What If Your Circle Shrinks?
Something can happen as we move into the next season of life: our circle gets smaller. Friends relocate, children build lives in other places, work relationships disappear after retirement, and the people we once saw regularly become people we occasionally hear from.
Caregiving can further shrink that circle. You skip dinner because Mom needs you. You turn down a weekend away because leaving feels complicated. You stop attending something you enjoy because there simply isn’t enough time. You tell yourself you’ll reconnect when life settles down.
The problem is that life rarely settles down; rather it morphs in ways that often whittle away your support system. That’s why community shouldn’t be something we begin searching for only after loneliness hits. Nurturing relationships that can realistically grow in value as we age is inherent to planning, concurrent to preparing financially.
The digital age has the downside of many people limiting themselves to digital interactions, and the upside of availing a broader community to those who lack the traditional type. While the best support may be someone close enough to sit beside you and hold your hand, not everyone has that person nearby, and even those who do may not have her available when she’s needed.
The next best thing may be people a phone call or video conversation away who understand what you’re carrying. What matters is having real people with whom you can have real conversations about real challenges.
Prepare financially, certainly. But prepare relationally too. The relationships you build before life becomes difficult may become some of the most valuable resources you have when it does.
Memorable takeaway: Don’t wait until your circle disappears to realize how much you needed one.
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:
