyear program, its not a sixyeara program. Do you know that 40 of incoming ancan only 40 of incoming freshmen will graduate in four years . Thats ridiculous. Double major, no, no double major. Get your single major comicr figur, figureout what you want. Its a serious step, its a lot of money on the table and you have a responsibility to get the grades and do what you need to do. So yes, i think kids see this as they have a right to this education. You have no right to a college education. Where is the part of theof constitution that says you have a right to four years of this . No. You have to work for it and i think kids need to be told that because they are not going to get it in high school, thats for sure. About obamacare what is your take so far, what do you think is going to happen . I am trying to find out. I spent a lot of time on the phone with congressmen and experts trying to figure outt el exactly how the gop is going tot change this. The amount of money being covered through the roof ive had many people on the air that i found myself to talk about how expensive it is and how they cant afford it. People are going without coverage and it happens to bege the very people who had their own business who dont have a boss to turn to who have to buy their own coverage in the marketplace for getting really hammered by this. He that is what is so concerning. You will see something that has a lot more open market, freemarket kind of element and we will get back to something that is more manageable and cheaper because thats what you have to do, im sorry, to make it work. But we are a long way from thatf i think there are six to eight republican replacement bills out there right now, and most of them call for lots of expanded Health Savings accounts. Insurers to be able to offer product across state lines. So, you see, an opening up of the marketplace and hopefully we get there. Theres no guarantee that the republican are going to come to any kind of concensus on this. Im trying to phrase this so its not a political question. Good. [laughter] but since you have theyre reporting on the same speech or the same issue, its like night and day. What was i watching . Does that, does that come down from the top of eachhe organization, or is that up to each individual reporters take on the issue . Well, i can tell you what i experienced, right . I report and i call people, and i try to get to a camera and talk on camera about what ivege found out. Nobody tells me what to say, nobody says youve got to be this way or that way. Nobody at cnn told me i had toto be this way or that way. Its really not the way it works. But, you know, i have to tell you a little story, i hope you dont mind, about how i got from cnn to fox. Do you want to hear it . I [laughter]n i forgot it, it was part of my speech, and i totally forgot it. [laughter] so i had an interview at fox with the tippy top executive, you know who i mean [laughter] and i was so excited because hes legendary in the television business. And so, you know, i had my best outfit on, i had a quarter inch of pancake makeup on, i had my hair piled to the sky. I probably had a whole can ofir hair spray in my hair. And i got into a cab on columbus circle, the youre familiar with manhattan. I see heads nodding. I was so excited and nervous. Four blocks before i get to fox, i get out of the cab. Im so anxious, i have to walk. Two blocks north of fox, all of a sudden, theres a plop on my head [laughter] and its wet. And i know what it is, its not the blooper to happiness, its a message john. [laughter] its a pigeon. So you thought i was anxious before, im really anxious now. Im like, can i get back to cnn and get a Makeup Artist to fix that . No, its too late. Do i know a Makeup Artist at fox . I do the next best thing, theres a gap across the street. I go in there, i look in the bathroom, i look in the mirror, and i just started belly laughing. It was the funniest thing id ever seen. Here it is the biggest interview of my entire professional life, and i have bird poop literally on my head. I get some toilet paper, i get it off, and i think to myself, this is not going stop me from having the most importantth interview of my professional career. So i go across the street, i go into rogers office, i sit down, and my hands are literally shaking. S and i look at him and he looks at me, and he looked kind of quizzically at me, and i tell him the story of what happened. I know this doesnt sound like it happened, it really happened. Well, that broke the ice. Br and i think it was the bluebird of happiness that got me that job at fox, i really do. [laughter] [applause do you guys have any more questions . I have one. What do you think about repatriation ofthe corporations, and do you think theyll do it . I hope they do. I want them to come back here. We need them here. We need them employing our people. Ey invest in the United States of america. This whole idea that and ive been right in the middle of this. I went to Business School at columbia, this idea that internationalism is the currency of the world and thats what we need and everybodys equal. No, everybodys not equal, and i dont want to be equal, and im perfectly happy to tell you thay im an american, and im proud of it. [applause so im hoping that this economy really revs up. 4 , 5 , ill take anything you give me. Im hoping that thats what happens next. Im concerned a little bit about 4 growth when, if you 4 r envision that the Driverless Cars and trucks are going to probably eliminate 150,000 jobs if not more thats true. And i just dont know how were going to overcome the advancements of technology which is all good, but im not sure its good for employment. Well, thats a really sophisticateed point. And, you know, every time we talk about 15 wages, 15 an hour wages, all of the people who run these fast food restaurants say, okay, that means were going to automate, you realize that. There are going to be even fewer people working in these restaurants. Ips the flipside of, automations flipside is lower employment. These companies are going toto have to come back, invest here, bring more jobs so that were not all, like, plugging the case register at cvs not that thats a bad thing and doing fast food jobs. We need more growth, and we need more industry. Given the stock market growth, the abysmal state of Social Security right. And a republican congress, do you think theres any opportunity to have the Social Security system reworked to where theres Investment Opportunities in it . Boy, i wish. [laughter] but i dont see anybody who has the stomach for that right now. You know, there are lots of into it lament programs under fire entitlement programs under fire, underfunded. I just, i dont see anybody even talking about it. Paul ryans talked about it inin the past, but, you know, we are so focused on a handful of other issues right now, tax, obamacare, immigration, regulations, i just dont see that happening. And its a tragedy. You have gotten into part of it, but the 15anhour hourly wage, where does that fit in with our economy and growth . Well, i think 15anhour wage just doesnt really make sense. What you find when you really peel back the layers is that a lot of companies have already raised wages, and theyre in the business of raising wages rightd now because there arent enough workers to do the kinds of jobs we need to get done. In some categories. I think telling companies what to pay for labor is a losing proposition and one of the reasons that companies leave the country. Thats just my view though. Im not a labor economist, i just play one on tv. [laughter] on the topic of tax reform yeah. Specifically the lowering of rates but separate by personal and corporate, in your opinion whats the probability of it happening . [laughter] and in your opinion, whats the probability of it happening retro to 1 1 17 . Thats a great question. I think Corporate Tax changeses are more likely than individual tax changes, and they keep saying across the board if we do tax reform, we will make it retroactive, but thats if they get it done by august, okay . If theres a bill by august, the president signing it by the end of the year, then its retroactive. I dont know if theyll get to individual or not this year. Yeah, thats what were hearing on the hill. Hello again. Hi again. Im not sure how to ask this one. Aye been loving it ive been loving it since the president got elected in the stock market on short squeezes, especially with dry [inaudible] the first few days and metals after that, but can you tell mef what the next short squeeze is going to be . Oh, good lord, almighty, i have no idea. I spend all my time thinking about obamacare and tax reform. G i couldnt tell you. I think thats a question youre better prepared to answer, possibly, than me. Anybody else . [inaudible] situation as it is, have you heard about the proposal to tax some of the larger learning institutions and universities . Their endowments, in some cases they have over a Million Dollars in endowments for every student they have, and yet they charge these outrageous amounts expecting Student Loans to cover that. What do you know, wow . Whats so funny, wasnt it just harvard that said they were having major problems, they had major problems with, you know, fabulous fancy pants investors, and they would have been better off just doing a simple index fund. [laughter] im amazed by that. Yeah, theres lots of questions being raised now about the amount of money that majorow institutions are putting together, and it doesnt reallyy make a lot of sense, the kindset of money that institutions like harvard, institutions like yale, institutions like mit on theit west coast, theres a handful too, have put together and how they deploy that money. I dont see a tax going through. Theres too many political, too much political pressure from very high places to allow that to happen. But it seems to me, i would love to see reform that comes from within instead of reform thats foisted upon these institutions. But its not right, the way they operate, in my view. Regarding the issue of the money that is parked overseas that people want to bring back, dont you feel that that should not just be allowed to be brought back and be used for bonuses, wages or whatever, but specific guidelines be provided that if im going to bring this money back into america, that i should provide specific actions on jobs, construction, r d, etc. , so that its just not a freeforall that you get to bring this money back . Well, i think thats a great idea. I just want to see it happen. First things first, right . Lets do the easy stuff first and get it done. I feel like were still a long way from even that, and, you know, it would be great for the money to go to a great place, m but im not sure i want these companies to be told specifically what to do with iti we need them to feel like were working with them for a change instead of against them, in my view. In my humble opinion, which amounts to very little because i dont vote in the house of representatives or the senate. Ill take one more. We have one over here. Theres a tradition in italy that if a pigeon poops on your head, its gown to bring you its going to bring you good luck. Its just been confirmed. [laughter] i love it, i love it. Thats a great way to end. [applause] thank you so much. Its been a pleasure speaking with you, i really, really enjoyed it. Finish. [applause] so, please, join me again in thank gerri willis, she was fantastic. [applause upon exiting the venue, our wonderful volunteers will enthusiastically accept your donations to the savannah book alstival. Its because of your generosity that were able to keep the festival saturday free. Thank you for coming. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] and youve been listening to fox Business News anchor gerri willis talk about her new book, rich is not a fourletter word. Shell be joining us now for a callin program, and its your turn. 202 is the area code for all of our numbers, 7488200 if you live in the east and central time zones, 7488201 for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones. Gerri willis, you spent a lot of your talk talking about your health. How is your health today . Well, thank you for asking, its so kind. Im doing really very well, so i finished all of my treatments on january 4th, and im just Building Back my energy, and, you know, ill be tested to make sure im clean and theres no more cancer, and ill be taking some kinds of drugs over, well,a for the next ten years, but everything looks very, very good at this point, and i just feel grateful to be out and about and to be enjoying life. Host do you tire easily . Guest yeah, i have to kind of manage my energy and make sure that i dont do too much, but let me tell you, thats small beans compared to what ive been through, so it seems like i have a new lease on life. Host well, lets get into the topic of your book, rich is not a fourletter word. One of the last questions that was asked was about money socalled parked overseas. When we say money is parked overseas, what does that mean . D where is it stored . Guest so these are, you know, American Companies who do business overseas that keep their money overseas, because they dont want to be taxed here at rates of 35 . And, you know, companies now are international, they do business all over the globe, and so they keep this money offshore because of the high tax rates here. And people think that Corporate Tax rates are super, super low, but when you compare them with other advanced economies, its just not true anymore. The whole world has changed. And while you used to be able to say to American Companies, hey, you want to be in the United States of america because thats youre an american company, the reality is now thei can go anywhere they want to. Ic so we have to work that much harder to keep them here. Host you also talked about personal income tax and how it might not happen this year. Studies have shown that nearly half of americans dont pay any income tax at all, they get rebates, etc. Is there any discussion about a vat . Im sorry . Guest well, they pay payroll, they pay payroll tax. Host right. Guest so they do pay tax, but they dont pay income tack, youre right. Is so the question is whether individual income taxes will go down, follow through on Donald Trumps promise to lower individual income taxes, not clear if its going to happen. Its likely they might break up corporate and individual income taxes into two separate bills, that could happen, and its just unknown at this point. Ra i mean, whats going on behind the scenes and on capitol hill is theres a lot of toing and froing and arguing about how to deal with these issues. The gop is saying we need to find a way to pay for these tax cuts, and the white house is saying maybe not. So theres a lot of questions about should we be responsible actors in lowering taxes, or should we not, and its just not clear how any of this is goingt to get resolved. Host weve got some callers who want to talk to you as well, harold in vero beach, florida, please go ahead with your question or comment for gerri willis. Caller hi, gerri, how are you . Great job. Guest im good, harold, how are you . Thank you. Caller fine. Im a fox fanatic, and im damn proud of it. Guest good. Caller i want you to know, you know, how much we missed you when you were out, and its hard to get through to fox to find out where people are, where theyve gone, etc. But i heard neil on friday, and he sort of put some feet to the explanation about you personally, and i was just telling my wife before i was put on the line that you were always one of my favorites, now youve taken a quantum jump up my hero list. Guest oh caller so really power to you, god bless ya, and we love you. Guest thank you so much for your kind words. I want to tell you, and i think its important to say that while i was in recovery, one of the most important things i heard from was the fox audience every single day saying things like youre saying, saying you go and give me, you know, all kinds of atta boys and appreciation. It meant the world to me, and i just, im so thankful for it. Thank you, thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it. Host and anthony is calling in from albany, georgia. Hi, anthony, please go ahead. Caller how you doing . Ms. Willis, enjoyed your presentation. Guest hi. Caller i did want to ask since you had said the news is not controlled on the cnn or the fox side except by the reporter, to be 180 degrees out, and i know a blatant lie from, you know, whether the moon or the sun is in the sky, who is in charge of the reputation of the network . Guest well, so thats a different question, whos in charge of the reputation of the network. Everybodys in charge of the reputation of the network. And every day we try to provide information that we can be proud of, do reporting that we can be proud of, and, you know, everybody up and down the line takes this as a serious responsibility. You know, we have to make sure that were doing, answering the questions that need to be answered and listening to the people who really have the answers. I mean, thats our obligation, thats our responsibility. And its not just me, its not just the reporters, but its producers, its the people who run the producers and its their bosses as well. Thank you for your question. Host gerri willis, i saw a report in the wall street journal i think yesterday that Consumer Debt is near the peak it was in 2008 right before the crash. Is that something we should be concerned about . Does that affect our overall economy . Guest well, so, you know, i mentioned in the speech that in the wake of the recession Consumer Debt shrank, and now its growing again. And, yes, it is a concern, and i think it is something to keep an eye on because when consumers are so indebted, it just created, it can create a cataclysm of other things going wrong. This is certainly something im going to be watching in the economy as it goes forward. And, look, you know, hopefully were going to get in a position where were growing 4 every quarter, but if we dont, you cant bet on that yet, you know . It hasnt happened yet. You need to see the proof of the pudding before you go and borrow a lot of money for things you cant afford x thats what i think consumers need to be thinking about right now. Host hilda from san pablo, california. Hilda, go ahead. Caller yes. I enjoy your program very much even though i came in in the middle of it. I am also a caxer survivor cancer survivor, three cancer operations, and i can understand exactly what you went through and where youre coming from and, you know, with gods grace, i have come through even with my mother having alzheimers and taking care of her. So, but i am 76 years old, and i have gotten hurt pretty badly, and im in the hospital, and im selling my mobile home, and i have gotten an offer of 50,000, and i only paid 20. And i know that its a good profit; however, mobile homes in that part are being sold at 80 as is. And even though my home has some problem, you know, that needs to be fixed because there is a lea and then very recently we have had a lot of rain, and there has been more damage done, i want to i got a bid from someone to fixing the necessary things so that i could get more money and so i can get closer to the 80,000, maybe 70,000. And am i being too greedy about it, or should i think about the 50,000 host all right, gerri willis, a personal finance question. Guest well, so, first of all, im sorry for your illness, and im sad to hear about that, and i hope you feel better, to be sure. Its a hard question for me to answer because i dont really know the specifics or particulars of your situation. If theres somebody you trust in your family or better yet a Financial Adviser you can talk to about the best way to make that decision, i think thats a good way to turn. But thats a complicated question without knowing how your, what your property is like or who youve hired, it would be difficult for me the answer. My apologies, im so sorry that i cant give you better information. Host gerri willis, given what youve just gone through or are going through with your cancer treatments, on a scale of 110, how complicated did you find the American Health carehoo system . Guest well, i have to tell you, i was very lucky because i have an employer whos paying for my coverage, right . I have a really great insurance policy, and im one of those americans who can be secure in that, and its been terrific. I have to say that. But its not always easy. The doctors themselves dont always make it easy because their description of whats going wrong with you and what you need to do when youre in that situation and youre suffering, its really hard to take it in and understand what theyre saying. They need to be able to communicate, in my view, better with patients and help them understand what the drugs theyre taking, what theyres there for and what theyre supposed to do. Its interesting, i think theres a lot of tweaking that could be done with the American Health care system that would make huge changes to users, to people like me, and it doesnt take an act of congress to do some of these things. Host whats the difference between a tax credit and a Tax Deduction . One of the conversations going on capitol hill right now. Guest well, deductions you have to be paying income taxes to take a deduction, right . Because its a dollarfordollar reduction in your return. But the credit is something you get whether you pay taxes or not. So if youre taking, getting a family tax credit, thats money that comes in your front door, and these tax credits tend to be abused. They are usually the most abused part of the tax system because people can claim them and be paying no taxes whether theyre due that money or not. So thats part of whats being discussed currently in the discussion about taxes and what kind of tax reform do we want, do we give people deductions, do we give them credits. Host why has the stock market gone up nearly 2,000 points since donald trump got elected president . [laughter]00 guest well, thats a great question. You know, its interesting because every morning my husband says, hey, i made another, and hell name a figure that his 401 k has gone up. Youve got to think this has made a lot of people really happy. I think the question is, you know, why . I think its a lot of anticipation of what could happen in a donald trump presidency. But youve also got to ask your big question, will it happen. Ha is it going to happen. Are we going to actually make taxes lower, are we going to make companies are Companies Going to hire more people . We really need to see the proof of the pudding to make sure that these, that the stock market is sustainable at this point. Markeo but, you know, its not a bad thing. Its great to see the market rise and rise on fundamentals rather than the kind of things its been growing on the last couple of years which has to do more with the federal reserve. Host gerri willis, we have ten minutes left in our callin. You got enough energy for us . Guest ive got to tell you, im about to flag here. Give me another question, but im going of to have to go soon, my friend. Its been so kind of you to have me on. Host i understand. Oo this last question is from rick in boise, idaho. Pp caller hello. Im on Social Security disability. I get around 960, i think, i got a 12 raise. So am i locked out of the stock market gain . Is that something that i just dont make enough money to get involved in . I mean, i actually make ends meet, i actually have a little bit left over each month, and, you know, my it sits in savings guest the easiest way to do this, my friend, the easiest way to do this is to take a little bit of that money that you have left over and pop it into an index fund. But i would say first things first, you want an Emergency Fund in case something goes wrong. You need cash available in case you have another health issue, in case you need money for repair for your home, you need to set money aside for that. After you have a decent two to three to four months worth of savings, then you could put money in an index fund. Thats less risky than buying an individual stock, and you can buy the entire market from a big Mutual Fund Company like vanguard or to fidelity, and its really Pretty Simple to do. I think that everybody should b invested in the stock market at some level. The older you are, obviously, the less you should be invested in the stock market, but it should be something that everybody should feel comfortable playing in. Host gerri willis guest thank you for the question. Host gerri willis, thank you for your time. Rich is not a fourletter word is the name of the book