Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Go to the US savings bond site for more information. The interest rate varies every 6 months. A couple can buy one each a year. I bought one in December and another one this month.
You can open an account online at TreasuryDirect, not sure banks sell I-Bonds any more.
I do not like to hold paper bonds so TreasuryDirect is great to buy/sell bonds, send money to my bank, etc.
I-Bonds another idea: if you don't have $10,000 right now for an I-bond you can buy less, I've done that. Later you can buy more and they will let you know if you've gone over the $10/ per year/per person limit.
When one of you dies, can the survivor maintain the house and pay the bills on the reduced income while paying income taxes as single, not married filing jointly? I was shocked at how much my federal taxes increased after my husband died and my filing status switched from MFJ to Single.
Also, you will need liquidity for unexpected events.
The car that suddenly doesn't start. My 2-year-old car was towed to the dealer three times. I've finally dumped it but had to buy another car. Unexpectedly.
We had a major storm and my heretofore perfectly fine roof, was damaged by flying debris. Unexpectedly.
illness and disability can strike at any time. Do you have LTC insurance?
Inflation is taking quite a bite from my monthly income. Unexpectedly.
Most people like to have an emergency fund "just in case." There sometimes are unexpected repairs - say, a new HVAC system for your house. Do you have an emergency fund that is separate from the $100K? If not, consider making some of your $100K an "emergency fund" and keep it in the bank.
Agree with this.
With all stocks and investments, there is a chance you could lose it.
With all stocks and investments, there is a chance you could lose it.
With $100,000, I certainly wouldn't put it into anything the least bit risky with the possibility even a portion of it would be lost. Not even the stock market, which if crashes, could take years to recover depending on what the economy is doing at that time. I'd go with whatever savings bonds/accounts paid the most interest since you really can't lose anything that way. It will at least keep you from falling too far behind due to inflation. I'd probably keep 20% of it in a regular savings account you can access for emergencies. I don't think I need a financial advisor to tell me any of this.
If I wanted to gamble with the money, I'd go to Vegas, but I don't like to gamble.
-I am married.
-68 years old, husband 67 years old.
-Both receiving social security, plus union pension.
-House and cars owned outright, all relatively new/low mileage and home well-maintained/recently updated and renovated.
-No other debt.
-We have adequate monthly retirement income for all expenses, plus can save $1000 or $2000 most months just from income.
-No current health issues, sufficient insurance coverage.
-I know nothing about investing, literally nothing.
So we have about $100K in savings. House is only other asset. Seems like that money, which we don't currently need for anything and don't foresee any immediate need for (although of course things can arise) should not just be sitting in a savings account. Or should it?
I know it's not a ton of money, but maybe we should put it somewhere where it at least isn't losing value??? It would have to be something safe, something that doesn't require me to be involved in assessing/buying/selling -- all that stuff with which I am and would like to continue to be uninvolved. Maybe something where we could get our hands on it if we absolutely needed to, perhaps with some relatively minor penalty attached?
Any advice for a not-money-savvy person like myself? (Husband is even more clueless, if you can imagine that!)
Thanks!
I'm surprised no one has advised you sell the house and downgrade if you can and consider getting a mortgage since rates are low or they were low. You could be making money with the extra money from the house. I'm not one to give this advice, I've only read it suggested here. I believe some did a home equity line of credit to use to invest since they could make more with that investment then what the home equity interest charges. Hopefully someone with experience will elaborate on it more.
Some do not want to "leave money on the table" for heirs, so they enjoy themselves with the money from the house if they do not invest it. Some need it to live on which you do not.
The question is what happens to the surviving spouse when they don't have that 2nd SS check coming in? Can they afford to stay in that house you live in? I assume the pension is set up to benefit the living spouse? My hub just did all of that. I'm going to sink when he dies because he's the one in charge of the money lol I guess everyone can count on seeing a thread by me if that happens. At least I know where to go for advice.
I want to thank all of the posters in this section for the time they give to reply on various topics, my friends father just passed, I advised her about executors in his state, something they did not know that I learned here that a court has to appoint the named executor in some states. She thanked me, telling me how smart I am about various topics, I told her it's because of the people in the retirement section of CD which I've given the link to but she hasn't joined yet.
Carry on...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lillie767
Important question to ask:
When one of you dies, can the survivor maintain the house and pay the bills on the reduced income while paying income taxes as single, not married filing jointly? I was shocked at how much my federal taxes increased after my husband died and my filing status switched from MFJ to Single.
Also, you will need liquidity for unexpected events.
The car that suddenly doesn't start. My 2-year-old car was towed to the dealer three times. I've finally dumped it but had to buy another car. Unexpectedly.
We had a major storm and my heretofore perfectly fine roof, was damaged by flying debris. Unexpectedly.
illness and disability can strike at any time. Do you have LTC insurance?
Inflation is taking quite a bite from my monthly income. Unexpectedly.
Your reply can be reality for many, many seniors, especially due to health or COVID.
Health got us in 2009, cancer is expensive with treatment which left $75k in debt that insurance didn't cover and tens of thousands in medications. Some of the prescriptions were barely covered, do you pay with savings or let the spouse suffer without it? We had just moved from a paid off house to treat ourselves... As if cancer wasn't bad enough, his health was just getting better when his company of 28 years filed bankruptcy.
Trying to recover from that job loss, now COVID has done us in. We're selling our house in the next month, hopefully a fast buyer. Then we will have some cash back thanks to the market going back up here. His job died with no cars being made due to the computer chip shortage, so he was off work when COVID started, got a 2nd job to hold us over then broke his hand, so he couldn't go back to his main job when they went back to work in August, he went back in October for maybe a month then the shortage.
The bright side is he can take his pension in a few months, but until then we just do what we can
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Maybe something where we could get our hands on it if we absolutely needed to, perhaps with some relatively minor penalty attached?
