My parents are in their late 50s (mother) and mid 70s (father). They are married and own their house, which I believe is paid off. He has always been the primary earner. She exited the labor force in her twenties and spent decades as a homemaker / raising children, but has been working part-time over the last ten years or so.
My father refuses to discuss household finances with anyone, including his wife, but there is good reason to believe that he is deep in increasing amounts of high interest debt with no savings. I also doubt he has an active life insurance policy. And there really is 0% chance of sitting down and having a productive discussion with him about this.
Given their age difference, it is very likely that she will outlive him by a couple of decades. I am trying to figure out how to help my mother be prepared for a worst-case scenario when he passes. It’s entirely possible she will be stuck with high interest debts that exceed the value of their modest home, and with no other assets, will have to declare bankruptcy.
My one idea is to urge her to start socking away as much as she can each year in an IRA (probably Roth just so it doesn’t need to be discussed when they jointly file their taxes). This year is tight for me, but I may be in a position to gift her a few thousand dollars per year for this in upcoming years.
Is this the best option? Any other advice I could give my mother to help keep her from becoming destitute when my father passes and leaves her with an insurmountable pile of debt?
Submitted December 22, 2018 at 01:30PM by pftossaway2018 http://bit.ly/2CuInmq
