July 2024

Financial worries are a real thing. Sometimes they keep us up at night, sometimes they just linger there in the back of our minds. I have financial worries and I’ll share mine if you’ll share yours. Ok…I’ll share mine either way.

You might think that because of what I do for a living, financial worries wouldn’t come my way, but they do. So, what do I worry about, you may ask? Several things.

Right now, I think I worry most that I will die before my husband, Roger, and he won’t know what to do. What I mean by that is, of course, he will be ravished with grief, but financially, will he have a handle on everything? I take care of all the day-to-day finances as well as our investment portfolios. It’s what I do. While we always discuss large purchases, and even some smaller ones, we always make decisions together. I know he relies on me to help navigate the big picture. If I die first, will he be, OK? Will he know where to find all our bill pays and insurance policies? Will he fall the victim of some scam and lose all our money and then be left destitute? I sure hope not, but this is one of my worries.

To help alleviate this worry, I make sure I communicate with Roger where everything is. I’m not sure if he always remembers it, but I keep telling him anyway. We have a booklet we are completing together that outlines all our information and where to locate it. This will also help if we both die together so our kids know where to find everything. To keep cybersafe, I bring home tidbits I learn at work or send him articles I read about common scams. I also suggested he come to our Cybersecurity seminar we held in April, which he willingly did. He might not remember it all, but at least it will give him pause to think about the situation before he acts.

Next on my list of financial worries, is whether our kids blow our money if we were to die today. That sounds horrible, doesn’t it. I mean who cares? Well, I do. We have worked hard to accumulate this savings as we prepare for our retirement, and I would be really bummed if they used it on bobble heads. With that being said, our kids are pretty reliable as adults, but we did work with our estate planning attorney to put some parameters in place until we think they will be mature enough to carry the load. I think they will do fine…maybe?

While those are my two biggest worries while I am still working, I do also worry about running out of money after I retire. A few factors come into play with this one. First, Roger is 11 years older than I am, so there could be health care expenditures towards the end of his life that could deplete much of our savings. The other is, I remember what it was like to have pennies to my name, and I do not want to live like that again…ever. So, what do I do? Well, I cannot control Roger’s health in the end, so instead, to help protect some of our assets for me, we looked at insurance options to help cover him. It’s not perfect, but it will help. Next, we save. We save, we save, we spend and then we save some more. I have probably become overly obsessed with the savings part of this plan, but it gives me peace of mind. We keep a good cushion in the bank savings, so that when something unexpected comes up (car, water heater, furnace, washer/dryer, etc.), I don’t stress about it. When there is a big expense, we are anticipating (vacation, new car, home renovations/furniture/flooring), we start planning ahead and save up for it so that it becomes a more affordable situation.

I realize this makes Roger sound like he can’t handle his life. He can! He is a very smart and competent man. I want you to remember that these are MY financial worries/fears/concerns and NOT reality. The same goes for you. It's normal to have financial worries and concerns. It’s what comes next and the reality that matters. What are your financial worries? What keeps you up at night? Let’s talk about it.

Prior to making an investment decision, please consult with your financial advisor about your individual situation. Every investor’s situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. The forgoing is not a recommendation to buy or sell any individual security or any combination of securities.