Comments | spritelyone: Dad's pension

spritelyone

Dad's pension

Feb 19, 2013 10:16

I got a call from my dad this morning about how he's choosing to receive his pensions from his old jobs. He has decided to take less money per month to allow for a plan that guarantees a payout of about half his pension to his beneficiaries for a period ending at 10 years from the beginning of the plan (this summer) in the event of his death. At ( Read more... )

Comments 4

lfs February 20 2013, 02:33:46 UTC

It's interesting how some parents feel they need to be the providers, even to grown children who are providing for themselves. Some parents are better at the providing end of things than the parenting end. Ok, that didn't come out quite right. Better than, say, the mushy feelings type of stuff.

spritelyone February 20 2013, 02:47:28 UTC

Yeah, he's still growing into the parenting part. :) But, he's really trying to be as good to us as he can. It's such a reverse of my mom, who raised us, but kept "her money" apart, not supporting us financially for college or anything else, and now the burden is squarely on my to handle her assets and finances. I'm executor for both, which is a stress, too. But, I hope not anytime soon, since I'm really not that organized at present. I couldn't lay hands on my dad's copies of stuff he's sent me over the past few years, although I know it's in the house somewhere. I need to get that taken care of as soon as we get the back bedroom cleared out of my mom's stuff. (It's always something, though.)

lfs February 20 2013, 04:08:03 UTC

If it were me, I might be inclined to put the money away in case your dad should need it for a medical or care need. Worst case, you have it if he needs it. Best case, you just got a free cushion to your savings account or a good head start on one for the those who might need a paid education or first vehicle int he future. :)

I'm def seeing the unfairness in your mom's situation there. You do the best you can with the emotional resources you have and that's all anyone can expect of you.

I'm working on the organization thing myself. Steve & I are looking at scanning as much as possible to get rid of paper. Paper is just not easy enough for me to work with. Maybe a solution like that might work for you, too, as long as you keep a backup of the data somewhere.

spritelyone February 20 2013, 14:04:35 UTC

Right now, we're not saving money in any way shape or form. The IRS still has what I had managed to put away a few years ago, and Craig's still not getting paid until we poke them with a stick (which we just did again, because we're down to $400) so there's no real time cushion there. From my Dad's pension plan, we only get the money in the event of his death; otherwise, it's just his loss in the long run. If it came to us now, that would be a great idea, though. I do worry about him, but I think he's going to try to make sure that he dies alone without anything protracted. It's just the kind of person he is. And in that situation, I'm selfishly glad I'm nowhere near there ( ... )