A Special Valentine’s Gift—Unusual But Priceless!
As we approach one of the most stressful events of the year for many people, Valentine’s Day, you may be thinking about the gift dilemma. Do I get my special someone the same old, same old, or do I try to be creative, or do I just pretend it’s merely February 14th and no big deal? Any of these options may work for you, but I have a suggestion that might be truly appreciated by not only that special someone, but your entire family as well.
How is this possible you ask? It is not a dinner out, or candy, or a card, or flowers, or something shiny or nice, but it could supplement any or all of those. What I am suggesting is that you provide your loved ones with a lasting gift—the gift of Peace of Mind.
One simple way to start this Peace of Mind gifting process is to organize your financial life in a way that would allow your trusted agent, whether that is your spouse, partner, child, sibling, parent, friend, etc., to be able to step in and help you or act for you if necessary due to injury, illness, incapacity, or even untimely death. My tool for doing this is something I call the Peace of Mind Plan Roadmap Organizer and in my attorney hat in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC, I offer it to my clients as part of their estate planning package. But I also offer it free of charge to my financial planning clients who work with Safe Harbor Financial Advisors and that is my gift to any of you who would like this tool for your own use. Whether it becomes your Valentine’s Day gift in whole or in part (or not at all) is up to you, but I think you will find it valuable.
But this Roadmap Organizer is only part of the Peace of Mind planning process. You also need to make sure that your legal readiness plan is up to date, including a Will or Trust, Powers of Attorney for financial matters and healthcare, a Living Will or Advance Medical Directive with your end-of-life care instructions, and other documents. I highly recommend that you work with an experienced estate planning attorney for this as there is a lot of risk in viewing the creation of estate planning documents as a DIY project. If you don’t get it right there probably won’t be an opportunity for a do-over or mulligan!
The last piece of the Peace of Mind planning process is a review of your financial plan and coordination of your finances with your estate plan to ensure that your intentions are actually going to be accomplished should something happen to you. Many estate plans, even expensive or complex ones, can fail or not fully accomplish the intended goals by not tying the money to the plan correctly.
This is one additional benefit of the Peace of Mind Plan Roadmap Organizer as it gives you the opportunity to review what you have, where it is, how it is titled, etc., and that will help you ensure that you match that up to your legal plan documents. And that is something that Safe Harbor Financial Advisors can help you with on an hourly or project fee basis.
You can request your own complimentary Roadmap Organizer by emailing me at Info@SafeHarborFinancialAdvisors.com, or using the contact me feature at www.SafeHarbor.financial, or simply by calling and leaving me a message at 302-313-6644. Just put Roadmap Organizer in the subject line or in the message, and let me know your email address so you can get the full benefit of the Organizer’s fillable PDF features. If you prefer to use a hard copy of the Organizer I can provide that as well if you include your mailing address.
I will promise you that you will find the Roadmap Organizer valuable. I won’t promise you that it will be all you will want for a Valentine’s Day surprise!
