Happy Friday.
Thanks for being part of The Get Ready Money Club.
Here’s what to expect in this newsletter:
✅ Week #49 Action Item: Search for Unclaimed Property.
🗓️ Financial Calendar Reminders: Important dates and deadlines.
🥳 Give-Away: Smart Money Bundle
💭 The Get Ready Money Podcast with Charlene Cong: Why Simplicity Wins With Money
💭 The Get Ready Money Podcast with Karen Holland: The Power of Thinking before buying
🎉 Featured: Are Your Clients’ Life Insurance Policies Serving Them Well? Is Your Policy Serving You Well?
🤩 Tony Steuer Recommends
Ready to hop into this week’s Get Ready Update? Let’s go!
✅ Week 49 Action Item: Search for unclaimed property.
🌎 The big picture: There are many free and easy ways to search to see if you have unclaimed money.
🤔 Why it matters: States are currently holding approximately $42 billion in unclaimed property from abandoned bank accounts, safe deposit box contents, stocks, uncashed dividend or payroll checks, bonds, mutual funds, and utility security deposits, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA).
💡 Here’s what works: There are many free and easy ways to search to see if you have unclaimed money.
- NAUPA’s website has more information and links to your state’s unclaimed property website. Visit www.unclaimed.org.
- NAUPA and participating states and provinces have officially endorsed Missing Money (www.missingmoney.com).
- On their site, you can search all participating states to find your family’s missing, lost, and unclaimed property, money, and assets.
- Searches and claims are always free on both sites.
- If you find unclaimed property, you’ll need to file a claim.
- Each source will have its own procedure, so be sure to read the instructions carefully.
😎 Bottom line: With $42 billion in unclaimed property, there’s a good chance that you’ll find some missing money.
💭 Habit of the week: Yearly review of any unclaimed money.
🤔 Question(s) of the week: Have you had success with searching for unclaimed property? What worked for you?
💁♂️ Advisor/Coach Corner: Remind your clients to search for unclaimed property. Share the unclaimed property checklist with them (download from your dashboard).
📝 Resources: Get Ready Library and Toolkit members can access your resources for this week's action item (#49) from your dashboard (located in Monthly Focus Area 12: Wrap Up Loose Ends):
- The Get Ready Blueprint Week 49 where you’ll review tips for your unclaimed property search.
Get Ready Money Club Members:
- Unclaimed Property Search Checklist where you can review the different sources and enter notes on your searches.
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 (The Get Ready Bookshelf).
- The Get Ready Bookshelf: The Get Ready Blueprint, Get Ready!, Questions and Answers on Life Insurance, The Questions on Answers Life Insurance Workbook, The Questions and Answers on Disability Insurance Workbook, Insurance Made Easy and The Questions and Answers on Insurance Planner (pdf editions)
- The Get Ready Toolkit: 150+ worksheets to complete each week’s action items step by step, add your weekly goals, use the positive habit maker, create your weekly money to-do’s and organize your financial life (fillable PDF worksheets from The Get Ready Blueprint (52 worksheets) and fillable PDF’s & Excel from Get Ready! (100+ worksheets)).
Become a Get Ready Library Member
Source: The Get Ready weekly action item is from The Get Ready Blueprint: A 52 Week Guide to Changing The Way You Think About Money). Pick up your copy at your favorite online bookshop (Amazon)(bookshop.org).
🗓️ Financial Calendar Reminders: Important dates and deadlines.
- December 15: Individual health care coverage open enrollment ends for the Federal Health Care Insurance Exchange. States that maintain their own health care exchange will usually have longer open enrollment periods. Learn more and find links to your state’s health care exchange at www.healthcare.gov.
🥳 Give-Away: Smart Money Bundle
If you’ve ever wished managing money could feel easier, this is for YOU. The Smart Money Bundle is LIVE! I’ve teamed up with 20+ experts to bring you free tools for: Budgeting, Meal planning, Travel, Money mindset and so much more! My contribution, Get Ready! A Step-By-Step Planner for Maintaining Your Financial First Aid Kit is included, and you can grab it (and so many other resources) for $0 until December 7th. Don’t wait—these gifts disappear soon! Claim yours now. Thanks to Prisca J. Benson, RN for hosting this give-away. Check it out (here).
💭 The Get Ready Money Podcast with Charlene Cong: Why Simplicity Wins With Money
💡 Why you need to keep it simple with your money.
🙌 On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Charlene Cong, CFA, investment coach and founder of FinFit about changing the way we think about money and democratizing financial literacy.
In this episode we discussed:
🔹 Simplicity wins with money.
🔹 Why a long term mindset and consistency are critical for success.
🔹 Investing is for everyone, not just for the rich.
🔹 What is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)?
🔹 The relationship between fitness and finances.
🔹 Start investing as early as possible - invest for your kids (it’s the power of compound interest).
🎙️Watch or listen to the podcast (here).
The Get Ready Money Podcast is also available on YouTube and your favorite podcast app.
💭 The Get Ready Money Podcast with Karen Holland: The Power of Thinking before buying
💡 Do you think before you buy?
🙌 On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Karen Holland, Founder of Gifting Sense about teaching our kids to think before they buy.
🧐 In this episode we discussed:
🔹 How the DIMS (does it make sense) score helps kids (and adults) make well informed decisions before spending money.
🔹 Basic financial literacy is a human right.
🔹 Our money personality is relatively stable and established by adolescence.
🔹 Thinking before buying is a simple habit.
🔹 Slow down with your money: FOMO (fear of missing out leads to spending with speed, which can lead to regret.
🔹 Think about the total cost - lay bare the facts of a purchase.
🎙️Watch or listen to the podcast (here).
🎉 Featured:
💡 A Deeper Dive on Life Insurance
🤨 I joined Elliott Appel and Matthew Fizzel on the Me & Money podcast to talk about the nuance of Life Insurance, when it makes sense, and when it doesn’t.
We also covered:
🔹Understanding Permanent Life Insurance.
🔹 Different types of Permanent Life Insurance.
🔹 The Pitfalls of Permanent Life Insurance.
🔹 Importance of regular/frequent policy review.
🔹 What an "In-Force Illustration" is?
🔹 What to do with an underperforming policy?
😎 Check out the podcast on YouTube (here).
🤩 Tony Steuer Recommends
Here’s how to create a money learning experience for your kids this holiday season.
From Red Envelopes to Real Wealth: Managing Our Kids' Money by Prudence Zhu. Now that we're parents, we wanted something better for our kids' money. Instead of the traditional “I’ll hold onto it for you,” we wanted to create a system where their money could grow, be invested properly, and most importantly, teach them about the value of wealth-building. Enter UTMA (Uniform Transfers to Minors Act) and UGMA (Uniform Gifts to Minors Act) accounts, the game-changer for how we manage our children's financial future. Read it on (LInkedIn).
Advice for the sandwich generation.
Managing finances for the Sandwich Generation by Kim Porter for Salon.com. Adults who support their children and their aging parents are often financially burnt out. Cameron Huddleston shared her advice on how to protect your finances if you find yourself in the position of caring for both aging parents and young children. Read it (here).
Looking for some fresh perspective on your family’s money-smart journey?
Money Is a By-Product of Great Work with Kevin Kelly and John Lanza on The Art of Allowance Podcast. Money’s losing importance as a meaningful metric. What Kevin has learned about money from being around billionaires. How much money do you need to realize your dreams? How can looking into the past help kids save for the future? Check it out (here).
Why you should be like Warren Buffett and talk to your adult kids about money.
Warren Buffett Talks to His Kids About His Will. You Should Too by Anne Tergesen and Dalvin Brown for the Wall Street Journal. The billionaire investor has a simple estate-planning suggestion for parents. It’s one that lots of us would rather ignore. When your children are mature, have them read your will before you sign it. Be sure each child understands both the logic for your decisions and the responsibilities they will encounter upon your death. You don’t want your children asking ‘Why?’ in respect to testamentary decisions when you are no longer able to respond. Read the article (here).
Giving with impact.
Are You Donating Right? How to Give Effectively and Make an Impact with Grace Nicolette and Shannah Game on the Everyone’s Talkin’ Money Podcast. Grace shares her expert insights on how to maximize your giving impact, whether you’re donating during the holiday season or planning for long-term philanthropy. Listen on (Apple Podcasts).
Stay safe with your money.
Are you prepared to take on cyber scams?
Tips on how to enjoy shopping while avoiding cyber scams with Bobbi Rebell and Hena Doba on NewsNation. Online shopping is great, but don’t let your guard down. Pro tip: watch out for text messages asking your for information- including things that sound basic like whether you will be home. Check it out on (LinkedIn)
Understand your protection for different payment methods
What to know about paying for holiday shopping from Fraud.org. it’s important to understand the different benefits and risks associated with popular payment methods. From traditional mediums like credit cards to more novel services like buy now, pay later, and cryptocurrency, here’s what shoppers should know about these payment types. Read the article (here).
The more you know, the better you'll be able to take control of your money. Great free resources to prepare for 2025:
8 Free Investment Classes and Resources for Adults and Teens by Marguerita Cheng, CFP® for U.S. News and World Report. Just like stocks, investing in knowledge yields compound interest. In fact, according to Benjamin Franklin, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Whether you are just learning about personal finance management and investing or seeking to sharpen your knowledge, you will find these resources useful. Read the article (here).
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Let’s Change The Way We Think About Money!
Tony
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