Oliver: Sticking to a good financial plan can take sting out of life’s surprises

Life is full of surprises. As a young person, I didn’t fully appreciate that.

Where money was concerned, I did have a few guiding principles I learned from my parents. The main one was to stay out of debt.

However, doing that requires more than knowing the principle. One needs to live by it.

That became hard to do when I got my first credit card, ostensibly to “build credit.”

In a story as old as time, I found myself building debt along with that credit, mainly because I didn’t fully understand how deep of a hole I was digging for myself. Luckily, I managed to have a modest student loan debt because of a generous university financial aid package, as well as hefty scholarships.

Once I started working, I immediately started retirement planning. I knew that starting early was the way to go with a 401(K). That my newspaper had a matching contribution was a bonus.

Unfortunately, I also enjoyed shopping, and that credit-card debt I started in college just grew.

Happily, along came my dear Tony, who helped me turn things around. When we decided to get married, we developed a plan to pay off all our credit-card debt and start with a clean slate.

Within a few months, we were able to achieve zero credit card debt. It’s something we’ve maintained over the course of our 30 years together.

When it came time to buy a house, we found a little home that fit the two of us, put down a healthy down payment and found a 15-year fixed mortgage that we could afford.

All the while, Tony was putting aside retirement money from not only his primary job, but also from his side job at the fire department. He also found a financial planner to invest it in order to build wealth.

Our first curveball was when Tony left his primary job and went full time at his side job. Going from three incomes to two was an adjustment, but not a huge one.

Then, 11 years ago, I left full-time work and started working part time. This coincided with becoming a caregiver for my mother, and then a year later, for my husband as well. This meant we went from two full-time salaries to one full-time salary and one part-time salary.

What we should have considered, but didn’t even know about, was long-term care insurance. Who would have thought we’d need that?

When Tony was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, he had to leave his job, essentially retiring early.

Now we were working with a disability check and my part-time earnings. These days, Tony gets a Social Security check, and I continue to work part time on top of my caregiving duties.

How happy I am that we had the house paid off before any of the big changes happened. When Tony could no longer drive, we went from two vehicles to one, and that remaining vehicle is paid off. Of course, at some point it will need to be replaced, since these things don’t last forever.

I mention all of this because January is Financial Wellness Month. It’s a good time to take stock of how we’re doing with our money. According to Origin Financial, the idea of financial wellness includes having stability, reducing stress and working toward overall goals.

I’ll be the first to admit that thinking about retirement and financial matters is not my cup of tea. However, I’m so grateful that Tony and I did what we did years ago. Sure, it meant a few sacrifices, but now I don’t have to worry all the time.

I can’t imagine the extra stress I would be under if I was dealing with Tony’s illness along with a huge amount of debt. For that matter, a large mortgage and a car payment would also have made things more difficult.

Still, life continues to be full of surprises, and unexpected car repairs and home repairs can produce some short-term anxiety. However, I know Tony set us up well to deal with it all. And, if I’m honest, I helped with that, too.

Stay out of debt. Build for retirement. Have an emergency fund. Insure the important things (such as health, home and auto). A list of steps to take during Financial Wellness Month can be found here.

The young me might have found all of this a bit boring. However, I couldn’t be more grateful that Tony and I did what we should have done.

Particularly since life probably has a few more surprises for us.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.