What does “financially stable” mean to you?

[tvguy]

life insurance can be a part of the planning for sure but when i think of my mom and many of her friends who outlived their spouses for at minimum 20 years it can be a looooong haul. the other issue with life insurance is the cost-unless you purchase it when you're on the younger side it's pretty costly if you want something that has a long enough term that suits your intent.

My mom outlived my dad by 46 years so I am very familiar with that. I got Social Security survivors benefits from age 9 to age 21 (benefits were paid until age 21 is you were still in school in those days, it's 18 now). My mom chose for us to live on her salary, she invested those benefits for my college and I had a nice chunk of change left over since I decided not to go to law school. When she turned 62, she drew survivors benefits until age 65, then drew her benefits.
Yes, we have had our life insurance for nearly 40 years so the premium for both of us is $140 a month.

 

[barkley]

My mom outlived my dad by 46 years so I am very familiar with that. I got Social Security survivors benefits from age 9 to age 21 (benefits were paid until age 21 is you were still in school in those days, it's 18 now). My mom chose for us to live on her salary, she invested those benefits for my college and I had a nice chunk of change left over since I decided not to go to law school. When she turned 62, she drew survivors benefits until age 65, then drew her benefits.
Yes, we have had our life insurance for nearly 40 years so the premium for both of us is $140 a month.

i get it. same boat-mom outlived dad by 30 years, i received social security survivors under the old rules till i aged out (actualy the program change happened a month before i would have aged out) BUT my mom was nearly 60 when dad passed so finding a job let alone a job that would have made up the loss in social security was not feasable (same boat most of her friends were in when their husbands passed). fortunatly they had considered the financial implications BEFORE dad retired and made decisions based on the 'what if's'. they were NOT fans of life insurance so nothing in that way but they did weigh the options his pension offered and opted for the one that paid less per month but would continue at the same amount for mom if he passed. that single preplanning decision put mom MILES ahead of her friends whose husbands opted for the higher pensions leaving their widows with a fraction of their incomes (and most were retired from mare island-you must remember it?-most of the retirees from there did'nt pay into social security so no benefit for their widows to rely on).


preplanning where you can.

 

[dpswift]

One of the issues that we have with "starter homes" is that a lot of municipalities don't want them built. Minimum lot sizes, must have a two car garage, minimum number of bedrooms and bathrooms, minimum square footage. Even townhouses in a lot of municipalities have to be pretty big to be built.

From a municipality standpoint, this protects their tax base. From a current resident standpoint, it helps protect property values. From a "you've got to get a start somehow" standpoint, it means that there are not a lot of starter homes available - and a lot of what is available is snapped up by investors as rental property.

Very true. It is hard to find a good starter home at a reasonable price. Not only do the investors and flippers have realtors out looking for them but individuals around here have realtors that will go to seniors and encourage them to sell. Many homes never even hit the public market

 

[tvguy]

i get it. same boat-mom outlived dad by 30 years, i received social security survivors under the old rules till i aged out (actualy the program change happened a month before i would have aged out) BUT my mom was nearly 60 when dad passed so finding a job let alone a job that would have made up the loss in social security was not feasable (same boat most of her friends were in when their husbands passed). fortunatly they had considered the financial implications BEFORE dad retired and made decisions based on the 'what if's'. they were NOT fans of life insurance so nothing in that way but they did weigh the options his pension offered and opted for the one that paid less per month but would continue at the same amount for mom if he passed. that single preplanning decision put mom MILES ahead of her friends whose husbands opted for the higher pensions leaving their widows with a fraction of their incomes (and most were retired from mare island-you must remember it?-most of the retirees from there did'nt pay into social security so no benefit for their widows to rely on).


preplanning where you can.

My pension had the option of life time for me, or life time for me and my spouse. However my pension was a joke. $28 a month if I took it for my life time, or $24 a month if I took it so my spouse still got it if outlived me. I cashed it in and invested it. But I know a lot of people who make the mistake of not factoring in the possibility they spouse could outlive them. And many were military retirees.
My mom got rid of her life insurance once I was out of the house, HOWEVER she did find a Long Term Care Policy that was also a Life Insurance Policy. It was expensive, a one time premium of $75,000, about half her life savings. But it would pay $75,000 life insurance if you died without using the Long Term Care portion. If you used the Long Term Care portion, every dollar paid out was subtracted from the $75,000 life insurance coverage until $75,000 was paid out, then you got no life insurance. The Long Term Care would pay $300,000, far more than most people need. My mom needed care for 13 months at $3,400 a month, the policy paid $2,700 a month. And people may not know that most Long Term Care policies have a deductible that requires you to pay the first three months out of pocket before coverage kicks in.
I married into an Air Force family. My FIL and my wife's step father were "career" which in reality meant they put in 20 to 23ish years, retired at age 38 to early 40's and started a second career, with either a pension or social security benefits for another 20 to 23ish years.

 

[barkley]

Very true. It is hard to find a good starter home at a reasonable price. Not only do the investors and flippers have realtors out looking for them but individuals around here have realtors that will go to seniors and encourage them to sell. Many homes never even hit the public market

i was curious to see what the market is like near us so i did a quick search-SO MANY FORECLOSURES shocked the heck out me! a quick google search finds that foreclosures are up almost 16.5% vs. this period last year in my state which i guess is better than the upwards of 51% some other states are seeing.

are those adjustable rate mortgages people snagged a handful of years ago coming due? is inflation such that other expenses are outweighing the mortgage payment?