Retirement thoughts Past Present Future

[Gale Hawkins]

@Gale Hawkins Sorry about the aching bones and body. I can relate.

This is a shameless plug for Power-Trac tractors that use front mounted attachments, and have an easy on/off compared to standard tractors. Here is a brush mower;

My mower is 72" wide, and while perhaps not as powerful as some of the skid steer versions, it will take out a 4" oak. Unpowered attachments are on/off in less than fifteen seconds from the tractor seat, and powered ones are two minutes or so to clean the hydraulic couplers and attach them. Oh, and the tractor seat is about 24-30" off the ground for an easy step on / step off.


Iceland has always sounded wonderful to me.

All the best,

Peter

Thanks. That's a nice solution
Iceland's current shaking volcanoes is concerning but expect populated areas are not at risk.

 

[ponytug]

They have it pretty dialed in up there.

I recommend John McPhee's three part article/book on Iceland, the coming collapse of the Lower Mississippi and debris flows in Los Angeles.

https://www.amazon.com/Control-Nature-John-McPhee/dp/0374522596

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

Family Trusts as part of retirement strategy...

When Dad passed 24 years ago a trust was in place to cover his share of a very modest commercial parking lot.

Now that both Mom and Dad are gone the bank locked access to the trust... I can still deposit the monthly $1200 rent but no access to pay property taxes, business license etc.

The bank says they cannot find the copies of the trust that have been twice furnished... I said how can you loose them?

Bank says not lost but can be anywhere because so long ago yet same bank address where it was opened.

To move forward I need to furnish another copy legal review, it will be scanned and archived system wide and they will let me know?

A friend said mom could and should transfer all the funds except maybe a dollar... but I said why would we do that when she was going to Hospice?

Guess life would have been simpler...

How can I trust a bank that has lost documents twice and why would I consent to having then digitized as Trust are suppose to be private?

 

[ericm979]

When my mom passed and I was executor of her very modest estate, it took 8 months to get her bank to close her accounts. It was like they'd never dealt with a customer passing away before! Each time I went in I got a different story. It eventually took many documents, all notarized by their notary, to do it. Contrast with my dad's credit union which bent over backwards to help me deal with his accounts even though I was in a different state.

This same bank had sold mom some bogus life insurance with the payments deducted monthly from her bank account. The only info I had was the bank statements which were incomprehensible. The bank refused to help me, stating that it was done by an "affiliate" so they would do nothing. I eventually gave up. Of course the insurance did not pay out.

Big business in the US have been allowed to become predatory. Preying on old people is the worst.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep… social security had reclaimed payment within a few days after her passing triggering being locked out.

Comprehensive retirement thoughts sure can cover a lot of ground.

Of course bank can’t really discuss anything but Medicare supplement and part D is still debiting with another letter received saying it can take 90
days… but with social security no longer coming in I asked who is responsible for overdraft etc… with no one to manage?

On a side note it just seemed very wrong to have mom clean out accounts when she started hospice which could have been easily done online… but now I understand why some recommended it to me so there would be one less thing to deal with…

I’m thinking maybe I should divert the future rent income and just track the expenses against it until resolved.

Mom has always been on my accounts and even one of those flagged but it is under my social security so got that straightened out.

It’s kind of ironic in that by-pass trusts common in the 90’s are now a burden with little to no benefit under todays tax structure… not to mention 24 years of filing two extra tax returns every year and losing or possibly loosing the step up on dads share of the parking lot… 100k at the time he passed and maybe 450k today

Aside from moms home and dads interest in half the parking lot with his brother there is nothing else of value as no brokerage accounts, valuables, etc.

 

[goeduck]

Since we are discussing post death, to avoid having to account for (and distribute) income in subsequent years, try to get misc. bank accounts into non-interest-bearing.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good idea and makes sense…

Many years ago I opened a money market sweep account that was to ALWAYS pay the banks highest unrestricted interest except for the limitations of 6 transactions per 30 day statement cycle.

The interest fell to pennies each month as rates declined and bank’s policy now is essentially leave this type account a non interest account but for those ready to close the account they offer a new elite High Yield account totally unrestricted 4.25%

I wonder how many retired seniors have money earning nothing in these old high yield accounts paying nothing which is also where the trust money is?

That said I can honestly say I love my Credit Union except geographically.

The bank is 2 minutes walking and no love for the institution except the tellers treat me well.

 

[bigtiller]

Good idea and makes sense…

Many years ago I opened a money market sweep account that was to ALWAYS pay the banks highest unrestricted interest except for the limitations of 6 transactions per 30 day statement cycle.

The interest fell to pennies each month as rates declined and bank’s policy now is essentially leave this type account a non interest account but for those ready to close the account they offer a new elite High Yield account totally unrestricted 4.25%

I wonder how many retired seniors have money earning nothing in these old high yield accounts paying nothing which is also where the trust money is?

That said I can honestly say I love my Credit Union except geographically.

The bank is 2 minutes walking and no love for the institution except the tellers treat me well.

Shop around, there are better deals out there. I just bought a 12 month certificate of deposit that pays 5.25% from US Bank.

 

[ultrarunner]

Shop around, there are better deals out there. I just bought a 12 month certificate of deposit that pays 5.25% from US Bank.

With my zip code at the branch Saturday 4.5 was the offering... but all subject to change.

Thanks for the heads up

 

[MossRoad]

Family Trusts as part of retirement strategy...

When Dad passed 24 years ago a trust was in place to cover his share of a very modest commercial parking lot.

Now that both Mom and Dad are gone the bank locked access to the trust... I can still deposit the monthly $1200 rent but no access to pay property taxes, business license etc.

The bank says they cannot find the copies of the trust that have been twice furnished... I said how can you loose them?

Bank says not lost but can be anywhere because so long ago yet same bank address where it was opened.

To move forward I need to furnish another copy legal review, it will be scanned and archived system wide and they will let me know?

A friend said mom could and should transfer all the funds except maybe a dollar... but I said why would we do that when she was going to Hospice?

Guess life would have been simpler...

How can I trust a bank that has lost documents twice and why would I consent to having then digitized as Trust are suppose to be private?

Once you get it all straightened out, switch to another financial institution and let them know why.... poor service. Most likely, nothing will change, but you'll have the satisfaction of not having to deal with them anymore.