We’ve been on a roll over the last year in terms of getting our financial house in order. We checked off some pretty significant items off of our to do list: We optimized our savings by maxing out last year’s annual contribution to my TFSA while contributing plenty to Emily’s RRSP. We also added to our son’s Registered Education Savings Plan for the second year in a row. Not only did we contribute to these savings accounts, we defined an investing strategy- choosing to start with passively managed index funds. Considering we’ve never maxed out an annual contribution to a savings account before, it was definitely a breakout year.

Yet with our recent success, there are items on our list that remain; items that should have been checked off long ago. I’ve been procrastinating on them for one reason or another and I really should get to them sooner rather than later. Without further ado, my bucket list, if you will, of things that still need to be done that I haven’t gotten around to just yet.

Set up a Will

When we were care free newlyweds, we did not give any thought to setting up a will. We barely had anything to our name and, like most, assumed that nothing bad would happen. We knew that we eventually would need one but we were content in delaying it to a later time.

Well, that later time has come and gone and it’s something that we should have had in place by now. It’s not that we’re particularly concerned about the division of our belongings should, heaven forbid, Emily and I both pass away; we are concerned about who would get custody of our son. I would not want our kid to be in a position where a court decides on his caregiver. Hopefully, the odds of this unthinkable event are really, really low.

Get Life Insurance

The reason behind getting life insurance goes hand in hand with setting up a will. While I wouldn’t want my family to be burdened with the expenses associated with a funeral and burial, the most obvious reason for life insurance would be to replace the income lost if I was to pass away. Without the insurance, it would become difficult for our family to maintain our current standard of living, continue making mortgage payments, save for the kid’s education, or provide for retirement.

The thing about insurance premiums is that the older you are, the greater the cost. With age comes wisdom and, along with it, a higher chance of illness; there are even certain illness that are considered too severe to be insurable. The sooner I look into this, the better.

Automate Our Savings

We made a decision late last year to transition our banking activities from one institution to another with no fees. We made the change so our pay cheques could be automatically distributed into individual savings accounts, with each one assigned to our savings goals. With our savings taken care of, we would be able to freely spend whatever’s left knowing that all of our priorities are met.

To date, a portion of our pay is deducted to contribute to our defined contribution pension plans; apart from that, nothing else is automated. I would like to get to the point where small monthly installments are automatically funnelled into a savings account to ease the weight of our annual car insurance payment and other obligations. Continuing to delay the automation of our savings results in money not yet assigned sitting idly in an an account not exposed to any long term market growth.

The Last Word

We’ve been able to make some strides forward in our financial journey over the past several months. Each success is a small testament to the inroads we’ve made into mapping out the mysterious land of personal finance. However, as with any journey that has yet to reach it’s destination, there are many more steps to take. With each accomplishment comes the reminder of how much more there is to learn. The longer I procrastinate on getting these things done will mean increased costs, missed opportunity and potentially severe consequences. Allons-y! It’s time to start checking these items off the list. One step at a time.

What financial items do you have still to check off your to do list?

Image Source: The Paper Wall