To really secure your family’s financial future you must create and maintain a Financial First Aid Kit.
An essential tool kit to give your loved one’s clarity and peace of mind in hard times.
It’s 6am on a Monday morning, you barely got any sleep because your baby boy wouldn’t settle down last night. After a quick scroll on the socials, you finally get up to start your morning routine ready for a long day at work.
A quick shower, oats with blueberries for breakfast while watching sky news reporting on the rise in the cost of living. You grab your keys to the VW, kiss the family goodbye and rush out the door.
On your drive out the weather seems decent, like most mornings these days there isn’t much traffic on the road because it’s the school holidays and since Covid most office workers work from home.
You’re fast approaching the junction to join the motorway, you finally join and put your foot down. 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80mph you’ll be at work in no time.
image from freepik
What’s seems like minutes later, you find yourself in a hospital bed at St Thomas Hospital. The ceiling lights are blurring your vision and you hear “You’ve been involved in a major accident sir”, says the nurse calmly. “It seems you fell asleep at the wheel on the M25, and your car was found in a ditch”, she explains.
Life happens and one thing you don’t expect is to end up in hospital at 9am on a Monday morning. Not only does this affect your family emotionally, but it could also affect them financially.
“This is what a financial first aid kit is preparing you for.”
Each household should keep one ready at hand separately or combined for those in charge of money-making decisions. We’re well prepared for old age and say you need a pension to secure your future but we don’t highlight the immediate call to action if the worst was to happen today.
Planning for hard times can be emotionally triggering because let’s be real, who lives thinking that one day it could suddenly all end. This can be a tough process for some but it’s really important to get it completed sooner rather than later. Call it your adult life admin task like setting up life insurance, writing a will or investing for retirement in the future.
A financial first aid kit is like your regular first aid kit for injuries but for your family finances. It could be a drive, file or folder containing all the essential information your family needs in case you seriously get ill, pass away or you’re involved in an accident, disabling you to make sound decisions.
“This information should be kept in a safe place or encrypted (but your family should know)”
It must include essential details like your bank accounts, passwords, your will, pension details, life insurance details, investment accounts, key contacts, cash, funeral plans, places of important possessions etc.
None of us truly know what fate has for us around the corner. Having everything in one place gives your family peace of mind in hard times and easy access to a total overview of your financial life, especially if you have dependents.
