Ask Terry Archives

hi I have a question if a person is 77 years old and disabled in a wheelchair in Illinois and on Medicaid and medicare and receive a inheritance do they qualify to have the option of a first party trust or a first party trust with special needs trust..... or just a and a pooled…

My husband and I are retired and have approximately $1.4 million in IRA/retirement funds. Our home has value of $500,000 and we hold a 15 year mortgage for $89 K at 3% interest, due in about 8 years. Should we consider paying off the mortgage?

Dear Terry, Enjoyed your recent piece, thanks for outlining some history of Social Security adjustments. My question: How long can we continue calling/considering treasury bills holding SocialSecurity funds as "assets"? They're not real estate, commodities or a productive item, they are pure IOU's. (albeit high class IOU's) But any IOU, regardless of pedigree, rests on…

I'm 75 and retired. I have about $650K in a Roth and $98K in an IRA. My wife (age 73) has $900K in a Prudential annuity and $91K in an IRA. We also have $100K in other securities. We're going to start taking money out for general use. In addition to our RMD, which is…

Hi Terry, I was just let go from a job I was at for 19 years. What do you recommend I do with my 401K account since the company will no longer be adding to it. Also, any suggestions on how to pay bills now that I do not have a job. I filed for…

I worked at a very large company in a middle management type of position for many years. About a year and a half ago due to downsizing my position was eliminated and I have not been able to land a new job. I'm 58 and have just over 100K left in my IRA to live…

I am retired and I would like to get a new car. My car is 19 years old. What is your feeling about leasing versus buying.

Hi Terry, I'm sixty-three years old and have been retired for two years plus from the railroad (43yrs). I have an IRA and 401k held by separate financial institutions that were opened late in my career. ( reasons are to numerous to mention) Neither has been added to or subtracted from. I have no idea…

I'm a single mom with three boys aged 26, 20 and 16. I can opt for additional life insurance through my employer for $240,000 for $829 a year. I'd like to know if there are better options to purchase insurance individually. Thanks! Barb Graf

I just heard you on WGN and have a question regarding the American Equity Gold deferred income annuity. My husband and I rolled our IRA into this a year ago with a 10% bonus. We were told the financial agent does not get a percentage from our investments but is rewarded from American Equity themselves.…

My neighbor's house was misclassified for 50 years as a two story with full basement when in reality her home is a ranch with a full basement. This resulted in her home being over assessed by 1200 sq. ft. of living space since basements aren't considered living space for tax purposes in Cook County. This…

Hello Ms. Savage, Thank you for taking the time to answer our question. We are newly engaged and are looking to setup a savings account, what are our best options? Suggestions? Advice? Thanks !

Dear Terry, My 2 children are my IRA beneficiaries. If I die will they have to pay taxes on the proceeds. Do they have options?

Is it best to let dividens roll back over to purchase more holdings of the same fund ... or to take as cash for use in purchasing other stocks.

I am in the 8th year of a 30 year mortgage @ 4.5% with 85K remaining to be paid. Would it be wise to try to remortgage to get the current 3.5%? I have an excellent credit rating. Also, which website do you recommend to use for comparing current mortgage rates? Thank you!

I heard your comments on this on WGN. My husband passed away a year ago. I had all of his IRAs put into my account. I am 76 and have been taking RMDs. I have plenty of money on paper, receive 3 small pensions from teaching, and of course , receive social security each month.…

My parents (93 & 94) living in a 55+ community are needing to move to an assisted living facility. Is it true that they will have to sign all of their assets over to the facility? Any info that you could provide on protecting their assets or what steps we should take before this move…

Hi, Terry. In 2005, at age 56, I purchased LTC insurance through my employer, the federal government. I recently received a letter from Long Term Care Partners, Portsmouth, NH, saying that John Hancock, the insurer of the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP)…says “Unfortunately, recent analysis of the program, using updated assumptions based on…

Dear Terry, Next year I and my wife will begin taking required minimum distributions from our traditional IRAs. Can we avoid paying taxes on the distribution by directing the the funds directly to a charity, say to a university, to purchase an annuity from the charity? May the amount we redistribute also be claimed as…

i am 84. Is that too old to get such a policy? if not, what companies, offer such policies and what sum of money would be required up front?