Summer is here! I hope you are finding time to enjoy our beautiful weather. My favorite spot is my backyard. I have a perennial garden that transforms from spring tulips and daffodils to summer daylilies in the summer. Amidst the greenery I have my two brilliant blue Adirondack chairs calling my name, enticing me to sit down and take a break. This is a great place to read a book, write down ideas or just sip summer hummers.
Besides taking time to enjoy my garden I set aside the month of June to review and update my “When I Die File” Protection Plan. This file gathers the information I need to help me build and protect my wealth and my future. Each year I sit down and update this file. I capture current year information. I review past decisions that Steve and I made to see if they still fit or need to be revised. As life changes so will my “when I die file”.
So over the month I complete the following tasks for my protection plan:
- Update my personal financial statement. Are we on track?
- Do I need to change our will? Do we need to address estate taxes?
- Review how we spent our money the last year. Did I plan for enough when we retire?
- Review our insurance coverage. Is everything covered? Do I need to increase or decrease our coverage? Do we still need it?
- Update our medications list. Do we have a list handy in case of an emergency?
- Review the list of my advisors, did any change?
- Review my emergency business plan and my ultimate succession plan. Will this plan still be effective?
Of course I don’t do this in one sitting. I spread it out over the month. It may take a couple of summer hummers to get the protection plan results that I want.
My overall objective is to plan for possible unexpected events. Enough unexpected events actually happen – if I can avoid a few – the more time I have to actually sit down and enjoy life.
Enjoy the summer…
