Marriage money don'ts | In NewRetirement's Questions & Answers Forum

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QUESTION:
Marriage money don'ts
I made the big mistake of letting my husband handle all the money matters and I was shocked about how much I didn't know when he died. It has been long enough and I have had to scramble to learn but if I can figure it all out, you can too. Make time to talk about financial situations on a regular basis. Learn as much as you can, communicate!!! Schedule a specific time every couple of months to go over budgets, retirement accounts, etc. Do it together BEFORE you have to do it alone!
	asked by liz, 1/11/2007
Categories: Pre Retirement, Financial Planning for Retirement, Estate Planning, Transitioning to Retirement, Spouses

ANSWERS:
	Answered by: angie, 02/20/07 Overall Rating: Be the first to rate it.
How I can relate to your post. Although my husband is still living,he is unable to handle the finances due to a stroke. He can not speak, everything that he did before is locked in his brain. I don;t know to this day what if any life insurance policies are hanging around for him. I know of a couple through employment but I am unable to determine if he has any other. I have had to juggle the budget, had to discuss filing bancruptcy,sell our home in Eastern WA. Sometimes I get so tired of doing it alone. Our income is just enough to cover bills,barely.We own our house but the mortgage is so high and refinancin is another year away. Our taxes are hig and we don't qualify for cuts because of our combined income, we are just above the limit. The stress of him being ill on and off and me taking care of him full time sometimes is overwhelming. Then comes the financial part. WE have no savings to speak of, we are livig on his retirement funds. How I envy the couples that write here how prepared they are. That is one thing that we started to work on, then he had his stroke, he was 62 and I 54. I am at my wits end worrying if we are going to have enough as the medical bills keep coming and taking chunks of our savings each time. I would love to go back to work but he cant be left alone.. Retirement sucks when you are not prepared and are forced into it. There is no pleasure in it at all.For all intensive purposes it is he that is living the retired life, I on the other hand am still working 24/7 and getting paid with love. But love doesent pay the bills. That was a good post.. Thanks Angie Login to rate this answer: