Timing is Everythng

This summer we've been trying to catch up on some important things that we've been putting off. Ward's illness reminded us that you never know what is going to happen. Anyway, when he was feeling better from his surgery, we started to move ahead.

Wally and Theo were a lot younger the last time we did our will.

The first thing was to get professional advice to see if our finances are okay for a decent retirement. We thought they were, but you never know. We had a free, three hour consultation with a recommended financial planner who concluded we were okay and didn't need his help. However, we came away with a list of things to do to get things in order. I needed to rollover some of my IRA's, we needed to update our important paper notebook, get a bigger fire safe, etc. Actually I can't remember what all he said. On our today's to do list is to find the paper with the notes from that meeting.

In the meantime, we've been meaning to review and update our estate plan. It had been 13 years and laws have changed as well as the status of our children. We no longer have minors. So I made an appointment with the lawyer we dealt with before. We met and we had another list of things to think about and do.

So in the middle of these two things, Ward said that we should call our real estate agent and start looking a little just to see what's out there for when we want to downsize. Even though that was part of our long term plans, I think it was more of a distraction from the tedious work that was waiting at home than it was serious house hunting at this point. But be careful what you ask for. Because if you've been reading here, you know that we found THE house in under a week when we thought we might be casually looking for a long time.

So now, we are working on financial transactions and plans, reading trusts and living will papers, and trying to buy a house with the dozens of things that are required to do that.

Any one of these things takes time and concentration. However, all three of them have just about maxed out our paper handling abilities. Timing is everything and apparently, we're not very good at timing. Or we'd be a little less crazy right now. But despite the craziness, it's a whole lot nicer to be talking to banks and lawyers instead of doctors like we were a few months ago.

Until next time...