Setting my mom up for the rest of her life

[Anonymous]

My father recently passed away and my mother has about $900,000, and her house (worth about $500,000 -> and about $20K/yr expenses for the house) with which to live on for the rest of her life. She is 75.

My siblings and I want to set up a trust or an investment account, and hopefully generate about $40,000 in annual dividends and interest that she can live off. She also wants to take some of the principle and renovate her house. ("Some" is in dispute. She is addicted to renovations and could probably blow that entire amount of money doing crappy renovations. This is what worries us.)

How does one find a trustworthy for-fee financial planner? Or is this something that we could do ourselves? Any advice for us?

[Anonymous]

Look for an advisor from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, who are fee-only: http://www.napfa.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look for an advisor from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, who are fee-only: http://www.napfa.org/

I agree with this. My mom had similar assets and thanks to a great financial advisor, lived out her last years in comfort and peace, and still left something behind.