Protect your family for the cost of a Pizza

Ok, I know that we’ve been a bit jumpy on here about what are actual POA (plan of attack) is. We know what we want to accomplish (become debt free and healthier), why (because being in debt is a constant sinking, slave like feeling, and being overweight will A) Kill you early B) Make getting dressed in the morning annoying) So here is what I’m proposing for the when and how.

1) Become Fiscally Healthy-

A) Protect our family from Tragedy and Gremlins-Before we can really get rolling on the “big” goals we have some housekeeping to do. Now everyone knows that you need a will but it’s one of those things that often gets put on hold indefinitely because it means actually facing your own mortality, and it costs like 10,000 dollars and “I don’t really have anything anyway” WRONG!!! Yes, you are going to die, no two ways around this one. It does not cost lots of money. Over on suzeorman.com, you can purchase a will and trust kit that literally walks you through all the forms for a whopping $14.45. A large Papa John’s pizza is 15.95. Now if you have significant assets or a special circumstance (such as a special needs child) you should consult a lawyer to draft these documents for you. The little research I did on this option is still well under $1000.00. Most people will be fine with a simple online program, or software (Quicken Will-maker) I liked Suze’s forms, because it contains the forms for a will, revocable living trust, and the Advanced Medical Directive (AKA the Terry Schaivo form) All that for less than a pizza. And now the argument of “I don’t have any assets to leave in a will”. Well first of all, GET SOME! Regardless of financial situation, purchase some term life insurance. It is uber cheap, and fairly easy to get. This is particularly important if you have a spouse or dependents who would be financially DEVESTATED by the loss of your income. So, yay now you have some assets. Now protect them! If you don’t leave a will then all of your estate will fall into probate, which from what I’ve read is VERY expensive and a gigantic pain in the boonk-um. Also, Parents you need to have the conversation… The dreaded “If we kick it, who will take care of our kiddos” Now all this will require some thought, thus Hubby and I are working on all this currently. In fact, we’re planning the uber-romantic Will planning, budget making date. Nothing says romance like legal forms, and grocery budgets. So hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll have this bad boy hammered out.

B) Kick out the Gremlins-Save $1000.00 in an ING savings account that we’ll affectionately call the “Oh Crap! Fund” We picked ING because they actual have an interest rate,  it’s fairly easy to get to but not so much that a sale at Kohl’s is constituted as an emergency. This is for stuff like car repairs, medical bills, and randomness that won’t fit in our budget.

C) Come up with a budget as a team- I see couples do one of two things when it comes to this.  Keep it seperate or one person “handles the money” . These are BOTH bad ideas. I used to be an advocate of the “keep it seperate” mentality, mostly due to coming from divorced parents. When you do this, it is increasingly difficult to work toward common goals and keep each other accountable without resent rearing it’s ugly head. I’m not saying that I need to call Hubby each time I want to stop for coffee to “ask permission” For this reason you establish, Blow money that each spouse can use however the holy heck they feel. If I want to buy a shirt, then cool if he wants a gizmo then go for it. You can mantain your independence while working together.

The second scenario is more what our financial planning consisted of. Since I have more of a background (and college education) in Accounting, I should naturally be able to make us gazillion-aires, correct. Again, WRONG!!! This simply doesn’t work because it puts all the pressure on one person, and the other resents the fact that they work all the time and have NO IDEA where their hard earned money ran off too. No one wins. So the solution in our case is a lovely little date once a month to do nothing but hammer out the coming month’s budget and spit shake and pinky swear on it.

So to summarize our short term goals

1) Get financial paperwork in order and complete a will.

2) Save up $1000.00 “Oh crap” fund

3) Complete a monthly budget as a team before the month begins.

These are our first steps, I’ll let hubby propose our fitness goals. Baby steps people!