One important thing you can do for your family now is to plan for what will happen in the future. This includes planning for retirement, your kids’ education, and also the unpleasant emergencies that may arise in the future. It is important to have these plans in place now so that as these events approach you are not left scrambling to figure out how you will manage. Here are five things to think about and plan for now.
1) You should be planning for your retirement. Depending on how old you are you may or may not get any social security. My husband and I are both planning that it will be bust before we get there. If not we will be pleasantly surprise, but otherwise not unprepared. Use your employer’s retirement plan, and then invest additionally. Speak to a financial advisor if you are unsure about to set up your accounts.
2) Plan for your child’s college education. The more children you have the more planning you will need to do. Decide now whether or not you plan on helping them, and how much you are willing to help them. As soon as your kids are old enough to understand (middle school or high school), explain to them what contributions you are willing to make, and what you expect them to provide. My parents were unable to help me through college, but because they told me this early on, I was able to prepare by saving money for college and earning good grades and a scholarship.
3) Plan now for your death. You should have a will in place. You should have life insurance (term is the best value for the money). You should have a trust fund set up to help your young children. You may also want a living will. A living will can help make the decision to turn off life support easier for your family. If you have a special needs child you may need to rethink your estate planning to find out the best ways you can help him.
4) If you have not yet had children, plan for them now. If you have specific goals that you want to reach before having children, set them now. This will help you be in comfortable place when the time comes. If you already have children plan ways to spend time with them. Cherish the time you have to spend with your children, because it will go by quickly.
5) Plan now for emergencies. You should be prepared for natural disasters, medical emergencies and job loss. These plans can help you to be more comfortable in high stress situations, and can save you and your families lives.