Do You Need Life Insurance If You Stay At Home?

August 16, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 5 Comments

This post on life insurance is brought to you by Genworth and Brandfluential. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Tim and I recently had our annual meeting with our life insurance agent. We meet every year to review our current financial situation, our goals, any major life events on the horizon, and to make sure that our insurance coverage is sufficient to meet our needs should either Tim or I not live to see the next annual meeting. While the thought of this happening is very sad, indeed, I find that these meetings aren’t as much of a downer as you might imagine. They actually feel very reassuring in many ways, because we are taking just a little bit of time to make sure we are on track and covered in the event of the unthinkable. Because let me tell you, if my husband dies, the very last thing I want to be thinking about is how I’m going to keep paying our bills. And Tim feels the exact same way.

Life Insurance for Stay at Home Parents?

While I work from home and do generate income, it isn’t a full-time income. So does it really make sense for us to be spending money on a life insurance policy for me? Oh heck yes it does. Genworth has been a great resource for helping us stay educated on this issue. What we have realized is that if I pass away, while there may not be very much of a direct financial impact in terms of the loss of income, other losses will be very significant and require some cash inflow.

While my husband has a full-time job with benefits, do you really think he wants to report back to work the week after he buries his wife? Or two weeks after? Or two months after? Honestly, probably not. And who will be watching the girls? He’s going to want to be with his kids, loving on them, healing with them, and just trying to find any hints of normalcy that he can. In order to take a significant amount of time off of work and to eventually arrange for new care options for the girls, he is going to need some help. That’s where a life insurance policy comes into play. There’s a terrific article that outlines even more examples of why stay-at-home parents need life insurance.

Determine What You Need

I want to encourage you and your partner to take a little bit of time to meet with an insurance agent, or at least go online to get some help determining how much insurance you need to have for each of you in order for financial devastation to not be part of the aftermath of a loss. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by some of the rates you can find for policies that meet your needs, too. In my own personal opinion, the peace of mind these policies provide are well worth their monthly expense.

Thinking About My Aging Parents and How to Pay for Caregiving

July 17, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post on caregiving is brought to you by Genworth and Brandfluential. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

I’m one of 4 kids in my family. My brother and I are much older than our two younger siblings (who are 23 and 17, respectively). I have a lot of guilt thinking about the younger set having to give this issue such serious thought, already. I wish they had more time to just be young before having to worry about it. My older brother and I have already been worrying about how we are all going to care for our parents as they age for several years, now. My father has suffered more than one stroke, already, and my mother has health problems that cause her to need expensive medication, as well. They do not have anywhere close to enough money set aside for their retirement, and this problem is compounded by the fact that we anticipate that they will likely need more hands-on caregiving as they age.

Fortunately, our parents live in Alabama, which has a relatively low cost of caregiving as compared to many other states (click on the map below to find out the average cost of care in your state).

Unfortunately, those costs still equal MUCH more than my siblings and I could pay in the forseeable future. My brother has a son, and I have two daughters. We both have our own families that we need to care for, not to mention our own retirements that we need to save for so that we aren’t a burden on our own kids later in life. Neither one of us live near our parents, either, so being able to provide some of that care that they might need on our own wouldn’t work unless one of us moved back home (a prospect that is extremely unappealing to both of us!). Additionally, my younger siblings will also one day have families of their own, and I don’t want them to feel as though they have to live nearby, even if that isn’t what is in their own best interest.

Caregiving Support

photo credit: sashamd via photopin cc

To be perfectly honest, it sort of feels like we are waiting for a train wreck. One that we can see coming, but that we don’t know how to stop. Articles like this one on the cost of caregiving to adult children show that we aren’t alone with our fears, or with the reality of how caring for aging parents (and/or paying for that care) can be devastating to your finances. It can even set you up to repeat the cycle with your own children when it is time for you to get some long-term care or daily living assistance.

Genworth is actually a great resource for information on caregiving and caregiver support. They offer resources to help you develop a suggested care plan with your parents (such a great idea to do BEFORE the need arises). They also offer information on local care providers, public resources to help with the costs, and tips on negotiating for discounts. I know my brother and I are going to need all the help we can get to put together a plan that makes sense for our parents, and that doesn’t leave us financially strapped, ourselves.

Readers, have any of you either had to deal with caregiving issues for your aging parents, or have you already developed a plan for when the time comes? How do you help loved ones who lack the resources to cover long term care costs without sacrificing your own plans to save for your later years?

How to Save for Retirement with One Income #GenWorthUSA

June 18, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 5 Comments

I vividly remember when Tim and I reached the decision that our life in Memphis just wasn’t working (picture a huge house to maintain and pay for, 2 busy full-time careers, and a growing baby in a caring but not enriching daycare 40 hours/week). We made the choice to walk away from half of the money we were used to having (because I quit my job), moved across the state, and completely started over in a place that we rolled the dice on as the right choice for where to raise our children.

Our risk paid off in many ways. We adore Chattanooga and have made great strides toward putting down roots here and finding true community. We have been able to spend a lot of time with our girls and have them a home more than not, and we’ve found an excellent preschool that we believe is setting Darah up for success not just in terms of her knowledge set, but even more importantly, in terms of her character development.

Life is good, friends! We are so SO happy here and don’t regret the choices we made or what we gave up in order to live the life we are currently living.

With one exception: we have had to stop saving for retirement. And this has been a source of regret for us. I’m so thankful that we saved for retirement aggressively before we had kids, so at least we have a nest egg tucked away. But it has been so disappointing to watch it sit stagnant as we have shifted to being a one income family. We are financially savvy enough to know that RIGHT NOW is the time to be saving as much as possible for our retirement, while it still has 3 more decades to grow.

And yet, we face the same dilemma as so many families in this season of life: how do you save for retirement when you have just one income to support a growing family? It is the best time, for me personally, to be out of the work force, since my girls are little and never will be again. It is also the worst time for us to not have that extra money to sock away for later. We will only have to work harder and put even more money aside to try to play catch up for our lack of saving over the past 3 years.

I’m excited to report that thanks to my blog, I am now earning a bit of income every month, so we are ready to start contributing to our retirement again. I have two main tips I wanted to share if you are in a similar position and are struggling to figure out how to make contributions to your retirement funds.

Tips for Saving for Retirement on One Income

1. Know how to make a one time contribution. You would be shocked to hear how many times over the years we have received windfalls of money (and I use the term “windfall” VERY loosely here…maybe $100 we didn’t expect…not $10,000!). Almost every time we would say to each other, “We should put that in our retirement account!” and then we proceeded to NOT do that. Why? Because we didn’t want to take the time to figure out how to make a one time deposit. Is that ridiculously lazy? Absolutely. But also true. Now I know how to make a one time contribution and I have the step by step instructions printed out and in a safe but easy to access spot for future reference.

When you live on one income, you really may not be able to make monthly contributions (though I strongly encourage you to do so, even if it is only $20…every single dollar helps). But from time to time (birthdays, holidays, work bonus time, etc.) you find yourself with a bit of extra money on hand. Rather than let is melt away into your checking account, send it straight to retirement. Since my blogging income is very irregular, this is a great strategy for us, as there are some months when I can make pretty decent contributions, and there are other months when I’m not able to contribute anything at all.

2. Take a good hard look at your current budget. Have you ditched cable yet? Are you paying no attention to the sales flyers when you go grocery shopping? Done an insurance price comparison this year? There are several ways that you can trim your monthly living costs with not too much effort on your part. My family, for example, has been cable free since 2008. We missed it terribly for about 3 days. And then we got over it. The day we cut the cord, so to speak, we reclaimed $80/month! If we still had cable to this day, we would have handed over another $4,800 , and had nothing to show for it. And in today’s world, there are so many alternatives to cable like Hulu or Netflix. A Hulu subscription is just $8/month, 90% less than the cable bill you’ll have once any promotional rate you may have been offered is over. And for grocery savings, I’m not suggesting you learn how to extreme coupon. But use the sales flyer as your guide. My local store always has lots of stuff buy 1 get 1 free each week. I buy the majority of my groceries from that selection, instantly saving 50% on my grocery bill, no couponing required!

The reality is, when you don’t have a whole lot of money to start with, you need to stretch what you do have further. Some money saving measures take extreme amounts of time, and I judge those to not really be worth it. But some are quite simple, especially if you are willing inconvenience yourself just a tiny amount. Trade that little bit of time and effort for retirement contributions. Your 65-year-old self will thank you, I promise. And if you are lucky enough to be retiring very soon, definitely give this article on tips for 2013 retirees a read. I learned quite a few interesting tidbits, myself, and I’m nowhere close to retirement!

If you are looking for some help to get started with a retirement savings plan, or you just need some assistance managing your retirement contributions, consider Genworth. Genworth is the financial security company of choice for millions of people in all 50 states. They are a great resource to turn to whatever your age, be it 23 or 73. Speaking of 73, here’s a photo from my future 73-year-old self. It’s a great visual reminder that we’ve gotta take care of tomorrow by planning today!

This post is brought to you by our friends at Genworth and Brandfluential. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.