flicts in a far away land. i'm sickened by every single young man or woman who dies for the religious zealots. you should be ashamed oflineup. it's the best. >> see you on monday. . gerri: hello, everybody. i'm gerri willis. welcome to the final edition of "the willis report." for five years we've given you the best in financial advice tips, information, and tonight our best advice ever. for that we're bringing in some of our favorite guests president of the american action forum greg mcbride, the chief financial analyst for bankrate.com, and larry winget. and we have a personal finance expert. we're going to start with the big picture the economy, doug to you, news today, gdp didn't grow in the first quarter, it fell. the economy shrunk by 7/10 percent, how are people

supposed to grow their net worth get along financially when the economy is not even growing? >> gerri before i answer, let me thank you for what you've done the past five years opafl of your viewers

. gerri: gdp has grown on average 1.8%, that's not good. what do we do? what is the best advice for people out there? >> well, you'd ask the question initially as what can people do to grow their nest egg, their net worth in an environment where the economy is not growing? tonight emphasize one thing, and that is education. the unemployment rate right now for people that have a college degree, 2.5%. so that's darn near full employment. the other thing is do what can you to do to distinguish yourself in what is going to be a pretty competitive global marketplace. gerri: that's true. >> get the certification get the degree. you know, get those skills that you need to set yourself up. gerri: raise the level. >> the people at the top of the pyramid are seeing the big pay increases. the masses are not. gerri: the masses are not.

vera to you, you pay so much attention to this, tell me what people can do out there. they've seen the economy go flat. what's the best advice? >> i'm with greg our wages are not doing anything it's very challenging, college education is up food is up. just ridiculous. gerri: there's nowhere to go to find lower prices, right? it's crazy. >> one thing that everybody can try to do is try to stash away more money. the problem is when we have money in our pocket, we extend our lifestyles. stash away as much as possible and pay yourself first. a lot of people make this mistake they pay themselves last after they pay the rent the utilities and nothing left over. pay yourself first have an automatic percentage taken out of your paycheck and put into a savings or investment account. you're not going to miss money that you don't see. gerri: larry, to you, you have commonsense advice. tell me what do we do? what do we do? >> people need to quit whining

about the economy. i can't do anything out there -- [ laughter ] >> seriously, you can't do anything about the economy except vote! that might change it too far down the road. people need to worry about their own economy. i can't do anything about the price of gas or the price of a carton of eggs or milk. i can look at my own life and lifestyle. when you have 42% of americans spending more than you make rein yourself in. get your lifestyle under control. do what we just heard. pay yourself first. save money. but mostly control your expenses and figure out a way to go earn more! >> i love it. doug, you are a bigtime economist in washington. you sit with your friends over glasses of wine, you are swapping stories presumably they're asking you, doug doug what do i do? what do you tell them? there are 93 million americans who are not even in the workforce right now. i know that men in particular out there are under duress they are worried about their

jobs. even in tony communities, men are worried they'll have to get blue collar jobs the fear factor is huge. what do you say? >> i want to repeat a couple things that have already been said. they are the keys. number one, get an education, the dividing line between success and failure in the labor market is the skill us that bring. if you get a chance to upgrade skills or you're a young person finish school. that's important. second thing is do put something away so you have a cushion when you have to get a better job, you can afford to do that. you're not locked into a job you don't like, and i'm with the genius on voting. we don't have the right mix. >> i'm with the genius on voting, too. >> we've got to change the direction here. this is just unacceptable what we're going through right now. gerri: here's the deal you tell people to save money set it aside, set aside what? >> anything. something the point is to set aside something, doesn't have to be 10-15% of salary, that would be something we all would

aspire to. if it's a small amount get into the habit of paying yourself first, it's a good habit to get into, a lot of us have it completely wrong. gerri: larry winget the number of people on food stamps keeps growing we've been out of the recession for six years now, and people have food stamps 46 million americans, that is up from 2009. so are we getting too hooked to the government dough here is that what's going on? >> you think? i'm going on facebook and i can see on social media, the government begging people to sign up for public assistance. that's dumb! we need to be encouraging people to get off of public assistance. made it too easy, not as accountable as they should be, and we've set up this expectation, and we're teaching our kids this that the government is the solution instead of forcing personal responsibility so people look to themselves. it's a shame. gerri: that's what i take away from this block it's all about us. we got to fix our own problems.

doug, greg, larry and vera you are sticking around for the hour, thank goodness. and a lot more to come including the best advice you'll hear on housing health care retirement, taxes and more. plus the bill is due next week for many parents sending kids to college. how do you stomach that massive payment? how can you make it? we'll have the advice coming up next.

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calling golf a game is like calling an astronaut a pilot. the word just doesn't have enough oomph(!) to describe it. golf lures you in with its fresh air and furry creatures. one minute you're on top of the world, next, you're on a dogleg left headed right... and you don't have to be super-human to play. this game is for everyone. there's a lot to love about golf. and all of us at the usga want to make sure it stays that way for years to come. discover more @ usga.org

. gerri: you know college is expensive, very expensive. and many folks, many families can't afford the ever-rising costs and the astounding level of debt they'll face to pay for it. here with personal fines is larry winget, david box and rob frantic, the senior vice president of the princeton review. rob start with you here's what we're going to tell people tonight what is the best advice, 1.2 trillion dollars in

debt for students and their parents, it's ridiculous. >> it is, however, and we've talked about this in the past as well, gerri, college is worth it and it is expensive to not go to college. and we know that there's heart stopingly expensive sticker prices for public and private schools but the investment pays off. gerri: the investment pays off. larry winget, does the investment pay off, my friend? is it worth it? >> can be worth it. investment does not always pay off depending what you get a degree in sometimes it takes way too long for that to pay off. i think the problem is we as a society see college as the solution for all kids. it isn't. trade schools first of all, you get out sooner and it doesn't khowst as much, and there's a lot of blue collar jobs paying a whole lot more than a lot of white collar jobs my now. gerri: i can tell you how much my plumber makes? >> exactly! >> david, what do you say? you know how much parents are suffering. >> so difficult. right now, look, i've got a five and 11-year-old.

i'm having to save for college. gerri: you're screwed. >> did you just say that? we were talking about paying yourself first in the last segment. you got to pay your kids first. the way do you, that the number one way to save for college is a 529 plan. unfortunately 66% of americans have never heard of this plan. 529 plans are the best way to save for college. tax deferred savings account, $200,000 in the accounts, money comes out tax free. gerri: it is a great thing. >> happens to be today's

gerri you and i talked before about colleges in texas and how they're starting to give a different alternative education to a lot of kids so you can

test out a lot of the early stuff. i think we'll see that growing a whole lot more in the future and a lot more catering to alternative students. and i do agree with what you said, everything is negotiable. that's a life lesson, everything is negotiable. gerri: quickly before we go, go around the table here, i'm asking the question online learning, would you put your kids into an online school rob, you first? >> without question. not just available for undergrad students, we do a best online mba, list came out a couple of weeks ago, students are doing it on the level as well. gerri: remember, you can disagree if you want to, david. >> i think online learning is the future, and what you see is online learning is going to change the system for education it's going to ultimately reduce the costs substantially because it's going to make the schools way more competitive and that's going to put a lot of the schools out of business because of online learning. gerri: larry thumbs-up or thumbs-down. >> thumbs-up with a thumbprint

to make sure you're doing the work. gerri: stick around. advice on keeping your health care costs down next, how do we get people buying homes again? if you're in the market, what should you be doing right now? housing advice, coming up, introducing a breakthrough in time management technology. a whole new day of the week, it's called, someday... ingenious.

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. gerri: owning a home is the ultimate american dream or at least it was. a perfect storm of lackluster economy, tough lending requirements and tight inventory sent the home ownership rate to a 25-year low. what needs to be done to boost housing? here to weigh in doug, greg mcbride, rick sherga executive vice president for auction.com, and vera gibbons. i'm going to put something out on the table and want to hear what you guys think.

i've been a big bull on housing for a long time. i believe if you want to be a financial success in this world, you own your own home. let me share numbers in the federal reserve to prove my point. the median home owner $105,000. the median network of renters 5,000 bucks. if you want to be on the up and up, you want to say you are guiding your own ship, you're in charge, you got to own a house. doug, to you first? >> i think, the key in this market is young people, that's the missing part of this market. 24 million young people living with their parent, first-time homebuyers are 30% of the market, usually 40. the key is to get them back into the market. you have to be careful, if you're a young person, a house is like kids, they take all your time or money or both and you don't want to do it before you're ready, finish school -- gerri: to my point, and i want to bring vera here which is

don't you have to own your own home if you want to be a solid citizen? isn't that the way the american economy works? >> i think owning a home is the american dream, despite the statistics and the different surveys, we still want to own a home, a lot of people are jumping in because rents are ridiculous, rents are rising faster than home values. that's a problem, credit getting a mortgage has eased. that's going to push people in, and the fact that the market is showing more signs of stability people are feeling more confident about the market. that's going to get people in. 2015 i think is a good year. gerri: rick am i full of it or do you agree with me? >> gerri, i think you are absolutely spot on. every piece of research that's been done says the keys to the typical american family generating wealth is home ownership, that's why so many people aspire to it. it's not for everybody to what your earlier guests have been saying, there's a lot of personal responsibility that we

lost during this boom and bust cycle we just lived through, but all signs point to home ownership being a way to stabilize your income and make your financial future brighter. gerri: you know, greg, i take a look what's going on in the housing market right now you would think we have a big recovery going on. what's going on is housing prices are being bid to the sky, and first-time buyers can't afford to get into the market. what do you see? >> well household incomes haven't moved, and i think that's really the big thing holding back housing right now. when people see more money in the paycheck that's when they feel confident to buy a home, and also makes existing home owners put their homes on the market so they can look for the bigger house. that will alleviate the missing inventory concerns. getting housing refshed up is the fact that household incomes haven't gone up for too many people. gerri: doug, so many people say

the federal government has stood in the way of housing, but they've had every program known to man to boost home ownership rates. they've really manipulated this market, and they're doing it again. has the government gotten too involved or not doing enough? >> no there's just way too much going on. when you have 13 different housing mortgage assistance programs you know, the lenders don't know what the deal, is the borrowers don't know what the deal is. everyone stands back and is hesitant to move. i think the government needs to get out of way. put the crisis behind them, have a simple set of rules, and then the credit will ease somewhat and having done that, the key is getting income growth, get people in there, the placing where housing recovered has been the energy producing states where we've seen incomes rise rapidly, and we know that interest rates can only go up people have every incentive to get into the

high-priced housing market. gerri: it's the income, and vera, it is a tragedy, a tragedy that millennials cannot get into the housing market. what should they be doing? give them the best advice. >> save for the down payment. they can't do that because they're saddled with student loan debt, credit card debt, a slew of other issues. gerri: what do they do? >> plan now, start saving for the down payment now, any which way you can, i should have mentioned this in the previous block, it's our responsibility to become more financially literate. which mortgage is best for you, learn the ins and outs. gerri: rick, let me say, this bankers if they think you're worth, it they'll give you anything i've been shocked at the offers in the marketplace. really? i'm not spending that kind of dough. you have to know your own limitations here, you can't leave it to the marketplace to tell you. what do you say, rick? >> you know working for a company that does online auctions. we've seen people get overly

excited about the opportunity to buy something. that's part of the fun of being in an auction. you are absolutely right. people have to know their limits. one of the things that we haven't talked about, you mentioned millennials and how important it is to get them engaged. they are simply not ready psychologically to move into home ownership, and while we're going through a cycle right now where the drive toward home ownership at an early age is slow. eventually the millennials will come in but to vera's point, they need to do it in a way that's financially responsible and only when they're ready or we're going to go through another one of the boom and bust cycles which doesn't do anyone any good. gerri: i can't remember who said it wait until the millennials have kids. not good night yet. and coming up the hour of advice continues as our experts tell us what you need to be doing right now to make your retirement much more comfortable? plus health care costs through the roof largely thanks to obamacare. we'll tell you how to keep your

next bill from bankrupting you? stay with us.

>> >> welcome back. we bring you the best advice on health care but it is time to look at other stories. elected as of this term to the head of fifa despite the criminal investigation for corruption. he has led fifa is 17 years. flooded streets in texas and arkansas with a heavy wave of continuing to plague their region. the death toll has hit 26 and 13 are still missing. u.s. attorney's office in chicago says there are no plans to arrest former house speaker hazard after he was indicted yesterday on charges from hush money. he is also charged with

lying to the fbi. congress wants answers from the faa after the fox business investigation after questionable hiring practices. 15 members sent a letter to the chairman requesting more information call the for a probe. this is stories in the news tonight. from the very beginning obamacare was plagued with issues. the enrollment numbers, we did not know the complex tax in a legal obligations. our news poll finds half of respondents are worse off because of the signature lot. welcome to you. let's start with you. i have struggled for so long to give good advice what people should do with the new health care landscape because obamacare changed everything to raise prices.

what is the big changes of the landscape? >> number one you have to get the right health insurance. it is different if you are young with kids don't just take whatever policy. you have to manage your health insurance to get the right to value it is a lot of money. many employers only offer one or two plants so do the best that you can on the insurance side. is this the cheapest way to do this? with the cost is an issue. >> let me recommend a website.

and to find out what people are charging for surgery a different procedures to compare then disallow issue to hold seats to the fire to get the lowest price possible. the one of the issues out there is a whole world is changing and obamacare ben not even be the lot of the landed another month and it could be gone. >> my greatest advice is always have the plant whether it is what you have now or to sell the insurer justin know your medical history. where are you in your life? pre-existing conditions and to see if they want to ensure you. also sometimes they have and

nurse his assistance talk to them about the different applications made your bills, times have you been double billed for overbuild. just call them. gerri: i have to bring up one more thing. not too long ago i interviewed a woman from texas with three kids you decided based on cost she would not pay for health care that she could afford out-of-pocket. >> we make 80,000 to we find to pay for health insurance would pay for self pay. plus to include the penalty is still cheaper to pay monthly for health care.

gerri: she actually had a catastrophic problem person had to have surgery they paid out of pocket and they said we cannot afford it cut the price they cut in half and still have lower costs than through obamacare. what do they do in this situation? to make the key is that there is room to negotiate in the prices that are charged. you cannot understand a typical hospital bill. we haven't found out how to deliver those services. to seek out the lower cost of performers. >> we're still waiting. if you want to compare prices it is the great way to reach she get the lowest price possible.

investigate. >> will get the bill and it pushed back because sometimes you are overbuild andy you can cut the cost. gerri: our vice continues with the biggest money issue is in your life. retirement. how to make sure that your nest egg lasted what you should do right now. but first year is your consumer gauge with the numbers that mean the most to you.

gerri: how ready are you for retirement? it is sent impossible but with real answers from u.s. financial services and even david from financial-services. look at the savings rate in this country 18 percent not

saving anything at all. >> people need to wake up. what do we know about people who do well financially? they pay themselves first and save at least an%. we track self-made millionaires 16% of their income is saved. you have to get over it. you have to run the numbers no the math of retirement planning. >> half of us do not even know the numbers. take a look. get a ballpark estimate how much you will need to live comfortably. gerri: what is the single biggest mistake they are making? >> they don't have a written plan and they don't pay

themselves. one of the biggest mistakes is a lack of financial education. there are few class's. >> but you cannot hide behind that parker you have to educate yourself. >> that is part of the answer but my number one piece of advice for people to retire is to kick your adult kids out of the dole if you have 60 percent who paid 18 through 34 year-old in some way to help them financially you are a bad parent. you are making a mistake that is being and enable there. and to take care of herself to get rid of the adult kids gerri: you see this all the time. they're ironing your clothes

in making your lunch. what is going on and? to make it must be a guilt trip. everybody once their kids to do better. as a gentleman just said we are enablers. we are paying schoolbag and rents and phone bills. gerri: i want you to move on. what does it take to get people serious to put cash together? >> you have to prioritize. all lots of this is the of complacency we have seen because the parents did okay but they had pensions as we age more and more people will run into problems and millenials have the memo and have of higher propensity to save and will save for retirement earlier than

previous generations and we need more of that. >> to have that savings options. >> here is what needs to happen really need to make people automatically here is where they had told them with the for all 1k plan for to you force them to opt out to and what we have seen across the board companies with a 401k plan targeting savings rates as high as 9% that changes the game. >> get works and i love you by the way. [laughter] >> you could be wrong on this.

they know that is the good point i'd let the government to tell me what to do with my money. >> you spend so much time to pull americans about attitudes what will it take? larry says you have to educate but there are people who are trying to educate. it doesn't seem like people are getting on board. >> we looked at this recently in terms of how much people are saving. which income groups had the highest propensity to save more than 10%? it was middle-income households middle america. everyday people figured it out. there are people out there that knows eating is not a function of ben, but disciplined you have to pay yourself first. they are going to be the

next millionaires. >> if you figure that earlier if you put that away until your '40's or '50's you will try to stash away 50 percent. >> why is it only the business graduates no time the value of money? you can put a little tiny bit here and there. >> teach the kids. as parents you teach them about money. i have taught my incense five years old. teach them and this is what we do for our clients. is starts at the kitchen table. gerri: let's talk about social security and it all goes away very soon larry. now there are candidates who say if you make a lot of

money you shouldn't get any at all. people paid into social security all their lives did not want to be told they will not get what they think they are owed. >> taipei into wooded is my money. but i do think we have created a society that has the expectation that the government will be there. but the moms and dads are not doing the job to teach their kids. >> all the people and congress so they have the retirement benefit with the health plan you can see how quickly they change things. >> they have a question if it will be around in the future.

ben house alleges is for taxes even if social security is around. gerri: there is so much money even if people don't do the right thing somebody in washington and will figure out made they should not be tax free. thank you for staying with us. as we hit some of the big topics like taxes.

gerri: we are back with our panel.

starting with you there is taxes. you can do what you can't what is your best advice for americans right now who are worried they haven't gotten their refund because it has been stolen? >> i don't think it has been stolen. [laughter] >> i have the bigger issue with the identity. for those who would have been dead. taxes are a good thing for i have no problem paying taxes i have earned money. but when i am overtaxed that they are used for the. that is how people should be more upset that they are accusing us -- of using us.

gerri: have you ever seen a stupid tax? >> maybe the way they spend the money at all know there is stupid taxes but i agree wholeheartedly a fair tax is necessary to run the government but it is how the money is spent to what we should be more concerned about. gerri: b.c. it is unbelievable ways there are a lot of breaks for taxpayers out there. looking for your deduction and. because that will reduce your tax is dollar for dollar but if you want to get personal i have been is in the york state for how long? just get that right.

everybody has a story. >> we have a lot of clients that older they make you take that money out it is 78 and 1/2. the irs will penalize so why is it so complicated? the reason the government has made is because it is complicated. the beneficiaries, that age are you still working? to get professional help is a ticking time bomb make sure they have done this don't do the calculations yourself meet with a financial planner.

gerri: with somebody that knows this is the tragedy. if you want to have the recipient is super complicated. now with my complaint with the irs, here is what is going on. the irs says professional criminals. it is russians. because the irs is not watching it selfie and doing what they should be. what do you make of it? >> if it comes from the government nobody is watching anybody. that is pretty much every branch of government. i agree it is just too complicated and it can be much simpler that would help every but a. it is probably a shady deal all around.

>> a simple tax code. p.m. they go together? >>. gerri: that's true. a good point for you are upset that i understand. but what has gone on with the irs is astonishing the way they have lied to help people to different standards there has to be a better way. >> that is a very good question we have no idea. [laughter] >> she is super honest. i love it. you have been terrific. we will be rig

calling golf a game is like calling an astronaut a pilot. the word just doesn't have enough oomph(!) to describe it. golf lures you in with its fresh air and furry creatures. one minute you're on top of the world, next, you're on a dogleg left headed right... and you don't have to be super-human to play. this game is for everyone. there's a lot to love about golf. and all of us at the usga want to make sure it stays that way for years to come. discover more @ usga.org

don't talk, when we don't touch ♪ ♪ when it doesn't feel like we're even in love ♪ ♪ it matters to me ♪ ♪ when i don't know what to say ♪ ♪ don't know what to do ♪ ♪ don't know if it really even matters to you ♪ ♪ it matters to me. ♪

gerri: they'd you for inviting us into your home every weeknight. has been a pleasure and an honor to bring you the best consumer information on cable. a quick shout out to the best team on television. my a producers and my husband is here also. everybody is waving. my heartfelt gratitude to roger ailes the best television producer in the world. stay in touch with me on twitter and facebook watch this space on monday for a new show and making money with charles payne is up next. we will see you soon.

. neil: all right, a show alert for you, the last time you'll see me at 8:00 p.m. on this fine channel. last time. you might as well record it for posterity, could be a collector's item. our new schedule kicks in across the fox network, "cavuto coast-to-coast," two hours beginning at noon 2:00 p.m., completely unscripted live for live, live for news, no matter where it's happening, we are happening. we figure we owe you that with so much going on in the world, to be there live as it's happening. matters the most. what does that mean on a story like this? well we would be there in the middle of the day talking about concerns we might be entering a