In the theme on shelter and transportation, we discussed in greater depths the need for homeowners or renters insurance as well as auto insurance. In many cases these policies are required from management or lending institutions in order to cover the asset that you either own or rent. However, I want to bring these up briefly in this theme as it’s especially important for your legacy that you have the right amount of insurance for what is typically your greatest expenses.

A question that seems to be a continually growing concern for people is protecting their pets. In recent years pets have become more and more a part of the family as people have swooned over gourmet pet food, premium toys and in some cases even outfits. Now this is not a mockery of a seemingly newfound love of pets.

In the theme on care we briefly covered life insurance. I stress the importance of life insurance for those who are not self-insured because it is usually an inexpensive cost (in the big picture) that can provide you and your loved ones with a great deal of peace of mind. Now there is still a use for life insurance if you are self-insured, but the justification for it significantly decreases.

There are many aspects to your legacy whether it be the strength of your faith and relationships, how you gave back, what you gained an expertise in, how you contributed to society, as well as the monetary legacy you leave behind. So although we are focusing on what’s seemingly material belongings, there is so much more to your legacy than that.

The purpose of going through a theme on care is to ensure that you are making time to take care of the aspects that matter most to you in life. This then prepares you to then be energized and available to support others, pursue your goals, and ultimately accomplish the vision for your life. I stress the need for you to go through this process so that you are able to really prioritize what matters most to you, remove what doesn’t, which in turn produces margin.

I often hear people say something along the lines of ‘take care’ as a form of communicating ‘see you later’. I think it’s a gesture that should be taken more to heart as we need to watch out not only for the physical health we have but also for emotional and mental health. Before jumping into a rhythm, you may consider finding out where you are starting from. Taking a visit to your primary care provider to check your overall health, any areas of concern and get a state of the union of sorts in order to compare your progress to, may be a great way to watch your progress.

Someone once told me that you can’t live life like an electrical panel on your house, you can’t always be plugged in or it will short-circuit. You have to learn to trip the breaker, take a step away and care for yourself. Caring for yourself includes taking time away to really reflect on what it is that you want, so that you can step back in and make the proper adjustments for where you spend your time, talent, and resources.

Part of figuring out how to care best for yourself comes down to you actually enjoying life on your own terms. Now this doesn’t mean that you are flippant, but that you are intentional about cultivating the life that you want to lead. We too often let others define what should be important to us and this causes us to constantly look at others for validation.

It’s so important to make a priority of not only what is healthy for you, prioritizing what matters most to you, and ensuring it all fits within your means, but also realizing that by building in an appropriate amount into your budget or Plan to Spend, you are not only caring for your health and finances, but you are also building margin by way of not needlessly spending on food delivery or convenience items that could be busting your budget.

This process is the process of building margin into your life and finances. These are intertwined so closely, but when you prioritize what matters most to you, you realize how much other fluff you have, how much unnecessary aspects of your lifestyle, and you will realize how much it matters to apply the Pareto Principle in taking those seemingly small things you do every day that make all the difference and focus.