Author Archives: Jay Butchko
How Expensive Is Probate?
When you are the closest confidant of a terminally ill or recently deceased relative, one of the last things that you worry about is how much it will cost to complete the probate process for your family member’s estate when he or she dies. You care about your family member getting quality medical care… Read More »
When Planning for Retirement, Think About How to Avoid Loneliness, Not About How to Have Fun
Loneliness is the enemy of good health. How much time a person chooses to spend alone varies from one person to another, but not having enough social interactions with other people can send your physical and mental health into a downward spiral. People in addiction recovery support groups often talk about avoiding boredom, the… Read More »
Can Retirees Get a Mortgage?
If you have lived anywhere in the United States, especially Florida, for the past three years, you would not be unreasonable to think that consumer debt is an inalienable feature of the human condition. From the time you enter the workforce or reach the age of majority, whichever happens first, until you die, you… Read More »
Avoiding Senior Homeownership Drama
In many ways, love and marriage are simpler late in life. Finding someone new after both of you have been widowed puts you in a unique position to understand each other. You both have a proven track record of being good at marriage, and you understand how your spouse and your stepchildren feel about… Read More »
The Good Enough Retirement Savings Plan
When you are young, it never crosses your mind that one day, you will not be able to work, and the money in your bank account represents all the employment income you will ever have. You keep focusing on building your resume for that well-paying job somewhere in the future, while also spending some… Read More »
What Can Go Wrong With a Trust?
The websites of financial planners and estate-planning law firms sometimes make it sound like establishing a trust is a solution to all your problems. They give you the impression that setting up a trust is like building your very own robot assistant that issues checks to your overgrown children and slips through the fingers… Read More »
Steeling Yourself for a Contest of Wills
Being the personal representative of a deceased family member’s estate is an unenviable task, whether you were the obvious choice all along, since you were the decedent’s only surviving close relative, or whether you stepped up and brought the estate of a family member who died intestate to court, or even if you were… Read More »
An Effective Estate Plan Begins With a Health Care Power of Attorney
We have all heard the cliches about how family togetherness is more valuable than anything money can buy. The love, shared memories, and emotional support that you give your family mean more to them than any material things they can inherit. It is especially helpful to remind yourself of this in tough economic times… Read More »
55 Plus Communities Carry Lots of Extra Fees and Offer Little in the Way of Cultural Diversity
The good news is that you have started your retirement in good health. You do not need long-term care, so there is no need to move to an assisted living community, even though healthy retirees should buy long-term care insurance in case the need for assisted living or nursing home care arises. The affliction… Read More »
Should Retirees Keep Their Retirement Savings in 401(k) Accounts or Transfer Them to IRAs?
If you are puzzling over the decision of whether to keep your money in your employer-provided 401(k) account or move it to an individual retirement account (IRA) after you retire, count your blessings. This is a good problem to have. More than a third of American adults who work full time in the private… Read More »
