My mother-in -law is in her early 70s. She went through a nasty divorce in her late 50s that left her pretty financially strapped and didn't really work again after she was laid-off in 2009 and got herself into some debt. She started to take her her social security as early as possible to cover monthly expenses. Over the years, she's now paid off her remaining debt. She's had all of her "savings" in a small apartmentment outside of NYC which she sold last year and her house that she own's outright (~$500k estimated value) in northern NJ.
She is finally planning to sell her house and downsize. She'll likely move in with her boyfriend to his house in Colorado. She has some ongoing medical issues where she may need to think about ongoing care in a few years. In general, she's okay with tracking money and setting a budget for herself as she is an accountant, but she's not very into thinking about different investment strategies. She wants some advice from me and my wife; however, we live outside the US at the moment.
When she sells her house, she will likely have about $600k in the bank + about $1,300 per month in social security. When she moves to CO, her ongoing monthly costs will be quite low.
Any input on a couple of areas would be helpful:
- What type of financial advisor should we be looking to engage? Would it be important for them to be in NJ where her house sale will take place or in CO where she will live? Does that make a difference?
- Any strategies for how to invest or place her proceeds from the house sale so that may not be fully drained by potential upcoming medical costs?
- Her youngest son is a newly working Dr. in California (he's helping manage her health issues). He's suggesting perhaps something where she uses the proceeds of her house sale to pay off his med school loans so that she looks "poorer on paper" and may qualify for Medicaid in case of long-term care issues and then he would pay her money each month? This sounds likea bad idea, but I understand his hope to try and protect the money she gets from the house from being all drained from medical costs. Also, not sure how she would just use her money to pay off someone elses loan if she isn't a co-signer.
Any other thoughts, suggestions, or resources?
original posted by illbuythenextround to r/personalfinance on Mon, 04 Mar 2024 09:27:50 GMT.