I think I, the AKPK DMP blogger, am taking my financial aspect more seriously now than ever. I find myself reading tax, insurance, home mortgage, retirement fund and a few money topics which I previously hated a lot. 
They still don’t interest me much, but I am doing my best to know more. Life is unpredictable, right? What if something happens to hubby? Touch wood. What should I do with his life insurance proceeds?
Speaking of life insurance, you really have to read this article – Making $300,000 Last A Lifetime. It gives you a general guideline on how to turn your retirement savings into income for life.
(Money Magazine) — Question: My mother-in-law, who’s in her early 60s, was recently widowed. She now has Social Security and approximately $300,000 from a life insurance policy to live on. She’s not comfortable taking on much, if any, risk but she does need to generate income from the life insurance proceeds. Any recommendations for how she should invest this money? –Chris, Atlanta, Georgia
Answer: Before you and your mother-in-law can even begin to think about investments, you first need to address two fundamental questions.
The first is how much income does your mother-in-law require to maintain an acceptable lifestyle for the rest of her life? If she’s in her early 60s, she could easily live another 30 years, if not longer, depending on her health and genes.
The second question is, how much of that income can she reasonably expect to withdraw from the $300,000 in life insurance proceeds?
Three hundred thousand bucks is a lot of moolah. But there’s a limit to how much lifetime income you can get from it — probably much less than most people think.
Making a retirement budget
Start with a pencil, paper pad and a calculator by going over her current outlays and then making reasonable assumptions about the future, such as how much different expenses might rise (such as health care) and which might decline or even disappear (paying off a mortgage other loan, perhaps). Read More »
