How many winners from America’s got talent, American Idol or The Voice have shows somewhere off the strip?
Maybe you could rent out the condo when you’re not there? Not that it would help much, since probably the pricey CCRC is the big factor. I vote to leave the kids less but give them the gift of not having to stress over you in later years.
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Yes, it’s the CCRC at 80 and the amount of money we are trying to leave the kids. Buying the condo had almost no effect at all. Every year we delay going into the pricey place makes doing everything we want more doable. I appreciated the reality check.
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Some friends are really at the point that they have to make some decisions (she is 79 and he is turning 79 in Dec). They are former neighbors that have been close friends since we were neighbors in 1984 (we still live not far from their house) in the city where they both were employed. He actually worked remote some and highly paid part-time work up until 2 years ago (engineer manager and very skilled). They have a 3 BR condo on waterfront about 6 1/2 hours’ drive away - which is the husband’s preferred home. She truly needs assisted living - relies on her husband. They have health care both places. She actually had a stroke in the car on a drive back to the condo 2 years ago (she slumped over in the car) and he was a short distance from an ER/Hospital and she had 100% recovery from the stroke. She has had a hip replacement, uses a walker, and not too motivated to move around. They have the resources, it is just the decisions. I told the wife that moving into assisted living, she has moved from this house what she wants/needs that can fit in assisted living, and just let the rest go. It would make sense to have care come in at the condo and then maybe assisted living near there. No need to disrupt the condo (which is actually quite large, and the value is high as long as there is not a hurricane….). Who knows who will outlive who, but I would expect she will go first - she also has 3 heart stents. If the husband would have been on blood thinner at the time of his injury, he would have needed ambulance/ER at injury time. He was just returning from the dentist after some bridge work.
He stumbled backwards on steps right off their driveway on Monday and wacked the back of his head on the concrete. He was having more persistent pain from rib area, and I knew about his status; he only wanted to go to ER with the rib pain that persisted Tuesday morning. When he decided he needed to get checked out, I was available to take him to preferred ER and I did (preferred over ambulance). I stayed with him through the evaluation, scans. I got him a phone charger when we knew he was going to the distant hospital. His ribs/back/neck are fine, but he needs to go to a hospital with a neuro unit/neurology services for further evaluation. They are letting him have just ice chips - since it has been more than 24 hours Tuesday morning, it will be up to the neurologist/neurosurgeon to determine if any CT changes and if any surgery is needed. I am a retired nurse (BSN). I took preferred carryout food to the wife and chatted with her briefly (as I am leaving town and used a big chunk of my needed time at home). I talked to her about needing to make decisions soon because their situation is not going to hold up. She has other local friends and a cousin to help her with needs the time her husband is away. The wife has no children; his two sons are in other states with young families - he has a good relationship with them but at this point, he would not be seeking living near either of them. I’m sure he prefers the condo while he can still manage - and he has a maintained sailboat and a motorboat.
Husband is actually at the best place if he does need surgery, Our busy nearby level 1 trauma center hospital had 40 patients in ER (they would not transport him there until they committed to a bed available) while the distant big medical center hospital committed to taking him and committing a spot. If his neuro period means no surgery and he can return home by private vehicle, my husband can pick him up and bring him home to his wife (hospital is 100 miles away). I will be out of state with DD1/family.
DH and I are both healthy/age 69 this year. We have a plan once the shoe drops with SIL’s job transition and knowing that DD1’s family will remain in that city for us to move there.
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My husband just rolled over a significant amount of money from his 401K to an IRA, and is looking to invest it in something stable with a decent return. Fidelity’s settlement account where they keep your cash has about a 4.03% 7 day yield right now, if he does nothing. Anyone have an idea of something with a better yield than that? It needs to be accessible in January, possibly.
There are some 5 to 6 month CD’s at around 4.4%. Really depends on how much liquidity is worth to him or if he just wants to park money until January with no principle risk.
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We should know within a couple days of how much liquidity he needs. If we go through with a real estate purchase we’re negotiating (fingers crossed), he may want to pull a lot of it out in early Jan to pay off a HELOC at 7.75%, so he wouldn’t want to delay doing that. Trying to keep our tax rate in check.
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Sounds like the money market is the way to go or a 1-3 month cd. If you do a cd, though, it could impact your timing, especially if you go out 6 months.
Doesn’t sound like you should take risk here. The difference between money fund and CD is not impactful.
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Does your state tax T-bill income? If so, you may want to consider short term Treasuries. The three month is at 4.2% & four month at 4.13%.
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No state tax, but it doesn’t matter anyways since it’s in a Rollover IRA.
Oops! I missed that the money was in an IRA. I skimmed and saw that it may be used to pay off a high interest loan so assumed it was post-tax.
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Yeah, it’s money that we were likely going to take out sometime next year anyways due to trying to max out a specific tax category, but if we get this property and are running up our HELOC, we’d use it to pay that off ASAP. Just wish the realtors would get to it and let us know whether we have a deal or have to negotiate. Waiting stinks!
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Short term treasury products show pay approximately fed rate - expense ratio. Fed is currently 4.25% to 4.5%. This fits with the Fidelity product you mentioned. Expense ratio is 0.42% so expected rate is roughly ~4.4% - 0.42% ~= 4%. If you choose a treasury product with no expense ratio, expected rate is a little under 4.5% + fully state/local tax exempt. An example is a T-bill. The latest t-bill auction was 4.4%. Treasury yield curve currently shows 4.4% for 1 month and 4.3% for 3 months (rates are dropping).
If you want to keep things more simple, you could buy a treasury ETF like USFR from your Fidelity account. Expense ratio is 0.15%, so has 4.2-4.3% yield. As I recall it was ~99% state/local tax exempt last year.
Other ways to increase yield include increasing risk level or reducing liquidity, which I expect you want to avoid.
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What do you all think about the SECURE 2.0 changes for 2026? Specifically, “catch-up” contributions are limited to Roth instruments/taxability for people who made over a [not huge] threshhold last year from any one employer. I won’t hit the threshhold but I think DH will. We’re considering not having him do the catch-ups next year and putting the money into savings instead to build that up a bit.
How is putting after tax money into a fully taxable savings account better than putting money into a Roth 401k?
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In our case it just builds up other savings because I would like a bit more liquidity, and the nontax status (now) is lost anyway. We are going to have some more expenses this year and I’d like a bit of buffer, and this seems a reasonable way to do it.
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Roth contributions (contributions, not earnings) can be withdrawn at any age without penalty. If you need a buffer, you could use the contributions, regardless of whether they are made to Roth or after-tax.
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I didn’t know that; thank you!! That’s probably a better plan.
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Yep, Roths are great! That’s where my kids keep the bulk of their savings. The goal is that they won’t need to withdraw, but it’s easily available if they do.
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Neighbor was discharged at noon tody and DH brought him home. Soft collar for his neck/spine issue. I will find out more from DH if it was due to inflammation from the fall (with pain down on the one side of his back). He had not much to eat at the hospital due to
chance of needing urgent surgery.
I know he is glad to be back home, and maybe his wife will have more appreciation of him - but also hire some personal assistance help. I can tolerate doses of the wife, while DH not so much. The husband is quite tolerant but also a bit tortured because she can be a PITA but also she is frustrated and not dealing with limitations and depressed with vanity issues and getting old/worn out.