Summer is a season for adventure, relaxation, and making memories with family and friends. But, before you begin your summer fun, it's essential to make sure your financial house is in order. A little preparation now can go a long way in helping you truly unwind while minimizing stress when you return. Here’s a practical financial checklist to help ensure your summer is carefree and well-planned.
✅ Allocate Funds for Summer Fun and Travel
Whether you’re planning a beach getaway, attending summer camps, or simply enjoying local experiences, start by setting aside money specifically for summer activities. Review your monthly budget and designate a summer fund to cover travel, entertainment, and spontaneous outings. Having a clear budget prevents overspending and keeps your longer-term financial goals intact.
✅ Confirm All Insurance Is Paid and Up to Date
Before hitting the road or the skies, double-check that your auto, home, health, and travel insurance policies are active and premiums are current. Unexpected events can happen, and being fully covered adds peace of mind. Consider reviewing your policy coverages and deductibles with your insurance professional. It is better to make adjustments to your coverage before it is too late.
Key Person Life Insurance is a policy a business purchases on the life of a critical employee—often a founder, executive, or top performer—whose loss would have a significant financial impact.
The business is the policy owner, beneficiary, and pays the premiums.
If the key person dies, the death benefit can help cover revenue loss, recruitment costs, or debt obligations, helping stabilize the company during transition.
A durable power of attorney for healthcare (DPA-HC) and an advance medical directive (also called an advance directive) both deal with medical decisions, but they differ in how they do so. A DPS-HC appoints a specific person (your health care agent) to make medical decisions on your behalf if you can't make them yourself, while an advance directive provides written instructions about your medical care in specific circumstances.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare (DPA-HC):
Names a health care agent who can make medical decisions on your behalf.
This agent can make decisions about treatments, surgeries, and end-of-life care, based on your known wishes and values.
The agent is obligated to act in your best interest and according to your previously expressed preferences.
The DPA-HC is typically triggered when you become incapacitated and unable to communicate or make decisions for yourself.
Advance Medical Directive (or Advance Directive):
Provides written instructions about your healthcare preferences, especially concerning life-sustaining treatments.
These instructions may include choices about CPR, artificial nutrition, and other medical interventions.
Advance directives are often used in conjunction with a DPA-HC, as they can provide guidance for the health care agent.
Advance directives can include a living will, which outlines your preferences for specific medical treatments.
In essence:
The DPA-HC focuses on appointing a decision-maker, while the advance directive focuses on providing specific instructions for medical care.
Both are important tools for ensuring your wishes are respected when you are unable to make decisions yourself.
Today’s workers are implored to contribute to their 401(k)s – and for good reason. The practice is rooted in a simple concept. Workers deduct, contribute, and invest a portion of each paycheck automatically. The 401(k) portfolio ideally grows over time with minimal thought or oversight until retirement.
But what happens when a crisis interrupts this rosy picture? The last several years have seen soaring costs, fluctuating markets, and increased uncertainty. It should be no surprise that workers are tweaking their 401(k) investments and tapping their retirement savings more than usual.
The definition of a crisis varies from person to person — it might be a sharp 6% market drop in a single day, like we saw in early April, a medical emergency, or even a job loss. Regardless of the situation, a clear decision-making framework can help you navigate the unexpected. It's also essential to understand how your retirement plan fits into this picture.
A recent survey found that 4.8% of Americans took early retirement withdrawals in 2024. Moreover, the first quarter of 2025 witnessed the highest level of 401(k) trading activity since the early pandemic. Both statistics are symptomatic of a financially insecure workforce.
These developments also suggest a potential education gap. Workplace seminars tell employees to stay the course with little context. Such sessions might even allude to special exceptions that allow employees to access their 401(k) money before retirement. Business owners and their employees often walk away from these educational sessions with an incomplete understanding of how their plans actually work.
Following is a framework for managing your 401(k) plan through good times and bad.
