Need Advice on Being Prepared in Case of Death of Myself or Spouse (pay, million)

[Riley14]

I realize this may not be the happiest topic of conversation but I do feel the need to be prepared in the event either myself or my spouse passes away. No children in the equation and we are both in our early thirties. What are some things that we need to be thinking about that will make things easier if something does happen to one of us? We want to sit down and have a discussion about desires/thoughts/etc. but I am not really sure of what questions we should be asking or what we should be doing to prepare. I am by nature one that likes to be prepared and think ahead and feel that I need to embrace this topic to ease the time when it does happen. More along the lines of estate/family provision goals to have.

[Ren34]

I had the same talk about 6 months ago. I gave my wife an encrypted flash drive with the info to all of our financial accounts, since I do all of our finances. She already knows what my last wishes are.

[oldsoldier1976]

Originally Posted by Riley14

I realize this may not be the happiest topic of conversation but I do feel the need to be prepared in the event either myself or my spouse passes away. No children in the equation and we are both in our early thirties. What are some things that we need to be thinking about that will make things easier if something does happen to one of us? We want to sit down and have a discussion about desires/thoughts/etc. but I am not really sure of what questions we should be asking or what we should be doing to prepare. I am by nature one that likes to be prepared and think ahead and feel that I need to embrace this topic to ease the time when it does happen. More along the lines of estate/family provision goals to have.

And here I was about to start a thread with the same topic. I revived an old one that I am glad peeked some discussion.

Originally Posted by Ren34

I had the same talk about 6 months ago. I gave my wife an encrypted flash drive with the info to all of our financial accounts, since I do all of our finances. She already knows what my last wishes are.

Same here.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Riley14

I realize this may not be the happiest topic of conversation but I do feel the need to be prepared in the event either myself or my spouse passes away. No children in the equation and we are both in our early thirties. What are some things that we need to be thinking about that will make things easier if something does happen to one of us? We want to sit down and have a discussion about desires/thoughts/etc. but I am not really sure of what questions we should be asking or what we should be doing to prepare. I am by nature one that likes to be prepared and think ahead and feel that I need to embrace this topic to ease the time when it does happen. More along the lines of estate/family provision goals to have.

There are all sorts of documents: wills, trusts, power of attorney, etc that can be produced with the help of an estate planning person.

In fact, you can probably get this done yourself with software if your life isn't too complicated: kids, mortgages, inheritances, businesses, etc.

Quick google on this:

Estate Planning Software - Nolo

[oldsoldier1976]

Seeing as though I am nearing retirement age and know my life expectancy will be 350 years old I thought I would start a new thread about the dying and the living. I hope to get ideas and thoughts of others here about the planning and results of that. To others like me who are in the planning stages of living forever what are your considerations?

Here is my situation and what my thoughts are on the subject and where I am kind of not so much confused as I am trying to figure out the best situation for DW and our family.

I am soon to be retired military so I get head stone and if I choose burial in a military cemetery and the wife right alongside me at little overall cost. We have some savings I am calling my play money. It is 6 figures and will be what we will use to enjoy life and to take care of unexpected expenses. Let's hope those are few and not very expensive. Home will be paid off and we will be in a HOA 55+ community for safety and enjoyment. We will live on my pensions earned over a lifetime. My healthcare is relatively inexpensive as I am a veteran. The wife is another matter though she is in terrific shape and health.

I began thinking recently about how and if I needed to protect our retirement income. I am pretty sure that money we have together will be just fine for the remaining spouse. So I think that insurance that covers that would be tossing good money down the crapper. On the other hand if the two of us goes my daughter (only child) will have to deal with our remains and figure out the traps she will find herself in when it comes to the tax deferred money in our accounts. The plan at the moment is to take the approximately 100k in my wife's 401k and IRA's and to convert those to Roth upon our retirement. This I expect will be good idea since our income will be at its lowest and with that money we should be able to provide a cushion for our demise. This way we can sort of pay the taxes on the bulk of the savings with that for her to use should we unfortunately don’t get to spend it all down. It is also what we plan to start for her to retire on in her later years. It won't be millions but it could grow to a substantial amount.

My next thought is about funeral expenses. Is it wise to buy insurance small increments (5k or 10k) or set aside money for that somewhere? We actually don’t know where if any place we want to be interred but we will discuss this over the next couple of years. We are also going to for really the second time talk about a will. The one we have now is “oh” only about 10 years old and a lot has changed since then. I am thinking a financial planner and attorney would be good to visit soon. A side question here is how much do they charge for consulting? I think I can get the attorney for free in the guard but the financial planner would be something I would have to pay.

I am glad others seem to have caught the revived post and decided it needed updating. I was going to do the same but by the time I had retyped this message I noticed that it had already begun. Thanks Riley

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by Riley14

I realize this may not be the happiest topic of conversation but I do feel the need to be prepared in the event either myself or my spouse passes away. No children in the equation and we are both in our early thirties. What are some things that we need to be thinking about that will make things easier if something does happen to one of us? We want to sit down and have a discussion about desires/thoughts/etc. but I am not really sure of what questions we should be asking or what we should be doing to prepare. I am by nature one that likes to be prepared and think ahead and feel that I need to embrace this topic to ease the time when it does happen. More along the lines of estate/family provision goals to have.

Hi Riley14--

To allow your spouse to handle and wrap up affairs in the event of the worst case scenario, you'll both want to have drafted up and signed (1) a living will; (2) a power of attorney; and (3) a last will.

(1) The living will covers any directives you may have during the course of healthcare treatment especially if you become incompetent at any time during it. (2) will allow the spouse to sign the consent forms, etc. under the same situations. And (3) allows you to avoid probate.

As a legal professional I am screaming this at you: avoid probate. The probate courts in almost every jurisdiction are overloaded with cases because something like 70% of people die without a will. It will take them months to get to your case, track down all the assets and liabilities, and pay out the creditors, all the while the court-appointed attorney is getting paid $100 an hour out of your estate to figure it out. Spend an afternoon figuring it all out like once every couple years, have an attorney write one up for a flat fee, and be done with it.



From a financial standpoint, consider buying term life insurance for say, 10 years. Assuming you're both healthy, it will be dirt cheap - something like $20 a month for $500,000 of coverage. So if something tragic does happen, the spouse will be financially secure for some time until things can get sorted out.

(After 10 years, I don't advise buying term life insurance - it gets more expensive as you get older. And in any case, use that 10 years to save money - that, over the course of ten years will function the same way as a term life insurance payout - financial security for the surviving spouse).

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

To allow your spouse to handle and wrap up affairs in the event of the worst case scenario, you'll both
want to have drafted up and signed (1) a living will; (2) a power of attorney; and (3) a last will.

From a financial standpoint...

Focus on how your several assets are titled: 1/3 are in each of your names and the last 1/3 joint.
Real estate should all be held jointly even if more than 1/3 of the total.

If you have debts (even mortgages) insure against loss of the primary earner with enough term
insurance to settle them. If you have substantial assets... get substantial and specific advice.

As regards more life insurance... you are far more likely to need disability insurance.