What Is a Financial Readiness Plan?

A Financial Readiness Plan is your in-case-of-emergency Financial First Aid Kit.

It gives you a practical framework for organizing what matters, identifying what may be missing, preparing the people who may need to step in, and choosing appropriate next steps before life happens.

The goal is to be better prepared to respond to life's curveballs. 

When Life Happens, Readiness Matters 

Life can change quickly.

A health event, caregiving decision, job transition, family emergency, or major financial choice can require information, conversations, and action all at once.

The Financial Readiness Plan helps you prepare ahead of time. Use it to:

• Organize important information
• Ask better questions
• Define roles and responsibilities

• Prepare the people you trust to step in when needed 

• Prepare for important conversations
• Make decisions grounded in your goals and values

Start where you are. Focus on what matters today. Build your Plan over time.

Your Free Financial Readiness Plan includes:

✔  The complete Financial Readiness Plan

✔  Financial Readiness Quick Start Checklist

✔  Stepping In Checklist: What to Do When It Matters Most

✔  Unclaimed Property Search Checklist

The Plan gives you a place to gather your thinking, record important information, and identify your next steps.

👉 Designed for personal use and professional conversations

When you start the Plan, you’ll also receive the Get Ready Newsletter with ideas, questions, conversations, and resources to help you prepare before life happens. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Your Financial Readiness Map

The Financial Readiness Plan is organized around 10 interconnected domains that provide a broader view of the people, information, decisions, and transitions that shape your financial life.

✅ Stepping In Plan
✅ Personal Mission & Decision Compass
✅ Life & Care Plan
✅ Your Support Team
✅ Risk Protection Plan
✅ Estate & Final Wishes
✅ Property, Assets & Digital Life
✅ Financial Sustainability & Independence
✅ Philanthropy & Impact
✅ Transitions, Work & Next Chapters

Start with one domain.  

The Financial Readiness Plan is a structured framework template to help you begin. 

The Plan is grounded in the Six Principles of Financial Readiness helping you start with purpose, seek understanding, identify what may be missing, think long term, protect what matters most, and exercise good judgment.

Use It for Yourself or to Help Others Prepare 

The Financial Readiness Plan can be used by: 

• Individuals: Organize the areas of your financial life that matter most and choose your next steps.

• Families: Prepare for shared responsibilities, family conversations, and future decisions.

• Professionals: Use a broader framework to support client conversations and identify areas that may need attention.

• Educators and Advocates: Introduce financial readiness through community conversations and educational programs.

  The Plan provides a shared framework for thinking through real-life situations before decisions become urgent. How you use it and where you begin is personal.

Why I Created the Financial Readiness Plan and why it’s free

Throughout my career, I’ve seen people face important financial decisions while under pressure and with little time to sort through their options. 

Sometimes it was a question about life insurance. Sometimes a family member needed to step in. Sometimes life had changed, and the important information was scattered across several places.

Those experiences reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time: the best time to ask questions, organize information, and have important conversations is before a decision becomes urgent.

The Financial Readiness Plan grew from that idea. It is the guide I want people to have before life happens.

I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to prepare before life happens. That’s why the Financial Readiness Plan is free.

The mission is supported through books, the Get Ready Library, Get Ready Insiders, speaking, and partnerships with organizations that want to bring financial readiness to the people they serve.