#(As my offline friends group. Including me. is rapidly moving into late-thirties and beyond)

[more-than-a-princess]

】 - Do you have anything in life you are particularly garetful for?

Positivity Munday meme - No Longer Accepting!

This is going to sound predictable/cheesy, but I'm going to say my parents. Yes, they've been able to provide a lot of opportunities for me, but I want to say I'm grateful for one thing in particular:

They have invested well, never have lived outside of their means, and saved well for retirement to include any and all in-house help they may need in their more infirm/frail years, including taking out substantial life insurance policies, writing their wills, and making very clear and specific financial trusts.

The older I get, the more I hear of friends whose parents decline rapidly or lose one or both parents and are just stuck with so much to deal with: how to afford a retirement home and/or specialized care they need (some friends have had to take part time or quit their jobs entirely to care for their aging parents), how to organize end of life decisions, how to deal with paying off debts and/or taxes on various inheritances/bequests, and that doesn't even begin to factor in the emotional toll taken on the members of the family left behind.

My parents have thought of pretty much every little thing that I will likely face as they decline and after they die, with specific instructions on how to handle everything and where everything goes. I am so grateful for that, knowing that I will not have to wonder how I'll take care of them and what to do with all of the stuff that's left to handle after they pass.

That said, my advice to my dash: if you have living parents or guardians and you have not talked to them about what will happen if, or more aptly when, they decline and pass on, the earlier you can begin making plans, the better. I keep seeing too many stories of friends who are emotionally and financially bankrupt trying to take care of their aging parents, who will likely never recover from it all, or take many years to finally begin to mend. It's not the most pleasant thing to think about, but there's only two guarantees in life: death and taxes.

Knowing how to do taxes or hiring someone you trust to do them for you is also good life advice