Planning For Your Family’s Future
There is something powerful about planning for your loved ones after you’re gone. Taking care of all your obligations and helping your family with theirs, even when you’re unable to provide, is an excellent reminder of how much you loved them while you were here.
The time immediately after the passing of a loved one is surreal and challenging for everyone involved. Family can come together, or fissures can grow depending on various factors that all too often include assets, finances, and planning. Even though you’re gone at this time, there are ways to help your family out while you’re still living.
For example, lowering debts, investing in various retirement accounts, creating a will and testament, and paying for cemetery plots and other funeral costs ahead of time are just some of the things you can do to alleviate your loved one’s pain during their grief.
Lower Debt
Lowering your debts can be as simple as finding a better home and auto insurance. There are plenty of opportunities to package all your insurance needs, especially from trusted organizations like Farm Bureau car insurance and others. Additionally, paying off large debts and high-interest credit cards that your loved ones may have to take on is a great way to limit their economic impact on your passing.
Refinance Debt
Another good suggestion is to refinance the mortgage when rates are lower. Getting lower monthly payments that are more manageable for when you’re unable to assist financially is a great way to help after you’re gone. You should also consider paying off in total any car loans or other significant debts as soon as you can.
If that’s not possible, refinancing the terms of your auto loan is smart. Of course, it’s best to pay off what you can, but refinance those items that you can’t pay off sooner than later so that there isn’t a surprise “sticker shock” added on to the family’s grief.
Life Insurance
Choosing the correct type of life insurance, whether term or whole life (also known as permanent) policies, will vary depending on your needs, but having something as a backup to cover costs, debts, mortgages, and obligations is a great way to leave your loved ones as well as you can.
You may have in-depth questions about the primary difference between term and whole life insurance and how they affect your estate when you are gone, but fundamentally a term policy covers a set time period while whole life covers the length of your life. Additionally, with whole life, most policies allow you to build up equity that can be cashed out, providing additional money to help reduce debts and other costs.
Write Your Will
One of the most challenging and essential parts of planning for your loved ones is creating a will and testament. Without these legal documents, securing your assets, and paying off debtors, can be contracted and difficult. In some states, probate is pretty straightforward. However, disagreements can lead to lengthy, costly court challenges. The longer your estate remains open, the more challenging it is to come by. If you’re looking to file for probate in Florida, or elsewhere, it can be beneficial to hire an attorney with expertise in this area – especially when complex estates or challenges in terms of will validity are involved.
Instead, having a legal will and testament recorded will help streamline the process and make closing the estate as smooth as possible. Regardless of the size and amount of any assets you may own, having a will allows the court to recognize your wishes to prevent disputes between family members who may want the same personal item or other financial holdings.
Prepay Your Funeral
This one is tough. Pre-paying for your funeral plot can be a tricky experience for most people. On the one hand, it’s tough to shell out big money for an event you don’t plan to attend anytime soon, but it can also be challenging to accept that you’ll be gone one day and the arrangements need to be settled.
It’s challenging to accept that you won’t be around one day, and pre-paying for your burial plot and funeral is one of the difficult-to-swallow tasks. But it’s an important step to take in order to help your family even after you’re gone.
Managing what you can while you’re still able can help set your loved ones up to handle the grief and burdens of your passing. Taking these proactive planning and strategic steps discussed will help ease their troubles and is one last parting gift from you to your family.
