<p>Frankly I do not believe that any of us will have any funds the way the world is going. They are making paper out of our hard earned money.<br>
That makes planning much easier. I am planning to spend as much as possible as quickly as possible, I am in a process of it. I also have no plans to retire, I realize though that eventually I will be kicked out.<br>
My S. has been out of home for very long time and D. hopefully will be on her own without debt in about 3 years, she should have an income after Med. School, as I imagine,…but things could change. S’s income is higher than ours. D’s income should be there also,again if health care survives at all, it might not…</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, if that is your forecast, why not invest in hard assets? Gold, real estate, other commodities that tend to appreciate when paper currencies inflate? But, if you believe that your kids will make more than you and not need any help, then sure, why not spend it down (as long as you can predict your expected lifespan – you don’t want to have an Oops moment at age 102).</p>
<ol>
<li> Tithe.</li>
</ol>
<p>And then, if the windfall were big enough to accomodate all of this (which I don’t expect, but a girl can dream!):</p>
<ol>
<li> Bring our retirement funds up to $1M, because with my parents I’m seeing that half a million may be cutting it close.</li>
<li> Set up a 401K for D.</li>
<li> Pay off her education – her Stafford loans, our parent loans, and her final year (for which she’d get no aid, I imagine).</li>
<li> Quit my job.</li>
<li> Pay off the house.<br></li>
<li> Get a cleaning service (this is so small compared to the others, but I’ve never been able to justify it all these years)</li>
<li> Take a transatlantic cruise.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, with our truly horrendous record in the stock market, we are closely looking at real estate, where we at least get SOME positive cash flow, as well as some depreciation. We are also looking at Windhaven, which is supposed to be able to do better in these uncertain times. We will have to see how this goes.</p>
<p>The stock market has been on an absolute huge run for the past three years.</p>
<p>[The</a> New CS Board: The “Resilient Consumer” Rocket Index](<a href=“Error | InvestorsHub”>Error | InvestorsHub)</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>You can get these from Energy MLP trusts. There was one that I had where the depreciation was about equal to dividends/rental income/capital gains. I had income and capital gains but it wound up having zero tax impact. Doing the taxes on it was a huge pain in the neck but I was pretty amazed at the net result - income with no tax liability.</p>
<p>These might exist for real estate too. I’m into a larger Apartment Stock right now - and they clearly have pricing power to raise rents. They own properties in big cities where there isn’t a lot of new construction and not a lot of open space to build on.</p>
<p>overseas, living abroad and staying involved is all dependent on the personality involved. My dad chose to be rather aloof. My British grandmother was very involved in my early life, visited for a few weeks every other year, insisted on frequent letter writing, and funded a few trips when I got older. Unless in the same immediate area, it was a better example of involvement than some domestic long distance relationships. </p>
<p>I’m biding my time, to see where the offspring end up. Being close would be lovely. </p>
<p>Meanwhile should check into some of those investment ideas, BCEAgle, to be able to afford that move.</p>
<p>greatlakesmom, I think the Shawbridge family will be spread out. ShawD has evinced interest in living in Canada (where she is a dual citizen and we have a cottage on a lake) or in Boston (where she is studying nursing) but has said that once she becomes a nurse practitioner (4 years away), she can live anywhere she wants. ShawSon is highly ambitious (put an emphasis on highly). He is likely to go to grad school and then follow into business or academia wherever the opportunities are the greatest. His cousin did something similar and is now in investment banking in London. ShawSon realizes that finance is often done in cities and, if he pursues that route, he’ll likely be in a city for while (he prefers burbs, exurbs (more like where he grew up), or the country. But, could be in many places. So, my idea would be to live in a place that kids (with their kids) would like to visit.</p>
<p>BCEagle, interesting index. I have had a gas pipeline MLP. Did pretty well. Interesting to look at REITs some more. I think I have some. But, I’ve also got investments that are bets in some sense on volatility on the one hand (which do well when the markets drop quickly) and some on upside (including a PE fund investment) and some that are relatively uncorrelated (a couple of venture investments whose main risks are not the economy).</p>
<p>“We plan to do some more travel when H retires. Will probably maximize funding of IRAs and life insurance.”</p>
<p>Interesting - We’re doing almost the opposite. We’ve reduced life insurance - there’s less need for it once the kids are grown up. I always maximized 401k plans. As far as traveling, we’re maximizing our traveling now - before retirement because there will be less money after retirement and we’ll be older and less able to do certain traveling. We still plan on traveling afterwards but travel to certain places is quite expensive and can be physically demanding. Afterwards we’ll do the easy trips such as Europe which we have been to a number of times before anyways.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>I let my private policy lapse last year after thinking about it for several years. 50 years is where it goes up like crazy. I have 5x salary at my workplace but that’s only because life insurance is ridiculously cheap at work.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>We’re maxed in my 401K plan. We haven’t had time to travel - too much going on in the family. I expect that to stabilize this summer.</p>
<p>Shaw, my family always has been and will be spread out as well. My S is working towards a professional life in China, and my Ds, well, who knows. One just got her approval to teach English in France next year, the post graduation job. Late in life, after raising my kids to love travel and adventure, I’ve come to the conclusion that this spread out family stuff is sort of for the birds. Though it certainly comes with the territory of being educated folks who are not tied to the geography of place. </p>
<p>Personally, I’m trying to balance Canada and the USA, as I’m dual as well, but have lived my life in the USA. Need to figure out the details better. Any advice? </p>
<p>I set up non work related life insurance to cover grad school years for the kids, as well as paying off the mortgage, level term a number of years ago.</p>
<p>“My S is working towards a professional life in China” - where in China and doing what type of work?</p>
<p>He’s in grad school now, studying international relations in a program that focuses on a business and economic skill set, UCSD. He has lived in China for 3 years already teaching English and studying the language, and is continually working on his Chinese. He’s lived in Shanghai and Dalian.</p>
<p>I spent the month of July last year in China - I loved it. I did find Beijing more interesting than Shanghai however.</p>
<p>Yes, more history in Beijing, less business traditionally, though plenty of that these days. Fascinating place.</p>
<p>Maybe we will stick with the stock market and consider some energy stocks. We’re awfully good at choosing BAD stocks for reasons we can’t fathom. Will have to rethink market vs. real estate. Thanks to everyone for giving us more food for thought.</p>
<p>What is an energy MLP trust? Have never heard of that before.</p>
<p>Master Limited Partnership.</p>
<p>Does anybody here know what the tax ramifications are when stock is inherited? Is the basis stepped up to the date of inheritance or based on the original stock price. I know for a house, it is stepped up to the date of inheritance.</p>
<p>We should have a tax thread as we’re getting down to the wire.</p>
<p>I bought TurboTax this year. I had used TaxAct for the last ten years (it’s free) and spent $55 on TurboTax Premier. My Federal return took me about 1.5 hours. My returns normally take from 10 to 20 hours with most of that time spent on investments. TurboTax also found me $5,000 from prior-year returns so I will have to file amended returns to get that back. Basically TaxAct screwed up somewhere. I guess that I should have noticed it but usually I’m so frustrated after finishing up that I don’t care about a few thousand.</p>
<p>Son has to do the MA state return for 2011 and that return is a bear because 1) universal healthcare, and 2) MA likes to tax everything and give you a lot of deductions and credits for things. Should be a piece of cake with TurboTax state.</p>
<p>My daughter had a MA state tax return a few years ago when she was in school there. It was a real pain because she didn’t get a w2 but a 1099 misc. Apparently the school considered her as an independent worker. I used turbo tax and this year after looking at it more carefully, I think I did it incorrectly back then.</p>
<p>My son had income from NH, MA and ME in one year. Doing the apportioning thing with three returns was a real pain.</p>