If you’re a woman, do you remember hearing the saying “I’m becoming my mother”? Well, I guess I’m becoming my mom. To our family, she was Tutu, and a role model in how to live a full life. My mom died when she was 84 years young. She had prepared long before her death to be sure that I would have an easy time taking care of her belongings including her property, her bank accounts, car and investments.
Even when she was healthy, she started sending me information about her plans. I am an only child, so it was easier for her to share everything with me. For those that have more that one child, it will be more complicated.
It started out with her making an estate plan—a revocable living trust. She lived on Oahu, and we live on the Big Island, so she hired an attorney who traveled between the two islands. She sent me a copy of her plan which included a last will and testament, her health directive, and other instructions regarding her assets; she also sent instructions that she wanted to be cremated and where she wanted her ashes spread. She also sent her car title and had me sign as a co-owner.
One of the secrets to my mom’s financial stability was to save money whenever she could. She was a child of the depression and was very thrifty and did not waste anything! She was also smart when it came to real estate. She would scrimp and save and always be on the lookout to purchase a piece of real estate if she could. I think it helped that she outlived a few husbands who passed away and left her insurance money that she could use to this end. But that is still part of planning for the unexpected.
Because of my mom’s planning and saving, when she died, she left everything to me. I then followed in her footsteps.
In our immediate family we had three children, and four grandchildren. Our eldest son, died from cancer when he was 56 years old. Our grief was and is immense. His wife and two daughters were left with a big task trying to figure out everything.
A couple of years have passed and we have continued to make plans with our own assets to that our children and grandchildren will have an easier time when we pass.
For example, we have an Estate Plan that spells out our desires regarding our assets; we’ve talked to our children and grandchildren about what we are doing; I’ve shared information with my daughter about my computer accounts and passwords. My husband and I have both filled our forms with information on how we want to be remembered when we pass. The form is called “Five Wishes” but can’t find them! I’ve got to be sure everything is in the right place. The Get Your House in Order booklet is a great resource for this.
It's never too late to start saving and start planning so your family will not have to struggle with decisions when you are gone.
Downsizing
Alison - Kailua
There comes a time when a big house with lots of stuff becomes too much, making downsizing an attractive option. The benefits are easy to see – likely a smaller mortgage, lower utilities and property insurance among other potential benefits. Intangible benefits include spending less time on maintenance and more time to do things not tied to your possessions. Alison from Kailua explains how downsizing has lifted her sprits and improved her overall quality of life.
Alison works hard as a nurse, often pulling twelve hour shifts, but as a homeowner she would return home to cleaning, yard work and managing her room mates. She found herself wanting greater freedom and more time for herself, so she recently purchased a one bedroom one bath condo in town. She rents her Kailua house and has found the income from that property covers all her costs.
Downsizing isn't easy because it means reducing stuff and changing a mindset to living in a smaller place. But Alison highly recommends it for anyone who has a busy lifestyle who finds themselves spending much of their highly valuable free time maintaining their stuff or a property. “Every week I watch the Friday night fireworks from my lanai, and if I want to leave to travel, I just jump on a plane and go!”
Helping all Hawaii’s ohana achieve their highest quality of life possible is the main goal of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign, while reminding everyone of the importance of sound life planning decisions. Part of that smart life planning could include capitalizing on the many benefits of downsizing your home.
The Ho’okele guidebook is a personal planning booklet containing legacy wishes, employment and retirement information, insurance and bank document locations, and vital contacts. Over the next year, there will be four phases of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign with a new section of the Ho’okele available from the HIFICU.com website during each quarterly phase. Ho’okele 1.1 and 1.2 are now available. Download your copy today and start completing your booklet.
For more information about Get Your House in Order email: GYHO@hificu.com. Also, tune in to KITV at 7:00 pm every Saturday to watch Get Your House In Order.
The Importance of Life Planning
Josh - Honolulu
Life can be messy and is rarely an upward linear climb from one accomplished goal to the next. Oftentimes unforeseen circumstances can end up controlling decisions affecting not only our future, but those of our loved ones as well. Josh from Honolulu tells us his story about how his father’s lack of planning affecting his future.
Josh’s father wasn’t a very good planner and didn’t have contingencies in place, so when he lost his job, he fell into a severe depression resulting in dark times for their family. When everything was going well for his father, it was difficult for their family to have a conversation considering the possibility that the good times might not continue. So those conversations never happened and the contingency planning never occurred.
When his father passed away, Josh was forced to pay out of pocket for badly needed repairs to the family home because his name was not on their homeowners policy. Such oversights are often the results of poor life planning. Josh says “making plans during the good times is very important. I really encourage families to talk about these issues because when it’s too late, it’s too late.”
Helping all Hawaii’s ohana achieve their highest quality of life possible is the main goal of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign, while reminding everyone of the importance of sound life planning decisions.
The Ho’okele guidebook is a personal planning booklet containing legacy wishes, employment and retirement information, insurance and bank document locations, and vital contacts. Over the next year, there will be four phases of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign with a new section of the Ho’okele available from the HIFICU.com website during each quarterly phase. Ho’okele 1.1 and 1.2 are now available. Download your copy today and start completing your booklet.
For more information about Get Your House in Order email: GYHO@hificu.com. Also, tune in to KITV at 7:00 pm every Saturday to watch Get Your House In Order.
Advanced Directives
Joy - Honolulu
An advanced health directive is a document containing health care decisions that speak for you if you are unable to make those decisions for yourself. This document provides sound guidance during times of extreme emotional duress and appoints all those responsible for your care, and provides detailed guidance in carrying out your final wishes. Joy shares the ins and outs of creating an advanced directive for yourself.
One of the first and most important steps in creating an advanced health directive is choosing a trusted loved one to be your “proxy” to make crucial health decisions for you should you become incapacitated from a medical emergency or condition. But having those delicate conversations to find the right person is not an easy process.
When Joy approached her husband about the highly sensitive matter, the person she thought would be her natural proxy, he said he would want to keep her alive as long as possible no matter what, which is not what she wanted. Her oldest son and youngest daughter also expressed preferences which didn’t agree with her wishes. Finally her middle child expressed a preference which aligned perfectly with her wishes. “People call this the Goldilocks story, because one was too hard, one was too soft and one is just right. So I encourage people to have those conversations because it’s really important to find the person who will do exactly what you want them to do.”
Solid planning means being prepared for anything that may come your way. A good advanced health directive eliminates all guesswork and differing opinions, allowing loved ones to be satisfied knowing they made the right choices. Helping all Hawaii’s ohana achieve their highest quality of life possible is the main goal of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign, while reminding everyone of the importance of sound life planning decisions.
The Ho’okele guidebook is a personal planning booklet containing legacy wishes, employment and retirement information, insurance and bank document locations, and vital contacts. Over the next year, there will be four phases of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign with a new section of the Ho’okele available from the HIFICU.com website during each quarterly phase. Ho’okele 1.1 and 1.2 are now available. Download your copy today and start completing your booklet.
For more information about Get Your House in Order email: GYHO@hificu.com. Also, tune in to KITV at 7:00 pm every Saturday to watch Get Your House In Order.
Traveling to Find Yourself
Shari - Mililani
Traveling to new destinations can sharpen our minds and shift our perspectives. The more we travel, the more we realize that our home is so much more than the town, city, state and even country that we’ve grown up in. Travel helps us realize that our true home is this planet, and we become more conscious of how we can harmoniously live and support each other. Shari from Mililani shares how travel expands her horizons allowing her to connect with people around the world.
Before going on a trip, Shari likes to research the local cuisine and customs of the destination culture of where she travels, but always finds something completely unexpected. On one of her recent trips to see the Northern Lights in Lapland, Finland, she was very surprised to have found extended family living in the area. Shari also likes to experience the customs of a destination culture. While in Finland she participated with some locals in a hot sauna, followed by jumping into near freezing water immediately after, and then repeating the process four times.
Another one of Shari’s favorite things about traveling is making connections with like minded people, and then maintaining those connections through social media. Sometimes people who hosted her or people she met while traveling and kept in touch with, traveled to Hawaii where she became the host, completing the circle.
Whether you do your own research to travel on your own, or choose to travel with a guided group, traveling provides experiences and memories that enrich our lives and better inform our world view.
Helping all Hawaii’s ohana achieve their highest quality of life possible is the main goal of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign, while reminding everyone of the importance of sound life planning decisions. When the time comes to travel, I recommend you prepare well and share your itinerary with those closest to you so they will be able to contact you more easily in case of an emergency.
The Ho’okele guidebook is a personal planning booklet containing legacy wishes, employment and retirement information, insurance and bank document locations, and vital contacts. Over the next year, there will be four phases of the “Get Your House in Order” campaign with a new section of the Ho’okele available from the HIFICU.com website during each quarterly phase. Ho’okele 1.1 and 1.2 are now available. Download your copy today and start completing your booklet.
For more information about Get Your House in Order email: GYHO@hificu.com. Also, tune in to KITV at 7:00 pm every Saturday to watch Get Your House In Order.
