Who gets my Nikes?
Renee Diaz
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As small business owners, we are typically preoccupied with day-to-day operations, staffing, financial decisions, and everything else coming along with our livelihood. Quite often, what is left on the back burner is our own financial and estate future. Most days are survival of the fittest, and once we get home, we are often too exhausted to make decisions about our future. Those sparks of motivation can be few and far between, especially when just starting out.
When The Queen’s Cups began, I had an accountant who told me I needed to have a will & testament, a healthcare proxy, and establish a power of attorney, as a business owner. You can imagine what went through my head at the age of 23. Why would I, someone seemingly worth nothing with no money or assets, need someone to delegate what happens with the money I didn’t have? At 23, I assumed your will & testament was filled with who would be left with your prized possessions. Who would I leave my Nike collection to? Who would inherit the things I didn’t need to buy but still bought? Yet, I found out quickly these documents are not that superficial. They are important in terms of making business and healthcare decisions, financial decisions, and speaking on my behalf if I cannot do so myself.
When I got married in 2018, it was important my husband was included in my wishes and we established these documents for him as well. I was adamant we did this as soon as we were legally married. We knew eventually we wanted to start a family, and having these conversations and documents in place reassured me everything would be okay. When we found out we were pregnant earlier this year, we had discussions on how we could further protect ourselves and our growing family. We had close friends who established a revocable trust for their family, and it sparked our interest to do the same. We reached out to our attorney, Heather Trudell of Keenan and Trudell in Millbury, who has assisted us in this process. We established a revocable living trust, which will have our legal documents under it, and most importantly will protect our child for her future. I never want my child, or future children, to worry about our finances or certain decisions when we pass on. I do not want to burden my husband with my business if something happens to me. Most importantly, I wanted to make sure I set up legal guardianships for my family if both my husband and I passed unexpectedly.
I wanted to explore different ways to save more money for our family and create accounts for my daughter’s future. Financial freedom is important to me. I never want my children to worry about the financial health of their parents or rely on someone else for money. My husband and I discussed different financial plans for schooling and savings. Her father, someone who was a great student and brilliant in his own right, enjoyed school. Her mother, someone who was an average student and more of an entrepreneur, looked at school as more of a social event. Who will my daughter be? There is no way to tell yet, but I want to make sure we save money in ways to benefit her future no matter who she chooses to be. I want to have the option of sending her to private school if she chooses, or start a business like her mom. To do these things, my husband and I had to look at our own finances. We had to look at how much it was costing us to live the way we currently live and make sacrifices to live the life we want. Consulting with professionals, we realized we had to tackle debt, look at purchases we were making to determine if they were dire, and start cooking more at home. We needed to look at our retirement accounts and life insurances. We spent countless hours doing so to plan for our future. It was not the most fun thing, but it brought us closer.
If I can give any advice to small business owners, or anyone in general, it would be to look at your life and put things in place to reassure your future. Make time to consult with friends or colleagues who have done these things. Look into different options of life insurances and bank accounts for yourself and family. Think about who you want to make decisions for you. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Life can change in an instant.
Renee Diaz is the owner of Worcester bakery The Queen's Cups.
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