Tips for Preparing for the Future

on March 31, 2015 at 4:35 am

Often we get so caught up in the moment, we forget about the future. Planning for your future is important, especially if you have children. A little forward planning can make a big difference to how easy your life is, financially and more, and it can influence how comfortable your retirement is. No matter how young you feel, now is absolutely the time to start planning for tomorrow. Like the expression says, those who fail to prepare, are preparing to fail. Don’t be one of those people – not when it comes to your life.

1) Think About Your Funeral

No one really wants to spend too long thinking about their own death, but sadly it is going to happen. It’s important that your funeral is done in a way that pleases not only you, but your immediate family too. It’s better to address this issue early and to get things out in the open. Do you have a preference for being buried or cremated? How about what kind of headstone you like? It might seem silly to think about these things while you’re in perfect health, but there’s no better time than now. Looking at headstones is a good place to start.

2) Sort Out Your Assets

There’s nothing worse than losing a loved one. The pain is incomparable to anything else. However, it’s possible to add salt to the wounds by having family members fighting over the different assets. Ensure that everything is cleaned defined in case of any death, so there’s no confusion on who’s getting what. It also ensures that you can decide what happens to your things and how they are inherited, long after you’re gone.

3) Tell Your Family How You Feel

Nothing is worse than leaving things ambiguous. Tell your family members how much you love them, what they mean to you and what you’re grateful for, before it’s too late. Life is short. Don’t hold too many grudges and remember family is family, beyond everything else.

4) Invest and Save

Unfortunately money is important and we all need it in order to live in our modern world. Do yourself a favour and start investing young. The younger you start, the more ambitious you can be and the more time you have for things like compounding interest to work in your favour. It’s never too late to start, but really the earlier the better.

The future doesn’t have to be scary if you spend some time planning how you want it to be. Sit down with your loved ones and make a plan so that the difficult times can be a little less difficult.