August 28, 2009

Financial Friday

(From my sickbed - if I don't get to your blog today its because Jay needed the computer for work.)

Jay and I took another big step this weekend getting our fiancial stuff together. Wednesday at lunch we met with an attorney to draw up wills. Probably an unnecessary step at this point, but it was a part of a package deal to get living will/power of attorney stuff together. While I pray we don't need any of it for a long, long time, there is no way to know when that stuff will come up.

Can I just tell you how wonderful my man is?

And how much of a troublemaker I am?

So the lawyer is taking notes on what we want so he can draw it up. The standard will stuff is the spouse gets half, but if we both die then we need a contingency. So Jay says "50/50 to our parents?"

I don't think so.

His eyes got big, and I think he feared my objection.

But I just wanted to give my 50% to my sister instead. For two reasons - Lord willing my parents will be dead before my turn comes, and because they've established their own financial path. It would be more of a blessing for my sister who, like me, has pretty much just started her adult life (well in comparison - she's been married since 2001 and is the mother of two.)

Jay's fears were relieved and we moved on to the living will portion. The lawyer said that the majority of people want theirs to say that if there is no hope they want the plug pulled. And the other document would name our spouses in charge of making any on the spot decisions.

Again, I wasn't okay with that. I certainly want the plug yanked for me. But I explained that since Jay isn't a Christian, I couldn't pull the plug on him. I'll take "No Hope" from a doctor over no hope for all eternity any day.

The lawyer was taken aback and said that he thought he understood, then turned to Jay and asked Jay if he wanted to pick someone else (like his parents) to carry out his wishes.

My sweet, sweet, beautiful thoughtful man.

If that's what she wants, that's what she gets. After all, what would it hurt him to lay in a coma? I'd be the one with the bills and stress. He'd just be laying there out of it.

I was shocked by his response, but it really does make sense. He's agnostic, not Buddist or something like that. So its not like he has a grand vision of an after life I'd be keeping him from.

Then again, maybe he just likes the idea of the hopelessly devoted wife holding his hand, praying for a miracle every day.

In other financial news, he got a call last night from his life insurance people, telling him that since he failed the niccotine test, his premiums would be $225 a month, instead of the $120 they originally quoted.

We were up front about his smokeless tobacco use, so that confused us. Turns out the lady that came out to take blood filled out the paperwork as if he'd never used any form of tobacco in his life.

Since the insurance broker (is that what they're called?) looked up the notes they have and sure enough they had documentation that he's a smokeless tobacco user too. She thinks that the insurance comapny will adjust that back down once they see that we were up front about it and meet their qualifications for the lower amount (they distinguish between smokers and smokeless tobacco users)/

In the mean time my policy has already been issued and I've mailed them a check. Life is easy for a non-mutant/non-tobacco user.

How are you doing on your financial goals? Whether it be saving money, paying down debt, or just getting together a game plan. I hope you're the boss of your money, and not the other way around.

6 comments:

  1. Wow. Those are some big decisions. It is encouraging to hear of you making them together and considering each other's beliefs and wishes while doing so.

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  2. very good job you 2! we talk about it but that's as far as we ever go.

    our financial goals were bumped a bit by building our savings w/the sale of the Wood stove you read about already :)

    have a great weekend!

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  3. It's good you're taking care of these things b/c you never know. Better to be prepared. That reminds me that we need to update our will.

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  4. Got your note the other day. Praying for your "little light" to shine.

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  5. Wow, you all must feel so relieved to have gotten this done and out of the way. Of course you'll have to update it if/when you have children and any other major changes in life but it's wonderful that you've gotten a lot of unanswered questions answered on how you both would like things to be in case of the unexpected.

    My husband and I cannot agree on anything so we have yet to do a living will or anything, which scares me because we have 4 children who will need to be cared for. We can't agree on who should have the kids...and we really don't have many people to choose from. I know we need to come to an agreement...it's always in the back of my mind.

    The other thing that worries me is our lack of retirement planning and college money for our kids. I keep talking to my husband about it but he's so good at sweeping things under the carpet and never dealing with it. I'm the one who handles all our finances so I think I'm just gonna have to take charge and make sure we're saving for retirement and college.

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  6. oh yes, we really need to get moving on the actual paperwork. we know what we want, but we haven't written it down yet and that could be a problem! (let's hope not though). anyway, glad you guys hammered it all out nicely, those things can get very touchy sometimes!

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what up yo?