What If You Could See It Coming?
What if you could see every major challenge coming? You would probably prepare differently. You might have the conversation sooner, ask more questions, explore your options, and make decisions while you enjoy the luxury of time to reconsider them.
Of course, life rarely gives us that kind of warning. We can’t predict exactly when a parent will need care, when our own health may change, or when family responsibilities will collide with retirement plans. But preparation doesn’t require prediction. It requires consideration.
That’s where a simple question becomes powerful: What if? What if Mom eventually needs more help? What if caregiving conflicts with my career? What if my daughter someday feels responsible for me? What if a difficult season leaves me more isolated than I expected?
These questions are not fear mongering. They’re questions that clarify and preserve choices for the future. Asking them while life is relatively calm gives us room to think rather than simply react.
Community enriches those conversations. Other people bring experiences we haven’t lived. Someone else’s story may reveal a question we never thought to ask, or an option we didn’t know existed. That’s one reason real conversations elevate the value of preparation.
This isn’t about boarding up the house because a hurricane might be coming. It’s about looking ahead while the sky is clear enough to see. Accept the reality that the need for some of the options you consider won’t materialize. But one or more will.
It means you entered your next season knowing you had done what you reasonably could to prepare for your best life, whatever happens.
Memorable takeaway: “What if?” is not a question of fear. It’s a question that preserves choices.
Discover why preparation begins with community.
AI Disclosure
I use AI for DRAFTING messages and articles. Some drafts require little editing on my part; others I trash and rewrite. I wrote with em-dashes (—) long before AI turned them into telltale “I smell AI.” Now I find myself avoiding the em-dash even if I naturally would've used it. It’s the world we live in. Regardless, what you read does reflect my Point of View.
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:
