Financial tips abound for almost every part of your life such as how to handle windfall money and even when your loved one dies. As some most people say, death and taxes are two of the things that are sure in life. Death has been existent in the lives of people ever since the world began and has been like the sunset to every sunrise.
The CDC.gov shares that the death rate is at 821.5 deaths per 100,000 of the population which might not be to alarming but it will always be someone in your circle and at times, people close to you. When that happens, there is a big chance that you will be overcome with grief that thinking of anything else other than the memory of your loved one will be hard.
If you experience death in the family, a lot of things will start to demand your time and there are financial tips that you can look into to know what you need to prioritize. It is hard to think about money and bills while you are grieving but it is not something that you need to put off until the last minute either.
When a loved one dies
Death is not a question of if but of when and when the time comes, here are some things that you might want to keep in mind to help you get your finances in order.
- Secure multiple copies of the death certificates. The primary legal document that you would need to process when dealing with the death of a loved one would be the death certificate. Especially if you are looking at debt problems that are left after debt, the death certificate will be the primary paper that you will use in processing the affairs of your loved one. With this, it is best to secure multiple certified copies of the death certificate so you do not have to process requests again and save time and even money.
- Process the letter of administration. Another financial tip you need to consider is processing the letter of administration so you can legally represent your love one that passed away in any legal executions. This will help you process legal documents because the death certificate proves death and the letter of administration proves that the legal system considers you and appoints you as the legal representative.
- Hire or consult a lawyer. Many people might decide against this because they see this as an unnecessary cost in managing the estate of your dearly departed. But you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of hiring one or at the very least consulting a lawyer. There are basically three things you can expect when you take up the services of a lawyer – being able to save money, expedite the settlement of the estate and even shield the family from potential liabilities. It is important though that you talk to board certified lawyers that specifically handles wills, trusts and estates. Lawyers.com explains that the most common billing methods of lawyers are either hourly or having a flat fee.
- Gather other legal documents. When you start processing the legal documents of relatives that passed away, the line does not stop at the death certificate and letter of administration. You also need to get the will or trust if they just left in their study or if it is with a lawyer. You also need to compile any insurance policies they might have taken out for the house, car, disability or even health insurance. You might also want to get latest statements from mortgage loans and other debt accounts. A credit report would also be a great document to have on hand. They might have one lying around as FTC.gov explains that consumers can get one free report every 12 months from credit reporting companies.
- Inform government agencies, financial institutions. Another financial tip you need to keep in mind is that as soon as someone in the family dies, you need to inform a couple of agencies about it. One would be the Social Security Administration because apart from the $200 assistance, they will know that the person is dead and put the name in a master list to help prevent identity fraud. It would also be a good idea to let insurance companies , credit card lenders and even the credit bureaus know to curb the possibility of people using the identity for scrupulous purposes.
- Discontinue subscriptions, memberships and other accounts. This is just to stop recurring expenses from piling up. Let the magazine subscriptions and other memberships run for a few months and you end up paying for unused services.
- Process benefits for survivors. The first step is to understand where insurance premiums has been paid out because cash benefits might be paid out to the heirs. But this is something people should approach very carefully. This is because there are also pitfalls in windfall profit that you need to guard against. As you might probably be still high on emotions, suddenly having your hands on a lot of money might just make you burn through the amount without having anything to show for it. One financial tip to consider when faced with this situation is to let the money stay in an account and let it earn interest for a few months.
Single-handedly managing the budget
It is quite hard to face life when your partner passes away. You are then thrusted into the spotlight as you now have to face your finances all alone. Here are some tips in handling the household budget on your own.
- Talk to your children. It is important to talk to your children about the new situation in your life and to see how you can help them manage their emotions. Reach out to them and slowly tell them about how your new living arrangement would be. Let them know that a lot of things will change including your finances but assure them that your love will never change.
- Look for a job if you do not have one. It is not really a financial tip but you need to look for a source of income if you are the one that was staying at home looking after the household. You need to make sure that you have a source of income to sustain the financial needs of the family until such time that the children are able to stand up on their own two feet.
- Enroll the payments in auto-debit program. This is a great way in handling finances especially if you have limited time to attend to all the nitty gritty details of all your payments. You need to remember that they can all vary in amount, due dates, interest on the principal and even where the payment should be sent.
- Debt consolidation. One way to get a better grip on debt payment is to combine or consolidate multiple account to make repayment easier. This can eliminate cutting checks to different lenders every month and monitoring of payments becomes a lot easier. This can also be beneficial in case your credit score has increased from the last time you took out the loans.
Financial tips become more important when you go through challenging points in your life such as losing a loved one. It might be the last thing in your mind but you need to keep your finances in order to prevent any glitches that might further add to your problems.