The holidays are upon us and although 2020 isn’t a traditional year people are still getting into the holiday spirits. Gifts have become a huge part of the holidays, which we all know can add a lot of additional stress. This year there is the added stress of what is the best way to get gifts to loved ones? Shipping can be expensive and you risk packages getting delayed, lost, or broken so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more monetary gifts be given.
One of my goals as a parent is to raise my children to be aware of the value of money and as they age to develop healthy financial habits. I have had friends ask my advice on this and have seen social media posts from parents of young children asking for input. The hardest part of this is just like everything else in parenting, you will need to find what works for your family and for your children or the children in your life. We are so excited we have become a Sammy Rabbit official partner and have been able to bring Sammy’s Dream Big story program to you! This is geared towards children ages 7-10 and is a storybook coloring book and activities to teach financial literacy.
With Valentine’s Day right in the middle of February, we are surrounded by reminders of love and relationships. We thought this month it would be appropriate to spend some time talking about relationships and finance.
Money consistently is listed as one of the top reasons for stress in relationships and causes for divorce. Money is one of those topics that people sometimes like to avoid, as if they don’t talk about it it won’t exist, and that just leads to more stress. Along with your Valentine’s dinner I want to encourage you to set up a money date.
Make it a real date. Mark it on the calendar, get a babysitter for the kids, put on a nice outfit. You want to be able to focus and still enjoy your time together.
Spend some time reviewing what your current status is. Take a look at your current accounts, your assets and your debts, income and expenses, to get a “snapshot” of what your financial picture looks like. Talk about your goals to see if you are spending your money in the right areas.If you’re not, ask why. Is it debt, unnecessary spending, or something else in your lifestyle? When you talk about these things together you have a teammate to work towards your goals with. It’s easier to say no to extra spending if there are two of you on board.
Check in on your feelings about your money. Do you feel stressed over your spending, do you feel like you aren’t saving enough, maybe you have plenty each month but you don’t feel in control over where its going. Whatever it is, spend some time discussing if you are happy with your money and why or why not.
If you decide there are changes to be made talk about what that looks like and what the next steps are.
It is extremely important to be honest, hiding financial problems leads to more stress and bigger problems. There is actually a term for this - financial infidelity. If you are hiding anything it will be extremely difficult to bring this up, but it needs to be addressed. If you are struggling with how to work through this you may want to enlist the assistance or a counselor or financial professional.
We hope you enjoy your money dates and it encourages you to do it more often. We would love to hear from you if you try this, let us know how it went!
When I think about the holiday season I have many different emotions; excitement, stress, joy, overwhelm, sadness. However, as I get older and learn to cherish time more than anything, I realize that the Holidays are a very special time that should not be taken for granted and I do not want the negative emotions overshadow the positive emotions.
So this year I am choosing to do the following 3 things and encourage everyone to consider doing them also…
In this week’s blog, Financial Planner Kate Welker, CFP® defines top benefit terms to help demystify some of the confusing benefit terms.
In the next few weeks, you may open your mail or email to see notices regarding open enrollment season through your employer. Open enrollment is a period of time you can make changes to your employee benefits options that are normally restricted. This is also a great time to review your entire benefits package and make any other adjustments as well. Let’s walk through a few options you may be looking at.
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