Some days you wake up and realize you have to start preparing for the future. Today is one of those days for me. As you read this, I’ll be with my family on our way to drop off our daughter at college. It’s a surreal experience. To be completely frank, I’m not sure how I feel about it.
We do have some experience with being physically apart from our children – our eldest has been overseas for more than three years. We visit often and talk daily but it was a shift – no doubt about it.
As we tried to get ready for that change three years ago, we didn’t really understand this day would come too. Sure we knew the day would come…but we really didn’t understand it. Maybe these kinds of days are impossible to understand until they arrive.
I’m not really worried about this or overly emotional. But I do think it’s a great reminder. Time marches on. If our kids grow up and go to college…that might mean…eh…yes…it does mean…I’m getting older too. From a financial perspective, this means that I have to continue to prepare for the days ahead. I can’t ignore the future just because I’m too busy answering my e-mail.
I have to track my spending and treat saving for retirement as an expense like any other. I have to prepare my own retirement…right?
Even though I’m relatively young, I have to nail down a transition plan for my business – just in case. Speaking of that, I have to update my liability insurance for small business too. And I have to make sure my trust is updated.
What about you? Have you been treating your financial future like it’s never going to arrive? How did you feel when you did take action to strengthen your financial future?
While you’re considering that…let’s look at your weekend reading suggestions:
Liz Weston gets the Pilgrim Pick of the Pack for her article explaining the three questions we should be asking when it comes to renewing our homeowner’s insurance.
I like Liz’s article because homeowner’s insurance intimidates me. These three questions turn the tables and help me (and you) make sure we have the right coverage. Well done, Liz!
Can blog articles replace real financial planning? Carl over at Behavior Gap.com dishes this one out. It might be self-serving for me to promote this article, but I happen to think Carl makes an excellent point. I think radio/blog/magazine information is great and important – but I don’t think it’s a substitute for knowledgeable advice. What is your take?
The Weakonomist discusses how much your time is really worth. I talked about this yesterday, but this article puts some teeth into the argument. Read it now…the clock is ticking.
Happiness for others comes from contentment within – Frugal Dad. A profound article.
The Digerati Life tells you how to trade stock without losing your shirt.
Moolanomy discusses how you can drive for free and retire rich. A nice double whammy.
Insurance…this is nobody’s favorite subject. But MoneyNing.com does an excellent job in looking at this subject in a helpful way.
If you want to understand the Federal Budget, this is the article for you. A real masterpiece written by JD over at Get Rich Slowly.
Zen Habits encourages us to stop being so productive. Learn why.
When is enough…enough? Vicki Robin, who wrote a guest post over at Simple Dollar, tries to answer this question.
Green Panda Treehouse examines the hidden cost of travel.
Monevator wrote a great piece about mark-to-market accounting. This is timely because I happen to be writing a book on the subject. This is very important for investors because it’s likely going to impact how companies report assets and profits in the future. This article does a fantastic job of breaking the issue down.
Here are a few carnivals I participated in:
Have a wonderful weekend with people you love.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Best wishes – we just sent our first born to college one week ago today. While I was emotionally prepared for it my wife had a really difficult time. She cried almost the entire two hour drive south to our home in san diego.
Just got back Keith….no crying…..but a bit emotional. At least I know we’re not alone.
Best wishes to us all and our students!
Wow, you have a kid in college? I feel like I just graduated from college myself! Well, alright I have a few young ‘uns around and it will be at least a decade before I have to send them off. I think this new stage in life is not usually covered much, so it’s interesting to hear about how people adjust to this new phase.
Digerati Life…..yes…sometimes it’s tough for me to believe it myself!
One of the best things I ever did was start saving as soon as they were born….it’s really coming in handy now!