I know it’s best to take the lump sum rather than annuities but my parents’ chose this years ago, and I can’t change it (I just spoke with the ins company).We are in no hurry to move.

Now that I have achieved far greater financial success then my parents ever could, know what, I tip generously based on service, averageing 20%.

An older post saying how she thought her parents were going to be pissed, but no further explanation.

There are several homes in my parents neighborhood that are rented out to a religious group that uses them as a kind of assisted living home.

The person who owns it currently just had it passed down to her from her parents.

You would put in about $20K for down payment, pay the rehab and you would have a simple, profitable rental.I've dealt with rentals in the past for my parents and they're no cup of tea.

Maybe they have no hobbies, no family, no desire to travel or participate in leisure activities... their time may be close to free... others have kids or parents they care for, hobbies and passions apart from making money, charitable or non-profit pursuits, etc that they would love to be doing full time if they had the funding to do so.

PS:College advice by parents was bad advice.

The landscape is now complete.While our neighbors are fine with the design, some homeowners in other parts of our community have started to kick up a fuss, and this is where our troubles begin.While our community HOA has a set of guidelines, there is also a broader “parent” HOA that governs the entire development, which consists of multiple communities.

I also work with youth and I look at their work ethic and value system (along with that of their parents') compared to ours and our parents' and I'm almost alarmed.