10 Important Money Questions You Need to Answer Right Now
Ladies, here are 10 important money questions you need to answer right now (with your spouse if married) to determine how financially secure and prepared you are for now and for the future.
Recently, my Empower Hour for Women small group was hosted for a financial mini seminar by the advisory team from Women’s Wealth Connection at Warren Averett. Empower Hour is a biblically based small group where we address personal growth topics from John Maxwell’s Make Today Count. Since finances affect every area of our lives~from how we live to how we give~I asked my friends (and our personal family advisors) to share with the group.
For an hour, Melanie and Heather shared the most important financial questions ALL women need to answer, whether married, divorced or single. My group sat at the table below, took notes, and asked myriad questions. We all agreed this was eye opening and hugely important and that an hour only began to scratch the surface of all that we need to know.
The WWC team kicked off the session with a (Not so fun) Fact: The majority of us (women) will be alone one day (if we are not already). Whatever our circumstances~death, divorce, or choosing not to marry~we women will likely face the future solo. This should be a huge motivator for us to be informed, prepared, and savvy where money is concerned.
After soaking in the fact that most women will one day be alone, we went through the list of questions below. Your ability to answer (or not) these question is very indicative of how astute and prepared you are in the financial realm.
10 Important Money Questions You Need to Answer Right Now
- What are my financial goals?
- What is my net worth?
- Where are all of my/our accounts? [Checking, Savings, Investment, Retirement]
- How do I/we access these accounts?
- How much risk am I/are we taking with investments?
- What am I/are we spending every year?
- What am I/are we saving every year?
- How much debt do I/do we have? [WillI/we be debt free upon retirement? If not, what is the plan for paying it back?]
- Am I/are we protected from catastrophic events? [1. Personal liability (umbrella policy); 2. Estate documents]
- Who is my/our team?
Last year, I could probably not have answered even half of these questions. Had Zane died unexpectedly, I would have had panic and confusion coupled with my grief. I was not even thinking about such questions back then. Now I want to be prepared, and I want my daughters to be as well. Ignorance is bliss~until the unexpected happens.
All women, whatever our circumstances~married, unmarried, divorced or widowed~should be aware, informed and prepared in all things financial. If this is not an area where you feel skilled, there are myriad teams and experts who might be just what you need.
Here are a few other “tips” that we gleaned from the financial session that can be helpful to anyone.
- Mint is a user friendly way to see exactly where money is going. It is the easiest tool that anyone can use to track money.
- If crucial documents are in a safe deposit box, you must be an “owner” to open them upon a death. Having “access” to the box via a key is not “ownership.” Make sure you and your spouse are both listed as owners.
- Have access to original copies of wills. Make sure children know where original wills are and how to access them.
- Have your advanced directive, living will, and durable power of attorney in place. Realize that laws differ from state to state.
- Memory care and long term care are exorbitant. Talk to parents and family members now and try to get everyone on the same page.
This is such an important topic that I hope to get more to share in future posts that will help all of us as women. By being financially savvy and wise, we are helping not only our family members, but ourselves.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Were you able to answer some/most/all of the 10 questions? Do you feel informed or like you need to learn more? As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Wishing you a joyful, blessed, and (financially) savvy day!!!!
Hi lou, yes there were many helpful tips that we learned in this session. The main one being talk talk talk to family members NOW, and know every password, login, account, key location, etc……It is tedious, but not as tedious as having to scramble to get it done after a death. Thank you for your kind words!!! Bless you!!!
A friend’s sudden and unexpected death several years ago prompted me to get all of my affairs in order as well as to update my will and other related documents. However, I had no idea about the necessity of being an “owner” rather than just a keyholder to enter a safe deposit box after the owner dies.
As always, thank you for posting such helpful information, Jamie!
Hi Betsy, thank you for you comments! Yes, this is very valuable~crucial~information for all of us women. Best of luck to you as you pursue your business of helping women in this area! I applaud you!!!
This is such NEEDED information! Great post, Jamie. While not always easy or fun to talk about – how important this is to leading a content, full life.
In fact, I am currently studying to become a Certified Financial Planner. This is a mid life career change brought on by urging of my husband to better understand our own financial situation. Then I saw an opportunity to go deeper in my education and plan to start my own business showing other women how to take control of their financial futures. This information is so valuable!