Financial Smarts

“Financial fitness is not pipe dream or a state of mind it's a reality if you are willing to pursue it and embrace it.” ― Will Robinson

Each day we hurry about working to provide for our family and to get ahead in life. We worry about our teenage children driving, the frightening drug use trying to lure them away and all of the possibilities of what could happen. Yet an article I read asks, "do we worry about what if something happens to you...what will happen to those around you?"

You are probably the most careful person around. You buckle your seat belt, eat all of the right foods and exercise is part of your daily routine.

But as the saying goes, "stuff happens."

Financial experts estimate that nearly 70% of men have not taken the needed steps to secure their family's finances. Heaven forbid you end up getting hit by a car. But it happens and all too often without warning. It is natural as human beings not to think about dying.

Heck, who wants to think about that stuff?

But it is relatively easy to take a few steps and ensure some 'after-you' stability. Those steps you can take are;

1. Get yourself together - put together a document listing details of your finances, investments, bank account, insurance policies and any financial advisers. Then ask around for an attorney to draft a will for you.

2. Replace your salary - employer-sponsored life insurance policies will normally cover two times your annual salary. This is much less than your family needs. So buy a term life insurance policy to cover you until the kids have graduated and moved away. From that point on, the kids are less dependent upon you. Notice I didn't say they are totally independent.

3. Pay your family, not Uncle Sam - when you die and leave everything to your wife, your children lose something many of us didn't know we had: a $2 million exemption from the estate tax. Upon your wife's death, your kids benefit from her $2 million exemption, but yours would be lost. For your kids to get the combined $4 million exemption, the attorney can set up a credit shelter. Transfer $2 million in assets (or up to this amount as all of us do not necessarily have that much) into the trust, including your house and enable your wife to access the funds, but name your kids the beneficiaries upon her death. What happens is eventually the kids will inherit your $2 million and her $2 million...all estate tax free.

4. Protect your legacy - remember to update and keep updated all beneficiary forms for 401(k)s, IRAs and other retirement accounts as these override your will. Just make sure they are current. Ensure that your will includes instructions including specific instructions about how your assets should be handled.

5. Hire your replacement - when you and your wife are travelling, there is that underlying thought of, "what if the plane goes down?" Assign the jobs of executor and guardian to different people. Divide the power by giving control of your kid's inheritance to one person while someone else takes them in. "The best person to raise your kids may not be the best one to handle finances," says Lisa Osofsky, a tax advisor in New York. Think of things like, what if the guardians divorce? Name one person in a couple as the guardian...and name backups.

It is also important to educate yourself on financial matters not only in case you should die but also in case you continue to live a long and happy life. Having a sound financial plan will make that life even happier.

Stay inspired my friends.

Expect It Your Self

“The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I'm not going to let myself pull me down anymore.” ― C. JoyBell C.

An article appeared a few years back in Popular Mechanics about a doctor and assistant professor at the Stanford School of Medicine by the name of Jaimie Henderson. His specialty is neurosurgery and the article talks about the computer-aided tools he uses for surgery on the brain.

This really is brain surgery (with or without a computer).

If your job is brain surgery, it becomes imperative that you are not having a bad day and still expect to perform brain surgery. Dr. Henderson says, "We are all humbled and inspired every day by the complexity of the human brain. Absolute perfection is expected every time I operate. And that's okay."

Such a great way to approach your job or any thing you do in life.

You might think your own work in life as, "...it isn't brain surgery." Guess what, for some it really is brain surgery. Yet it should not diminish the importance of what you do each and every day.

What you do and who you are remains just as important.

Trying to have a good day everyday should be something you expect of yourself. As the good doctor says and you should say as well, "...and that's okay."

Stay inspired my friends!

Would You Believe ...

“If you're perpetually broke, you should be working hard at overcoming stupidity and not getting rich.” ― Taiwo Abraham

I have a really great deal for you.

Select eleven my blog posts for just 1 dollar (plus shipping and handling). I will then send you a "Writer's Selection" blog post once a month (plus shipping and handling) at a low, low cost for another three years. After this time, you can opt out but I'm sure you will want to continue with your membership.

Sounds too good to be true doesn't it?

Sounds all too familiar I am sure.

Columbia House Records made billions of dollars on shipping and handling fees along with the monthly selection you basically had to purchase. I myself was lured into this seemingly innocent deal. On the farm back in the 1970s, it seemed to be a good way to collect music.

Surprise, surprise as it drained my weekend job savings account.

Surprise, surprise as it drained many of your accounts as well.

Well another long coming surprise is that Columbia House just filed for bankruptcy in a Manhattan court. Documents filed by the company say its debt could be as high as $10 million, and it owes its 20 biggest creditors more than $6 million. Appears they couldn't keep up with those shipping and handling costs.

The cynical person in me wants to jump up for joy in the demise of this company and its marketing and other business practices. Many people have been harmed, duped, swindled and just plain bamboozled by this company.

Then I remember I am human and allowed it to happen.

Then I remember we are all human and did it to our self.

How did it all happen? How did we allow ourselves to be duped. How did Columbia House and others like them make money? They did so by using a business practice called "negative option billing" which effectively takes advantage of human nature.

Just decline the next item before the bill arrives. Easy enough but human nature is our tendency to forget, be late and the bills continue to accumulate. You may have gotten some great music, but could you now afford the electric bill to play those records.

We learn from those mistakes of human nature.

We learn to accept those mistakes and move forward.

Life has its lessons to be learned for every generation and every person. Some lessons learned quickly while some are learned hard. Which ever way though, we must move forward knowing how to avoid the pitfalls and grab hold of the good.

Whether you bought twelve records for a penny or simply made a bad decision in life; accept it, learn from it and move on.

There will be plenty of other opportunities to learn from but also greater knowledge in taking on the right ones.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life By Example

“He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.” - Francis Bacon, Sr. (English Lawyer and Philosopher 1561-1626)

Most everything we we do in life can be seen by those who surround us. People on the street watching you walk by. Those in line at the grocery store as you check out. The person in the car behind you in traffic. Your friends, spouse, and children all see your actions.

People learn by watching what you do, what you say and what they see.

It may seem unfair that our every movement and word can have an effect on others. It would seem unfair that you are probably getting judged like the cover of a book. But it happens and your every action is on display.

Think about our society of celebrity and the complaints those in the spotlight of public visibility express. Many would say that because one lives in the public spotlight (celebrities, politicians, etc), that they should expect the attention they receive.

Yet each of us live on one level or another of public spotlight.

The attention we draw from others may be smaller, but it is still one that can have impact on those who see us daily. And knowing our actions and words have impact, it becomes a choice for us if that impact will be a positive or negative one upon others.

Choose a life which exhibits the positive. Choose a life that will teach others a better way to live. Give others the best of you which in turn helps them to improve their own lives.

Life by example, life by positive examples, life for the better.

Stay inspired my friends!