A Tough Time in Life

I cannot imagine what it must be like when you love someone for the majority of your life and then they pass away. When a senior couple becomes a senior single there are things that happen financially that most people do not understand or even know about.

You have lost more than your partner. You have lost someone who helps you make decisions, and a person who helps you with income.

I can still remember the first time I ran into a senior who had lost their wife. I was impressed by the way they were handling their emotional loss, but I was also saddened by the effect that the loss of that wage earner had caused to their lifestyle.

Not only had they lost the social security benefit that their partner was receiving, but in their case the pension did not pay the surviving partner any benefit after the death of his wife.

His monthly income that had been fixed for the last 12 years had just dropped by 50%. This drop of income happened at the time in which he was least concerned about finances. He was mourning the loss of his wife. The cash flow really had little meaning to him until he started running out of money.

He should have taken an evening to sort things out. In just one evening of taking a look at your finances you can stop the unnecessary drain on your savings, and set up a new budget for yourself.

If you are in this position, here are some tips.

1) You need to cancel any subscriptions , health care policies, or memberships that your spouse had that you do not absolutely need.

2) Review your checking account for monthly automatic deductions that may be from an activity or interest that your spouse had that you no longer need.

3) If you had two cars, now is the time to sell one. You don't need the extra expense of upkeep, insurance, and payments (if you had a loan on the car)

4) Your spouses family (grandkids, kids, sisters or brothers) might have been getting financial help from your spouse. You need to take a close look at your finances before you blindly continue to support that person.

Remember, with the death of a spouse, you will be losing a portion of your income. To think that you can continue under the same budget is a mistake. Even though it is a tough time to think about money, you need to, or it will cause more heartache down the road.

bob

bob@az62.com

www.az62.com

623-214-6663