Life Update Time
What’s new in the Weitzman household? Well, I had food poisoning which took me a week to fully recover from. When you are pregnant it can be dangerous, but I tried to keep hydrated and took it easy so that my body could recover. Baby was fine, but I think he was stealing any nutrients I took in for himself. Guess I better get used to that!
We wrapped up our taxes and sent the government some money. Add that to the budget for this month. We might end up with a negative number for April sadly. Maybe on our 2018 taxes with owning a home for a full year and a baby we can owe less or have a small refund. One can dream!
Jeter is finally learning that the soft, wet white stuff on the ground isn’t a permanent feature. He is loving rolling around in this stuff called grass! I think he is feeling like we all are and ready for the warm weather to arrive and stick around.
And Andrew cut his finger trying to open an avocado (he’s fine now). #Millennialproblems According to my sister who is an ER nurse, it is a fairly common injury they see.
Protection Planning
As this baby thing becomes more real (and Andrew can start to feel him kick from the outside), we have been talking more about making sure our family is protected and taken care of. Both our parental instincts are kicking in. I want to share with you what we have done and are planning to do in regards to protection planning which includes life insurance and estate planning.
Life Insurance
At the beginning of the year, we applied for term life insurance policies. For us, those achieved the goal of protection in case something happened with affordability. It is one more expenses to tack on monthly, but if something happened to one of us, the other would certainly need the money to do things like pay the mortgage and child care, etc.
We chose the amount of coverage based on current incomes and what we think we could be making down the road and what our lives will look like. It is different for everyone, but it is all about your level of comfort. There are plenty of calculators out there and professionals that can help you figure it out.
I know some people think, do I really need life insurance. Seems like I’m placing a losing bet on myself. I get it, it’s another cost, and no telling what can happen. But that’s the thing, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have insurance for your house and car and those are possessions that you may need to replace. What about a person? You can’t replace them, but you can make sure you can still survive and have the life you want even if something happens to them.
If you want to read more about why you should have life insurance or some good basics on how to shop for it, check out these articles that Douglas has been featured in:
Investopedia – 6 Reasons Millennials Should Buy Life Insurance
CNBC – Why a Millennial Should Have Life Insurance
Fatherly – The No Bullshit Guide To Buying Your First Life Insurance Policy
Estate Planning
We have not yet done formal estate planning; however it is something we will do this year. We have done some things as stop-gaps in the meantime such as making sure beneficiaries are all update on retirement accounts and adding Transfer on Death designations to non-retirement accounts (which is kind of like a beneficiary). These are not full solution, but something is better than nothing.
Before we meet with the attorney, and yes, we will be using an attorney and not an online site because I don’t trust my legal knowledge to not mess up some wording that screws it all up, we wanted to make some decisions ourselves. Here are some of the questions we have been talking about:
Q: If something happens to one of us, what happens to our assets (both monetary and physical)?
A: The other gets everything. That’s an easy one.
Q: If something happens to both of us at the same time, what happens?
A: Here’s where things can get tricky. Where do the assets go? Who will be the guardian for our child and Jeter? I think anyone in our families would take Jeter because he is adorable. This is where we are spending the most time playing out scenarios and trying to decide who in our families would be the best guardians. We know they are all going to love our baby so much and we are lucky that we have great families who would do pretty much anything for this kid, but that doesn’t mean that everyone may be in a place in their lives to raise a child again (our parents) or for the first time (our siblings). It’s a tough conversation.
We are still talking it over, which is part of why we haven’t met with the estate attorney yet. And the other thing we are considering is that, maybe we pick guardians now, but it will change in the future. Life situations change and whomever may be the best fit now, may not be 10 years from now.
Having to think and talk about these decisions is not a fun conversation to have, but unfortunately in my line of work, I have seen tragedies happen where having estate planning done, makes the lives of loved ones easier. And I would rather know that things are taken care of then leave our families with a mess to deal with on top of the emotional distress of someone passing away. And once we tackle this, we don’t have to talk about it again until we want to, or something changes.
Douglas has also shared some insights into what you documents you need and some other good starting points for estate planning. Check out these articles:
Daily Finance- 6 Estate Planning Moves You Should Make In Your 30s
Millennial Magazine- Hey, Newlyweds! Start Planning Your Estate
Saving for Baby Weitzman’s Future
This may fall more under saving for our baby’s future, but another thing we would like to do when he is born is open a 529 College Savings Plan. So many people have said that we should encourage family and friends to contribute to that if they want to do a gift as opposed to lots of toys or clothes. Babies don’t need endless toys or outfits, so why not encourage those who are offering to do something that can help his future?
I think it is a great alternative. My baby doesn’t need expensive outfits that he will inevitably throw up on within the first 10 minutes. Because I feel like those are the stories you hear. The kids seem to know they are in nice clothes and get them dirty instantly. Put them in the Old Navy outfit and it stays clean for a little longer!
Andrew and I are also thinking about ways to save outside of a 529 for our son. When I was born, my great-grand parents and grand parents opened investment accounts for me (along with all the other grandchildren over the years) to help us pay for college. Side note: this was in the early 1990’s before 529 plans had grown into what they are today. Luckily for me, I went to a public state school that my parents could afford without using that money. So, once I graduated college they said I could do whatever I wanted with it.
Last year, Andrew and I used some of that money towards the down payment on our house. I am so appreciative to have had that money to help us put down roots and have a home to start a family in. And I know my great-grand parents and grand parents would be proud of how I used the money.
We are hoping to do something like that for our son over time as we have the means in addition to a 529 plan. We hope it is just one more way we are taking care of our family and setting everyone up for the best future possible!