Retirement planning

Anyone who can't live on 1 million dollars after retirement is just bad at money, especially if they retire after 40.

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Originally Posted by Gman

It used to be having 1 million dollars put away at retirement would get you through to the end. I heard recently that the bar has moved to $2MM due to inflation. It's tough saving enough when you're paying for SS that likely won't be much help when you retire and putting enough away to be comfortable on your own. I did setup a trust in my 40s to make sure my wife is taken care of, but I'll likely be working until the day I die.

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It's ironic, isn't it, that the folks who seem to be utterly deficient with savings skills force you to give them money to "save", because they don't trust you with it. Gotta love statist Ponzi schemes.

To tag onto Foxtrots irrevocable trusts post, I strongly urge everyone to consider it, and to do it early.

If you own your home and require nursing home care, it gets very expensive. If you have to rely on Medicare/Medicaid to supplement the costs, they can and will take your home. Last I heard, the property has to have been in a Trust for 7 years prior to using those programs. Talk was that it was going up to 10 years. This also applies if you sell the home. Only by planning early can you protect your assets. My wifes parents put their home in a Living Trust before they passed. At the time the law said 3 years. Before that period passed it went to 5 years and the Trust was not grandfathered. Before the 5 year period passed it went to 7 years. My MIL passed during this time and my FIL needed to go into a nursing home. His car was already also in my wifes name too. Their home just made the grandfathering of the 7 year requirement by 1 month. The only way his bank assets were protected is that all money in the account was used to purchase items for my FIL's care. His life insurance was protected because my wife went to a family friend/funeral home owner and locked his life insurance in to cover his eventual funeral/burial costs (essentially making the funeral home the beneficiary of the insurance).

Additionally, each state and the feds love to take a huge inheritance tax cut of your assets/net worth. This can serverely reduce anything you hope to pass down to your kids. If a Trust owns those assets, and your kids are secondaries on the Trust until your death, inheritance tax doesn't apply as the Trust owns the items.

As Foxtrot always adds, this is just my personal advice and should not be construed as legal advice. Seek competent legal counselling for advice that will hold up in the courts.

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

To tag onto Foxtrots irrevocable trusts post, I strongly urge everyone to consider it, and to do it early.

If you own your home and require nursing home care, it gets very expensive. If you have to rely on Medicare/Medicaid to supplement the costs, they can and will take your home. Last I heard, the property has to have been in a Trust for 7 years prior to using those programs. Talk was that it was going up to 10 years. This also applies if you sell the home. Only by planning early can you protect your assets. My wifes parents put their home in a Living Trust before they passed. At the time the law said 3 years. Before that period passed it went to 5 years and the Trust was not grandfathered. Before the 5 year period passed it went to 7 years. My MIL passed during this time and my FIL needed to go into a nursing home. His car was already also in my wifes name too. Their home just made the grandfathering of the 7 year requirement by 1 month. The only way his bank assets were protected is that all money in the account was used to purchase items for my FIL's care. His life insurance was protected because my wife went to a family friend/funeral home owner and locked his life insurance in to cover his eventual funeral/burial costs (essentially making the funeral home the beneficiary of the insurance).

Additionally, each state and the feds love to take a huge inheritance tax cut of your assets/net worth. This can serverely reduce anything you hope to pass down to your kids. If a Trust owns those assets, and your kids are secondaries on the Trust until your death, inheritance tax doesn't apply as the Trust owns the items.

As Foxtrot always adds, this is just my personal advice and should not be construed as legal advice. Seek competent legal counselling for advice that will hold up in the courts.

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Start a thread specifically with this in mind, to avoid it getting lost in the shuffle.

Do you have to own your home outright before making a trust, or can it be in a trust before it's paid off?

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Originally Posted by theGinsue

As Foxtrot always adds, this is just my personal advice and should not be construed as legal advice. Seek competent legal counselling for advice that will hold up in the courts.

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Originally Posted by foxtrot

*This post does not constitute legal advice - hire an attorney for legal advice*

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Can't be stressed enough after reading some of the advice posted with what I know about trusts.

No I will not be offering additional financial protection strategies on an internet forum.

There always the third world countries. A lot of Americans move to places south. I can see me dying with a drink in my hand, on a warm beach. Beats a cold Colorado winter in a nursing home any day.

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Originally Posted by BushMasterBoy

There always the third world countries. A lot of Americans move to places south. I can see me dying with a drink in my hand, on a warm beach. Beats a cold Colorado winter in a nursing home any day.

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This is true. I'm already planning and I have 30 years until retirement age. I'm looking into Ireland. Buy a house there. Have a management company manage it and rent it out while I'm not visiting. Help pay off the mortgage. Then sell my house here and love there.

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Originally Posted by Fentonite

Do you have to own your home outright before making a trust, or can it be in a trust before it's paid off?

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Your home doesn't need to be paid off.

Thanks for the reply. I'll be looking into this.