Simple Money Talk

I hope 2025 is filled with joy and prosperity. What are you planning for your financial well being in 2025?

Happy Canada Day!

Estate planning is a topic many of us avoid. For me it was because I don’t have kids, so I didn’t think it was important, but I realized that my estate plan is more than just distributing of my financial assets. It also includes my living will and power of attorney which provide instructions if I become unable to make decisions about my care and money. If you have kids, it will include guardianship if they are under 18. I contacted a law firm that specializes in wills and estate planning.
Your estate plan will include more then your will and financial assets. The estate plan can include power of attorney, living will or personal directives, trusts, and funeral plans. If you aren’t ready to contact a lawyer, you can do the first steps on your own. To not get overwhelmed by the process the first 2 things I recommend you do is figure out what financial and physical assets and debts you have and where are they. Do worry about if an item is valuable or not. If it is important to you or your family put it on the list. A good place to start is the list you may have done for your home insurance. This is a comprehensive list you’ll need to identify if you have a will or power of attorney or even a grave plot.

The second step is to list your important documents and information and again where are they. You’ll need to include your personal information like your birth date, and place of birth and social insurance number to more complex information about your bank accounts, investments, life insurance and pensions. If you have kids, you’ll need to include their information as well.

This step can lead to more questions and can take time. Try your best to get as much information complied because it can help you make decisions about your will such as picking a guardian, executor or power of attorney.

Leave a comment or let me know if you have any questions. Next week I'll talk about the terms used in estate planning.

Mindful Money Tips for the Holidays from www.simplemoneytalk.com

I created Simple Money Talk because I wanted to help women gain confidence around making money decisions. This is still an important goal for Simple Money Talk, but after 10 years I have decided to shift the focus to providing information and online courses on helping women start investing. It is important that we get our money working for us. Especially in times of high inflation and interest rates.

The first course will be on the language of investing and focus on providing you a good understanding of what it means to invest, and the terms used. It will start by making sure we know what your money goals are. Then we will look at the several types of investing and what the risks are when you invest your money and the returns each type of investment can provided.

I am looking forward to creating these courses for you. The Language of Investing launches on September 12, 2023, and the Basics of Investing on November 12, 2023.

Go to www.simplemoneytalk.com/welcome-2/workshops/ for more information.

I highly recommend Morgan Housel's 'The Psychology
of Money'
It is a straightforward read on
why and how people make money
decisions. It also dispels some
long standing myths about investing and being a successful
investor.
EDIT -- This isn't an ad for the book. It's my honest opinion.