Common Money Mistakes

Ken Dolan: Ready? You look wonderful, Daria. Daria Dolan: Well, thank you. Ken Dolan: You look lovely. Let’s just introduce ourselves. We are Ken and Daria Dolan; America’s First Family of Finance. We’re glad you join us for this video. Daria Dolan: Now I think it’s says that up there. Ken Dolan: Or down here. Daria Dolan: I heard someone. Ken Dolan: Anyway, you think after almost 20 years of the media, radio, and television and answering more than 60,000 calls everything we hear here is a call we’ve answered. Daria Dolan: I thought that was me and Meredith, our daughter. Ken Dolan: Well, or both, anyway. You think that well you don’t do it, you’re so smart, you never make a mistake. You hear everybody else’s mistakes but you don’t make any. So in this video—I’ll be bold just a couple of minutes. We thought we would say, “Yes, we are human. Yes, we have made money mistakes.” We’ll tell you one, particular one then toward the end we’re going to invite you, we’re going to put an email address up and we’re going to advise to send us your money mistake. Why, because maybe you can learn from our mistake. Daria Dolan: And maybe we can all learn from one another’s mistake. Ken Dolan: Here’s the background. Daria Dolan: Are we going to talk about how my retirement accounts are larger than yours? Ken Dolan: Here’s the story. Do you have to do that? It’s true but the answer is yes, it’s true. That’s another video. He said-she said. Daria Dolan: Oh, yes. Ken Dolan: All right. I guess a bunch of years ago, Daria and I, when Mom and Dad, Daria’s parents were probably let’s say in their early 60s. That was a number of years ago. Daria Dolan: No, they were older than that. Late 60’s to early 70’s. Ken Dolan: What we said now, what can we do for Mom and Dad to be a really a great idea? That would be really good for them something they really enjoy. Daria Dolan: A great gift. Ken Dolan: Yeah, so we said how about a cruise, to where? Daria Dolan: The Mediterranean. Ken Dolan: All right, it was fun. Daria Dolan: No. I had to say this. We’ve got a special deal on it because we were working on the ship at that time. So I don’t want you to think that we just throw money around like I don’t why. Ken Dolan: I was the waiter in the first serving. Daria Dolan: Stop. Ken Dolan: Daria was the waitress in the second. We’re actually roasting a cruise for WOR Radio which still our home station on a national radio show. So the answer is it was a wonderful cruise. That’s not the mistake. It’s a part of the mistake. So what we said is what many of you said, “I’m going to buy my parents a new car. I’m going to buy them a condo. I’m going to help them a condo payment or I’m going to buy them a colored TV set or a microwave.” We said, “We’re going to buy Mom and Dad a cruise.” But, not a bad idea. Daria Dolan: Great idea, right? Ken Dolan: I could have done that. Daria Dolan: Especially if you’re the parents. Ken Dolan: We could have been done better, Daria. Daria Dolan: Here is where the mistake came in. So that large gift and other large gifts through the years cost us on an ongoing basis. Ken Dolan: Thousands of bucks. Daria Dolan: Yeah. We could have and now to this day which we had done was to buy a long term care policy. Ken Dolan: Yeah. Daria Dolan: For specifically my father because there was Alzheimer’s in the family. The odds were pretty good that he was going to at least become get to mention. Ken Dolan: Well, let’s tell everybody what happened. As it turned out that’s exactly what happened. Daria’s dad since he passed away but we’ve always regretted the fact that rather than putting Daria’s mom’s money at stake and Daria’s inheritance which is— Daria Dolan: Where in fact it was at risk because once he went into a nursing home when my mother could no longer care for a med home. Ken Dolan: Unbelievable. Daria Dolan: It became a huge expense every single month. Ken Dolan: Now as it turns out, this bad news and sort of a good news. The bad news is that Daria’s dad passed away rather quickly. The Alzheimer’s went into other things and in the nursing home he spent a relatively short time. Daria Dolan: No, it’s in doing type of things, he just developed pneumonia. Ken Dolan: Well, that’s I said from Alzheimer’s to pneumonia but the bottom line is simply this, mom’s state, mom’s money, the money that they worked so hard for. Daria’s dad was in the restaurant business in Long Island for many years. Certainly, at 50 or 60 or 70 or thousand or in tripled digits in some large cities per year cost of nursing homes could have been wiped out had your dad survive longer. The bad news is he didn’t live. Daria Dolan: Live longer and an Alzheimer’s patients can live a long, long time. Ken Dolan: So it turns out it wasn’t such a —obviously his death was a horrible thing to happen but as it turns out there was no more expense obviously after you passed away after a relatively short time in the nursing home. But he could have been there. He could have been there 10 years Daria and mom’s money could have been long gone. Daria Dolan: Could have been totally gone. So that to us was the biggest mistake with money we ever made going for the fun. Ken Dolan: Easy. Daria Dolan: Wonderful, you know, isn’t that a great gift idea? Ken Dolan: Yeah. Daria Dolan: And not focusing in on the meat and potatoes of what really makes for a good life. Ken Dolan: Learning from other’s mistakes. We’ve made the morsels and clearly what we’ve going to—yes, would you say something? Daria Dolan: Yes, I was going to say that we would like to hear your mistakes. Ken Dolan: Yeah. Daria Dolan: And you can e-mail them. Ken Dolan: Right at the address, right below here. It’s not here yet. Daria Dolan: Are you sure it’s there? Ken Dolan: But I’m hoping it’s going to be there when this airs. Daria Dolan: If not we look really stupid doing this. Ken Dolan: What are we doing down here? So the bottom line is, think of mom and dad and think of all wonderful, wonderful gifts even if you help them with long term care premiums which are not incredibly expensive or do it for them. Helping the surviving spouse and I supposed at the end you’re helping yourself where it just does not all get simply wiped away. Dolan’s money mistake, we want to hear yours.