FREE NEWSLETTER
I am a retired IT executive with 44 years of experience in IT. I am originally from Virginia and have lived in North Carolina the past 60 years. I am a widower who was married for 57 years to my late wife, Judy. We have 2 children and 3 grandchildren. I volunteer with my church and serve on the board of 2 retiree associations, one of which has more than 50,000 members. I still enjoy golf, travel and taking care of our home and 2 acres of land.
Comments
I think you did it right. A bird in the hand beats two in the bush, and with our crazy economy, you never know when things will turn for the worse. Congratulations.
Post: Buying and Selling our Condo (Our Big “Little” Move, Part 2)
Link to comment from April 16, 2026
Thanks for the post Howard and your volunteer tax work. That is a great service and your clients are fortunate to have you working for them.
Post: Taxes Season 3
Link to comment from April 14, 2026
Amen. Both of my wife's parents died intestate. Her sister was able to resolve issues with both of their estates for their home and assets. However, her father owned property in a rural county 100 miles away. My wife and her 6 siblings each owned a share of 42 acres in that county. One of her brothers agreed to give his share to my wife. We hired a local RE attorney to handle this. It became a tangled web because of their dying intestate. It took a considerable amount of time and expense for our attorney to resolve this, costing more than the value of the timber land she inherited. Another lesson about dying intestate.
Post: My sister’s will and what it taught me.
Link to comment from April 14, 2026
Interesting take on active management Mark. I have always felt that the holistic approach is where the value comes in for active mgmt advisors. Asset allocation, risk mgmt, tax planning and estate planning are all important. It is not just who performed best last year. Good ones can earn their keep but there are also a bunch who talk better than they perform. I think it is especially important to have an advisor for a spouse who has limited knowledge of financial mgmt. If you have a good one who is honest (easier said than done), they can do well for your spouse in your absence.
Post: One Good Call?
Link to comment from April 14, 2026
I considered an advisor a couple of years ago for the same reason. The first need is to get someone who is trustworthy. Not all advisors are and they may act that way with you but once you are gone, they may change their stripes. I found a trustworthy local company who met face to face with me and my wife. That was an important consideration because remote would never work for my wife. This company invested in a basket of high quality stocks and fixed income based upon your risk profile. They charged 80 basis points but also provided other services including having their CPA do your taxes and had a relationship with an estate planning firm. Overall, it had a lot of appeal but I could never get past their 80 basis point charge which would have cost us around $15k a year for a return that would probably not surpass my diversified, low cost index funds. This would have been an excellent approach for my wife if I passed first, and I suggested to her to pursue that if I died first. Sadly, she passed away last year. However, I think this firm would be a good choice for my son once I pass because they would provide discipline and expertise my son would need to manage his inheritance.
Post: Financial Planning
Link to comment from April 13, 2026
Good post Kristine. Thank you. My wife passed away in June 2024. She was adamant about staying in our house, but I am open to other options. I have considered Over 55 but dismissed that because I am 81 years old. I am still very independent but probably best fit a CCRC. I have looked in Charlotte area and also in Charleston area where my daughter lives. Charlotte CCRCs require a big entry fee ($500k plus for 2BR apartment) whereas I have found several in Charleston that are as good or better with only a $5k or less entry fee. They have a higher monthly fee but I would have to stay a lot longer than I will likely live for that to make a difference. So I am still pondering my options. My daughter would very much like me to move to Charleston but she has a special needs 24 year old daughter and I really do not want to be a burden to her. The places I like best in Charleston also have AL and MC. I am leaning that way but I have lived in Charlotte area for over 60 years and in the same house for 53 years. Tough choice to relocate. It is great to hear that people at your CCRC work together, but I am not surprised.
Post: The Myth of the Default Caregiver
Link to comment from April 10, 2026
IMO, whether to have children or not should not be a financial decision. If you and your spouse want to have children, you will find a way to afford them. It is not about the money.
Post: Financial regrets about parenthood?
Link to comment from April 6, 2026
Thanks Mark. There is the old saying that "nobody knows nothing about the market" which can be very true. Years ago while managing a large IT organization, I started dabbling in stocks, especially tech stocks. I had some success but one day one of my stocks dropped 25% without any explanation. I could not find any news about it even though this was a major tech company. 23 of 24 analysts following the stock rated it a buy. Finally, I asked my network manager if he had any idea about the drop. He said well it might be because one of the major products of this company enables PCs to attach to a local area network, and Intel has just put that function on their PC chip, eliminating the need for the company's product. I asked him how long he had known that and he said "about a month". Common sense says this would be a major financial hit to this company, but 23 stock analysts were asleep at the switch. I wonder how often this occurs in the markets.
Post: Very Fast, Not Very Smart
Link to comment from April 1, 2026
I was warned by Fidelity that if I ever shared my logon credentials with anyone, that would void their guarantee to me to restore any losses to my account by fraudsters. When I had a hacking attempt, the very first question my rep asked was "have you shared your logon credentials with anyone?". Be aware of this important Fidelity requirement.
Post: Simplify Everything
Link to comment from April 1, 2026
How much time does it take to do all this? It seems like it would take an inordinate amount of time to organize and track everything. I do auto payments and deposits. I also have a tax Excel spreadsheet that I use to estimate my current year taxes. I use this to do estimated tax payments, Roth conversion planning, QCDs, etc. I use Fidelity for all investments. I had CDs at different CUs, but have consolidated all of that as they matured. I have a limited number of low cost index funds/etfs. I do not obsess over having the perfect fortfolio, just one that is good enough. I also have a letter of final instructions which is quite detailed with all my business, banking and investment accounts plus everything else my executor will need. I originally did that for my wife, but she passed away last year, so it is now for my kids. I have all my estate documents. All of this has taken time to setup, but it does not require much time to manage.
Post: Simplify Everything
Link to comment from March 31, 2026