YOUR FINANCIAL HEALTH
It is important to occasionally take time to have a checkup. Of course the annual physical is important, but so is a financial checkup. Think about what you should be doing with respect to your financial health. Here are some suggestions to consider putting on your list.
FINANCIAL HEALTH CHECKLIST
1. Having an up-to-date will. For the sake of your family, stop making excuses and get this done now.
2. However small it is, develop a savings plan and take it off the top. Even a little bit, consistently done, will build up.
3. Arrange to have some paid up life insurance on you and your spouse for the sake of your children.
4. You and your spouse should jointly prepare at least a general budget that gives you a plan for how to use your income.
5. In that budget, have a line for fun.
6. Explore how some pre-tax dollar arrangements can benefit you without costing the church more money. It can, for example, be used to buy that life insurance.
7. If your children are first grade and above, it would be of value to show them your budget so that they understand what the parameters are.
8. See if you can set aside wedding and funeral honorariums for special family experiences.
9. Determine as a family some main priorities of your charitable giving. If you establish a percentage that you are going to give away, it will help as you decide whether you can respond to the multiple requests that come your way.
10.Both you and your spouse should share the stories of how money was handled in your family of origin and identify some hot-button subjects from those experiences that will help each of you do a better job of discussing your own finances.
DON’T SKIP # 10
It would be easy to skip over #10, but you will find that this may be one of the more valuable steps. So make it fun. Set aside an evening or even a Saturday morning that will provide you and your spouse with some undisturbed time. Put on some music, and agree that you will do something pleasurable together when you are finished.
Now each of you try to recall some stories from your childhood where finances played a significant role in your family of origin. Taking turns, tell each other the story and the significance you give to the incident.
When each of you have told some of your best stories, see if you can come up with a common list of four or five ways that money is handled which, because of your histories, might have either positive or negative impact on you as a couple.
