I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't really worried about or planning for the future until I became a parent. It brings a sense of gravity to life, and a feeling of responsibility I didn't feel before becoming a parent. At this time in life my husband and I made a few changes to plan for a better future for our family and our children. What does it look like to make plans for a better future?
1. Create a Will. It's isn't hard, and it isn't timely, and it doesn't have to be expensive. There are sites online where you can create your will online, and then just get it notarized to make it official. Some employers offer Employee Assistance Programs with free legal services for documents such as this. It ensures that what you want ot happen after you're gone, will actually happen. It also safeguards children from ending up in the foster system with a plan in place for where they would go should the worst-case scenario happen.
2. Consider Life Insurance. There is term life insurance or whole life insurance. Term means you are only covered for the next 10/20/30 years, and then it drops. This is great for someone who is trying to become financially stable, and will likely have a good-size nest egg in 10/20/30 years and wouldn't need the money should something happen. Life insurance covers you for life, but I believe is on the pricier side. Don't take my word for it, and always do your own research! One company to look into could be Fabric. Fabric by Gerber Life is a life insurance innovator that offers instant decisions and affordable policies. They offer custodial Roth IRAs also, if you were in the market for some tax-deferred savings for your child (which brings me to point #3). Overall having Life Insurance takes the stress out of the future.
3. Get financially savvy and pay off debts in order to build up wealth. My husband and I went through the Financial Freedom course by Dave Ramsey and found it so helpful. His philosophy is to start out small and work your way up. Start out with paying off your smallest debt, whatever it may be. His mindset is build some momentum. Pay off the smallest and then work your way up to the biggest, likely a mortgage for many. In between paying off these debts, start putting money away for an emergency fund. Emergencies will come, so why not be prepared for them. If you are prepared, the emergency doesn't hold the panic it might have before. This has been so helpful in our lives. We worked 2 and 3 jobs to pay off debts and build up savings, so we were prepared for what might come. You can also set up savings accounts like IRAs and 529 plans to put money aside for what may be needed in the future - retirement and kids' educations!
These are just a few ways you can plan ahead and try to take the stress out of potentially stressful situations that may arise in the future.
Many thanks to Responsival for sponsoring this post!
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