By: Angele Gerten – Affiliate/Community Communication- Staff Writer
What a great time of year! New life seems to spring all around us. It’s inspiring; and it reminds me of the work it takes on the front end to achieve this new growth. The preparation, the planning, the patience. To have a flourishing garden, blooming flower box, and healthy crop, the season of sowing is critical. So it is with our finances.
There’s a phrase we say often that, unfortunately, rings true. “Financial illiteracy is passed from generation to generation.” The reality is personal finance, money management, budgeting & savings habits, are simply not taught in schools or homes. How can we stop the spread of financial illiteracy?
The first seed we can plant to change this is to educate ourselves and educate our kids. The initial investment you should make is in your financial education. Learn foundational financial principles like budgeting and the various insurances needed, discover how compound interest works, how to use it, and how to invest for your future.
Please, talk about it with your kids. Talk about how money works. Talk about how mortgages and investments work. And please, talk about how debt works – lest they learn at the feet of Visa and Mastercard.
It’s never too soon to plant the seeds of saving, budgeting, proper money management & financial responsibility with your kids. And it’s never too late for you to learn.
Another step is to create a plan. Whether it’s paying off debt, funding college for the kids, and certainly retirement – it’s critically important to get started as soon as possible and to operate from a written plan. Otherwise, when we need the harvest to come in, we will be disappointed. We reap what we sow, after all. Have a plan.
The final seed involves passing wealth with intention. Complete your will, POA, or trust; meet with an estate planning attorney to ensure your wishes are met and assets are passed with the least impact from taxes as possible. At this stage, hard work has paid off from years of sowing, watering, and nurturing – make sure the transfer to the next generation is smooth.
We all want to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It’s the perfect time of year to invest in your financial education, freshen up your financial plans, and complete your estate planning documents. Get intentional, plant the seeds of wealth now, and prepare to pass it on to the next generation.
Angele Gerten is a financial advisor who loves teaching people how money works & creating lifetime relationships with her clients as they work towards their financial goals together. She focuses on a variety of areas including debt elimination strategies, establishing a budget & an emergency fund as well as investing for the future. Email: angelepfs@gmail.com