Safe Harbour
Recycles dryer sheets
All,
I spend much of my financial-thinking time on - after I'm gone. How will my wife manage her finances. Like most of you, I do it myself today. There will come a time when either I can't do it or I'm not here to do it. What then? I'm not a fan of paying for a financial planner but I don't know if she has the interest in doing it herself. She has participated in the planning the last couple of years, but I manage things at a very detailed level that she won't have to and I think it makes it seem too overwhelming. I have tried to simplify over the years to make it easier for her. I have reduced to a single provider (Vanguard) and reduced to 8 funds (the four corners of the 9 squares of size vs growth/value for US and International). Plus Fixed Income and Cash. That gives 10 asset classes that have to be rebalanced each year. But then there are 4 accounts (Brokerage, Traditional IRA, Inherited IRA, ROTH IRA) that have to be considered in that rebalancing. There is cash flow planning to cover at least a 5 year horizon due Fixed Asset ladder (CDs in our case). And Withdrawal planning (which accounts to pull from), which, is pretty set now as we get close to RMD land. But she has to choose a withdrawal level for the year considering performance (account balances) and CPI in concert with needs planning.
Over the years I have developed 3 different generations of spreadsheets to do this. Each getting sequentially simpler. But the current version has 7 main tabs: Introduction & Instructions, Current Assets, Annual Monthly Planning, Withdrawal Planning, Available Cash Planning, Asset Allocation (This is pretty set), and Rebalance. She can, with a little assistance, do this now (we've had to go to monthly walk throughs as an annual walk through was difficult to recall). But what happens when there is something non-standard or the speadsheet fails or becomes outdated?
So at this point I either have to realize that this is a bridge to far, get even simpler, figure out a way to connect her to a fee-only planner that is content to wait maybe years, or lately I have been considering involving one or all of our kids (I would pay them to do this and they have the ability). I really don't know what to do.
What do you plan to do or actually do? I would especially like to hear from the spouse that had to take over or maybe an offspring who took over for a parent. What worked or didn't work for you? This has to be a very common occurrence for this group of self-money managers.
I spend much of my financial-thinking time on - after I'm gone. How will my wife manage her finances. Like most of you, I do it myself today. There will come a time when either I can't do it or I'm not here to do it. What then? I'm not a fan of paying for a financial planner but I don't know if she has the interest in doing it herself. She has participated in the planning the last couple of years, but I manage things at a very detailed level that she won't have to and I think it makes it seem too overwhelming. I have tried to simplify over the years to make it easier for her. I have reduced to a single provider (Vanguard) and reduced to 8 funds (the four corners of the 9 squares of size vs growth/value for US and International). Plus Fixed Income and Cash. That gives 10 asset classes that have to be rebalanced each year. But then there are 4 accounts (Brokerage, Traditional IRA, Inherited IRA, ROTH IRA) that have to be considered in that rebalancing. There is cash flow planning to cover at least a 5 year horizon due Fixed Asset ladder (CDs in our case). And Withdrawal planning (which accounts to pull from), which, is pretty set now as we get close to RMD land. But she has to choose a withdrawal level for the year considering performance (account balances) and CPI in concert with needs planning.
Over the years I have developed 3 different generations of spreadsheets to do this. Each getting sequentially simpler. But the current version has 7 main tabs: Introduction & Instructions, Current Assets, Annual Monthly Planning, Withdrawal Planning, Available Cash Planning, Asset Allocation (This is pretty set), and Rebalance. She can, with a little assistance, do this now (we've had to go to monthly walk throughs as an annual walk through was difficult to recall). But what happens when there is something non-standard or the speadsheet fails or becomes outdated?
So at this point I either have to realize that this is a bridge to far, get even simpler, figure out a way to connect her to a fee-only planner that is content to wait maybe years, or lately I have been considering involving one or all of our kids (I would pay them to do this and they have the ability). I really don't know what to do.
What do you plan to do or actually do? I would especially like to hear from the spouse that had to take over or maybe an offspring who took over for a parent. What worked or didn't work for you? This has to be a very common occurrence for this group of self-money managers.