~10 words
COVID-19 is your “wakeup call” to get eight key financial items in order.
~100 words
Use the COVID-10 self-quarantine as a prime opportunity to recognize, reflect and plan your family’s financial future. Take the time to resolve difficult conversations and issues between you and your family. Organize a cache of all-important financial documents, associated usernames and passwords. Make sure that your will is updated and distributed to the proper people. Talk to your parents about how they want things to play out when they pass. Reflect and confirm that you are comfortable with your current investment allocations.
~1000+ words -
I am writing to you from my home office, which I am currently sharing with my wife and all of her very loud online meetings, while the boys bitch and moan about having to do schoolwork on “more than one subject at home”. Needless to say, the Chamberlain family is in the process of figuring out how this entire COVID-19 environment is going to work out. We are cautiously optimistic, that we will get through this, with a lot of patience and, it could be a time that brings us closer together as a family.
As we adjust to the coming weeks of forced social distancing, WFH and home schooling, and open calendars, we are being given the rarity of time. Time to get crucial, but often overlooked planning items completed. Use COVID-19 as a wakeup call to get your documents in order, deal with difficult family conversations and make long-lasting adjustments that will benefit you and your family —guaranteed.
Create a shared file with all your accounts info.
For each of your individual and joint accounts, record the url, username, password and the latest pdf statement for the following:
Checking/savings accounts
Credit card
Mortgage
Car/student loans
Brokerage
IRA/Roth
401k
Car/home owners/umbrella insurance
529s for the kids
Life insurance policies
Ensure both you and your partner know where your latest tax files are located.
If they are soft, they are likely encrypted with a password, record it. Also record your accountant’s name and contact information.
Share your will.
Get a soft copy of your will. Forward it to family, beneficiaries and the executor.
Don’t have a will?!! Now is the time to get one.
Getting a will is not hard or time consuming. The hard part is the conversation between you and your partner about:
Choosing a guardian for your children, if both parents died
Divvying up special items
Deciding on your power of attorney to deal with property/assets
Choosing your executor
Who is going to make health care/life decisions for you should you become incapable of making your own decisions? And when does the plug finally get pulled?
Know your parents’ wishes.
Since we are on the will topic … have a conversation with your older loved ones. Do they have a will? Do they have specific wants, were they to die? Where will they be buried? Who is the executor of the will? Do all parties of the will know and understand the situation? Is their estate in good order? Do they owe money? Do you know where their important docs are kept? Who do they count on for tax/financial/business/insurance/banking advice?
Emergency cash reserve - build it!
Do you have enough cash in an emergency fund to accommodate 3 months of living expenses? Typically, it can feel burdensome to keep this much cash in an easily accessible savings account. During times of extreme uncertainty, such as the time we now face, cash solves a lot of problems (and relieves anxiety). If you don’t have enough saved, now is the time to start planning how you are going to do it.
Invest in your social network
Do you have the social/family network, in close proximity, that will help you through trying times? If you have been putting your friendships and family time at a lower priority than work, you are probably about to feel the negative affects of that decision. Now is the time to come up with solutions to enrich those relationships and make sure your family/friends know you love them.
Recognize your risk tolerance
How are you dealing with the extreme variability of your investments. Now is the time when you really start to understand how you emotionally handle the market’s ups and downs. Are you properly invested? Are the drops in your portfolio causing you extreme pain? Now is the time to talk to your financial advisor about your long-term investment strategy.
This is a wild time. Let it be a forcing function that helps you solve some outstanding ugly issues. And continue to look on the bright side of the situation.
*I discovered the ~10 Words, ~100 Words, ~1000 Words from the City Schools of Decatur COVID-19 emails and I’m a big fan of this communication style. Hopefully, you appreciate it too.