Advanced Wellbeing offers financial therapy insights each week to inform more details about financial therapy.
Dying and money collide in ways most of us never think about until we have to. When someone receives a terminal diagnosis, they and their loved ones are forced to deal with emotional and financial complexities around death at the same time. A financial planner who is also a trained death doula helps clients navigate both.
Recently, reading a training manual on elder abuse, I was reminded of a financial risk that is often overlooked. One of the fastest and easiest ways to unravel your financial security is to have the wrong person gain control of your money. It is critical to be mindful and build in safeguards when executing a Power of Attorney.
On a recent trip to the Middle East, my wife and I had the unique privilege of dining in the home of a local family. Both the food and the conversation were memorable.
As a financial planner, I couldn’t resist asking our host how inheritance works in Jordan. His answer was straightforward and, to him, unremarkable: under Islamic inheritance law, a wife typically receives one-eighth of her husband’s estate. The remaining seven-eighths goes to the children, with sons receiving twice as much as daughters.
Dying Broke means enjoying the fruits of your labor, spending and giving everything during your lifetime. While the concept may conjure images of lavish spending sprees and exotic vacations, that’s rarely what I see. Many Die Brokers have money habits shaped by a lifetime of frugal money scripts that are incredibly hard to shake.
Estate planning is critically important. It matters that we establish how we want our tangible assets like money and property distributed when we die.
Life legacy planning is a broader perspective that includes our less tangible assets. These might be the wisdom you want to share, values you want to pass on, stories you want to preserve, and, above all, the relationships you want to nurture even after you are gone.
One way to pass on that emotional legacy is through a “last love letter.”
Sorry, any children of Boomers who may be hoping for a big inheritance someday. We’re spending your legacy.
This is the finding of a recent Schwab survey of more than 1,000 high net worth Americans that highlighted a generational divide in intentions for passing on wealth. Many Boomers plan to enjoy their money during their lifetimes—and we’re okay with that.
It’s common to think about grief primarily as a response to a single, shattering loss like the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a terminal diagnosis. Grief is rarely so tidy. Alexi Gilmore Mankookian, a Certified Grief Support Specialist, says grief isn’t just about the initial loss. It’s also about the secondary losses–including financial ones– that may go unnoticed but add to the impact of the initial loss.
You don’t need a fortune to channel your giving through a Donor Advised Fund. These funds are designed for everyday people who want to make charitable donations in a way that offers tax efficiency, flexibility, and choices.
One of the saddest experiences for a financial advisor is, despite our best efforts, being unable to protect elderly clients from themselves when they are losing cognitive abilities. Unfortunately, I’ve seen this happen several times and have struggled to find solutions. There are no simple answers, but we do recommend several strategies.
Recently, a newly divorced woman in her 50’s asked me if I knew of any good books for middle-aged, single woman of wealth. My eloquent answer was, “Um, er . . . .”
Others might have more flippant responses like, “Why? Where’s the problem?” It may be hard to empathize if one has not experienced the particular challenges of being left through death or divorce to manage wealth alone in midlife or later. Those challenges, however, are real.
