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Our personal finance goals have always been separate from any inheritance. That's what you're supposed to do cause, you never know...
Current plan has us hustling hard for 18-20 months... hubby staying with current employer to collect 3 more generous stock bonuses that allows us to become semi-financially independent by paying off our townhome. At that point we could get by with our rental property and my part-time pet caregiving business.
We still have many years in our townhome because of the kids, and we have no idea what we really want or expect in our late 40's when they start to leave the nest anyway. We get as far as buying a third property in a community about 1.5 hours north of where we are now (Bellingham, WA, for those that know the area).
With 3 paid-off properties we should be close to lean FI in our early 50's. Property #1 ($1400 after expenses) pays for associated costs of housing, Property #2 ($1400 after expenses) pays for other associated costs of living. Property #3 will be some sort of duplex or convertible unit that is our primary residence and small rental ($1000, but maybe more depending on the unit).. enough to help cover health insurance.
But, well, then there came a spreadsheet last week... it outlines my father-in-law's estate and how it is to be divided. If it's not already officially his will already it is in the works.
We will be inheriting a multi-million dollar estate that contains cash, commercial real estate and businesses. All of it is foreign assets (reported in US dollars).
1) I think it would be incredibly STUPID AS F to ignore this. In the least I think we need to take the spreadsheet NOW to a CPA that specializes in international estate and wealth transfer planning and pay them to let us know what happens to us the moment the assets come under our name.
2) I think I need to dial down the "come-hell-or-high-water" frugal living and get my butt well versed in Spanish again, especially reading comprehension since at some point I will need to read business partnership and real estate agreements in Spanish.
3) And then there are the job opportunities. My husband is sitting on a job offer that pays a little more in base salary, but doesn't offer remotely same level of stocks. It's for a startup and it's work-from-home 100%. This job would allow him to work from here or Mexico, if and when the family is ready for my husband to start taking up the reins...
And, apparently, they are ready. They see beginning a business transition plan within the next two years. They are encouraging him taking the startup job.
4) There are risks with everything. The startup seems to be healthy now, but you never know. On the other hand, it's very possible to borrow against the cash in the inheritance and accelerate the mortgage payoff which means, again, he can take the risk without the fear of financial ruin. Alternatively or co-currently I cash out our taxable. The taxable was supposed to be the bridge between paid employment and retirement accounts and FI status. We will already be semi-FI with rental property. And the inheritance would make it obsolete anyway. So that's another thing I would probably choose to do now.
It doesn't change what I do for the next 6 years.. I'm still a pet caregiver no matter what. After that, I don't know and it won't matter. But I think items 1-4 are choices we should strongly consider.
I think your husband is from another country iirc but me personally I would probably work to unload the commercial real estate and business outside of the country(truthfully probably inside the country too) unless y’all are fully prepared to be full on business owners. That doesn’t sound appealing to me in the least so liquidating and managing the funds in a manner that I’m more familiar with and much easier to do would be my line
Husband would love to run the business, but I would be (substantially) in over my head. Partnership agreements would have to be rewritten anyway and I will make sure they include a buyout plan if/when my husband is incapable of continuation or dies.
Fortunately we live in a world where you can work from anywhere in many industries. As an co-owner he won't be involved in the day-to-day activities (unless he wants to be). I could see a setup where he's working part-time as a consultant here indefinitely while traveling down periodically to make management or operational decisions for the company. This is why we would need our third residence to be set up specifically to be both a rental and primary... so we can come in and out of the country as needed, but not have to deal with renting. But I will say that our intention is to remain mostly in the US. Certainly if I become a widow at some point I will want to live in the US.
You’ve been revolving your whole existence around FIRE and you never saw this coming? How is that possible? Did the FIL write someone off? Did someone unexpectedly die? Regardless, I would liquidate and move assets into US assets you are already familiar with. Unless you want to move to Mexico.
I think your husband is from another country iirc but me personally I would probably work to unload the commercial real estate and business outside of the country(truthfully probably inside the country too) unless y’all are fully prepared to be full on business owners. That doesn’t sound appealing to me in the least so liquidating and managing the funds in a manner that I’m more familiar with and much easier to do would be my line
I agree with you. I was surprised my FIL went this way... I thought we would get the cash and residential properties and the other two siblings would get the businesses... it would have been easier, but I also understand his reasonings. My husband is both more capable and interested in the businesses. It creates a complicated and possibly costly legal and taxation situation for us. We don't know many (if any) that are in our situation.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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Try to have 40 calendar quarters to qualify for SS. I think qualification for Medicare is the same 40 quarters (?). Both are tremendous programs.
As for your plans, a distributed estate will eventually diluted to nothing (Cornelis Vanderbilt's estate was gone by the time Gloria got hers) but concentrated estates last for ever (Ford, Rockefella, Carnegie, and future Gates, Buffett).
Our personal finance goals have always been separate from any inheritance. That's what you're supposed to do cause, you never know...
Current plan has us hustling hard for 18-20 months... hubby staying with current employer to collect 3 more generous stock bonuses that allows us to become semi-financially independent by paying off our townhome. At that point we could get by with our rental property and my part-time pet caregiving business.
We still have many years in our townhome because of the kids, and we have no idea what we really want or expect in our late 40's when they start to leave the nest anyway. We get as far as buying a third property in a community about 1.5 hours north of where we are now (Bellingham, WA, for those that know the area).
With 3 paid-off properties we should be close to lean FI in our early 50's. Property #1 ($1400 after expenses) pays for associated costs of housing, Property #2 ($1400 after expenses) pays for other associated costs of living. Property #3 will be some sort of duplex or convertible unit that is our primary residence and small rental ($1000, but maybe more depending on the unit).. enough to help cover health insurance.
But, well, then there came a spreadsheet last week... it outlines my father-in-law's estate and how it is to be divided. If it's not already officially his will already it is in the works.
We will be inheriting a multi-million dollar estate that contains cash, commercial real estate and businesses. All of it is foreign assets (reported in US dollars).
1) I think it would be incredibly STUPID AS F to ignore this. In the least I think we need to take the spreadsheet NOW to a CPA that specializes in international estate and wealth transfer planning and pay them to let us know what happens to us the moment the assets come under our name.
2) I think I need to dial down the "come-hell-or-high-water" frugal living and get my butt well versed in Spanish again, especially reading comprehension since at some point I will need to read business partnership and real estate agreements in Spanish.
3) And then there are the job opportunities. My husband is sitting on a job offer that pays a little more in base salary, but doesn't offer remotely same level of stocks. It's for a startup and it's work-from-home 100%. This job would allow him to work from here or Mexico, if and when the family is ready for my husband to start taking up the reins...
And, apparently, they are ready. They see beginning a business transition plan within the next two years. They are encouraging him taking the startup job.
4) There are risks with everything. The startup seems to be healthy now, but you never know. On the other hand, it's very possible to borrow against the cash in the inheritance and accelerate the mortgage payoff which means, again, he can take the risk without the fear of financial ruin. Alternatively or co-currently I cash out our taxable. The taxable was supposed to be the bridge between paid employment and retirement accounts and FI status. We will already be semi-FI with rental property. And the inheritance would make it obsolete anyway. So that's another thing I would probably choose to do now.
It doesn't change what I do for the next 6 years.. I'm still a pet caregiver no matter what. After that, I don't know and it won't matter. But I think items 1-4 are choices we should strongly consider.
I think this is a bad idea. I have never heard of borrowing against a future inheritance. Also, there are lawyers who can read contracts so I don't see it necessary for you to learn a new language to read contracts.
You’ve been revolving your whole existence around FIRE and you never saw this coming? How is that possible? Did the FIL write someone off? Did someone unexpectedly die? Regardless, I would liquidate and move assets into US assets you are already familiar with. Unless you want to move to Mexico.
Of course we were always aware that eventually something would happen, but it's not our estate and my FIL was always very guarded with discussing transition plans. His cousin and sister died a few months ago (unexpected deaths) and I think he had a "oh sh$t" moment and it's only NOW that he's approaching my husband with his last will and testament or what have you.
Also, not that anyone is written off, BUT we think (again, because my FIL was hush-hush), he did change his mind in a profound way. The estate is evenly split with three kids. Two share the businesses and one gets cash and real estate only. It made sense to us that we'd get the cash and real estate only (and maybe at one point that's how it was going to be) but my BIL works at a bank and has never shown real interest in the school even though he's local. Also several years ago he apparently screwed up some business dealings regarding separate real estate deals with my FIL. My sister-in-law doesn't trust his wife (in a professional capacity) and she's likely the one who would step in instead of my BIL.
My husband on the other hand has a PhD in education and has worked for the two richest men in the world building multimillion dollar internal learning systems for their multibillion dollar corporations. So I guess my FIL decided if DH can work for Bill and Jeff he might have adequate capability to run a few schools in middle class exurb in Mexico.
And this does NOT mean we have to live in Mexico. Not in this day and age and especially not someone who has spent a career working in large tech companies.
The consequences are bigger for me, down the road. Because I'm not Mexican, because I don't have advanced degrees, and nearly tech-illiterate. I will need the buyout plan, but maybe not for 20-30 years.
I think this is a bad idea. I have never heard of borrowing against a future inheritance. Also, there are lawyers who can read contracts so I don't see it necessary for you to learn a new language to read contracts.
We did last year. He gifted us $100k to buy our second property and it's itemized in the spreadsheet. I think it's more for transparency to demonstrate that we are all being gifted equally. My sister-in-law was also given cash to build a home and it's itemized for her too. I want to talk to a CPA or someone who work with wealth transfer plans because it may be that we move all the cash in the inheritance, in the form of gifts, while he's alive. As US citizens we don't pay taxes on foreign cash gifts as long as they are under $100k.
My mom has been through a lot because she didn't read the agreements my dad made in his business. In a way we are in a very similar situation. I don't want to be like her. I will know exactly what is going on at all times.
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