Everybody Loves Your Money

Well, the funeral is over and we are slowly trying to move on.  Of course it doesn’t help when you are also trying to get your parent’s house rebuilt from a fire.  Too many items remind me of my dad and the constant communications with all the people that are working on the house and the insurance company seems to take it’s toll a bit.  We are still waiting for bids from contractors to figure out who will do the work.  Two of the contractors specialize in insurance work and fire restoration.  My mom has stated that she wants to use one of them since they are larger companies, but we’ll have to see how the bids come in.

We are all chipping in to cover some of the ongoing costs of the family cabin.  My parents have always covered all of those costs but now that dad is gone, my mom will be on a much tighter budget.  Since we all use the cabin now and then, it’s only right for all of us to help pay those bills.

I ran the numbers for my mom both from a budget perspective and also from a net worth perspective.  The net worth number surprised me.  It was definitely higher than I thought, but she won’t be moving in next door to Donald Trump or anything.  If we play ALL of our cards right, I think we will be able to get her set up in a new, much smaller, house and plan some investments that will help supplement her income.  It’s really been a family effort and I think it’s comforting to know that we can all pull together the way we have.

And, in the middle of all of this, I’m still trying to make progress on our own cabin.  If you recall, we have been building our own house at the lake since last year.  Since it’s just a friend and I doing the work, it is going much slower than if I’d just hired a contractor.  The good news is that I’m earning a lot of sweat equity.  When the place is finished, I should have equity of about 50% of it’s value.  Not too bad.  I’m most pleased to have two different appreciating assets in my portfolio now.

Anyway, that’s enough rambling for now.  I’ll try to be a bit more consistent with the postings now that a lot of the drama has subsided.

It’s ashame that an organization like this has to exist, but I guess it at least gives me some sense that there are a few sane people left on the planet:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_re_us/bi…

I wonder why we’ve become so materialistic and competitive?  Could it be the BILLIONS of dollars that are spent annually to tell us how to think?

Since I’m one who really finds myself annoyed with women who do little else in life than spend money on themselves, I found this article rather interesting.

I’m much happier with a good looking, kind, caring wife who contributes to our household by taking care of our daughter, helping with the chores and earning some income.  (And she does far more than that but you get the idea)

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=27985…

UPDATE: Well, as a reader points out, it turns out this isn’t legit.  Darn.  I had hoped that this was real.  There is nothing more entertaining than a whiney rich girl not getting her way.  Okay, yes.  I’m pathetic. 

As I was sitting here navigating the social security website trying to figure out whether my mom is entitled to some of my father’s social security benefits, it occurred to me that maybe someone out there has had some experience with this situation and might have some suggestions.

• Situation:
• Father: 67
• Mother: 62 and still working
• Father was receiving social security benefits (no retirement or pension income)

From what I can gather, my mother is entitled to a $255 death benefit and is also entitled to some level of my father’s social security benefits.  It looks like she’ll get a reduced amount because she is younger than 65 and is still working.  If this is the case, it would be the difference between just sneaking by on her income/expenses to having a little wiggle room.  The best information I could find was at: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/deathbenefits.htm .

Anyone have any experience in this area?

Thanks!!

I apologize for the lack of posts lately.  Our lives have been rather turned upside down over the last few weeks.  It all started with my parent’s house catching on fire on Dec 17th.  They were displaced and were staying at my sisters.  Then, on New Years Eve my dad had a massive heart attack and passed away.  I don’t want to ask how much one family can take because I’m afraid I’ll spur something else to happen.

We are coping as best we can.  It’s times like this that family becomes even more important.  Our first priority now is making sure my mom is well taken care of.  I’ve taken over the handling of the house fire so that my mom doesn’t have to worry about it.  I’m learning a lot about insurance in a short period of time.  My parents had a “replacement” policy so that everything that was in the garage/shop is covered and can be replaced.  At this point, we probably won’t replace everything but will have to decide whether it would be better to replace some items and then sell them, or settle for the depreciated value that the insurance company offers.  I’ll probably post more information about how that is going as it happens.  If anyone knows a lot about the insurance process and can offer any tips for dealing with both the rebuilding of the burned structures, handling smoke damage, and putting together a claim for contents, please let me know.

At this point we are all just very grateful that we were blessed with such a wonderful father, husband and friend.  I learned so much from him and he has helped define my approach to fatherhood in such a positive way.  I miss him terribly already but I know that the more pain and sadness I feel, the stronger the love was between us.