Hey Loves,

A close relative of mine who is approximately 82 yrs old (she'd never disclose her real age...lol) has recently had a stroke.  Like so many of us today, this woman is very strong, handled EVERYTHING, and took care of EVERYONE.  Her husband is lost right now.  She handled all the bills, and all the family finances.  Because she unable to speak right now, no one knows where to begin picking up where she left off. And even more unfortunate, she can't trust her children to do right by her and her husband.  It's a terrible situation.

Luckily my mother who is a very resourceful woman, extremely responsible, and equally as strong as this relative is going to take the lead on making sure everything is taken care of until she gets back to good health.

Through watching this woman go through this very tragic point in her so much of what I have done up until this point in regards to my future has been even more validated. I wanted to share this with all you young parents out there who are only focused on the here and now. 

Please plan for the future.  Get your life insurance NOW, enroll in that 401K now (at least 3% and increase every 5 years by 2%), start putting away in a savings account and please get a college fund started for your children (or some sort of savings specifically for them). Research other lucrative financial investments (and I mean, RESEARCH, don't trust just word of mouth. I don't care if the person telling you the business is a professional or not...do your OWN research).

While we are young we tend to let this go and listen to others who tell us we are "too young" to worry about things like that.  But let me tell you, you are never too young.  In reality, the sooner you begin, the better off you will be later.  Social Security is damn-near guaranteed to not be around by the time we reach retirement age so please don't depend on the federal/state gov't.  Get your paper folks!

Make sure you plan to have someone who you know is responsible enough to take care of things should anything ever happen to you.  It doesn't matter who get's pissed off or jealous (I know how some families are), just choose the right person.

YOU start planning your financial future now.

Danni