UNMASKING FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility is a tenet of homeschooling. Has flexibility been relevant to your work situation lately? Has your public school been as flexible as you wished it would have been?
Never mind the pandemic for a moment. Rainy day? Work ahead and cut your time tomorrow or use it for a field trip. Want your school year to start after Labor Day? Just start the following Tuesday. Nice day? Hold lessons in the backyard or deck.
Work From Home (#WFH) is a seismic shift in employment flexibility and a ripe opportunity to be there for your child. #WFH is not going away. Of course, you must establish boundaries so every moment you are on the clock for your employer, you’re truly doing your job.
When I managed an office of 50 consulting engineers and scientists, our staff knew that they were hired to do a job, not warm a seat. My rules were:
1. Work whenever and wherever you want, as long as you are available to support your customers and co-workers when they need you.
2. Don’t commit timecard fraud.
That’s it. All the other behavioral principles we needed to know we learned in kindergarten. #WFH you’ll be modeling those foundational behaviors to your kids during their formative years and beyond.
Pandemic or not, the world’s pace is accelerating. Staying employable demands perpetual learning, and not for a standardized test, but to remain productive to keep earning that paycheck.
When your kids really see you not only working but continually adapting and learning, how might your model inspire them?
Flexibility is more than a perk—it’s a way of showing your kids how to thrive in a changing world. Want to explore what that could look like in your home?
You can explore more practical articles and ideas HERE.
HOMESCHOOLING: Haven or Havoc?
Your child's school years are precious and fleeting.
Now could be your best time to step up where your school is letting your child down. Let this series of myth-busting short chapters encourage you.
2 Major Mistakes
Which one will you make?
Which of these 2 retirement mistakes are you making right now? It's impossible to entirely avoid both mistakes.
You won't know for sure which mistake will work out better for you until it's too late.
How to choose?
Finding the Will
(Part 1)
Part 1: Have the will to arrange for a smooth transition when you’re no longer around to answer questions
Have the will to arrange for a smooth transition when you’re no longer around to answer questions (Part 1)
Ensuring your children or other Loved Ones can readily access your important papers when you die entails a sound process versus one or two conversations. You must overcome aversion to the subject of death, procrastination of anything that is long-term, and the tendency to assume things will be fine. Family dynamics can be sweet, spicy, or dicey.
Finding the Will
(Part 2)
Part 2: Getting Organized
While the internet permits convenient access to accounts, policies, and stored documents, it presents a plethora of password management problems. which too many people avoid by succumbing to password laziness, such as:
- re-using passwords for multiple logins, or
- use simple, easy to remember passwords, or
- writing them on sticky notes placed on their monitor or under their keyboard, or
- keeping them in a spreadsheet on their computer, or
- letting their browser remember passwords for them
Embrace Your Clarence
Is Clarence your future?
Golden insight from a golden retriever.
Post-Pandemic W.E.L.L.ness
Working, Earning, Learning, and Launching to Thrive
Where life drastically changed forever two years ago, everyone adjusted to the best of their abilities.
Here are a few of the key adjustments--"pandemic pivots"--that sustained some and prospered others.
Prenuptial Adulting
Equip Them for Happily Ever After
“Mom, Dad, we’re getting married!"
“Wonderful, congratulations! Here’s what you both need to do first.”
Equipping newlyweds with essentials of responsibility leaves plenty of life yet to be discovered on their own. Adults understand that love isn’t oogly feelings; it’s a hard choice. It’s putting your commitments and your money where your mouth is.
Many of the following steps also apply to one’s turning 18 years old. Becoming engaged adds urgency and a deadline.
Rethinking Competing Funds for College and Retirement
We live in a time of skyrocketing inflation topping decades of unbridled higher education costs.
Is the tension between funding your retirement and funding (at least partially) your children’s college education keeping you up at night?
You’re not alone.
Married? Is Your Endgame 100% or Just 50%?
Are you single? That other 50% could be whoever is most important to you.
Multiple unforgiving players factor into your retirement and estate plans (collectively your “endgame”). Household names include the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Key decisions with these players are nearly impossible to reverse. Plus, if you qualify for a pension, how you activate it is another irreversible decision.
Are you more of a planner than your spouse? It’s all too common for one spouse to blindly trust the planning spouse. Countless endgame “plans” were created by 50% of a couple:
