All you rich folks - looks like I'm (almost) one of you. What should we do?
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Anonymous
Exactly. |
Anonymous
Sigh. What makes you think I'm not doing that? Unfortunately though there are many practical things to do when someone dies. And many decisions to be made. Much more than I would ever have imagined. We're all devastated (and this didn't happen yesterday, BTW). We're evaluating everything in our lives right now (we've had other life changes recently too). The most pressing things right now aside from finalizing the estate, are probably setting up a will (which we probably should have done before but haven't). It's made me very concerned about what happens to our children if we die. What's particularly upsetting is that the one person that we would most want to ask advice of on all this stuff is no longer here. I wasn't really expecting to find out much new here but my original thought was that I was interested to hear some opinions on pros and cons of paying off the mortgage (which we'll likely talk about more in the next year or so) and the process of working with a financial advisor. |
Anonymous
That's true and that money won't be touched except for required minimum distributions. |
Anonymous
Interested, why would we need more life insurance? I would thought having more assets would mean that we'd need less life insurance? Or at least the same, but not more. |
Anonymous
This went right over my head earlier. You have no idea. Truly. But I should have expected nastiness from DCUM, after all that is the default mode here. (I guess I asked for it when I poked fun at the crazy rich people here on DCUM in my title. I wrote that not long after reading a thread where someone claimed that she and her husband both made $2million a year. I know I'm talking about pocket change for many of you). |
Anonymous
| If your combined income is $85K and you make 80 percent of that, then your husband has income of 15k? And retirement savings of $20k? And you are in your late thirties? Why then would you pay off the mortgage with interest rates so low when the inheritance could go to funding retirement? |
Anonymous
This. I inherited about 200k last year, which my mom left to me, not to us Obviously my whole family will benefit from this, but DH understands that it is my money and not ours. |
Anonymous
| Haven't read all the responses but keep the money separate so that it does not become communal marital property in case of divorce. Not that most people listen. |
Anonymous
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Financial advisers who are fee only would probably charge you several hundred dollars (maybe up to $1000) for a comprehensive review of your finances and advice on how to invest the inheritance money. But ask up front about costs and how they charge.
I would recommend this for your situation because it is pretty much what you need right now -- a check up. (I'm not an adviser, I am just someone who tries to know about money management, and I am the PP who went to the adviser friend and got some good free advice. I also know I am going to inherit a fair amount someday, so I am trying to educate myself now). Many other advisers charge a percentage based on the amount of your account which they are managing for you (often it's 1%; often they have a minimum to open an account). That's probably not what you want right now. I wouldn't recommend your giving the inheritance money over to an adviser to manage as that's a big commitment, and as you said, you may want do other things like pay down the mortgage, college savings, etc. The other thing is if you go to an adviser who charges a percentage, they will be foaming at the mouth to get you to open an account with them with the inheritance money. I find that to be a potential conflict of interest. So I tend to think the fee only route is the way to go. That way, you are just paying for their expertise and they have no incentive to steer you in a particular direction which could benefit them. Someday you may want to open an investment account or roll over a 401K or Roth IRA and allow an adviser to manage it for you and take a percentage. But I think you are far from that (most of us are!). Advisers who charge a percentage will also give you general advice, but their primary goal is to have an account which they manage for you and maximize the returns from that account so their percentage is maximized. Make sense? Good luck. |
Anonymous
| If you invest most of the money in Vanguard funds (which is never a bad idea), you may well have enough in there to qualify for Vanguard's free financial advising. Sure, I'd imagine they'll steer you only to Vanguard funds (which are great for most people anyway), but they'll at least give you good advice on which types of funds and retirement accounts. You can always put it in Vanguard temporarily, get the free financial advice, and then shift it out to wherever you need it. |
Anonymous
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You're not rich, but if you ever become rich, rile number one is to keep it to yourself. If people stumble over themselves trying to find out any financial information (they do), decide they are not for you.
You sound like you are mostly conservative with your amount, which is a very good place to start, OP. |
Anonymous
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On life insurance, you should probably have more on you than on your spouse as you are the major breadwinner. Maybe $1M at least. That will cost about $100/month. Then $1M on him would be twice that. I would also put $5000 into a Roth in your name and the same in a Roth in your spouses name. Then $4000 for each kid each year in the DC 529s. You could do twice though, just not take the $4000 off on your taxes. Make sure you are doing the max on your 401K (I think you said you were doing that).
You could also pay down your mortgage one or two extra payments a year (send in $200 extra a month). That way you'll have your house paid off much sooner but keep the tax deduction now. You'll save a ton in interest over the years. Since some of your inheritance is tied up in property I'd pretend it wasn't there at this time and keep on with your conservative lifestyle (finances wise). Also I'd roll over the IRA into your husband's name, and then add your name to it if he'll let you do that. Or you can be the beneficiary. Good luck with everything. If you are in DC I'd suggest Michele Davos as a good estate attorney. Flat fee, personable, knowledgeable. You can do all the docs you need for the will, custody, health power of attorney, etc. The inheritance will give you a bit of financial buffer but as other posters have pointed out, it's not really that much in the scheme of things, so no lifestyle change. |
Anonymous
np here: yes (sigh), you did ask for it with your title. |