On this episode of The Retirement Huddle podcast, Mark Howard answers your mailbag questions. 

Lea asks: I didn’t have a relationship with my mom for the past 20 years, but she just passed away, and apparently I was still in her will, along with my aunt. I’m getting about $300,000, some in an IRA and some in a TOD account and her house which needs to be sold. How should I handle these different assets? 

We’re sorry to hear about your mom. She has left you an incredible blessing. This is a multi-faceted answer. We need to look at tax ramifications, including your IRA, which is an inherited IRA.

We don’t know how old you are, what your goals are, etc., but we would need to come up with a tax strategy. You need to think of three buckets – emergency fund, stock market and future.

We can make sure this money not only blesses you, but also others in the family tree when you’re gone.

Joseph asks: The housing market in my area is so hot right now. I’m tempted to put my house on the market and get top dollar. Would it be dumb to rent for a few years?

No, that’s not dumb at all. If you plan to retire in the next few years, let’s make a plan. The housing market is a bidding war these days, so if you want to move, sell your house, rent and let the market settle down.

Rueben asks: My goal was to get to $500,000 in my 401k before I retired, but I’m only at $420,000. I don’t think I’m going to have the patience to work another year. How much money should I have to retire?

It’s a great question but a loaded one. Everybody’s different when it comes to this.

Listen to the full episode or use the timestamps to jump to a specific section. Thanks for listening! We’ll be back for another show every other Thursday.

Today’s Rundown:

[1:11] – Inheritance

[6:11] – Selling house

[8:33] – Retirement goal