dsmWealth: June 19, 2025

After working nearly 40 years as a nurse and nursing administrator, you can trust Joyce Lillis when she says, “I believe in nursing.” She recently backed up that claim when she and her husband, Terry, donated $2.5 million to Mercy College of Health Sciences to kickstart its $15 million capital campaign. (She's pictured here at the start of her career and more recently.)

Mercy College plans to use this money to raze a disused building on its downtown campus and replace it with a structure twice as large. The Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing that will rise up on that site will have long-sought enhancements in equipment and technology as well as a capacity to boost enrollment. The school currently has 870 students earning their bachelor’s or master’s degrees in nursing or training to become paramedics, radiology technicians or physical therapy assistants. Nurses are in critical demand in Iowa, and month after month they are the most sought-after workers in job listings posted by Iowa Workforce Development.

At some point in our lives, “we all will need a nurse,” Mercy College President Adreain Henry said.

The college’s Legacy of Faith Capital Campaign notes that nearly 45% of students are first-generation learners, and 65% of them are independent. A third have children.

The nursing program began in 1899 as an adjunct to Mercy Hospital. Seven students graduated in the first class, in 1901. The student body grew, programs were added, and Mercy College eventually set up its own campus along Sixth Avenue in a former Howard Johnson’s motel. (It was extensively renovated, but some offices still have wash basins and bath tubs.)

An annex to the motel has stood idle since 2018, and it will be torn down to make way for the new facility. But that won’t happen until all the money is in hand.

“We can’t put a shovel in the ground until we have the $15 million,” Henry said, explaining that Mercy College bylaws don’t permit borrowing.

So far, the college’s first-ever capital campaign has raised about 58% toward its goal. The Ruan Family Foundation made a $1.5 million gift, and a private foundation kicked in another $500,000. An additional 36 individuals and companies have donated gifts between $25,000 to $200,000. Henry said he hopes to wrap up fundraising by the end of the year.

Lillis, who served as the director of home health care for MercyOne Home and Health, said she always struggled to find nurses. With the gift from her and her husband, a former chief financial officer at Principal Financial Group Inc., maybe some of that workload will ease for her successors.

Congress may give seniors 'One Big Beautiful' temporary gift
BY STEVE DINNEN

Congress seems divided (like always?) about how generous it wants to be with a big new tax break for senior citizens. As the debate over the tax-and-spending bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act winds its way through the Senate, lawmakers are proposing a $6,000 “bonus deduction” for taxpayers aged 65 and up. This is a 50% higher deduction than the House already approved when it passed the bill last month.

If approved, the deduction would be capped at $75,000 in income for single filers and $150,000 for couples. It’s also just a temporary gift, available only from 2025 through 2028.

Currently, taxpayers 65 and older have an additional standard deduction that stacks on top of the regular standard deduction.

As Kiplinger notes, for the 2025 tax year (with returns filed in 2026), a single filer age 65 or older can claim an extra $2,000, while married couples filing jointly can add $1,600 for each spouse over 65. For example, a married couple with both spouses over 65 would receive total standard deductions of $33,200 ($30,000 base plus $3,200 extra for age), according to IRS guidelines.

The Senate’s new “bonus” deduction would pile on top of those amounts.

Five reasons millionaires are renting instead of buying
BY DORI ZINN FOR KIPLINGER

Buying a home has long been a cornerstone of the American dream, but homeownership isn’t the right financial move for everyone — even for millionaires who can easily afford it.

From 2010 to 2015, the number of millionaire renters tripled, according to RentCafe, signaling a shift in how wealthy individuals approach housing. This trend continued, with data analyzed by The Wall Street Journal revealing that between 2018 and 2022, the percentage of households earning $750,000 or more that chose to rent increased to a record high of 10.5%.

While many assume that financial success automatically leads to homeownership, an increasing number of high-net-worth individuals are opting to rent instead. For many, the decision comes down to four key factors: high housing costs, better investment opportunities, lifestyle flexibility and uncertain market conditions.

1. High home prices and mortgage rates make buying less appealing

Being a millionaire doesn’t mean folks are willing to make bad money moves. Right now, mortgage rates are between 6% and 7% for a 30-year fixed-rate home loan. Even though rates are slowly dropping, that’s still impactful on monthly payments.

For a millionaire buyer looking at a $1.5 million home, putting down 20% — or $300,000 — would still cost them almost $9,000 a month in principal, interest, taxes and insurance payments. And that’s not including utilities or other moving and living expenses.

While we may never see the 3% mortgage rates of 2021, interest rates still matter.

Read the full article for four more reasons millionaires are renting homes.

Tax breaks for 529 college-savings plans expand in GOP tax bill
BY LAURA SAUNDERS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

College-savings accounts currently hold about $500 billion, and savers may soon be able to use these funds for much more than college.

Little-noticed provisions in the massive tax-and-spending bill that the House of Representatives passed in May would greatly expand tax-free withdrawals from 529 accounts, as the popular plans are called. The bill is now before the Senate, which could alter the provisions. So far they haven’t garnered much controversy, however.

Under existing law, savers make contributions to individual 529 accounts. These dollars don’t get a federal tax deduction, and they may or may not get a state tax deduction. But once dollars are in the account, they can be invested and grow free of federal and state taxes.

Account owners can take tax-free 529 withdrawals at a later time to pay eligible education expenses for account beneficiaries, typically for college tuition and related costs. Recently, there were about 17 million individual 529 accounts, according to Paul Curley, who tracks industry data at ISS Market Intelligence.

If the provisions in the House bill become law, expenses eligible for tax-free withdrawals from 529 plans would expand to include many costs for students in K-12 elementary and high schools. Tax-free withdrawals could also be used to pay for a range of nondegree credentials and licenses, such as training to become an aviation-maintenance technician.

Read the full article to learn how the bill would cover other vocational training programs and even fees for SAT tests.