Are you aware of your family’s protection?

Do you love your family? Do you want only the best for them?  The obvious answer for every single parent will be an absolute “yes”. But it’s very likely that you haven’t stop to think about your necessities and to plan how you will cover in case of emergencies or unfortunate eventualities. This is not about calling bad luck with negative thoughts, but to show your family how much you love them by caring for their future.

We as parents dream about our kids becoming professionals, good, uccessful persons and for them to have what we didn’t.

So now, what actual decisions are you taking to realize those dreams?

If your answer was a resounding silence, maybe you have not even consider this.

In other hand, if your answer was “I don’t know”, “not yet” or  “I barely can pay my debts and accounts”, let me tell you that excuses are not going to protect your family.

A lot of times we see the misfortunes of others that surround us from a long distance, and we think “that won’t happen to me or my family never”. Other times, we see our future like a thing far far away from now and we trust that there will be a whole lot of time to make plans.

Maybe now you’re thinking: “Does that mean i should live in constant distress thinking about all the bad things that could happen to me and my family?”. The answer is, obviously, no. Living your life with optimism is essential for you to feel motivated and calmed down, but ignoring potential risks and not taking a single action, is a very irresponsible thing.

The lack of information can drive you to think that if you’re not wealthy, it would be impossible to secure a prosperous future for your children. That’s false! We all can, step by step, build a plan for the wellness of our family, according to our odds and needs, that will guarantee an economic backing in case of emergency.

You don’t know where to start? Let’s read together the 4 stages every successful family protection plan has to follow and we all should know:

Define your needs

The needs of each family are different: It can depend on the number of members, stages of life they’re currently in, family debts and lifestyle. One thing that can help you define how much economic support your family would need in case of an eventuality that makes the home’s income decrease, is to write a monthly expenses list. Grab pen and paper and write down absolutely every home expense. Be sure you’re being honest and to not reduce costs according to an “ideal”, but to register the ammount of money you actually spend. You can take reference of the family expenses of recent months.

With this information, you’ll have an actual idea of how much your family spends and you could even make a quick projection on how those expenses would chage in the future.

Define your goals

The basic goal of every family has to be to secure the economic stability of all of its members, so in adverse situations, their wellbeing would not be affected. This means covering all the expenses on house, food and other basic needs.  With the calculation we made in the previous step, we now have an approximate number of the income your family need on a monthly basis.

The second level of goals is related to other family and personal necessities, like the mortage payment or the planification of your retirement.

You can also stablish goals of saving money according to your posibilities and wishes, e.g. your children’s college fund.

Establish your plan

Now that you know your needs and wants, the next step to make them happen is to define a saving plan. Here begins the difference between wishes and reality.

Consider your saving capacity, how much time your plan will take and the goals you’re going to prioritize, to come to a projection of the results.

Like in all the stages of the planification, is extremely important being honest with yourself and including the real ammounts that you can contribute and not the numbers you’ll save “in the best scenario”.

Hands to work

The key is to be decisive, constant and taking action. It would be worthless if one day you wake up motivated to planificate and then you don’t define anything nor take real actions, or if in a couple of weeks you leave all your plans behind.  Saving money is a long-term plan and many people desist half-way through, seeing that their bank numbers don’t grow. That’s why it’s important to define with clearness real goals and keep going, always focusing on the objective.

With this information you now have the basic tools to start a protection plan for your family, that your family will thank.

Making a plan is not necessarily an easy task, that’s why is very helpful being informed and seeking professional help about the options you have available. The ACA Advisor specialists are licensed financial agents in family protecion plans, and they will show you all the options you can take advantage of. They have the knowledge and experience to guide through all the process, from defining your needs to execute your action plan.

When it comes to plan your family’s wellness, taking risks is not worthy. Make up your mind and contact a professional today calling at (305)265-8180.