The “burn the mortgage” question was kind of tongue in cheek. If we do it, it will be a photocopy. We tend on the “keep too much paperwork” side. Cleaning out the study is on the list…still have all the paperwork from every one of our nine home purchases, dating back to 1979. Not to mention 40 years of cancelled checks. Time to start shredding!
The mortgage doc is not all that important (except from maybe a sentimental aspect). The important document is the discharge, and verification that the discharge has been recorded.
I’ve had refi’s where at the last minute a lawyer realizes some other mortgage in the past never had a discharge properly recorded, then a panic-driven fire drill ensues as they try to track everything down from banks that no longer exist and law firms that have vanished.
My credit union regularly has “shredding days” where you can bring stuff in to get shredded. See if anyone around you offers this, it beats the heck out of feeding paper into a shredder a few pieces at a time for hours.
Estate Planning &Trusts: Yet another detour on this great thread. Sorry if it has been covered on an earlier page. Like @dragonmom, we hoped to simplify any inheritance for our children, but as we age, things just seem to become more complicated. (Or maybe I’m getting less able to handle the complexity). It is my understanding that the need for revocable living trusts has diminished largely because estate taxes no longer apply to most estates, and definitely not ours. We named a friend as executor, thinking the last thing our children would want to deal with besides a parent’s death is all the finances. However,are trusts still worth the time, and aggravation to establish, to make any inheritance simpler for our children (assuming there are no special needs we or our children have)? Would POD/TOD accounts suffice except for any real estate?
I think it really depends on total projected assets and what MAY happen with estate and gift taxes at the state and federal level between now and when you die. Trusts don’t have to be complicated. The one for SisIL was just so we could have things pass from her to brothers without huge probate costs. As soon as everything was distributed, the trust was closed. (It took about 2 years–executor and estate attorney handled it all for less than would have been paid in probate fees.)
I thought the main reason for revocable living trusts was to skip probate.
Some states don’t follow the federal numbers for estate tax exemptions, I think trusts are still useful in those states.
ETA: even while dealing with a parent’s death, I don’t think I would want someone outside the family as executor, unless things were really complicated, and then I think a lawyer might be better than a friend.
Yes, we have the trust instead of probate. It saved $$$ for estate. Our executor was the partner of a cousin who is a law grad and paralegal and had been executor of several prior estates. The executor lived in same city as deceased and where property was located.
Agree that some states have estate and gift taxes for much smaller estates than the fed govt and trusts are helpful in such situations.
We are moving many assets to a trust to simplify things for our kids. My mom was recently the executor for a relative and we were all amazed at how fast things went. I don’t want any money that we might have left going to unnecessary taxes.
Meanwhile, we intend to fully enjoy any fruits of our frugal lifestyle
My emoji doesn’t seem to show up…champagne toast to mortgage ended!
@kjofkw , one reason we decided to establish a trust instead of POD or beneficiary accounts is that we have only our savings as retirement . Which means that if we both get hit by a bus tomorrow, there’s a much larger amount than usual getting passed on than will probably be left (if anything). Which of course we hope never happens, but just in case…protection for kiddos.
“It is my understanding that the need for revocable living trusts has diminished largely because estate taxes no longer apply to most estates, and definitely not ours.”
RLTs do not let you avoid estate taxes, they allow to postpone the taxation until the survivor’s death. Additionally, if your state has a nasty, complex probate process, it will save the survivor some major headaches.
If you own real estate out of state, unless it is in a trust or in an LLC, it will have to be probated in that state. Many WA residents who own condos in HI keep them in trusts or LLCs for that particular reason.
Another interesting tidbit that many folks do not know: your will becomes a public record (as a court record), but trusts are completely private. So if you do not want your assets to be disclosed to the public, put them in a trust.
Consult a knowledgeable estate attorney!
Speaking of avoiding probate, in WA, we have a new form of a non-probate way of transferring a RE asset: transfer on death deed.
https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2015/jun/01/all-about-transfer-on-death-deeds/
One final paragraph on wind. Thanks everyone for their support. I’m not sure yet of individual resident’s feelings. Wind companies act in secrecy the first several years, obtaining leases with options, and with GAG orders, on all leases–so one doesn’t know which neighbor(s) are installing them. The local paper has published one paragraph. It will be 95% done by the time people wake up and realize the impact. The county receives incentive payments from the developers, so they have a very vested interest and are not disclosing amounts. Thinking about filing a Freedom of Information act request for those. I’m a good fighter, but tired of fighting.
As for mortgage payoffs, I paid off the farm this week. I paid off the house 7 years ago and considered a mortgage burning, but the whole payoff thing just wasn’t nearly as exciting as I had anticipated for years. The farm was much larger debt, and is satisfying to pay off. I asked Farm Credit if they sent back a “paid” mortgage. Nope. I asked if the county recorder sent back something that said “paid”. Nope. Guess I have nothing to burn.
Do it, sryrstress. I know you are weary, but it probably takes awhile to get that Freedom of Information act, and you don’t want to get the information after you are staring at it in your backyard.
And then give it to the press. I would think this would be a huge story, and honestly, I would have thought that they would have followed up on it and filed for the information already.
Well, it’s starting. I signed up for Medicare Part A yesterday with my 65th birthday coming up in a few weeks. Pretty easy to enroll online. No need for Parts B and D yet as I’m still working and I get better benefits through employer-sponsored health insurance.
Enrolling in Medicare makes me feel old—more than getting my AARP card which youngsters of 50 can get. More than using the senior discounts at the local fish market and the parking ramp next to my doctor’s office. This feels like a major step toward retirement, even though I expect not to fully retire until I’m 70. My employer will allow me to do a phased retirement, cutting back on my hours with a pro rata reduction in salary, but full benefits, including health insurance and the employer’s full contribution to my retirement account as if I was working full-time. Pretty sweet deal.
When I do the numbers it looks like we should have plenty of resources to support our present standard of living—though we’ll almost certainly downsize because we don’t need this much house, and we certainly don’t need all the headaches and expenses that come with owning this much house. But the thought of turning off the salary spigot still makes me nervous. That makes phased retirement all the more attractive: I can get big blocks of time off in the winter when we’ll want to be someplace warmer, but with salary still coming in, excellent health insurance, and retirement savings continuing to grow instead of dwindling. Then when I hit 70 I can get the maximum Social Security benefit (this is partly to protect my wife who is 5 years younger and healthier than I am, so if I die first, she’ll get my Social Security benefit in lieu of her own which will be smaller). Then at 70-1/2 I’ll need to start taking required minimum distributions from retirement accounts, so there’s not much point in working beyond that age. By then I think I’ll be ready for full retirement.
Congrats @bclintonk! My H also took Medicare A shortly after he turned 65 but didn’t get part B until he was fully retired because his family medical plan provided great coverage for him, me and our kids under 26. He also worked until he was 70 and it was very helpful having his stream of income and allowing his pension to grow and not needing to take funds to supplement it.
H says he mainly feels old when he has aches and pains and when he’s tired. Otherwise, we are enjoying life and the changes that have happened now that he’s fully retired and we can set our own schedule based on our preferences and spending time with loved ones. We have the same house we bought over 30 years ago–it was fine for raising our 2 kids and still a good size for H and me. It’s all one level as well, so we plan to stay in it. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, so it’s great when the kids come to visit or we have guests.
Just an aside about retirement income. I got my cost of living increase for my teachers retirement. I’m getting $11 a month more starting now. Every penny counts.
sryrstress, an letter to the editorial laying out the issues might get some attention in the community and the newsroom. We passed a wind farm in western MD on the way home today. I cannot fathom having one so close to my home. Do you have a community Next Door listserve? Ours has been waging a campaign against someone who wants to turn a house she bought in our neighborhood into a 30-child day care center. They’ve made yard signs and we’ve written letters to Planning & Zoning and other officials.
“Do people still burn the mortgage in a ceremony with champagne like my in-laws did decades ago?” - I actually gave that some thought recently (we have 3+ more years but have considered pros/cons of paying off early). In our case, we have some friends not so fortunate. One family has had to refinance many times to cover unexpected expenses. So when we do pay off the mortgage, DH will probably just do a champagne toast ourselves.
Maybe it used to be the norm that you would buy a house and stay in it long enough to pay off the mortgage. My mother used to talk about expensive purchases she wasn’t going to make by saying “We’d have to take out a second mortgage to buy that.” Now, people refinance and get HELOCs and it seems either more common or more acceptable to have debt on your house almost indefinitely.
We didn’t tell anyone when we paid off our house, but I bought some nice steaks and we enjoyed them with some nice wine. You never know what financial strains other people are experiencing. Or maybe you do. And, as on the other thread going right now, there is always the chance that one of your nearest and dearest will say “No more mortgage payments for you? Great, you can loan me some money, then!”
we bought a cabin about 4 years ago and paid it off earlier this year. We didn’t make a big deal out of it because we didn’t want people to think we were rolling in dough. For me - it felt like a luxury so I wanted to pay it off as quickly as I would pay off any other “toy” I go into debt for. Now all that extra dough is going to tuition!
We have come to the realization that our mortgage amount is probably about the amount that it will take for me to cover my own medical insurance premiums when I retire (DH is older and will be eligible for Medicare). Sigh.