Caring For an Aging Friend 2.0

This topic has become far more complicated post-coronavirus.

Back in 2017, 2018 & 2020 TGIF 2 Minutes explored “Caring For Aging Parents”… which then became “Caring For an Aging Friend”. Whether caring for a family member or friend, finding and putting into action Care (with a capital “C”) may be more stressful than ever – both for Care-receiver and Care-giver.

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Important Early-Year Reminder

The following is an important reminder for every other year or so – more often if there are new people in your life:

Whoever, whatever you want to call them: Beneficiaries, “Bennys,” Heirs… make sure to check who is listed as Beneficiary or Beneficiaries on your retirement accounts, insurance policies, IRAs, trusts or in your Will (if you have a Will).*

Inevitably, time flies. Sadly, loved ones pass away; important loved ones may, well, change. (Think: divorce, relationship changes). Happily, new beneficiaries, or heirs, are born or enter the picture! In the busy nature of life, often the beneficiaries currently on record are not accurate or have not been updated in years.

Make sure to check who is listed as Beneficiary or Beneficiaries on your retirement accounts, insurance policies, IRAs, trusts or in your Will.

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Caring For an Aging Friend

Back in 2017 & 2018 TGIF 2 Minutes explored “Caring For Aging Parents”. The topic and its challenges will always be timely. And there is another angle to the issue that can be equally as gut-wrenching: caring for – or caring about – an aging friend or neighbor who has little or no family available and no apparent plan for aging.

Friends are not family, but we can care about friends just as much or more.

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Politics, Grief & Money

Is it just me or has the election season and political climate made it feel like someone died? In fact, in the case that someone actually has died in the past 8-12 months we have not even been able to grieve in a healthy way.

What a topic for a Friday! And why am I bringing it up? This topic could take far more than 2 minutes to cover (don’t worry, I’ll keep it short).

Unfortunately, people do pass away. I have experienced both tragic and sudden death in my family. Death is a terrible and sad topic, but certain aspects of death need to be addressed within the concept of money – as harsh as that sounds. Grief is part of the topic too.

Find someone to trust to walk alongside you in times of grief so that your money and financial life are the crutch you can lean on to get you through to the other side of grief and hard times.

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Check Your Beneficiaries

Another quick note this week – but important!

Whatever, whoever you want to call them: Beneficiaries, “Bennys”, Heirs… make sure to check who is listed as Beneficiary or Beneficiaries on your retirement accounts, insurance policies, IRAs or in your Will (if you have a Will).*

Inevitably, time flies. Loved ones pass away or important loved ones, well, change. (Think: divorce, relationship changes). On the positive side, new beneficiaries, or heirs, are born or enter the picture! In the busy-ness of life, often the accuracy of beneficiaries goes unchecked.

angelic statue and sunset scenery
NO ONE enjoys talking about their death, but bottom line, after your death, it is too late to change beneficiaries.

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5 End of Year Questions

It is nearing year-end and I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to double-check certain items NOW. The best financial advisers can and should be drawing your attention to these items in order to make your year-end easier and less stressful. 

Here is a list of questions I review annually with clients:

black calendar close up composition
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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One Way To Be Unselfish

This edition is dedicated to the loving memory of my father-in-law, Mickey Debbs.

Lots of things in life are learned or really hammered home only during or after a sad event. While there are still lots of lessons learned amidst happy times.

trees in park
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Recently I experienced the tremendously sad and sudden passing of my father-in-law. Note the word “sudden.”  Most of us say out loud regarding death, “I want to go fast!” Or, “I don’t want a long and drawn out death.” But really, we have no idea. What if it is sudden?

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Quadrant #4 of Saving: Protecting Your Savings

This recent series has been all about Saving Money.  Just as with any task, saving money can be broken down into stages.  In this case I outlined “4 Quadrants of Saving” to illustrate how each quadrant (or stage) builds on the previous one, and how the task can be made more achievable.  

protecting money

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