wife is getting unexpected $$

Didn't read the entire thread but, here's my 2 cents worth (and that's over priced).

A. You can never have too much cushion especially if that money is working and not deflating by being under utilized.

B. You can never have too little debt or pay too little interest especially if it's expensive or low quality debt.

My take on inheritance, it's essentially a gift that could be given to anyone. Once I give a gift, any gift, it's that persons property to do with as they please. If they want to burn it, fine. If they "regift" it, that's fine too.

My take on marriage is you and her are one unit. In my view, seeing it any other way dilutes the relationship.

In the end it's a choice you two have to make and both be happy with or one of you may end up bitter. The other side of the coin is, it's only $20k, it's not worth a relationship and if not used precisely and shrewdly, it's not enough to move the needle in the grand scheme of a normal life span (let alone 2).

 

I asked her last night what her uncle said about the money, and she said that he said just use it for (I think she said)whatever that makes you happy, just be smart with it.

 

www.daveramsey.com

 

The US government does impose an estate tax, but there is a credit, so consult your tax-preparer. The estate tax is imposed on the deceased estate and will not have any effect on the money she receives. Some states also impose an inheritance tax on the receiver.

 

FYI They can only tax the inheritance if that person has already given her 5,000,000 over the course of her lifetime

 

No tax if combine value of taxable estate plus prior taxable gifts exceed 5.34M
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Estate-Tax

 

Here's the "I have tons of money and want to get my stuff in order like a boring, responsible adult" hierarchy. Climb as high as you feel like:

Level 1: First pay off high interest rates (credit cards, store cards, mafia, etc). This is definitely your most important step and it sounds like you're pretty interested in at least getting this far.

Level 2:
Then look at your home/car payments and see if you should refinance them or anything. I'd recommend talking to somebody who knows about this stuff because that's not me.

Level 3:
If work offers any kind of a 401k match figure out what their max is and what you have to put in to achieve that, then do it. It's free money.

Level 4:
Start a Roth IRA and max that thing out every year. I think it's $5500 now.

Level 5:
Start putting more into your 401k, as much as you can stomach.

Beyond that, I can't help you. It's my perception that day trading and the like is not a winning proposition for small time folks like us who can't make 3 billion trades with our very own Wall St. supercomputers in the blink of an eye. I made it to step 5 for quite awhile but I've been between 3 and 4 the past year. Need to get back into that...

 

Pay it off. When we bought or first property we doubled our payments and owned it in less that 10 years yes we did with out no cable no cell phone bills or car payments. If you can't afford a new washer don't buy one with credit cards fix the one you got until you can. Credit cards will bury you. I use a credit card (only 1) but never beyond my needs I like using some one else's money for 30 days then I pay it. I'm retired with 3 pensions and am sitting on 3/4 of a million dollars worth of paid for property there is nothing I owe money on it really is a good feeling. A gift is just that it is for you and yours to do how you wish a proper gift has no strings or it is no longer a gift.

 

I always find it weird when married couples have separate bank accounts and credit cards.

My wife and I have always figured when one of us gets money, that means we both have money.

I would pay off as much debt as possible.

 

X2. I guess for some people it works though.

 

I do that but it's because I suck with money.

Our joint acct is for the house which she handles and it's her spending $ too. She is very frugal with herself, me not so much.

I have my play money acct on my debit card. That's also our slush fund if we go out for dinner or a concert.

When we were engaged I won $4k on a scratch ticket..that was our money. I bought a scoreboard for my dart room and made her spend some on herself.

 

I suck with money too. LOL. But I've changed my ways a lot, specialy since I'm not working and doing the stay at home dad thing. I actual enjoy trying to find ways of doing things on the cheap, myself.

But, yea. Any money inherited, won, found by either of us, its shared.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a dart room? Just for playing darts?

 

I've gotten better with money but still nowhere near as good as her. I will starve to pay a bill on time but I don't save. I have my indulgences, such as CDs and concerts which I could cut back on too. My wife on the other hand won't spend $10 on herself. Not at all the stereotypical female in that way..hates shopping.

I share money won or found with her but it has a stipulation: She must treat herself somehow. If she's just gonna pay bills, then the entire amount goes to it.

Not ignorant at all. It is my mudroom/hallway at my house. Main purpose is darts. I have my sports hero pictures and all my dart awards out there as well..and store a few small items out there. That said I have about 40 sets of darts, my supplies, dartboard and scoreboards there too. I'll try to post a couple of pics later.

 

Some good advice ITT.
When my mom passed, I paid off my mortgage, which is what she would have liked for me to do. Wife & I already pay off our credit cards in full monthly, and we only have a MC and Costco AMEX. Carrying ANY credit card debt is foolish in my opinion.

Oh, I also bought my Tacoma and the wife a BMW...but we both have very healthy 401k's, and a growing savings account due to no mortgage.

 

So... what happened?

 

It's creepy, because you describing yourself sounds exactly like me and my wife. LOL. If I had the money, I spend it. I'm not the one who saves. But the wife on the other hand is the like yours.

We got a pretty great tax return this year, which is going towards the purchase of our new house, but we allotted ourselves a little money from it. I had my purchases figured out before the check cleared. My wife on the other hand struggled to spend $60 on a pair of good shoes for walking. I had to talk her into it. She usually buys the cheapest shoes she can find and then complains about her feet.

And sounds like a cool room! Darts are definitely a fun game. I have a set of darts, but they where free from some promotional thing.

 

Pay off the cards and cut them up.
With $18k in CC debt, its obvious you two have spending problems.

As far as leaving you.....if an extra $10k is all it take to get rid of her....take a CC advance.

I like my wife but if she would leave for ONLY $10k...I'd consider it.

 

All great advice

 

Marriage is two people together to me, as in everything goes in one pot. I would pay off any credit cards you can and save the rest. Not trying to bust your balls on your relationship at all but thats what I would do

 

Yup we think a lot alike. Without her being the saver I doubt we'd manage to have some of the extras in life.

And congrats on the house. Best and worst move I made all in one haha. With the shoes, you might as well spend the extra cash where you'll get the use out of them as I see it.

It's a small room that would just be extra space but it works well for that, plus I don't have to worry about hitting furniture or something if I put my dartboard in the house. I run 2 leagues in MA and met my wife playing 12 yrs ago.