Store / The Survivor's Money Guide
Know what happens to the money and the tax bill if one of you dies, before it happens.
What happens to the tax bill when one of you dies, and the order to do things in when it happens.
“What happens to the money, and the tax bill, when one of us is gone?”
- Instant download
- 30-day refund
- Secure checkout by Stripe
Or get all five for $147.
What you get
- The widow's penalty computed line by line on a real household, not described in a warning
- A worksheet that produces your own survivor-penalty number while both of you are alive
- A first 30 days, first 90 days, first year order of operations for the survivor
- What must not be done early, including the four offers to refuse in the first week
- Account by account: IRA rollover, the 10-year rule, step-up, TOD, annuities, life insurance
- The documents list, who asks for each one, and a printed checklist for the first 90 days
Look inside
These are pages from the actual file, not mockups.
Everything it covers
- The bill that changes the year after the funeral
- The four switches that flip on the same income
- Bill and Carol: the arithmetic, line by line
- The cushion you stop having
- Worksheet: your own survivor-penalty number
- Social Security after the death
- Account by account: what happens to each thing you own
- The order of operations for the survivor
- The documents the survivor will be asked for
- Printed checklist: the survivor's first ninety days
- What to do now, and what to take to a professional
Questions before you buy
How do I get it?
Checkout is handled by Stripe. As soon as your payment goes through you land on the download page, and the files are yours to keep.
What if it is not useful to me?
There is a 30-day refund. If it does not help, ask for your money back.
Do I need Excel?
Only for the workbook, which opens in Excel. The PDF stands on its own: every worksheet is printed in it, so you can do the whole thing with a pen.
Is this advice for my situation?
No. It is education: the rules, the tables, and the arithmetic, so you can run your own numbers. It is not tax, legal or investment advice. If you want someone to look at your situation with you, book a free second opinion.
Which tax year is it built on?
This is the 2026 edition. Every table uses 2026 figures, and each one names the government source it came from.
After you buy
Bring the filled worksheet to a free call and I will check your numbers.
Thirty minutes, in person at a Fidelity Bank branch, by phone or by video. You bring the worksheet and one statement; I check the figure line by line against your situation and you leave with the three things worth doing next, in writing. No charge, and nothing moves unless you decide it should.
James Ustby, CFP®, APMA® · wrote every page
All five guides for $147.
Bought one at a time they come to $205. The library is every guide and every workbook in one download.