My father is single and in his mid-70s. He has ~$500k of total retirement assets, and owns the house he lives in. His health is generally ok, for a guy his age. He has said outright that he doesn't care if he leaves anything to his kids (there are 4 of us, all grown and doing fine). "I want to die broke", he says. At the same time, he thinks that the government will take care of him when he runs out of money. He is currently using Medicare and thinks that will pretty much cover everything for the rest of his life.
I don't necessarily have a problem with my dad spending all of his money and leaving us nothing. Long ago I accepted the fact that he's selfish and that's just the way it is. The problem is that if he does live long enough to spend all his money, then it will be up to me and my siblings to pay his housing and medical bills. I'm not willing to accept that. Getting no inheritance is one thing - being saddled with my dad's bills because he blew all his money is another thing entirely.
I know $500k ain't much. But it's what he has. So, with the unknowns of (a) life expectancy and (b) changing medical needs, what are the best options to consider to manage this modest amount of money? I would like to help him manage it wisely so my siblings and I don't end up facing a choice of either (1) Pay a bunch of money so our dad doesn't go homeless or (2) Let him lie in the bed he made for himself.
I'm not looking for any hot investment tips here. All the web searching I've done so far shows things like "buy mutual funds!". Um, yeah, we've got that part covered. I'm wondering more about things like how much of the total amount to set aside in a trust and keep in reserve for future medical emergencies. I don't even know what other questions to ask at this point. Thanks to anyone who is able to share their experience dealing with this issue.
Submitted February 01, 2020 at 08:17PM by oneeightyfive https://ift.tt/2uRd7gf
