A few days ago I wrote a blog about End-of-Life-Planning. It occurred to me
that there’s more I’d like to share with you on that subject based
upon my personal experience.

My father died very suddenly at the age of 50 from a massive heart
attack. He was from the South and had a deep love of all things fried
and camel cigarettes,without the filter. With his passing, my mother became a young widow and single-parent
overnight. All he left her was a $10,000 life insurance policy, which
my mother, who was financially naïve, thought was a small fortune.
She’d never had that much money at once in her entire life.

 It took
less than a year for her to realize that financially, things were about
to get tough. Both my parents had always worked and pretty much lived
pay check to pay check. Suddenly,  with only one income – and that of a waitress
no less, there simply wasn’t enough.

I’m pretty sure my parents never even talked about planning for the
future or what would happen if one of them died prematurely. They
embodied what we refer to in Money Coaching as the classic Innocent
Money Type. You may recognize some of these Innocent characteristics in
yourself:

When it comes to money and personal finances, Innocent Money Types are:

• Prone to living in financial denial.
• Fearful and anxious about money.
• Represses their feelings and beliefs about money.
• Financially naïve and disempowered.
• Avoids talking about important financial issues.
• Prefers someone else to manage the finances.
• Ca be easily taken advantage of financially.
• Can be easily blindsided by unexpected financial issues.

Having witnessed so much financial struggle in my parents lives has deeply influenced my own
life and choices. Part of the reason that I became a financial advisor
was to become financially educated and empowered. Years later,
I realized that not only are most people not taught what they need to know to
be financially successful, most of us have unconscious patterns and
beliefs about money that rule our money
behaviors.

So between the lack of financial education and our emotions, most people just repeat the what they’ve
learned — or didn’t learn — over and over again from one generation
to the next.

I am deeply committed to changing this which is why I founded the
Money Coaching Institute. I want to help people to step into their personal and
financial potential because this is also part of our spiritual
growth and maturity.

I believe that God wants us to become better with our
finances so that we can become able vessels for receiving all of our good.
In order to do this, however, we must move beyond the Innocent
archetype.

One of the ways to do this is to begin taking actions to
ensure those you leave behind are taken care of. Here are some things you can do to ensure your loved ones will be okay:

1. Buy life insurance. Term insurance is very cheap depending on your age and
health. At a minimum, if you can afford it, get enough to pay off the
house and cover your income loss while you still have children at home
or in college.

2. Look into Long-Term Care Insurance so that you’re spouse or children can afford to have you
properly cared for in the event of a long-term illness. Policies with
home health care options are the best to have.

3. Create a living will with a state approved medical directive so that
your family can manage your care in the manner you wish in the event
you are unable to communicate on your own behalf.

4. Get a proper will and/or trust made up so that your family can settle your estate properly without any legal issues. Families can be torn apart by legal disputes and believe me, it happens every day.

5. The care and attention you put into planning for your
family now, will allow them to live with your loving financial support
long after your gone. Trust me, they will remember you with gratitude
rather than sadness or regret, for their entire lives.

Just make a plan and do what you can!

Peace and Blessings!