Ep 12: How to Avoid Flirting With Financial Disaster

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">On today’s episode of <em>How Money Works</em>, let’s talk about some of the areas of your financial life where you might be flirting with disaster and how you can fix it.</span></p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><strong>Out-of-date legal documents</strong></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">It’s not something people think about often, but having your legal documents up to date is crucial.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">“When is the last time you whipped out your will and read it? Well, never,” said Craig.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Maybe you created legal documents when your kids were young but now they’re older. Have you updated those records? Maybe you remarried and have not changed your beneficiary information.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Too many people are walking around with no documents, or documents that are in desperate need of an update. Don’t let this be you.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><strong>Tax time bomb</strong></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">With all the stimulus money being spent in response to the pandemic, there’s a tax time bomb coming at some point.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">“You cannot create all this debt and expect it not to be repaid,” said Craig.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">What’s going to happen if the government raises the tax rate? If the overwhelming majority of your investments are in tax-deferred accounts, you could be building up a time bomb for yourself.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><strong>No plan for long-term care expenses</strong></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Long-term care expenses is one of the hardest discussions to have with people, because they don’t want to discuss it and don't want to think about being in that position.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">The long-term care and home health industry is growing quickly, and studies have shown that, on average, people in their golden yea