Hey sis, welcome back. You're tuned in to Sis Mind Your Money, the podcast where we talk all things money, wealth, and financial freedom. Without the confusion and without the judgment. I'm your host, Bridgett Dickey, wealth educator and strategist, founder of Dickey Financial Services and Wealth Management firm, and the creator of Girl Mind Your Money Movement. My mission is simple. To educate, empower, and equip women like you to take control of your finances and build real lasting wealth. So grab your favorite drink, get comfortable, and let's get into it. This is part three of a four part series, and so we've already covered The four Ds no one wants to talk about. So we've talked about drugs, we've talked about disease, how it affects your financial life, and now we're gonna talk about death. No one wants to talk about death, but that the silence around it, that topic is costing families everything because we don't wanna talk about it. We think this is not going to happen to us, it's gonna happen to somebody else, not me, or we are gonna live forever. Or it's the, I don't wanna talk about that hard conversation. I don't wanna imagine my family not being here, my loved one not being here, and so what happens is people won't talk about it. They won't deal with it. And so when someone dies without a plan, now the family's scrambling. They running around, they're afraid. They're fighting, they are just ashamed. They don't wanna talk about it. They don't want to admit or tell somebody that, oh, I didn't have it together, and so now I have to go out here and do a GoFundMe, and they don't want the shame that sits behind that. They've taken care of everyone else but didn't take care of the things that they should have taken care. And so I lost my dad. I know how it is to lose someone. This episode is for him, and for every family that deserves better than a financial crisis on top of grief. One thing I would say. When he passed, that's grief was the number one thing that I had to focus on. The financial was not concerned about, but that's not everybody's story. The cost to bury someone, average cost is between eight to $12,000. And so it depends on where you live. A cremation. Today, basic cremation is 3000. If you get the earn from the funeral home, that's a thousand dollars. And so when someone passes away. We a lot of time people automatically assume, oh, they got it together, they got money, they got it. I'm not worried about it. And then often that's when you find out no, they don't have it together. And so now that financial impact slaps you in the face. Now you're now they're telling you the cash it costs. $2,000 of flowers is a thousand dollars, so the earn is a thousand dollars. And so now you're trying to figure out how we gonna pay for this. But those are one time fees. Most of the time people can catch up. They can, we'll, everybody get together, we'll put money together and we'll save or go get a GoFundMe, right? And you can take care of that. Most time people get together and they make sure that's taken care of. But what I wanna talk about is a financial impact when a person dies and when they're no longer here and the funeral is over. Now that person's income is gone. So this is for my spouses that are in the room who are listening. These are for the husbands and wives. I'm gonna talk to my single people as well. So if you're married, your spouse passes away. Now their income is gone. Now, when you get married, you're married for life, right? You married until death do as part. And so now this person that normally would bring in an income, now that income is gone. So that's where the power of life insurance outside of work is so powerful because that replaces the income. So if this person is no longer working, at least I can say, well, I got a million dollars. I got $2 million in life insurance. That's gonna come to me tax free. But what happens is people are not planning for that. They don't have the coverage. They have it most often don't have enough and you have a hundred thousand. If you do a funeral, say the funeral costs $20,000, now you left with 80. 80 is gone in a year, that is not enough money because if your spouse was making say a hundred thousand every year, well every year now they've been gone. You're one a hundred thousand gone another year. Another year. That money is no longer there. That's how you provided and took care of your family. So that's why it's important to have these things in place. Now let's throw children in it. Now you just married and you have kids, so how you gonna take care of the kids? You have to now go through the estate and I'm in Texas. So now, depending on where you are, most likely, every state, you're gonna have to probate a will. So now you gotta pay money to probate the will. Well, no, I'm married. I shouldn't have to do all this. You have to go through the whole process. Now this takes an emotional toll. Most people that I deal with when a loved one is passed on. They're back to work a week later. Who wants to go back to work? A week later after your spouse has passed or your child has passed, or your parent has passed, or your loved one, you wanna be able to have things set in place where you don't. That takes an emotional toll on you, and then all of a sudden you gotta go back to work. So now you won't even give yourself an opportunity to grieve or even go through the grieving process 'cause financially. You have to go back to work. So it's some things we can do to prevent a lot of this before the death happens. 'cause death is going to happen. Number one thing, get a will no matter what. If you own property, land, you have children, you make sure you get a trust. Why? Because a will must go through probate, and a will can take years to clear. Somebody contest the will. Now, it prolongs it. Make sure you set up a trust as well. Have your name beneficiaries on everything, on bank accounts, life insurance policies, retirement accounts. This is non-negotiable. Make sure you have life insurance outside of work that's so important. Create your instructions of what you want. How do you want things to go? Your passwords to your account? Who has access to that? So these are the things that I walked through with my clients and showing them, make sure you have access to this. Put everything in writing. Have that money conversation with your family. Sit down as a family and talk about this. When I pass away all of these things, go in here, grab this binder, it is in the office. Here's my financial planner, here's my tax person. Give them a list of everybody they need to talk to, so this will, they're going to grieve you enough. That's just going to be the hardest thing. Don't leave them in a financial mess to the point where they now need to find a new home because that happens. Plan your funeral arrangements ahead of time. Pay for 'em ahead of time. Get all of that set up where you want to be buried. Name the funeral home, your church. Put all of that in writing. This is probably one of the hardest things and the longest processes when I'm going through helping clients because this is so emotional. This is a lot. You have certain parents or husband, spouses, wive, some will do it, some won't. Some will take months. I'm gonna get to it, I'm gonna get to it, I'm gonna do it years pass on, and what I get is the horror stories. I know you told me to do it, but we didn't do it. So what are our options now? And that's what happens is that. You are scrambling, you're trying to figure things out. You're not for sure what to do, how to do this, and so make sure you have all that stuff in place. It gives a peace of mind. When I lost my dad, that was my dues. So if any of y'all listened to the first episode, all of what I do and who I am is 'cause of him. And when I lost him, that was the first man. I loved that. That was my dude, and it hit hard. Now, my dad made it easy. He was like, brute, that was his nickname for me. Brute, I need you to take care of this. I need you to get my will, get everything set up, make sure all this stuff is taken care of. I said, okay. He didn't leave me anything financially. But what he gave me, what he taught me, what he showed me is still paying off today through his cancer fight. He showed me how to be resilient. He showed me that he is a man that he's vulnerable. That he's going to leave this earth one day, and he prepared me for it, but he wasn't afraid. At times he was and. He showed it to me and at times he wasn't. But at it taught me not to give up. It prepared me for fast forward when my then husband got cancer and I had already had the preparation and making sure things were set up and done so I knew what to do. It prepared me for the other crisis in life. It is hard to have that conversation to know that they won't be here, that I won't be able to cook with him and talk to him and share things with him and show him things and me building a business. He won't be here for it. Honoring the people we love means preparing for the day we won't be here, and that's how he prepared me, right? He did his part, he prepared me for the day he wasn't going to be here, and I'm paying it forward. I'm prepared for when I'm not going to be here. And so, this is a heavy conversation. A lot of times we just don't wanna have it. We so afraid. But one thing I do with my clients, because I know this one takes a lot, it takes a lot and it hits home. And so this is one way that I walk. I'm literally with them in their appointments when they're talking to the attorneys and when they have to prepare all the documents. I am with them every step of the way. Because I, I don't want their family to go through any type of financial strain or stress. 'cause I know what it looks like, and so how my father prepared me, I'm preparing you and my clients and the people that are around me and my community. So this one hits, it's a bittersweet because yes. He's no longer here, but he prepared me. What he left me with has helped me in this journey of building this business and when I get up every day and why I do it. So one thing I want you to do is to book that 30 minute call with me. You can find the link in the description. Book that call, book your consultation, get your financial plan together. Start off. You ain't gotta do everything. You don't have to do it all. Do one thing, take one. Eat the elephant, one bite at a time. Last week I did mention that I would read one of the reviews. And it, it brought me to tears and it said, I enjoyed. I appreciate you sharing, inviting us into your world, your background and vulnerable moments. It was also helpful for context and understanding your passion and why you do this work. Excited to see what comes. And I liked how you phrased your mom's view of your weight as she did not know how to handle it. That instead of saying something that destroyed her or make her look negative to her is relatable. And I don't know who wrote this, but thank you for your review. And so if you wanna know more about what she was talking about and how I talked about my journey and how my mom could not handle then the big girl, go back to my very first episode. why I do this? and write your reviews and I'll read them on air. And that's a wrap, sis. Thank you for tuning in to sis Mind Your Money. I pray today's episode, give you something real to work with. I'm Bridgett Dickey, your wealth educator and strategist, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Until then, go mind your money, sis. Before you go, think of one girlfriend who needs to hear this episode and send it to her right now. Text it, post it. Tag me. Just share it. We are building this community one s is at a time.