Financial Planning for Peace of Mind

When you have a chronic life limiting condition like I have then it makes you think about what happens to your family after you have died. Everyone needs some peace of mind. I thought about this long ago when a friend who’d had a baby the same time as I had Star, found out she had cancer. I immediately started to think about getting some life insurance quotes and took out a policy sixteen years ago. (My friend lasted another five years.)

It’s Not Nice to Think About

Nobody wants to think about dying but the simple truth is that it happens to us all, and none of us know when. I am the sort of person who likes to be prepared and I bought a book on Amazon similar to this one, The Peace of Mind Planner. (affiliate link) It’s no fun filling it all in, but it does what it says on the cover and gives you some peace of mind.

My family leave me to everything, all the bill paying and house maintenance. I don’t do the work, but I’m the one who sorts it out and makes the phone calls. I get paid monthly by the adults in the house an I work out all the finances. It’s not easy but it’s best left to one person so we know where the money goes. The problems occur when that one person is no longer around.

Having a planner means I can write everything down so they will know exactly who to pay and when.

Final Arrangements

Life insurance is important because it means that my family will have some extra cash when I’ve gone. But it’s not always enough. Funerals are expensive so I also have a funeral plan which will pay for everything and stop my family from worrying about the cost of my funeral. When someone dies unexpectedly it can leave a family in a terrible mess, planning is really for peace of mind for everyone.

My Mother passed away quite suddenly, although she had been ill for a while the doctors had given her another 10 years. But then cancer reared it’s ugly head and she was given weeks, not even months to live. It was a terrible shock for the family. Mum had some savings which were used for the funeral. But the stress of coping with running the house without her was too much for my brother. Even with family health, his grief was too much and he decided that he didn’t want to do it and ended his own life before our Mom was even buried. Of course my brother had no planning for his funeral or death so our grieving family had so much to deal with.

When to plan?

As morbid as it sounds, I don’t think it’s ever to soon to plan for death. I should have started sooner having two children many years ago. But it was only until my friend of the same age got cancer than I took out a policy. I increased my insurance and added a funeral policy when I got sick nearly six years ago. I know that when my time does come that everything should fall in place for my family. I still have some pages to fill in on my planner. It’s not an easy task because it’s so difficult to think about. But I will get it done soon. At least the important stuff is sorted. It’s also a good idea to find out what cremation services are available.

If you are wondering what my ailment is, I have written a post about 10 Facts About my Condition I’m happy to answer any questions about Stiff Person Syndrome.