Family comes in 32 flavors — or, maybe I’m confusing family with ice cream. Anyway, whatever your biological or chosen family looks like, you might have some financial concerns around it. Here are some situations I can help with.
Helping Your Parents
Are you your parents’ retirement plan? Whether you signed up for this responsibility or not, you’ve probably decided to take it on anyway if you’re reading this.
Helping your parents in retirement without derailing your own goals can be tricky, not just financially, but relationally and emotionally. But if it’s important to you, we can figure out how to make it work.
Getting Married
Getting married often means combining finances. Ideally, there are no surprises after the wedding, or even after the engagement. And I’m not a couples counselor. But I can help you and your fiance or spouse figure out where you both stand individually, what aspects of your finances you want to combine and how, and how to build your financial future together.
The sooner you can get on the same page and start working toward goals as a team, the better your relationship will be.
Never Getting Married
Marriage isn’t for everyone. You’re in great company if you’ve decided to stay single, or if you’re in a committed partnership but happy to leave the proverbial knot untied.
These situations require different types of planning, and a lot of the conventional advice out there assumes you’re either already married with kids, or eventually going to be.
I promise to accept your relationship or lack thereof exactly how it is. I will help you plan for the life you’re actually living, not the one someone else wants to box you into.
Getting Divorced
Honestly, this is not my area of expertise. But I do know people who specialize in it, and you’re welcome to contact me if you’d like a referral.
Birthing, Adopting, or Fostering Kids
I don’t have personal experience with any of these things, and if that’s important to you, you will have no trouble finding a planner who does. But I do know how to plan for expensive things, and kids are definitely that.
Whether you want to figure out how to pay for childcare, private school, college, or just life with additional mouths to feed, let’s talk.
Birthing, Adopting, or Fostering Pets (okay, maybe not the first one)
If you’re planning to add a pet to your household, I’d love to help you understand the potential costs. They can be a lot more than people expect, but that depends on a lot of things: species, breed, age, the options for veterinary care in your area, your philosophy on how to take care of a pet, whether you buy pet insurance and what it covers, and more.
Having to give up a pet for financial reasons is heartbreaking, but adding one to your home and knowing you can provide for it can bring so much joy and comfort. Let’s make it happen!
Childfree by Choice
Don’t want to have kids? Don’t even like them? Can’t understand why anyone would voluntarily put their body through pregnancy and childbirth? You need a financial planner who understands what being childfree by choice means for your money.
Does it mean you have a lot more of it than your friends with kids? Maybe, and if so, you’ve got an amazing opportunity to create financial security for yourself (and maybe even some other beings, like a niece or a friend’s kid you actually like or undocumented immigrants or a cat rescue organization).
But who will take care of you when you’re old? It probably wouldn’t have been your hypothetical kid, anyway, because the statistics in that area are pretty grim, but we’ll talk about things like long-term care insurance. Just think about how good it will feel to clap back the next time someone asks you that obnoxious question.
Childless, or Childfree Not by Choice
You wanted to have kids, and it never happened for whatever reason. Can I relate? Honestly, no.
Have I watched some of my dearest friends struggle with infertility and the heartache that comes along with it? Or with wanting to have kids, but not wanting to do it alone, and not finding the right partner to raise them with? Yes.
If you’re at the point in your life where you know kids are not going to be part of the picture, then you need a different kind of financial plan. And you need someone who is sensitive to the fact that not everyone’s life story has a next generation. You are welcome here.