Maintaining good housekeeping in your financial affairs is not just about tidiness; it’s a crucial aspect of your overall financial health. Knowing where all your important documents are, ensuring they are up-to-date, and having a clear plan for who can access them if needed can provide significant peace of mind. Here are key points to consider for effective financial housekeeping:
First, ensure all your important documents are organized and stored in a secure, accessible place. These documents include:
– Wills and Trusts
– Insurance Policies
– Property Deeds
– Bank and Investment Account Information
– Retirement Account Details
– Medical Directives and Power of Attorney
Knowing where these documents are and keeping them in a well-organized system prevents confusion and stress in times of need.
It’s not enough to just have these documents; they must be current. Life changes such as marriages, divorces, births, and deaths can significantly impact the relevance and accuracy of your documents. Regularly review and update them to reflect your current wishes and circumstances.
Your documents should not only be up to date but also coherent with each other. For example, your will should align with your beneficiary designations on insurance policies and retirement accounts. Inconsistencies can lead to legal complications and disputes among heirs.
In case something happens to you, it’s vital that trusted individuals know where to find these documents and have the necessary access. Choose people who are reliable, understand your wishes, and are aware of your family dynamics. Ensure they have copies or can quickly obtain the originals if needed.
The individuals you entrust with your documents should be familiar with your family and understand the dynamics involved. This helps prevent misunderstandings and conflicts during difficult times. Ideally, these trusted contacts should be part of the discussions when you’re updating your documents, so they are fully aware of your intentions and the roles they might play.
By organizing your financial affairs, you not only ensure that your wishes are carried out smoothly but also provide peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones. Knowing that everything is in order and that trusted individuals are prepared to handle your affairs can alleviate stress and allow you to focus on enjoying life, secure in the knowledge that your legacy is protected.
Good financial housekeeping is a vital part of your financial health. It involves organizing, updating, and coordinating your important documents, ensuring trusted individuals have access and understand your wishes. This preparation provides invaluable peace of mind, knowing that your affairs are in order and your loved ones are cared for.
At Client Care, we assist our clients in getting their house in order and to many, we are that confidant who assists their family when things happen.
Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner.
Previous Columns:
The 18th Pam Golding Properties – St Francis Bay 2024 Canals Winter Doubles Challenge, held on Saturday, a lovely calm sunny winter’s day, was won by national paddlers Hein Van Rooyen and Greg Louw (both previous winners) in a very quick 1hr 29min 53secs, ahead of the 60 other hopefuls.
Greg is a multiple Fish River Marathon winner, and Hein, apart from being a sensational sportsman, is co-owner of surfski manufacturer, Carbonology.
They bagged the trophy and the first prize of R3000, plus other smaller prizes.
The rest of the podium for the 20km race consisted of 2nd placed exciting under 18’s Matt Coetzer and Liam Stephenson from Plett, and rounding off the podium was last week’s grueling Berg River Marathon winner Tom Lovemore, with his apparently less illustrious friend Kelvin Trautman.
Three minutes behind the first three were PE father and son team of Andrew and U18 son Leo Stone, and Werner Kruger and well-known Fanta Gous, both also from PE.
A further few minutes back were the first mixed (and married!) boat, Brandon and Tracey van der Walt. And not far further back were the first ladies, the under 23 pair, Georgia Stone and local lifesaving ace Nicola Harcus.
As sponsor and paddler for the last 18 years (and organiser for the first few years), I enjoyed paddling with Andrew Knight, winning the over 65 category (the only boat in the category!) … with a wonderful slip for about 19.9km from Paul Gerrard and Robert Lee!
Our four Sea Vista teenagers also paddled very well, showing us what they learnt from their coaching in Germany last year.
We also always hold a shorter 10km race, won this year rather easily by local father windsurfing ace James Moore and talented under 12 son Jack, ahead of two more daughters from the very fit Harcus family, Jess and Dani, with slightly older Byron Andrews and Ana Marie Hay in third place.
This race is always a doubles race, but singles are welcome, but sadly aren’t recognized in the prizes, but club captain Pete King is worth a mention for his excellent 20km race, finally fit after injuring his shoulder in a surfski accident in the river mouth in January.
After eight years of holding our races at Quays, we returned to our old venue at the Cove, which is also a lovely spot, with lots of parking, shade, shelter, toilets and space for a crowded start.
The course was, as always for this race, our regular Wednesday evening time trial 5km route, paddled four times for the main 20km race. So by the end, we were very familiar with some of the spectators, torn between watching the New Zealand rugby, and our paddling!
We were pleased to host a number of Knysna and Plett paddlers, as well as the usual big group from PE. Surprisingly, very few East London paddlers this time, considering how well they usually support our events. And obviously plenty of locals. But we missed Andrew Bowren!
Huge well done to all the paddlers, 20km is a long way … and there are no downhills on this flat paddling course!
To put yesterday’s times into context, the winners effectively paddled our regular 10km time trail twice, in a super quick time of 44min 56sec for each 10km. The over 65 winners did 50min 53sec for each of their two 10kms, showing that the conditions were conducive to fast times.
Our races are sadly (but for good reason) only open to CSA registered paddlers, with the relevant proficiency level as well.
The 90 sec video of the St Francis Bay 2024 Canals Winter Doubles Challenge features the start, a few clips of groups along the way, featuring some commentary by Raffy, and then the prize-giving.
As always, lots of St Francis Paddling Club volunteers, thank you so much. Chairman Charlie Jonsson and his fine team. Also to braai master Frank Harpur who served complimentary boerie rolls and cokes. Pam Golding provided coffee and rusks before the race, and cold beers afterwards.
Huge thanks to the unsung heroes, the supporters, either at the event, or making it possible for us to paddle. Such a lekker day all in all. Just a pity about the drop kick at the end of the rugby game later in the day!
And of course thanks to Carbonology Sport for their R3500 lucky draw paddle (their 25th over the last ten years) and Rack & Paddle also for some wonderful prizes.
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