August 2020

A few months ago, I shared with you a letter to my future grandchildren. Little did I know how apropos that was, as I found out soon after that I will be enjoying my first grandbaby in December. We are very excited! As you know, I have three children, my biological son, Christian, my stepson, Adam, and my stepdaughter, Alex (short for Alexandria). Christian and his girlfriend, Emerald, are the one’s expecting the baby. They are thrilled and so are we! We will have a real ‘corona baby’ in our family!

Ironically, both Christian and Emerald have similar family heritages, one of which is a predominance of Polish. As a result, I have requested that my grandmother name to be, Busia, which is an Americanized Polish version of grandmother. It is what we called my great-grandmother. In actuality, I said the baby could call me whatever it wants, I’m just hoping it doesn’t come out as PooPoo or something like that.

As Christian and Emerald prepare their home for their new arrival, my mind inevitably goes to all the financial aspects to consider. Do they have an emergency savings? Are they still saving for their retirements? Who will carry the health insurance coverage? Is it time to start a 529 College Savings Plan? What about life insurance – can they get this through work, or should we look at some term life insurance policies? You know the list.

Of course, these are all things I am thinking in my head, because at this stage of the game, it would be completely overwhelming for them to consider all these things right now. Christian and Emerald are lucky, however, because they have me. This is what I do and so, it doesn’t need to be on their minds, since I will bring up these items with them over time and make sure they are on the right track.

What about the young people in your life? Do they have someone to think of these things and make sure they are moving in the right direction? You have Cliff and me to help you. Did you know that we are happy to help your kids and adult grandchildren too? On the other hand, maybe you are the ‘kid’ – how can we help your aging parents as they navigate the next steps in their lives. The thing is, we work with people every day helping to figure out the best financial course of action in their stage of life from college savings to retirement savings to senior community living. It’s what we do. How can we help you and your family?