I am trying to support my mother to sort out some of her financial affairs. She is avoidant and although we should probably engage the services of a financial advisor, I don't think I'll get her that far. Today we looked through her latest bank statements - the last time we did this was in 2013. I am looking for some simple straightforward pointers (e.g. specific accounts/funds) to work towards. I am one of four children, we are all financially independent of her.
Age: 70
Spouse’s/Partner's age: NA (Father RIP)
Annual gross income from employment or profession: total approx 22k (10 k farm income and 12 k widows benefit)
Monthly take-home pay (approx 1700?)
Type of employment: My mother inherited a farm (approx 70 acres) which she ran until she married and then with my father. She kept this going until about 15 years ago when it became too much for her. At the moment, she has leased sheds and fields etc to neighbours at a rate set years ago. Definitely mates rates but her priority is also hassle free... She has a herd number and the 10k income is made up of grants/subsidies. She is pretty vague on the details here and I myself haven't a clue of how the farm worked/works at the moment.
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
She is living within her means
Rough estimate of value of home: 140k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 0
What interest rate are you paying?
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? NA
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? NA
Savings and investments:
So here are the main queries...
My mother has 135,000 sitting in current accounts in various banks- for a couple of years these were in funds/savings accounts
Do you have a pension scheme? No.
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 40, 38, 36, 34.
Life insurance: None
We are looking at doing some renovations to the house- approx 20k (ie installing downstairs bathroom/shower and kitchen living renovations to support comfort for older age.) and also at updating car- approx 12 k. She manages to pay the big expenses like car insurance and health insurance from her yearly
income
Does anyone have any advice going forward? I would like to support her to both protect her assets and also protect herself as she is pretty clueless financially and could easily be talked into unwise financial decisions...
Age: 70
Spouse’s/Partner's age: NA (Father RIP)
Annual gross income from employment or profession: total approx 22k (10 k farm income and 12 k widows benefit)
Monthly take-home pay (approx 1700?)
Type of employment: My mother inherited a farm (approx 70 acres) which she ran until she married and then with my father. She kept this going until about 15 years ago when it became too much for her. At the moment, she has leased sheds and fields etc to neighbours at a rate set years ago. Definitely mates rates but her priority is also hassle free... She has a herd number and the 10k income is made up of grants/subsidies. She is pretty vague on the details here and I myself haven't a clue of how the farm worked/works at the moment.
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
She is living within her means
Rough estimate of value of home: 140k
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 0
What interest rate are you paying?
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? NA
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? NA
Savings and investments:
So here are the main queries...
My mother has 135,000 sitting in current accounts in various banks- for a couple of years these were in funds/savings accounts
Do you have a pension scheme? No.
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: 40, 38, 36, 34.
Life insurance: None
We are looking at doing some renovations to the house- approx 20k (ie installing downstairs bathroom/shower and kitchen living renovations to support comfort for older age.) and also at updating car- approx 12 k. She manages to pay the big expenses like car insurance and health insurance from her yearly
income
Does anyone have any advice going forward? I would like to support her to both protect her assets and also protect herself as she is pretty clueless financially and could easily be talked into unwise financial decisions...