Category: Planning for the Family

At times, we can be so focused on our financial health – maintaining a healthy cash flow, monitoring a budget, building a retirement plan – that we can forget about the importance of our physical health and how it may impact our financial future. It’s much easier to talk the talk about staying young than it is to walk the walk. Starting in our 20s and 30s, we commence a long, seemingly inevitable physical deterioration. Our maximum heart rate declines, and with it the amount of oxygen-bearing blood the heart can pump. Muscle is gradually replaced with fat and weight edges upward. And decade by decade, as oxygen intake drops, it becomes a little harder to just get around. Eventually, in our 70s, 80s or 90s, most of us lose our “functional independence,” the ability to live on our own. We move to assisted-living or nursing homes because, literally, our living needs to be assisted.

Few tasks in life can be as rewarding and challenging as being a primary caregiver for your loved ones. And caregiving comes in a variety of forms, from looking after ailing relatives to raising children as a stay-at-home parent. Whether you purposefully chose the role or life’s circumstances required you to fill it, you face myriad responsibilities that can distract you from managing your own financial life. To feel secure in your future and the future of those you care for, you need to make sure you safeguard your finances.

By Michael J. Searcy

Nope, we’re not talking about crashing markets or the end of the economic world here. We are talking about the name of a letter one of our clients has written to be given to his survivors. He has instructed them to only open it in the case of his death or incapacity. The purpose? To make things easier for his survivors and point them in the right direction of what needs to happen next. We talk about these things with clients on a regular basis but seldom do they actually implement this type of communication. Far too often it lands on the “good idea when I get around to it” list. This is understandable because who really wants to face their own mortality? We applaud this client for being proactive.

Sending a child or grandchild off to college is an exciting time for a family. For the student, it’s an opportunity to leave the nest and begin the first phase of adulthood; for parents and grandparents, it’s a time to take pride in the years of hard work preparing the next generation for the real world. College is also the first time many young people become responsible for their own finances, and the habits they learn will help set the stage for their financial futures.

Preparing your estate in advance is one of the greatest gifts you can give your family. Many estates include real estate in the form of a primary home, vacation home, and other family properties. While inheriting a property can be a wonderful legacy, it also comes with obligations that heirs may be unprepared or unable to fulfill. If you intend to leave real estate to your heirs, ask yourself these five questions to help avoid creating problems for your loved ones.

If you have a furry friend, you know your pet relies on you for every need. What would your pet do without you? Although pets are legally considered to be property, to those of us who own pets, they’re more like members of the family. And so, just as you make preparations to care for the human members of your family after your passing, you need to think about how to look after your pets as well.

Here are some options that can help you ensure your pets are cared for if something happens to you:

By: Jessica Kmetty

The World Health Organization notes that an estimated 47.5 million people currently live with dementia, a syndrome that affects memory, thinking, behavior and ability to perform everyday activities.* It can severely impact the ability to make financial decisions, and finding ways to help those with dementia manage their finances is critical to their health and well-being. These 5 tips can help families protect and preserve assets:

One area that is particularly critical to get right in your financial planning process is estate preparation and the protection of your loved ones from the unexpected. Proper estate preparation is an act of love and responsibility to those you care about.

If you’re like many Americans, you might be worried about how to prepare for your own or your loved ones’ long-term healthcare needs. In previous generations, elderly parents and grandparents could count on moving in with relatives when they became unable to live alone. However, today’s family dynamics have changed and many Americans are reluctant to burden their families with caregiving duties.

Financial Lessons from the Mall: Teaching Your Teens About Credit

By Jessica Kmetty

I was in Kohl’s the other day with two of my sons with the intent to only purchase a few articles of clothing for my daughter, but they happened to be having some great sales so we ended up purchasing quite a few clothing items for each of my children.