Your Money: Planning For Life's Big Changes

Speaker 1: 00:00 April has been financial literacy month and if you didn't get a chance to become flew into in your personal financial language, maybe this will help when your financial world is rolling along without much change. You could take your mind off the subject, but when there are big changes happening in your life, finances often take center stage. Joining me to talk about taking charge of the financial changes in your life is my guest Shaundra a doosey financial planner with veterans wealth partners LLC and volunteer with the Society for financial awareness and Shondra welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. So what life events are we talking about? What life events bring with them? Big financial changes, life events that bring about great financial changes are when you get married, have a baby, get divorced unfortunately, and then when you pass away. And so a death in the family, a death in the family. Speaker 1: 00:55 Yes. The losing a job, I would imagine. Absolutely. Now do you find that people don't take the financial aspects of something like a death in the family or marriage? They don't realize the financial implications of that move? Oh, definitely. Especially with a death in the family, you know, it's, it's very much something that we don't like to talk about and don't like to plan for because it's such a, an emotional time and unfortunately we have the idea including the people that, that their mortality is in question. They're the ones I don't like to think about it. Let's just start out with a happier event. For people considering getting married, perhaps in the near future, what financial considerations should they be thinking about? Definitely disclose any debt that you will be bringing into the marriage. So that's something that you don't want to keep a secret because it can definitely backfire and then also impact the spouse who doesn't have any debt. Speaker 1: 01:50 Their credit score, which could prevent you guys from, you know, buying your first home and other subsequent large purchases that are typical in a marriage. A lot of people getting married, I deal with the question of should they keep separate bank accounts or should they get a joint account? It's all about personal preference, you know, I agree with the thought of getting a joint account for joint household expenses. While maintaining your own account. One thing that you don't want to do is join debt. So if one spouse does have student debt while the other does not, assuming that debt does not help the marriage out, either you have some advice on a few fail safes couples should have in place just in case the marriage doesn't work out. That's correct. I am all for both parties being financially aware of what's going on, meaning you should know where the mortgage is being paid, you should know what type of accounts have been opened in, in both of your names. Speaker 1: 02:46 You should have access to those accounts and you should know what the balance is on a regular basis. If for whatever reason the marriage is not going as planned and it may be headed towards divorce, think about closing some of those joint accounts. Otherwise it, you know, it could get a little messy if the separation is not an amicable one. Any advice? Financial advice for our listeners who may be expecting a child while if you're expecting a child, congratulations. Um, you should definitely start planning for the expenses that you'll have for first year. Um, you should also look at setting up a college fund if that is in your child's future. College 18 years from now is going to be roughly $300,000 for a four year private institution and $180,000 for a public, a four year institution. And that is not including travel to and from the school should your child wants to go to school out of state. Speaker 1: 03:42 So definitely look at different financial vehicles that can help you save for the future. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, we started researching different products, services available to us, five to nine was definitely a contender and it still is. We, we support five to nine plans. Uh, we actually researched what state would be the best in terms of value and return on investment. So just for parents out there, if you are going to purchase or not purchase, but invest in a five to nine plan, look into other states. California may not be the best option for you. We also looked at investing outside of a five to nine plan. Just in case, you know, our child decided that she wanted to be a culinary chef instead of get her bachelor's degree in whatever field. So we also looked at other things. I'm like investing in the stock market and real estate to make sure that we had all our bases covered and we didn't put, again all our eggs in one basket. Speaker 1: 04:42 Now we hear a lot about the need to save for retirement. So that advice is, is pretty much out there. But what about people who receive a windfall from an inheritance? What should they do with that money? What are the tax implications when you receive a windfall first, take a step back and don't do anything right away. You know, large financial amounts that come to you. You need to be handled with care. And oftentimes we don't have a plan in place for that. I mean you can just see the example of when people win the lottery and then after they win that largesse of money, then you know, a year later they're bankrupt. So really if you don't know where to start with your planning for when you receive a windfall, talk to a financial planner that has your best interests at heart so that you can figure out what is the best thing for you and your family when you receive that one fall. Speaker 1: 05:32 And what about preparing for the financial impacts of a death in the family? As you mentioned, that is a tough topic for most families will tell us why though it's important. A plan in place relieves so much stress and oftentimes in a, in a partnership, the spouse is left with a burden of, of making sure that your homecoming and your sendoff is, is appropriately done. So why not have in place a plan or even a directive so that while they're dealing with the grief of your passing, everything is in place. For example, create a will or a trust to make sure that your estate, um, is passed down appropriately and with minimal taxation. You know, oftentimes if there is no plan in place, if we seen with the larger stories out there with artists like prince and Aretha Franklin, oftentimes the proceeds of that estate or are stuck in probate courts for years to come. Speaker 1: 06:28 Creating an additional financial burden for the family who are the beneficiaries of that estate now, what kind of financial advice can people get app the nonprofit society for Financial Awareness, the Society for financial awareness promotes financial literacy for the community. That being said, we come into different organizations, groups, churches. Anytime there is a group of 10 or more, we're more than happy to provide financial education at no cost to the employer at no cost to the leader of the group. It's simply free education in order to help people make the financial decisions that are best for their family and also to make them more aware of what's available to them. Terrific. I've been speaking with Shandra. I do see she is a volunteer at the Society for financial awareness as well as a financial planner at veteran wealth partners LLC. Shondra thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's been great. Speaker 2: 07:35 Yeah.