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My Dad talked about what “you” should do with your money, but not very much about what he did with his money.  However, after my Dad’s battle with Parkinson’s got worse, he had trouble signing his checks and this made it difficult for him to pay his bills “the old traditional way.”  So last year I told my 77 year old Dad that he should use on-line banking and bill pay.  He was good with computers, but he didn’t trust on-line banking.  After repeatedly telling him how much I use it, he signed up.  It was a little confusing for him and sometimes he would either pay the bill on-line and forget to record it in Quicken or he would record the transaction in Quicken and then forget to pay the bill on-line.  He asked for my help and so every Sunday I would go to his house and help him with his bills.  This as an insight into his finances that I never saw before since my parents never really discussed THEIR money, only what you should to with YOUR money.  I felt awkward knowing how much money my Dad had, but it turned out to be a blessing, because when he died somewhat unexpectedly in April of this year, I knew exactly where in the process his bills were at and where the money was located.  It was one less headache to work through when settling his estate. 

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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