By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
Essential financial knowledge may be a mystery for many adults who have tried to handle their finances for many decades. This is why the How Money Works Learning Center gives free seminars and classes for those who seek more information on how to live financially secure.
At the learning center they give seminars on how to deal with finances regardless of what stage of life or circumstances you may be in.
One of the seminars they give is called the Widow’s Path Forward Workshop. It examines the new financial circumstances a widow may suddenly find herself in, after the death of a spouse. Bank accounts may be frozen for up to 90 days and yet expenses are rolling in, such as the mortgage, food, utility bills, credit card bills, plus funeral expenses which must be paid up front.
The workshop includes a checklist of things a widow must consider after the death of her husband, with suggestions of how to deal with the multiple options available. This information is also valuable for widowers.
The workshops look at access to bank accounts and whose name the account is in. In the case of long-term marriages where the husband paid all the bills, the wife may discover she is not be an account holder, but just a signer in the bank account. In those instances, this type of checking account could be frozen by the bank, leaving the widow without funds for a long period of time, at a time of critical need. This is very true with credit cards if the credit was issued in the husband’s name, as the cards are canceled upon death, although the debt remains, and the companies can be vicious in their attempts to collect the debt.
Many times, the widow is unaware of or not familiar with investment accounts, where the will is located, if there is a trust or whether is there a safe deposit box. Knowing whether the estate must go through probate or is there a trust in control makes a significant difference in her life going forward.
Vicki Vargas, the How Money Works Crestline office coordinator, is familiar with these situations from her personal experiences and can help guide a widow through the next steps. She freely shares her stories during the seminars and other widows share where they are in the financial process after their husband’s death. Many widows attend these free seminars for months or years after their husband’s death.
How about his computer or email passwords? Those are important to know after a death. Who knows them? Or where are they located? There is so much to think about in advance because the trauma from the death may be multiplied by a total life disruption.
In the case of children, what happens to them – is there a plan? If there are special needs children, is there a special needs trust set up for them and who is the conservator?
How Money Works has checklists that can be filled out ahead of a loss so those who are older would be able to plan ahead and know how to get their affairs in order in advance. This is one of the best times for a woman to investigate finances and How Money Works can assist.
They have a book on How Money Works that is an easy read and can help a person know how to make their money grow now and how to be prepared for the future, financially. With their various seminars for teens, singles, couples who are married or not married, they have tips on living financially smart and well.
For more information, contact Vargas at (909) 698-1016. The How Money Works Learning Center is located at 23798 Lake Drive in Crestline.
0 Comments