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Anybody have more than one DPOA agent? I currently have DW as my agent and my daughter as a backup who's power only comes into play if DW is deemed incapacitated by a doctor. I'd like to add my son as either: 1) Joint with DW (ie they both have to agree and sign off on things) or 2) A 2nd...

Has anybody set up a trust that would prevent a 2nd spouse (late in life) from getting surviving spouse assets? My recently deceased FIL married a second time at 84 years old. He was married about a year before he passed. Fortunately, he had beneficiaries named on most of the larger assets...

FIL bought a house a few years ago for $160K. He paid the full amount. At closing, in order to avoid probate, he put DW and her sister on the deed as joint owners with right of survivorship. So, from day one there were three joint owners. He passed away last month leaving DW and SIL as 50/50...

DW and her sister inherited about $60K in paper ibonds. These will have to be probated, unfortunately. I've been studying up on the process of the estate Executor cashing in the IBonds (probably at a bank). Has anybody gone through this process? The treasury website says the administrator...

I have a developing situation occurring with FIL and his wife. FIL is currently in the hospital and it's looking like he won't be able to go home. His condition will most likely result in a hospice stay in a long-term care facility. His wife of two years is also in poor health and may...

DW will be retiring next month and going on Medicare. I'm not eligible for Medicare until July, so I will need a few months of medical coverage. My options are COBRA from her insurance. I "think" I can get single coverage (not including DW), but don't know the rates yet. I imagine it will be...

Pretty simple bonus for opening up a savings account with Discover. Deposit $15K get $150 Deposit $35K get $450 Must be deposited within 30 days. From what I can tell, there is no minimum amount of time the money has to stay in the account. Offer expires 11/8. I got my bonus the day after...

In the past week, I've received in the mail a brochure for Medigap insurance from AARP which uses United Health Care and a brochure directly from UHC offering their Medigap insurance. Does anybody know if going through AARP is less expensive than going directly through UHC for the same plan...

In my simplification process, I'm down to two financial institutions: Fidelity - CMA, all retirement accounts, Elan credit card. Chase - several credit cards. I'm thinking of splitting into two institutions by having a B&M bank for all normal cash transactions such as paying bills, cash...

Thinking of making a week trip to Arizona next April. We will fly to/from Phoenix. What's the weather like in mid-April? I assume it's starting to get hot in central/southern parts. Probably still pretty cool in Flagstaff. We plan on staying in Sedona a day or two. Any suggestion on where...

I know there are a lot of ACA gurus that hang out here and I might have to join the ranks pretty soon if DW loses her job (which is likely). Quick question: When applying for insurance through the federal marketplace will I have to report my income as it is currently, or do I report what I...

I'm about to throw my Apple Watch 5 out the window. It keeps telling me things that I've never known - and not in a good way. :( In the past, I've noticed palpitations sometimes when I stand up after sitting for awhile. Since I had a blood pressure machine, I would take it sitting down and...

Anybody else have an abnormally low heart rate? My rate used to be consistently in the mid 50's - low 60's, but lately has been anywhere from 44 to low 50's - but mainly in the high 40's - during the day. My cardiologist schedule a exercise stress test, 48 hour Holter monitor and...

I've done conversions to the top of the 12% bracket already. Can you think of any reason to convert more into the 22% bracket? Right now, we have 82% in Traditional IRAs and 18% in Roths. So, we're top heavy in deferred accounts. At 70, we'll be solidly in the 22% bracket and 85% of SS will...

As part of my estate planning, DW and I are considering prearranging our final arrangements. We started last year by spending big bucks on a couple of side-by-side plots. Now we are considering at the very least prearranging our funeral/burial and possibly even prepaying. So, does anybody...

Last night DW and I attended a seminar where an estate lawyer basically touts the benefits of a Living Trust. For the most part, we were impressed with the guy and his credentials and liked his presentation. We were already looking into getting a trust. According to the lawyer, one of the...

I'm wondering if others have had elderly parents have an abrupt change in behavior about finances. My dad is 96 and lives at home alone (in my town). He's in decent health, but has started to decline quite a bit and will probably have to move somewhere soon. About 10 years ago (after mom...

I'm trying to figure out if probate will be necessary for my dad when the time comes. He's 96 and is doing fairly well - hopefully for a long time. His situation: All bank accounts are jointly owned between dad, me and my brother (only heirs). Stocks accounts are all TOD Car is jointly...

I'm looking for some suggestions on how to find someone to "guide" my heirs when the time comes that I'm no longer around to handle finances. A little background: Both DW and I are 56 I'm semi-retired working part time and she will retire in a few years DW will inherit everything, with...

I was playing around on the Social Security estimator website, just trying to get a feel for what my wife and I could expect to receive at different ages. We're both 57, and my first thought was to just assume we'll wait until 70 and see what that payout amount would be. Turns out it was...

Yesterday I was reviewing/updating all of my financial accounts making sure my beneficiaries were up to date. Everything was going along great until I wanted to do a TOD (Transfer on Death) on a "joint" mutual fund account at Vanguard. Evidently, at VG you can only do a TOD if it's an...

I'm trying to figure out if I would have a penalty on a Roth distribution in the following circumstance. In 2010, I did a $20,000 conversion of a Traditional IRA to a Roth. Of that conversion, approx $5,000 was taxable and $15,000 was non-taxable (non-deductible basis in my TIRA). I am 54...

What are the advantages/disadvantages of rolling over an IRA into my current companys 401K plan? For the sake of simplicity, let's just assume all funds and fees are equal in both plans. Is there an advantage of one over the other? Thanks!