u/coldhotel_rdt

Illinois resident. I’m old enough to start end of life planning. I’m married and my wife is 10 years younger, so the plan is for me to pass first (lol). I have retirement savings, spouse is beneficiary, checking account (spouse is beneficiary), house is in my name but I have filed a TODI so it passes to her. My car is in both of our names. I don’t have any valuables, just clothes, books and tools. No significant debt although I usually put a couple hundred on a credit card each month and pay it off monthly.

I don’t see a need for a will. My small debts and personal property could be taken care of with a small estate affidavit. Some folks have told me that I should have a will anyway with the same provisions as my beneficiary designations and TODI. That seems counterproductive to me, as I fear that a will and beneficiary/TODIs would complicate things. It doesn’t seem efficient to have a will (which could cost $4000) to pass my personal property on to my spouse as it’s all in our household. Does anyone have experience on handling inheritance this way? I suppose if we both died the same day a will would be handy, but I imagine it would follow the same distribution as if I were intestate- step kids and siblings.

I recently had part of my IRA with a different company (Hennessy) transferred into my Vanguard IRA. I want to consolidate my holdings to make RMDs easier to manage when I’m subject to them. The assets transferred in as shares of Hennessy Equity and Investor Class, which I imagine is necessary to make it a tax-free transfer, although I thought it would go into a Vanguard money market fund, or a Vanguard fund that most closely resembled the HEIFX fund.

Is there anything else I need to do with this transfer? I don’t mind it being a Hennessy fund held by Vanguard, I think it might be easier to work with, as Hennessy would not work with my bank, so any distributions resulted in a check being mailed to me. If I withdraw funds from this investment, will they be held up while Vanguard waits for Hennessy to do their thing?

How does coarse tall fescue weed propagate itself? I originally thought it sent out rhizomes, but I’ve read that it produces seeds. I’ve never seen it go to seed, but my lawn seems to get 5% more fescue each year, especially in droughts. I want to get rid of it and originally was going to roto-till the lawn section a couple of times to kill it off but I’ve read that tilling won’t get rid of it. Would hitting it with 30% vinegar kill it off enough, or does it require grass and weed killer? Will there be seeds left even if I manage to kill it off?

I’m looking for recommendations for inground swimming pool removal in the Rockford area. It’s a vinyl liner with cement bottom and gunite sides. Thanks!

Does anyone know of a business or institution in the Rockford area that offers Medallion Signature Guarantee service (for fee)? My bank doesn’t offer it; I need it for a rollover transfer.