This post is sponsored by The Huntington National Bank and The Motherhood. As always, all opinions and content are my own.
Like many of you, I’m in this weird phase of life of taking care of my kids and caring for my aging parents. This time can be the busiest, most hectic of our lives. Add to that the load of caring for so many different people in our lives. It can feel so overwhelming sometimes.
Whether it’s emotionally, physically, or financially, caring for parents while raising little ones can add another level of stress to your life. Here are some of my simple tips for helping your parents with finances.
Huntington Bank Ambassadors
Before I get into the details, I wanted to let you guys know that I am so excited to work with Huntington Bank as a brand ambassador over this year.
If you follow me over on Instagram, you already know that I had the chance to attend the Influencer Summit at the Huntington Bank Headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The day was filled with resources and information that I can’t wait to share with you guys.
Tips for Helping Your Parents with Finances
Find a Bank You Can Trust
In my experience, Huntington Bank is not just a financial institution. Huntington Bank is a company that is fueled by providing services and resources for their customers. My biggest takeaway from learning about Huntington Bank is that they take the extra initiative to do the right thing. From providing competitive products to superior customer experience and contributing to the economic strength of the local communities they serve by investing in business growth and volunteering to make a difference where Huntington colleagues live and work.
Develop a Savings Plan
With tools like the Savings Goal GetterSM, Huntington Bank makes it easy for me to create different buckets/goals for our savings plan. Whether it’s the funds to support my parents, saving for the kids’ college funds, I’m able to get real-time access to where we are with our goals. You can adjust and plan as needed as your savings goals change over time.
Stick to A Budget
The one thing that I always do repeatedly is pull out cash without making note of how or where it’s spent. In my heart, I want to make sure that I’m able to maintain my parents’ lifestyle. But, in my mind, I know that we need to follow our savings goals and stick to a budget. Otherwise, we’ll all end up in deeper financial troubles. And the thought of that is almost debilitating.
Huntington Bank’s Spend Analysis Tool gives me a clear visual of where every single dollar is spent. I’m able to make decisions based on spending patterns and adjust future spending as needed to make sure that all of our finances are in good shape for now and also into the future.
Balancing the wants and needs in caring for aging parents is something that I constantly work at every day. It’s another reason that I love our customer service resources at Huntington Bank. They truly care about helping their customers with their goals, but service us with empathy and treat us with respect and kindness at every turn in life.
Set Firm Boundaries
Financially providing for your parents can be such a gray area. While it can be tough, setting firm boundaries and teaching them the financial tools and lessons they need in this phase of life after retirement is the best for everyone involved.
Create a monthly spending budget, bucket them into things like housing and associated bills, food and groceries, insurance, discretionary spending, etc. and gently teach your parents to live within those boundaries.
Setting this up upfront can help with so much heart ache later if you’re trying to figure it out as you go with no set boundaries of responsibility on either end.
Check your Mental/Emotional Health
My final piece of advice is making sure to check your mental and emotional health. There is a whole world of emotions that comes with caring for aging parents in any capacity. The ups and downs of managing this can be overwhelming and lead to detrimental conversations.
I’ve learned from experience that having hard conversations in advance of problems is always the best way to stay ahead of hurt feelings later.
Also, the number one lesson, is that I can’t take care of anyone if I’m not taking care of myself. While it is SO easy to get lost in the chaos of life, the days that my cup is full are my best days in being a caretaker for both my parents and my children. It’s something that I constantly remind myself and make time to clear my head and heart.
#HNBGoalGetters
I’ll be sharing more over the next few months, as I go deeper into my financial journey. I’d love to find out more about what you guys want and need to read about when it comes to personal or business finances!
If you have any additional questions, shoot me an e-mail or comment below. I’d love to keep you guys informed about different aspects of our financial journey. It’s a topic that I feel strongly about and would love to share more in the coming months.
You can also head to your local Huntington Bank to find out more about their products, services, and the work they do in your community.
Tips for Helping Your Parents with Finances
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