We started simplifying a few years ago. When my husband’s parents began to get to the point where they couldn’t manage their finances anymore, we took over. This was a couple that had joint accounts for over 50 years, he had a single employer for over 33 years before retiring. They were Depression babies who always lived like the next Depression was right around the corner. Their debts were few, but their finances were a mess. Multiple tiny accounts and too much money in non-interest accounts. Lots of dinky stock holdings they didn’t even know they had. We had to research stocks they bought in the forties that had changed names & split multiple times. We even found a safe deposit box they had forgotten about that had several pieces of jewelry and some important papers. We found insurance policies they didn’t know they had. As simple as their lives were, the sheer impact of time had made things complicated.

We never want our kids to go through this, so we’ve been in simplification mode for awhile. Start now and you’ll never regret it.