Summary Sunday is a weekly post where I put out a short list of the personal finance blog posts and articles I liked the most throughout the previous week. Links to each post are in the headers. I hope you enjoy them too!
For today’s Summary Sunday I chose some older posts, but I think they will all be helpful to you. They discuss how to plan out your money so you and your loved ones are set up for the future.
An Open Love Letter to My Wife
Get Rich Quickish – February 14, 2017
So if I die within the next ten years here’s a list of financial steps I’d like you to take. I’m sure things will be crazy and hectic and emotional if something does happen to me, so hopefully this list will remove some of your stress by allowing you to not think about money.”
Ty wrote this letter to his wife on Valentine’s Day this year to help her deal with the finances if he should pass away. If making sure your family is taken care of when you pass isn’t love, I don’t know what is. You should still have a will, but this letter can be where you explain not just who gets each asset but what they should do with it.
Don’t think that this type of letter is only important if you have a spouse. In fact, if you are single it’s probably even more important, especially if you have children. If you are married, hopefully your spouse has some idea about your financial situation even if you handle 99% of it. But if you are single, I bet you don’t have regular conversations with your parents or kids or best friend about the status of your finances. That’s not really a thing we do in America.
Personally, as a single-no-dependents 30-something, I’ve given my mother responsibility for my assets if I die. Along with a copy of my will, she also has a letter breaking down each asset and who the beneficiary is. I’m now thinking I should expand that letter in the way Ty has done. I don’t want my nephew getting his share when he turns 18 and buying a brand new Camaro, haha!
7 Personal Finance Goals for Your 30s
The Art of Manliness – November 11, 2015
Today we take a look at 7 personal finance goals for your 30s. While many of the goals you should set during this decade of your life are simply a continuation of those you hopefully started on in the previous one, your thirties bring some unique personal finance challenges that didn’t exist when you were a relatively carefree 20-something. As a friend once put it, “In your 30s, you’re just running.”
If you want to work on your finances but don’t know what you should be doing, check out this article. There is one for people in their 20s here. Not only does this article have seven smart, achievable goals listed, it also explains what you should be doing for each one. Even better, the article links to more information so you can do deeper research.
The top 10 items for your annual financial checklist
MSN Money – December 29, 2015
Typically I’d recommend reviewing your annual checklist at the end of the calendar year. However, I started this blog in the middle of the year and don’t want to go too long before I make that recommendation. Don’t worry, I’ll bring it up again in December!
While most readers to this blog aren’t going to need to worry about #10 (Required Minimum Distributions) anytime soon, the rest of the checklist items are applicable to basically everybody. Especially the items recommending updating beneficiaries, estate documents, and designated persons. The readers of this blog are overwhelmingly between the ages of 25-44. That’s exactly the time period when most people experience rapid changes in their family makeup and financial health. Make sure you are accounting for those changes!
Are you following a financial plan, or just “winging it” for now?
Thanks for the inclusion in your Sunday Summary. Getting my financial affairs in order and outlining a plan for my family has brought me more peace of mind than anything else I’ve ever done. Hands down.
It probably felt as good as buying a sweet Camero would feel for your nephew 😂 In my case, I’d go classic over new. A nice 1969 convertible would work nicely.
Oh yeah, classic over new any day! Okay, I guess he can use part of the money for a car… haha!
Thanks for writing such a great letter! Hopefully some of your and my readers follow your lead.