Neither me. But my checking account pays dividends of 3.5%. Are you just going to leave that $1000? Jump through the hoops and take it.
A lawyer told me it would cost $2000 legal fees plus the court fees to file probate. And if I did that I would have to pay inheritance tax on property worth about $175K at the time of his death. It would only be worth if it we wanted to sell the property
You don't have to have to pay a lawyer! Read about probate on the internet and do it yourself. If there is a will and there no are real complications with lots of squabbling relatives, probate is rather straightforward. Just fill out the paperwork with the Clerk of Court and appear before a judge. Court costs are tiny, its the lawyers that are expensive. You will have to get the property in your name at some point. There are no federal estate taxes on amounts under $5 million. And no inheritance taxes at all in Louisiana. Only 8 states have inheritance taxes and there are exemptions for small estates.
Back in the day, in the private sector, when I used to get bonuses, they were always taxed at 20%, regardless of what rate my regular pay, based on deductions were taxed. There is some subtle difference in regular salary and either advanced or bonus payments. I never knew or attempted to learn, but, I know it was always 20%. ALso withdrawals from my 401K are taxed at 20%. Before that company went public, and a couple of near lunatics were running it, and making millions, we had the old "gross up." If Gary called you in and said, "Great job on project X, I'm giving you a $15,000 bonus, and we are "grossin it up," That mean you went to the bank with $15K. That's what I'm talking about! Those days are over and I was only there for about three of those years. Damn the bad luck. You guys probably don't follow it, I don't expect any sympathy from LA crowd, but this spring-summer there has been a huge fight in NC legislature about teacher pay. The state had sunk to 48th. So after tremendously rancorous discourse, they settle on an "average" 7% pay raise for teachers. Don't forget this is election year, too. Well, I got my first paycheck, post raise, yesterday, and I am getting $102 LESS per month than last year. I don't know why, will maybe find out. I hate this shit.
It's a credit union. They have a checking account that pays dividends if you have direct deposit, use your debit card 20 times a month for purchases and take E-statements. It was 4.5% on balances up to $20K when I started it about six years ago. They have actually gone down to 2.5% on balances up to $10K recently. It has zero ATM fees and also refunds me for fees when I use another ATM. Laginappe checking at Campus FCU. That is about average for interest-earning accounts, but checking finder.com says that there are some accounts offering up to 4%.
I can think of a couple of things. 1) There was an increase in some payroll deduction like health insurance. 2) A portion will be increased tax related to medicare. This is a definite. 3) Tax creep. If the raise bumped your top end into a higher marginal rate the payroll computers always over react and withhold too much. You will need to adjust your W-4. Chance are you were in say, the 15% bracket, and now you have a portion of your income income going into the 20% bracket. Payroll processors are terrible at understanding only a few thousand dollars are subject to the higher rate.
