Understanding Investing & Mortgage Insurance #SHGenworth

Disclosure: Information for this post is sourced from Genworth Financial but feature my own thoughts and opinions.

So my younger sister, who I suppose is not so young anymore as she is 22 years old, has just moved into her own place with her boyfriend.  Beleive me when I say it is hard to keep my mouth shut about mistakes she may be making, but I am.  I want to tell her how she shouldn’t be wasting her money going out all the time, how she should make sure her boyfriend is paying his share, how crazy it is to be a name brand fanatic and how she really needs to think about her future in a financial sense.  I keep my mouth quiet though because I know it will go in one ear and out the other and I am in no position to tell her how to live her life.

I can though give her tips and suggestions, which I try to do in an inconspicuous manner.  According to an article from Time Magazine entitled “Women and Money: Why You Need to Take Control Now“, there is such a thing as “the female financial paradox.”  Basically that means that women will use coupons and save money where they can, but they aren’t interested in the big picture financial planning.  I can attest that at 31 years old, I honestly am now just thinking about my financial future!  Thankfully my husband is on top of it, but I feel so helpless with our future financial plan.

Just the other day I called my husband and asked him about our plan as I noticed what his 401(k) was at and after some calculations I realize we won’t have a lot to live on after he retires, since he plans on retiring early.  I mean we will definitely be able to get by but we both have plans on traveling.  So that is how I put things to my sister.  I tell her how she needs to plan for herself so she can travel and not work until she dies.  I explain how my husband and I lost years of contrinuting to a 401(k) and investments because we weren’t ready or thinking about it.  I wish someone had said to me back in highschool how I should start saving!

I know soon my sister is going to be buying her first house and since that is an investment in itself I figure I should help her where I can.  After three houses I feel like I know everything but I still want her to be able to reference her own articles and different topics.  Mortgage Insurance is something we are all too familiar with and while I know what it is its still hard to explain.  Luckily Genworth Financial has a great website resource entitled “Why Mortgage Insurance is Safer and Smarter.”

I want her to realize how big of an investment a house is and how to safely buy one and I like how Genworth explains everything.  I think I will casually email her the link to it and hope she reads it and is interested in it.  I want her to understand money and investing and not just rely on someone else to do it for her!