I recently took over my mother’s finances, so in addition to my own, I have a whole other person’s income, expenses, and assets to look over.
In a few words: it could have been more of a mess.
The first steps of all of this happened years ago when my father died after a stroke. I’m listed on some of my mother’s accounts and my sister is listed on the rest. As a side note: if you’re concerned about long range planning for the elderly or those with health problems, doing that as well as completing advance health care directives will put you ahead of 80% of the people in the country.
The next steps were assessing the general situation. This is not unlike anyone else’s situation: how much money in the bank, how much income, what do expenses look like? All of those questions need to be answered. Also, bills that are excessive or expenses that could be trimmed are things I’m trying to find.
In mom’s situation, she’s still largely glued to the tried and true old school method of using checks and the U.S. mail to pay bills. I’m going to be changing that as time goes on.
As time goes on I’ll be adding to this series because I’m sure I’m going to find things that are going to be surprising–and things I’ll learn from.
This week’s sad former millionaire gone broke story is that of former National Basketball Association star Ray Williams, now 56 years old. While he played before the time of incredible contracts, in his NBA career he earned more than two million dollars–before hitting his mid 30s.
He is now living on the streets, or more to the point, in his car–which doesn’t operate properly anymore.
Unlike many other athletes fallen on hard times it isn’t believed that drugs, alcohol, or gambling, it isn’t believed these were contributors to Williams’s fall. Rather, he hasn’t been able to hold onto a job and has suffered from horrible luck and some poor decisions.
Yet another time to point out that how much you make is important, but how much you keep is what really matters.
I booked flights for my mother and aunt to go to Seattle on Thursday for five days to attend my late aunt’s funeral. The total was a bit over $1,000. Arrangements for housing were made with the family, so my mom and aunt will stay with my uncle. It is traditional for those from Hawai’i to give money at funerals, and since my uncle gave $1,000 when my father passed away, my mother wished to reciprocate in kind.
She also wanted me to send her to Seattle with $5,000 total.
I told her this was an exorbitant amount given the fact that her ticket was paid for and she would not have housing or transportation expenses otherwise, so I sent her there with $2,500.
Granted this is not a vacation, but how much would you take on a trip of this length?
Yes, my dislike of Sprint’s customer service knows no bounds, but I think with their recent 4G plans (not necessarily the performance of the network, which is reported to be spotty), they’ve gone to great lengths to be the opposite of AT&T.
As is standard in the U.S. telecomm industry, Sprint’s unlimited data plans have really been limited to five gigabytes per month. However, with their new, 4G network, customers who have been using it are paying $10 more a month but are rewarded with true unlimited data on both their 3G and 4G spectrums.
This as opposed to AT&T’s downward ratcheting of their data limits and increasing the per megabyte price of wireless broadband.
I rarely praise Sprint but I have to say this time they’ve done a great thing.
In a somewhat bizarre reversal from what has been accepted in the United States as a normal phenomenon, gas prices have dipped approaching Memorial Day Weekend, which typically is the start of the summer driving season, when the demand for gas (so the supply/demand believers say) outstrips supply, ending up with shortages and higher prices.
So what happened here? Especially considering that an environmental disaster is going on right now with a drilling mishap in the Gulf of Mexico?
For some reason, there’s a higher oil inventory than usual, and the weakness in the Euro has helped to keep gas prices down.
It’s not typical, but it’s what we have right now.
Yes, income matters. Everyone wants to make more money. I often hear my coworkers discussing how they would be able to do so much more if they got paid the same as nurses, for instance.
Yet, there are nurses I work for who have financial problems just as severe if not worse than my social work friends despite making considerably more money.
Why?
Expenses matter more than income. They both matter, of course, but expenses matter more. It’s easy to spend your way into a horrible financial situation no matter how much you make, but if you keep your expenses down, it’s a lot easier to get ahead financially.
Just remember this when looking at the income – expenses = money at the end of the month equation.
I heard it again this past weekend: I was considering purchasing some new bicycle tires online and was told that by doing so it was possible I’d be killing a local bicycle shop.
The move to buy local continues. I don’t disapprove, but it’s not always easy to do.
The bicycle tire example is one that isn’t all that relevant–if I need something immediately, I must buy local, and I ended up in a position where I absolutely needed a rear tire immediately. In addition, the cost of the tire was such that it was unlikely I could get a substantial discount buying elsewhere.
On the other hand, it’s tough for me to be okay with paying three times as much for a jersey locally as I would through Performance or Nashbar–and even more through eBay.
While I would really like to support local economies, one thing I must point out is the local economy I am primarily responsible for–my own–needs supporting too, and that means that at least some of the time I must buy things elsewhere.
To paraphrase the great Andy Ihnatko regarding the supposed “unlimited” five gigabyte data plans offered by wireless phone carriers, Webster’s does not defined unlimited as five gigabytes. So when the iPad 3G was announced with an “unlimited” $30/month no contract AT&T data plan, my belief was that this was yet another five gigabytes of data.
Maybe not.
KnowYourCell.com ran a torture test to see what AT&T would do if AT&T would cut off their use if they ran a data tab well in access of five gigabytes–and in the first two days pumped over 30 gigabytes of data into their iPad! Initially their plan was to hit 100 gigabytes for the month but they cut off their testing around the 30 gigabyte mark, and apparently never were contacted by AT&T.
Maybe this AT&T plan really is unlimited.
This is one of my pet peeves with mobile providers–if your cellular phone or USB wireless modem is on an “unlimited” plan, the chances are that it’s actually capped at five gigabytes.
Exactly how five gigabytes equals unlimited I’m not sure. It’s been a trend for a few years now–my old Sprint SERO plan appears to have truly unlimited data, but just about all new plans seem to have that five gigabyte cap.
What would happen if you were told that you just bought a cup of coffee in a restaurant with unlimited refills but the waitress wouldn’t serve you after five cups?
How five gigabytes is unlimited data is just beyond me.
CNNMoney.com ran an article a couple of weeks ago that just caught my eye today called “Stop squandering my inheritance!” in which they discussed concerns that adult children had about parents spending frivolously.
While that in and of itself is fine–I’m not in favor of anyone spending frivolously–taking the tact of this kind of behavior affecting the size of someone’s inheritance doesn’t seem to me to be taking the tact of caring for a beloved family member. Instead, it seems more like selfishly caring about yourself.
My mother’s money is her money–I want her to do with it whatever she chooses to, including paying for care when she needs it, but also anything she wants to. She doesn’t have to leave me or anyone else a dime.
I’ll make my own money myself.
