That’s correct. The estate is responsible for all bills owed, including taxes. But note, the estate includes all of those accounts listed as PoD/ToD. So, one cannot get around paying final bills by saying, ‘we have no cash to pay the bills as all of the accounts have automatically passed to new owners’.
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California allows a ToD for a home, but many folks still use a Trust for anything not PoD/Tod (to avoid probate as it can a long process), so once the Trust is established, might as well title the primary residence that way.
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I am almost ashamed to admit this, and I’ve known it’s stupid but didn’t realize quite how bad until today.
I’ve been paying a financial advisor to manage some of my money (fortunately not a huge % of total assets).
It’s earned 3% a year for the last several years.
3%!!! When the market was going up and up and up.
And I think I have literally paid him more than the amount my assets have increased.
Part of the reason I stuck with him is that he’s a “really nice, honest guy” and he kind of mentored my son in college, but I gotta get out of this arrangement.
They had me sell a bunch of stuff last year, and I had to pay taxes, and now I will likely have to pay again.
And I know better… I’m so frustrated with myself.
Thanks for listening 
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There was a discussion here awhile ago about T-Mobile unlimited 55+. I am thinking to switch my 3 lines from Verizon and they offer to pay off my two iPhones I still have on financing with Verizon. Are those who switched happy with the move?
We switched to t mobile one year ago.
No problems, much cheaper. We haven’t noticed any reduction in coverage
Had Verizon for a very long time. I’m not sad that I never have to deal with their customer service anymore.
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Thank you. I checked coverage map and in SF it only gives 4G LTE while Verizon is 5G. I don’t know what it translates in quality of calls
We have a TMobile Senior plan. It has worked well for us, but I can’t compare it to Verizon. No coverage issues in the cities, but sometimes spotty in remote rural areas. It is great for EU travel too. If I ever have an issue (rarely), I’ve been very happy with employees at any TMobile brick and mortar store.
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What did you think of the quality of mobile phone calls on 4G LTE before there was 5G?
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T-Mobile will let you try them out to make sure you like their coverage. Worth asking about.
I live in a rural area where coverage can be spotty. Coverage great. I was very worried
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@DrGoogle123, I was the executor for my father’s estate and now am executor for my mother’s estate as well as the trustee of a small trust my father’s will created to benefit my mother while she was alive and whose beneficiaries became her their grandchildren upon her death. It is really not that much work. There is clerical stuff (e.g., get lots of birth certificates) and some real work in terms of consolidating investments (my dad used every mutual fund company known to man). With my mom’s, there were some forms to fill out for the probate court and we now have to wait for a total of about three months before finalizing things and making distributions.
There are no fights among siblings and my siblings trust me (I have the background as a former business school professor with financial experience). So, it has really been that big a deal.
Two clarifications about the original question of this thread are:
- Is the amount a post-tax amount or pre-tax (e.g., I have a very large 401k)?;
- Does the amount include the value of residential real estate or not (my mother had more than enough to live a very long time without running out of money if she sold the house that we grew up in but not if she kept it)?
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I like his column:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/you-might-have-to-cut-you-safe-spending-number-in-half/
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We did the switch a number of years again and have been happy. We were paying over $300/month for Verizon, and every month we had to keep telling the family to stop using so much data, as we were getting upcharges. Ugh. Now we have a military (veteran’s) business plan (have a small business). We pay $132 per month for six lines, plus we added our phone line. No data limits, no limits at all. Fine with the coverage. Plus they paid off about $800-$900 of phones, if I remember correctly. Customer service is great. I’ll never go back to Verizon.
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Thank you for information. We switched last week. They paid off $1300 for out outstanding 2 phones financing and I traded in iPhone 11 for iPhone 14 pro with only $14 per month over 24 month. We got 3 lines Magenta MAX for $112 per month. As far as coverage we have no problem in Southern California but DD in SF has blind spots in some areas. I think it might be issue with her SIM card and she needs to take it to T-Mobile so they can program e SIM card which seems to work better.
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We have been with T-Mobile for many years, in part because traveling abroad is easy. I don’t know what plan we have, but it works well and is not ridiculously expensive.
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I used my phone in UK without T-mobile and WhatsApp when I was traveling. I like simplicity.
That sounds like a fantastic deal you got.
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Picking a new spot to live in retirement can be challenging…
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We didn’t really factor in climate change however I think the place we landed should be a good choice in that regard. At least a lot better than many places.
(note: I can’t read the article)
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Do you have a NYT subscription? Here is the article:
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We knew full well that our retirement location choice would be affected by climate change, (3 storm surges in 6 years, with hurricane Ian being the latest) and while we do not want to move, we have that contingency in our minds. We are 59 and 62. It won’t be fun, but we know it is a real possibility. It is a privilege to be able to say this, we know. We have always saved for a rainy day. Literally and figuratively.
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