Born Under a Lucky Star?

I'm... confused. Baffled, maybe. And I don't want to go counting unhatched chickens and all. And yet...

My dad and step-mom stopped by today. They were in town to visit friends and take a trip down the river. It's normal for us to meet for lunch of, at least, pass by and say 'hi' and all. This time, they actually had something else to discuss.

Apparently, Susan's mom, affectionately known as Grandma Bea, put away some money for me. A CD that started at 10 thousand dollars and is up to 11. It's reaching maturity and so she wanted to see if I'd rather see it reinvested or cashed out to me. It's the sort of thing she'd want spent for a major thing (a new vehicle or paying principle on my mortgage were mentioned) rather than just as spendable money.

If this had happened a few months ago, I might have waved off and said to save it. I'm not really shopping for a new vehicle, as old as my truck is. Worst case there, I can still get where I need to go by bike and foot if I have to. But this could actually pay off my sudden debt for repair costs and still take a chunk out of my mortgage debt.

I never expect windfalls like this. I wouldn't even ask for them typically (I haven't prayed to that end). But if this works out as well as it sounds like... awesome.

Comments

  1. tashiroJuly 31, 2008 at 3:06 PM

    Wow. Potential congrats there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. northawkeJuly 31, 2008 at 4:56 PM

    ditto - I hope that works out! It'd alleviate a lot of stress, from what I understand... best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
  3. slydyrJuly 31, 2008 at 9:41 PM

    Sweet man! So... Vegas then? Kidding, seriously. That's an awesome thing to have fall in your lap - spend wisely :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. brat_grrlAugust 1, 2008 at 8:27 AM

    Just a few cents... Reinvest part of it... It is a good time to purchase mutual funds etc... (ie: stocks are low, they are going to go up again) Plus, be aware that the windfall could have some tax consequences. Hugz from afar, Keridwen

    ReplyDelete
  5. northawkeAugust 1, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    Depends. I inherited 10K from my wise grandfather - who'd found that there's a cutoff to the donation you can give family without them being penalized. I'm not sure how that impacted my tax burden, but it must not have been much - my tax preparer (yea Dad!) managed to get me a refund that year. Though that might have been helped by me reinvesting $3500 of it... My advice? Consult an accountant with questions. I know a good one in Dgo if you're interested... and I'm sure he'd be happy to help you. (in fact, he'd probably at least chat with you without charging! dunno at what point he'd have to ask for money...)

    ReplyDelete
  6. marinredwolfAugust 3, 2008 at 11:46 AM

    Good point on the taxes. I hadn't thought of that. Though a little research seems to say we should be fine. Unless the rules change notably before next year, we have http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=107815,00.html which seems to say the cut off for tax-free gifting is $12 thousand from one person to another. If it's more than that, the payer has to report it and may have to pay taxes. If I'm reading this right, the payee isn't obliged to report it either way. As for reinvesting, I'm not convinced that's the best way to go. While I may put aside a portion to help make a safety fund for future incidents, paying about $6000 toward my mortgage principle is awful attractive. While it's ridiculously hard to figure out exactly (with my lack of detailed notes thusfar and tricky calculations of interest), it looks like that would shorten the term of my mortgage by 2-3 years. That would save me somewhere in the neighborhood of $14-$21 thousand. Judging from what I've seen on my 401k reports, I don't get the feeling that any stocks are going to reliably return 2-3 times the amount invested over the next twenty-ish years.

    ReplyDelete

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