Anyone that’s worked on a financial plan knows that life presents you with more and more decisions and scenarios as you grow older. As your portfolio grows and your family changes, there’s a lot to think about.

On this episode of Money Wisdom, we dip into the mailbag to answer questions from you about decisions facing parents, couples, and families when it comes to finances and estate planning. Come along as Joel provides information on each of these topics.

Financial Planning

As you probably know, money is one of the top reasons why couples argue in a relationship so it’s important to be on the same page with your partner or spouse. That takes us one of the questions on the show today from a listener that argues quite a bit with their husband over finances because they haven’t done a great job saving for retirement. If they truly argue everyday, that could be a problem that needs advice well beyond a financial planner, but the first step is to get a plan that both parties agree on and make sure you’re on the same page. There will be arguments from time to time but if you both know the goals and how to get there, it should make the process much easier.

Marriage and divorce are two important life events where money always needs to be a part of the conversation. What if you plan to marry someone significantly older than you, can that create any problems financially? The answer to that is no it shouldn’t but you’ll want to make sure you both have plans for how life will look once the first spouse retires well ahead of the other.

As for divorce, splitting assets will be an important part of that process. One listener asked whether it’s better to take half of a 401k or Social Security. Joel has a few follow-up questions that he would need answered but he’ll share some thoughts on which way is generally better.

Estate Planning

Let’s move to the estate planning portion of the conversation on today’s podcast, where we start with someone who is in a great position financially and knows there will be plenty to leave to family. Should they start giving some of that money away now so kids and grandkids don’t have to worry as much about estate taxes and probate? That could be a good idea and Joel talks about how he and his wife plan to handle this same decision.

Speaking of beneficiaries, someone asked us how they can determine what type of shape they’re in for retirement because they’ve recently inherited a house from their mother. The sister lives in it now but he thinks he might need proceeds from that sale to help fund retirement. In this case, you definitely want to sit down and go through your entire financial situation before forcing your sister out of the house. We have a Money Map process that will work through every part of your retirement and help you make that decision.

As always, you can reach out and set up a time to sit down with us for a complimentary review for this or any financial issue.

[0:21] – Mailbag Question 1: I’ve been very blessed and have more than I’ll probably need in my life. Should I start giving away money to my kids and grandkids now so they don’t have to worry as much about estate taxes and probate costs?

[2:05] – Mailbag Question 2: I’m thinking about getting married to someone 12 years old than me. I’m worried about what happens if he’s retired and I’m still working. Will this be a problem financially?

[4:29] – Mailbag Question 3: I’m in the middle of a divorce after 30 years of marriage. Would I be better off with half of his 401k or half of his pension?

[6:11] – Mailbag Question 4: My husband and I argue almost everyday about money because we haven’t done a good job of planning and it’s stressing us out. Is this normal or do we need some serious help?

[8:16] – Mailbag Question 5: I’m the executor of my deceased mother’s will and my sister is currently living in mom’s house. I don’t want to kick her out but I think I might need the money from the sale to fund my retirement. How do I figure out if I’m okay with what I have or if I need to kick my sister out?

[9:57] – Mailbag Question 6: My dad just died six months ago and I’m a little worried about my mom, who is in her late 70s and is now in charge of handling the investments for the first time in her life. I don’t know much about it myself so what should I tell her to do?

[11:45] – How can someone take advantage of the Money Map review process?

Thanks for listening to this episode. We’ll be back again next week for another show.