October 5, 2021 – It’s been one month now. Today was the hardest day yet. I removed my husband’s name from the stock market accounts and the bank accounts. It was as if I killed him myself. He loved the stock market. He spent his life working to support me and provide for me if he died first. He was a good man. A noble man. A hardworking man. A family man. Everything he did was for his family, or someone else’s family. We had 50 years together and for that I’m grateful. There were several rough years. We both had issues to overcome, but we stuck it out. Now I have to adjust to a life without him. This blog will journal what I do to cope. One of my sons asked me how I manage to handle this. I told him I can either handle it, or I can let it destroy me. There is no in-between. And being destroyed is not an option for me. Therefore, I WILL handle it.
Since today was all about wrapping up, for the most part, the financial side of things, I got to thinking about what to do with the insurance money. It is only a moderate amount, so the first priority is setting aside a year’s worth of income. (If the United States is not turned into a communist country like Venezuela in the next couple of years, and what would suffice for a year now will only cover a day. But for a situation like that, I can only depend on God to provide, so we’ll leave that contingency alone. Except for becoming as self-sufficient as is reasonable, without becoming obsessed.)
The second priority is to increase my savings for medical needs, and car and home repairs. We are debt-free, so that relieves me of a lot of financial anxiety. But what to do with the rest? I was going to add it to the stock market account, but Biden is about to up the tax on capital gains, so I could easily lose half my money to the government. That doesn’t seem like a wise thing to do right now.
Starting a home business is what seems the most attractive to me at the moment. That may change in the near future as my mind calms down and I can think clearly again. Which is why I don’t need to do anything drastic right now. But I can do research.
Before Charles got sick and ended up in the hospital, he was concerned about my future should anything happen to him. I had stumbled across a proofreading course on the internet. Since I correct people’s English (in my head) anyway, I told him I would take this course, then I could have a supplemental income. That relieved his mind, and I am so thankful I could do that! So, now I am about to seriously study grammar and take the course and become a professional proofreader.
Interestingly enough, I got another idea for a home business this last week. I have some trees that need to be cut down and was getting an estimate. The man saw my large Japanese maple in the front yard and got excited about how much it would be worth if I sold it. He said he bought a small one and it cost $45. Well, coincidentally, a few years ago I had bought an ebook about raising and selling trees. One was a Japanese maple. I reread it last night and got excited about the prospect of starting a home nursery since I have a couple of acres of land not being used. This business would take a couple of years to become profitable.
Both of these businesses have potential, don’t need a lot of startup money, and fit my lifestyle. The important thing here is to find something that interests me
and pursue it. I will also think about how I can make money with my hobbies.