Tony’s Take: 10 Things Changing the Way We Think About Money

Thanks for being part of The Get Ready Movement—changing how we think (and talk) about money.

Each week, I spotlight what’s shaping the future of financial fluency—from trends and tools to the people transforming how we apply, communicate, and make intentional choices with money.

1. One Thing to Share This Week: Weekly Action Prompt

📌 Action: Week 31: Review beneficiaries. 

💭 Tony’s Take: By reviewing and designating beneficiaries, you can ensure that when the time comes your assets will go exactly where you specify.

2. Strategy of the week:

💡By reviewing and designating beneficiaries annually or when you have a major life event, you can ensure that, when the time comes, your assets will go exactly where you specify. If you don’t name a beneficiary, your assets may be distributed through the terms of your will, pass through probate, and be distributed based on intestacy law.

📉  You can designate beneficiaries on investment accounts, retirement plans, bank accounts, life insurance policies, wills, trusts, and more.

Name a contingent beneficiary in the event that your primary beneficiary predeceases you..

💭 Tony’s Take: Beneficiary designations take priority over wills and trusts, so if, for example, an ex-spouse is still your named beneficiary, they will receive the proceeds.

3. Big Question to Ask

❓What positives came out of your review of your designated beneficiaries and estate plan?

💭 Tony’s Take: Consider naming a nonprofit organization that you support as a beneficiary.

4. Protecting Our Parents: Rethinking Elder Fraud Prevention

🔹 What elder fraud really looks like
🔹 How to recognize a scammer's tactics
🔹 Simple ways to start protective conversations with loved ones
🔹 The power of pausing to verify before acting

Most elder fraud doesn’t come from strangers—it comes from people we know. 80–90% of elder fraud is committed by a family member or trusted individual.

💭 Tony’s Take: We can better protect our aging parents and ourselves by being proactive and alert.

🎙️ Walt Laskos and Tony Steuer on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out (here)

5. Breaking Money Myths

Practical steps women can take to build financial confidence, regardless of background or circumstances. Overcoming barriers and shame that often hold women back from financial engagement

💭 Tony’s Take: We can all be empowered with our money by understanding ourselves, overcoming money shame and developing a positive money mindset. 

🎙️Melena Carbary, Meghan Dwyer and Misty Lynch on the Demystifying Money Podcast. Listen on (Apple Podcasts). 

6. Why AI Can’t Replace Human Connection

There’s more to communication than just words.

🔹 55% of what we communicate is through body language
🔹 38% is how we say things—our tone, volume, and pacing

🔹 Only 7% is the actual words we use

💭 Tony’s Take: Success in the age of AI will be based upon our ability to empathize, listen, be present and connect with our clients.

📖 Derek Hagen for Meaningful Money. Read (here). 

7.  The Risks That Financial Professionals Are Not Pricing Into Client Portfolios

There’s one risk that remains largely unaddressed, despite its power to quietly derail even the most carefully constructed portfolio: the declining health of the client. This introduces a layer of volatility that is rarely fully captured in financial plans. 

💭 Tony’s Take: As we age, our cognitive skills decline which has  an impact on our decision making. It’s important for family members and advisors to be alert to signals with regular conversations.

📖 Chris Heye on LinkedIn (Part1)(Part 2)

8. Top 3 Essential Financial Planning Topics for Pre-Retirees: A Heartfelt Guide

Retirement is more than a financial decision—it’s deeply personal, sometimes scary, and definitely exciting. 

💭 Tony’s Take: We each have our own definition of financial independence. Start with your “why” and build your retirement plan around what a meaningful life looks like to you.

📖 By Prudence Zhu. Read on (LinkedIn)

9. The Future of Financial Planning: From Numbers to Mindsets

At the center of the industry’s evolution is financial psychology—a growing discipline that explores how individuals emotionally connect with money and how those connections influence their behaviors. 

💭 Tony’s Take: Mindsets matter more than math. beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets surrounding money play a crucial role in determining financial success or setbacks.

📖 By Ellen Rogin for eMoney Heart of Advice Blog. Read (here).

10. Designated but in the Dark 

Access to information and transparency are essential when settling an estate, however banks can make accessing essential information challenging. 

Designations matter—and they apply to different timeframes. Power of attorney ends at death; beneficiary status begins after death. 

💭 Tony’s Take: Take the time to properly set up your legacy planning, document your account information and communicate with your executor and family members. 

📖 By Julie Rains for Save.Invest.Protect.Preserve. Read (here).

🚀 Bonus: 5 Quick Hits:

🔹 Developing A Proactive Aging Plan and Scaling A Practice with Annalee Kruger and Andre Wright on Your Company Health Podcast. Watch on (YouTube).

🔹 What Happens to Your Finances if You Get Detained or Deported? By Sarah Brady. Read (here).

🔹 What the New Tax Laws Mean for Your Retirement Plan by Christine Benz for Morningstar. Read (here)

🔹 Visualized: The Biggest Ponzi Schemes in Modern History by Marcus Lu. Check it out (here)

🔹 Health Provisions in the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Bill from KFF. Check it out (here).

💼 Member Resources This Week

Access resources for this week’s action item (#31) from your dashboard (located in Monthly Focus Area 8: Your Legacy):

• The Get Ready Blueprint week 31 worksheet where you’ll walk through reviewing your beneficiaries for your wills, trusts, bank accounts, life insurance and retirement plans.
• Review fillable PDF’s and excel worksheets for these plans  from prior weeks: 
• Bank accounts (monthly focus area 5, week 18)
• Life insurance (monthly focus area 8, week 34)
• Wills & Trusts worksheets (monthly focus area 8, week 32)
• Retirement plans (monthly focus area 9, week 36)
• Chat with Tony AI about this week’s action item (includes all of my content: books, articles, podcasts and more). 

 Access Your Get Ready Resources here

Note: Available to all members of The Get Ready Movement.

Support The Get Ready Movement here.  

 Support the Get Ready Movement

📝 Final Thought

Your beneficiary designations and not your will dictate what will happen to your life insurance, retirement plans, and other assets that have beneficiary designations.

Thanks for being part of the Get Ready movement.

If something resonated with you, please share. 

Let’s keep changing the way we think - and talk- about money.

– Tony

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