Creating a Will – Sooner Rather than Later

August 09, 2010

“We couldn’t decide on a guardian – the couple we wanted to pick was very loving but we were concerned they wouldn’t give the children boundaries” was the excuse the couple gave.  They had two children ages 10 and 12 and knew for years that they needed to get a will so they could appoint a guardian in case something happened to both of them.

I asked them what prompted them to talk with me today.  “Our friend passed away at age 44, the loving one that we were going to choose and we are deeply saddened.  We also realized it could have been us and the court would pick the guardian for our children instead of us and we just couldn’t let that happen,” was the response.  We spent the rest of the hour going over the ins and outs of wills and trusts and other estate planning issues.  I am confident that at the time of this writing, they have wills in place.

It made me wonder what I have on my list of important but not urgent things to do.  Those are the tough ones – there are so many urgent things to deal with on a daily basis and the summer evenings seem to call us to the outdoors after work.  I can think of a couple of things that are important that I really don’t feel like doing.  One of them is to look at my asset allocation in my own 401(k).  After working with employees all day talking about finances, the last thing I want to do is go home and study my own accounts. So goes procrastination.

How about you?  What is on your list of financial matters that are really important that need your attention?  What are the things that will make a difference and maybe reduce your stress?

Here are some in case you don’t think of anything right away:

  • Get a will or trust.
  • Check your beneficiaries to make sure they are updated – life insurance, retirement plans, bank accounts, etc.
  • Get documents in place – powers of attorney for finances and health care
  • Get life insurance or get additional life insurance
  • Get a long term care policy
  • Start your 401(k) if you haven’t already
  • Increase your contributions in your 401(k)
  • Check the allocation in your investment accounts
  • Do a retirement ‘check up’ to see if you are on track

Fill in the blanks with your own ……

Here is a challenge:  pick one financial “to do” that is not urgent but important and handle it.  Take care of it.  Get it done.

Give yourself a deadline for completion and just do one thing this month.

Tell you what I’ll do it too.  Here is my promise, I am going to check my asset allocation in my retirement account and make the changes I need to by August 30th.  You can hold me to that.

If you want to take the challenge, let us know in the comments.  Tell us what challenge you are going to take…we’d love to hear about it.