Welcome to the Get Ready Money Club newsletter; a weekly newsletter with recommendations to help you succeed on your financial journey including one simple action item.
This newsletter is 1,642 words, a 6 1/2 minute read.
✅ Week 6 Action Item: Declutter Your Documents.
🌎 The big picture: While it’s important to cut down on the
clutter, you need to know what’s essential and what you can get rid of.
🤔 Why it matters: Knowing what documents to keep will guide you in making sure that you have the documents that you need, as well as knowing what documents you can safely get rid of.
💡 Here’s what works: Review the purge dates for your document types and their decluttering status.
- If there is no purge date, you’ll probably want to keep that document forever or use your best judgment on how long to keep it.
- All purged documents should be shredded to help prevent identity theft.
- Please note that these are just recommendations and are not legal or tax advice. You may wish to seek expert advice if you have concerns about purging a document.
😎 Bottom line: Knowing what documents to keep and what you can purge will help you make sure you have the right
documents when needed.
💭 Habit of the week: Assemble the pieces: clean up old documents that you no longer need.
🤔 Question(s) of the week: What are some challenges with decluttering your documents?
💁♂️ Advisor/Coach Corner: Review with your clients what documents they can purge and when they can do so.
📝 Resources:
Get Ready Money Club Members:
- The Get Ready Discussion Guide. Discuss what documents to purge, your plan to do so and any challenges.
Get Ready Library and Toolkit members can access your resources for this week's action item (#6) from your Get Ready Library dashboard (located in Monthly Focus Area 2: Be Prepared):
- The Get Ready Blueprint Week 6 (fillable PDF) where you’ll review your documents, how long to keep them and decluttering status.
- Personal Papers and Documents Worksheet (week 5) - you can use this as a guide to organizing specific documents and see how long you should retain them.
Access Your Get Ready Resources here
The Get Ready Library expands on each week’s action item and provides worksheets to help you complete each week’s action item, create a to-do list, track your habits and organize your financial life. It also includes access to all of my books.
Get Access To The Get Ready Library
🎉 Book Review: The Get Ready Blueprint
🙌 Adds value by providing a plan.
😎 I’ve read many finance books that offer broad, theoretical advice, but The Get Ready Blueprint truly stands out with its practical, actionable roadmap. Instead of vague suggestions, it lays out essential financial steps in a structured, manageable plan with a clear timeline. This book offers a straightforward path to personal improvement, making financial goals feel attainable.
Even if you’re already in a solid financial position, the book’s scheduled actions provide a framework to strengthen and advance your progress further.
📚 Pick up your copy at your favorite online bookshop (Amazon)(bookshop.org).
🗓️ Financial Calendar Reminders:
- Watch for corrected tax forms.
- Certain mutual funds could restate their distribution information after your initial Form 1099 is mailed to you at the end of January. Though not common, when such fixes are necessary, a corrected 1099 is usually mailed sometime in February.
💡 Transform Your Money Story!
🙌 On this episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Katherine Pomerantz, Founder of The Bookkeeping Artist and Creator of the Money Storyteller Method™ about changing the way we think about money and writing your future money story.
🔹 The importance of understanding your money story.
🔹 Why you should reflect on your money decisions.
🔹 Money is abundant,
🔹 Anyone can be financially successful.
🔹 Think about money as a resource (as a tool).
🔹 Compound interest is magic.
🎙️Watch or listen to the podcast (here).
The Get Ready Money Podcast is also available on YouTube and your favorite podcast app.
🎉 Featured:
💡 6 Options When Life Insurance Policies Aren’t Working
🤨 In this article for ReThinking65, Maxwell Schmitz and I take a look at what your clients with life insurance policies need to know, along with a case study that illustrates more appropriate choices.
🔹 Your clients who hold life insurance policies may not realize they have a number of options when they review those policies.
🔹 They are not necessarily married to policies they chose at a particular time in their life.
🔹 It’s possible that policy was never appropriate for them or their circumstances may have changed, rendering the policy out-of-synch with their current needs.
🔹 The policy may also not be performing as expected, as discussed in this companion article.
🔹 As their financial advisor, you can let them know that their choices may be.
😎 Check out the article for a closer look at the options on ReThinking 65 (here).
📖 Talking Tariffs by Robin Taub for A Word from the Wise. An emergency primer! So if you’re wondering what they are and how they work, and if your kids are hearing about tariffs and trade wars and asking questions, here’s what you need to know. Read the article (here).
📖 20 Issues to Watch in 2025 by Kimberly George and Mark Walls for InsuranceThoughtLeadership. While many more than 20 key issues matter for risk managers, climate change, mental health, and aging infrastructure are among those that stand out. These are essential issues for every risk manager, HR manager, and insurance professional to monitor in 2025. Read the article (here).
🎙️ Transform Your Money Story! Featuring Katherine Pomerantz and Tony Steuer on The Get Ready Money Podcast. The importance of understanding your money story. Why you should reflect on your money decisions. Money is abundant. Anyone can be financially successful.
Think about money as a resource (as a tool). Compound interest is magic. Watch or listen to the podcast (here).
📖 12 Key Things to Consider Before Caregiving for a Parent by Bruce Horovitz for AARP. It’s a big undertaking. Make sure you understand all that is involved. Some of the considerations are emotional. Some are physical. Some are financial. And some don’t neatly fit any definition. But giving careful thought to them first can mean the difference between a successful caregiving experience for all parties and a caregiving implosion. Read the (article).
📖 Telling Our Kids Everything About Our Finances by Cameron Huddleston. We shared lots of details with our two adult daughters so they would be prepared for worst-case scenarios. By having a family money talk with our daughters, my husband and I were saying, “We love you, and we trust you.” Read the (article).
🎙️ The Business of Aging: How AI Is Reshaping Long-Term Care Economics with Lily Vittayarukskul and Karen Webster for Pymnts.. Shifting From Reactive to Proactive Planning Can Transform LTC Industry. Check out the conversation (here).
🎙️ Don’t Assume You Know What Your Clients Want with Adam Holt and Kelly Waltrich on the Don’t Do That Podcast. The significance of understanding clients’ actual needs rather than the assumed ones. How to disrupt conventional advisor practices with a fresh, inquisitive approach. Evolving financial services to meet next-gen client expectations. Essential questions advisors should ask to ensure they deliver true value Listen to it (here).
🎙️ Transform Your Client Conversations Through Motivational Interviewing with Derek Hagen and Ashley Quamme on the Planning and Beyond Podcast. How to resist the "righting reflex" and create space for authentic client discovery. The four key components of motivational interviewing (Spirit, Stages, Skills, and Speech). Strategic ways to offer advice that empowers rather than directs. Listen on (Apple Podcasts)
🎙️ When others control your financial future (and how to stop them) with Christine Luken and Ina Coveney on the Super Humans Podcast. Christine shares her journey from financial rock bottom to helping high-earners eliminate debt, grow their wealth, and transform their relationship with money. Check it out (here).
📖 What’s Scarier: Watching Your Kid Fail at a Lemonade Stand or Watching Them Struggle with Money at 30? By Gayle Reaume. Here’s a wild thought: that lemonade stand your kid is begging to set up might be more valuable than their honor roll certificate. Read the article (here).
📚 Beyond The Broker: Navigating Financial Advisory Independence by Cameo Roberson. Beyond the Broker serves as the ultimate guide for advisors considering a transition to independence, offering expert insights and real-world advice from industry leaders who’ve successfully made the leap. Check it out on (Amazon).
🎤 Scholarships, Grants, and Financial Aid: How to Get Your Kids to College for FREE with Melissa Rowe and Bernadette Joy. We uncover some of the weirdest (but totally real) scholarships that could help pay for your kid's college education. Why expensive schools might actually be more affordable. The importance of community service for scholarship applications. How to heal money wounds when college plans don't work out. Watch on (YouTube).
🎤 Counseling Your Clients To Avoid Fraud for Themselves and Their Parents, with Todd Rovak & John O'Connell. How advisors can protect clients and their parents. How advisors can educate their clients on new scams and tactics in fraud. Techniques and solutions to protect their clients from fraud. What to do if a client is the victim of fraud. Learn more (here).
Thank you for being part of the Get Ready Money Club. Please hit reply to share your thoughts.
Let’s Change The Way We Think About Money!
Tony
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