Too Busy to Organize

How busy does your life seem right now? Crazy out of control or pretty good paced?  I find that regardless of how busy our lives are, rarely do we want to get organized. The days, the weeks, the months, and years pile up and it seems overwhelming. Those of us that like it aren’t that good at it for our own personal life. The definition of “organize” means to systematize or give structure to something. Even the definition is not appealing.

What we pay attention to gets taken care of.  Organization can also bring a level of freedom to your life. It puts you back in control of your own life. Here are some tips on getting organized:

1.      Determine the benefit there is to organize your life? If you are doing it because it is a good idea, it may not become a lifestyle.
2.      Set goals for what needs organized. What things in your life need organized? Closets, finances, tax documents, important papers, etc.
3.      Prioritize the list. There are two ways to think about it. Tackle the one that bothers you the most or the one that can be done the quickest to get a quick win.
4.      Set time for completion. Once you have your list and prioritized it, put dates when things should be completed. Calendar the days you will work on certain things. Don’t set times that are too aggressive, bite off small chunks.
5.          Touch it once and file it or pitch it. Organization can take longer if we move piles around instead of handling the item that is right in front of you. Don’t be afraid to throw things away.
6.       Get help. Invite others into the process. At the very least get an accountability partner. Or hire someone that can help. Daily money managers can help you get organized and keep you accountable. Contact Assisted Finances at www.AssistedFinances.com to help get organized.

Envision Your Retirement

You often hear people ask, “Are you planning for your retirement?” For me, that mostly brings up the idea of putting money away to finance my retirement. Planning for retirement is very crucial to the success of living out the rest of your life well. Let me ask, is your financial planning for retirement just to survive or is it for something more?

How many of us have envisioned our retirement? I often ask people what they are doing in retirement; I get a lot of answers like golf, vacation, visiting with family, or not much of anything. Sometimes I see retiree’s health diminish and even depression set in.  In fact, studies show that retirement raises the depression rate by 40%. I’m convinced this isn’t just age setting it, it’s a lack of focus for your retirement setting in. The statistic might be depressing in of itself. But there is a way to do retirement well.

As in your work years, if you are not focused in your career you can lose your purpose, drive and spirit; then depression sets in. It’s not any different in retirement. The trouble is, we approach retirement so looking forward to the end of our busy careers, tired of all the problem solving, and bodies that are worn out from lack of care. Retirement becomes a goal that we set our sights on and the never-ending vacation.

We are created for purpose, even in retirement. How do we do it?

• Take care of yourself before retirement. Rest, vacation, and take care of your body. This way          your body won’t be screaming for a break prior to retirement.
• Talk with your spouse or friend about what you want to accomplish in retirement. Write a mission and vision statement for your retirement.
• Make a plan. Questions to ask yourself:

a.     What family and friends do you want to spend time with? How can you help them?

b.     Is there someone to mentor? There is a special set of skills that are uniquely yours. Who can you influence?

c.     Is there a church or organization you can volunteer for?

d.     How did you want to impact the world when you were younger? How does that look for retirement?

In retirement, after you are tired of resting, what will excite you about your new freedom? What will make you say, “I did retirement well”?   A great plan may be the very thing that brings you life.

Minimizing the Risk of Identity Theft

Having your identity stolen can be an enormous inconvenience to say the least. Personally, I have never experienced it, but I know how it feels when your wallet goes missing. Having to remember everything that was in your wallet, retracing steps, calling all your credit cards, getting your license reissued, it’s a lot of work. It puts your life on hold. Marry that with the fact that someone intentionally took your identity for monetary gain. Now your conversation turns from I lost something to I didn’t make those purchases. Someone who said they were me did that.

While identity theft is a very real possibility, in fact the 2011 report on identity theft by Javelin Strategy & Research estimated that in 2010 approximately 8.1 million U.S. adults were victims of identity theft, costing consumers a whopping total of $631 billion nationwide. There are steps you can take to minimize your risk.

•           Buy a shredder – shred all documents with personal information on them.
•        Never give your information over the phone to someone who contacts you. Get a number and call them back. If you are still unsure, don’t give it out.
•           Don’t carry your social security number in your wallet. Keep it in a safe place.
•       Review your credit card statements to make sure all charges are yours. Sometimes charges are small and can be missed.
•      Change online passwords regularly, make them strong with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. “Password” is not a good password.
•      When buying online use secure sites only for purchases, the address should begin with “https” not just “http.”
•      Keep limits low on credit cards to minimize the damages.

If you have experienced identity theft:

•      Contact credit card companies, bank, and vendors.
•      File police report
•      Maintain a log of all conversations.
•      Contact insurance company to see if you have identity theft coverage as part of your homeowners. (Ask ahead of time to understand your benefits.)
•      Hire a daily money manager or financial professional to work with you to restore identity.
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It Takes A Village…to Care for an Aging Parent

“It takes a village to raise a child” became a controversial topic in the 1996 Presidential election.  Hillary Clinton’s book and comment was met with some backlash from Bob Dole’s campaign. He argued that it takes a family to raise a child. Mrs. Clinton didn’t coin the phrase; it is actually an old African proverb. The line caught hold to mean that when anything becomes too much to handle by yourself, you may need others to help.

Caring for aging parents are no exception to this. I’m going to be diplomatic and say both Mr. Dole and Mrs. Clinton are right. It takes a family to understand the growing needs of aging parents, but many times it takes those professionals outside the family to carry out all the needs wrapped up in aging. The process of aging can be difficult not only for those aging but for the family members as well.

If we look at aging from the standpoint of “it takes a village” than we set the expectation that we need others to invite into our families for a season to care for those things we can’t. We can make a plan to choose our village wisely. Here are other things to consider:

o   Resolve that at some point you or your family member will need assistance.

o   What types of things do you or your family members need assistance with?

o   Personal care

o   Day-to-day finances

o   Estate planning

o   Transportation

o   Household chores

o   Shopping

o   Others

o   Is it a task someone in the family can take on for a short term or longer term?

o   What is the budget for these things?

o   What will be your interview process and what personalities and characteristics are you looking for in your village?

There are many businesses that are set up to help with all kinds of services. Many of these companies want to build lasting relationships that bring meaning to their work along with providing a valuable service. Don’t be afraid to shop around and ask the questions needed to select your village wisely.

Budgeting – Not Just a Good Idea For the Young

Budgeting has never been one of my favorite words or exercises. According to Gallup, the over 50 group is more worried about finances than any other age group. We often think budgeting is something we need to get our young adult children to do. Those that are just starting out in life, they should be budgeting. Actually, at this time in our life, it is still important to maintain a household budget. In fact, it may be more advantageous than ever before.  

Gallup goes on to say that people worry about having enough to retire, maintaining standard of living, and paying for medical costs. Budgeting can be one of the best ways to understand how valid and to what degree those areas should be of concern. For our household, we decided to start a business that could help us in retirement. However, starting a business rarely produces income in the first several months. That forced us to take a hard look at our finances.

We took every budget item and asked ourselves, was that expense still necessary. What could we reasonably live with out? We found there were a lot of charges on credit cards of services we really weren’t using or could live with out. It freed up some money to pay off some bills and made money management much easier.

We look at budgeting as a way that we take control of our money, instead of it controlling us. There may be a lot of fear in doing a budget, but I encourage you to press in.  At one time, it was something I feared because I didn’t want to know the damage. I also thought it might force us to say “no” to things we wanted. When my husband and I came together on it and announced to our kids that we were serious about it, it was liberating! We found the problem areas, the bad habits, and without judgment managed them together.

Try it out, start budgeting, and take control of your life!