With the recent death of a dear family member, my family has learned so much. No matter your age. Write a will.

Even if it’s handwritten, signed, witnessed and dated by the deceased, it’s better than nothing.

Registered will is best. Have a place where you leave instructions for your afterlife wishes. Buried? Cremated? Telling someone doesn’t count, except for a surviving spouse.

Maintain a safe deposit box, where you keep your documents, and give access to the box by someone considerably younger. A trusted child or relative should be named on all of your financial accounts. Not as beneficiaries, but as fellow account holders.

I know, it sounds tenuous. But from Day One, our experience with this family death became expensive early.

Mea culpa, if I’m too focused on money. But tomorrow when you lose a member of your family, you’ll discover how poorly death and money mix.

Rick Hover

Dolores