> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thewalkthrough.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Three questions, and Social Security ignores the first answer - URL: https://thewalkthrough.ghost.io/three-questions-and-social-security-ignores-the-first-answer/ - Published: 2026-10-14T18:37:59.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-14T18:37:59.000Z - Author: Rita Nowak A power of attorney does not reach a parent’s benefits. | THE WALKTHROUGH | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | No. 029 / Friday, October 9, 2026 | | | | SUBJECT OF FILE Three questions to put to a parent while the answers are still easy to get: who can sign, which company holds the life policy, and where the signed will is kept | | | | Sponsored by Stansberry Research [A “Record Number” of Private Jets Spotted in California](https://the.walkthrouggh.com/ffwh/1wg11?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) | | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/4c/2a/4c2a7279-3bad-473e-8d11-0a28c762d66d/content/images/2026/10/Stansberry_Vegas_2025_Day3-8440.png)](https://the.walkthrouggh.com/ffwh/1wg11?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) On one night this February, 600 private jets flew out of a single California city. The same night Elon Musk spent millions to send a message to 125 million Americans. But Wall Street veteran Whitney Tilson says what happened that night is the most important financial signal he's seen in years. **[He's sharing his full analysis free, here.](https://the.walkthrouggh.com/ffwh/1wg11?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io)** | | | | MORE TO READ TODAY • [History Says It’s Coming—The Next Bank Account Freeze?](https://the.walkthrouggh.com/lbbl/1wg3?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) (Sponsored by Priority Gold) • [Do this before Elon’s next tweet](https://the.walkthrouggh.com/fizk/1wg5?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) (Sponsored by Brownstone Research) | | | | Good morning. Which company insured my father’s life? I have been trying to answer that since Tuesday, and I cannot. My mother may know, and I have not asked her. There was no letter yesterday. I promised a short one for Thursday and did not send it, so it arrives on a Friday, with the Friday parts attached. What follows are three questions for a parent, each about a paper that only works if somebody can find it. None of them needs a lawyer to ask. I am not a lawyer, and none of this is advice about your family’s papers. | | 01 Who can sign, and for what | | A durable power of attorney lets a named person sign for someone who can no longer sign for themselves. Banks and brokers usually honor one, though many want to review it first, and the rules differ between states. Several of today’s sponsors write about frozen bank accounts. In the claim files I handled, the freeze families ran into was usually a bank that would not deal with a grown child because the parent had signed nothing. Social Security is the exception families tend to find late. The Treasury does not recognize a power of attorney for negotiating federal payments. The agent has to apply separately to be the representative payee, and the agency checks the applicant before it approves anyone. There is a way to choose ahead of time. A person who receives benefits can name up to three advance designees, and the agency considers those names first if a payee is ever needed. | | 02 Which company holds the policy | | An insurer pays a life policy when a beneficiary files a claim, and a beneficiary who does not know about the policy files nothing. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners runs a free search for that situation. By July 31, 2026, its locator had [matched more than 780,000 policies and annuities](https://content.naic.org/article/naic-life-insurance-policy-locator-tool-helps-match-consumers-more-16-billion-lost-and-unclaimed), worth about $17 billion, to the people they were meant for. It works only after a death, and it answers only the beneficiary or someone with legal authority. Before then, the quickest search is a question at the kitchen table about which company and roughly what year. | | 03 Where the signed original is | | A will is probated from the original. In New York, when a will the person once kept cannot be found after the death, the law presumes the person destroyed it on purpose. A copy can still be admitted. The family has to show the will was never revoked, prove it was signed properly, and prove its terms through two credible witnesses or a copy shown to be complete. In 2023 a Westchester family did that with an unsigned, undated copy, and only [after an appeal](https://nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2023/2023%5F00664.htm). The original had stayed with the lawyer who drafted it and had never been in the dead man’s possession, which is what overcame the presumption. The question to ask is where the signed original sits and which other person knows the place. | | ![A long sealed envelope on a desk beside a fountain pen and a desk lamp](https://storage.ghost.io/c/4c/2a/4c2a7279-3bad-473e-8d11-0a28c762d66d/content/images/2026/10/029_inline_1200x800.jpg) Probate in New York starts from the signed original. | | 04 Mine | | My score on these is zero for three. My mother has mentioned her will at two Thanksgivings, both times while passing the rolls, which is not when anyone takes notes. I do not know where the original is or who drafted it. I do not know whether my father carried a policy with anyone after he retired. The question about the deed in Memphis is also still unasked, so the list has grown to four. | | What it actually costs It takes about ten minutes inside one phone call. Write the three questions on an index card, ask them in order, and write each answer in pen on the same card. On the phone, one sentence opens the subject without alarming anyone: “If you could not handle your own mail for a month, whose name should be on all of it?” If your parent receives Social Security, a fourth step takes a few more minutes. They can name their advance designees in a my Social Security account, by phone, or at an office, as the agency’s [advance designation page](https://www.ssa.gov/payee/advance%5Fdesignation.htm?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) explains. If your parents are gone, the same card works with your own answers on it, kept where your children will look first. | | One number 3 That is how many people Social Security lets you name in advance to manage your benefits if you ever cannot. | | Where I stand today | | My card is written and clipped to the phone I use for Sunday calls to Memphis. Write yours before the weekend and keep it next to the phone you will use. | | WHERE I WAS WRONG On Tuesday I wrote that most people who inherit an IRA have ten years to empty it, and I left out a condition. If the owner had already started required withdrawals, the heir must also take a withdrawal in each of the first nine years. The IRS waived the penalty for missed years from 2021 through 2024, and the yearly withdrawals are required from 2025 on. If you wrote a year on your statement after that letter, the year is still right, and there may be a December deadline before it. | | The Five | | WASHINGTON Forty states and the District of Columbia [asked the Supreme Court](https://www.justsecurity.org/160040/early-edition-october-8-2026/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) to hear New Jersey’s challenge over whether federal law overrides state gambling rules for prediction markets. MARKETS On Thursday the S&P 500 [slipped 0.46% to 7,766](https://www.fool.com/coverage/stock-market-today/2026/10/08/stock-market-today-oct-8-tech-stocks-slide-as-treasury-yields-and-oil-prices-surge/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io), the Nasdaq fell 1.25%, and the Dow rose 0.10%. TECHNOLOGY Common Sense Media [reported that some guardrails](https://www.justsecurity.org/160040/early-edition-october-8-2026/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) in ChatGPT’s teen version do not work as intended. ENERGY Crude oil [traded above $102 a barrel on Thursday](https://www.fool.com/coverage/stock-market-today/2026/10/08/stock-market-today-oct-8-tech-stocks-slide-as-treasury-yields-and-oil-prices-surge/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io), and energy stocks led the market. WORLD The WWF’s Living Planet Report [found monitored wildlife populations down 73%](https://www.justsecurity.org/160040/early-edition-october-8-2026/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) on average since 1970, with some recoveries noted. | | The money meter | | Measure Now Federal funds targetFederal Reserve, since Sept 16, 2026 3.75–4.00% 30-year fixed mortgageFreddie Mac PMMS, Oct 8, 2026 (7.28% a week earlier) 7.40% Inflation, 12 months to August 2026BLS, CPI-U; next release Oct 14 3.4% Regular gas, national averageAAA, Oct 9, 2026 $4.37 | | TOMORROW The monthly list of things I said I would do and have not done. | | FRIDAYS ONLY If someone you know is sorting out a parent’s papers this fall, this is the letter to forward to them. | | Read the policy before you need it. — Rita |