Category: Lifestyle

Despite a seemingly fancy title, estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy. In all actuality, the term ‘estate” might not even mean what you think it does. At the end of the day, deciding who’ll inherit your belongings is a massive decision and a critical part of the actual planning. Intelligent estate planning will assist with protecting families that have young children while also keeping your heirs from needing to pay too much on inheritance taxes. The fact of the matter is that without it, you don’t get to choose who gets what. Let’s take a closer look.

Protect Your Beneficiaries

One way to ease your mind about passing on might be to make sure your beneficiaries are protected. Life insurance is one way to do this, and the insurance premium you’ll have to pay doesn’t need to be too expensive, which makes this an ideal solution. When the inevitable happens, the insurance will provide your beneficiaries with funds to cover your final expenses and to give them a bit of a cushion – especially if you happened to be the primary earner.  

Young Children

Naturally, nobody wants to consider the possibility of dying at an early age, especially people who have young children. But it happens. If you pass away early in your life, what happens to your kids? You have to secure your child’s future. This means you need to be prepared for anything.

To do this, you need to have a will, which is an element of estate planning. In the will, you’ll designate who’ll take care of any children under the age of 18 and what they’ll inherit when they reach legal adulthood. Without this document, the courts decide these critical matters.

State’s Will

Whether you know it or not, the state you live in already has a default will for those who don’t have one themselves. This is referred to as an intestacy statute. The thing is, this will rarely distribute your assets in a way that you’d desire. Having a valid will ensures this never happens. 

Conservators

Not only is it possible to name a guardian for your children, but you also need to think about naming a guardian for your estate. This is called a conservator. This person is responsible for managing any assets that you’ve designated for your children to inherit. They’ll ensure that your wishes are followed and can even allow your designated beneficiary to bypass the process of probate, which can be rather pricey.

Avoid Family Drama

Surely, you’ve heard of (or seen on TV) families fighting over who gets what after someone dies. It happens quite often, actually, and surely you don’t want this for your family members if something happens to you. As part of your estate planning, you choose a person to be in charge of things once you die, or even if you become incapacitated mentally before you pass away. You’ll also choose who you want to get your belongings to — and when. This can help keep family members from fighting over your assets and even going to court over them.

Estate planning is vital for your family’s future. If you choose to leave anything for your loved ones, you’ll need to have quite a comprehensive plan for it. It should specify who gets what so that it isn’t left up to the courts. Without a plan of this nature, your family might be facing the burden of going to court, paying copious amounts of taxes for their inheritance, and might not even have any say over what happens to any minor children. 

If you’re a parent right now, that reference probably really makes sense to you. Ah, the nineties and aughts, what a time to be alive and not yet have created your own people. But, maybe you did have a young child in 1999, and now they’re finally old enough to get out of dodge for the weekend. Perhaps they’re on Spring Break. Maybe they’ve planned an epic camping trip with friends. No matter why they’re out of the house, they are out of the house – time to celebrate! 

Of course, you’re going to miss them and worry about how they’re doing while they’re away from you, but what better way to distract from that worry than by throwing a get-together with your friends and loved ones? So, start googling “DJs near me,” and let us get this party started quickly, right?

How To Plan The Party Of The Century When The Kids Are Away

If the kids going out of town didn’t leave you with a ton of notice, absolutely throw caution to the wind and send a group text invite to all your favorite people – make haste! Forget a theme. Forget a dress code and a menu. Now is the time to seize the day! So, order a bunch of pizza, run to the ABC store and the grocery store, and create the charcuterie board of the century. As far as music goes, you can go with a premade playlist from any streaming service like Apple Music or Spotify, and you should be good to go. And, when it comes to the decorations, you could fill some helium balloons for a pop of color.

Maybe though, you had some time to plan; if that’s the case, the sky (or your budget) is the limit. When planning parties, it’s always a great idea to have a theme in mind; that way, when your guests get their invites, they have a general idea of what to expect they’re walking into when they arrive at this kid-free party. If you want to do something black tie, you could even go so far as to hire caterers and servers for the event – and never forget the bartender. They set the mood in more ways than one. 

Consider The Venue 

Maybe you don’t want to deal with the hassle of cleaning up and restoring your home to its pre-kid vacation state before the kids get back. After all, the whole point is enjoying your time to relax and unwind with loved ones without your usual responsibilities hanging over your head. If this sounds appealing to you, consider renting a venue. The choice is yours – hotel event hall, a club you fancy, a beach, it’s entirely up to you. The main bonus here is (with the exception of the beach) you don’t have to worry about cleaning up afterward, and it’s often worth the cost to have someone do that for you, so you can enjoy the party as much as your guests do!

Feeding Frenzy 

Let’s face it – we’re all adults here – one of the most exciting things about walking into an adult event is the promise of delicious food that keeps us somewhat sober while we’re mingling and dancing the party away. So, whether you decide to hire a caterer, order off of Grubhub or turn it into a potluck, everyone gets to enjoy Janice’s famous spinach & artichoke dip. Make sure you’ve got plenty of food for everyone attending. Let’s include drinks in this section too. Make sure you’ve got several options of drinks for everyone in attendance; this goes without saying. Additionally, there may be (and likely will be) several people in attendance that live a sober lifestyle, so accommodate them as well with flavored waters, sodas, and anything else you think they’d like. 

Music Matters (A Lot)

We may not be as cool as we thought we were in our twenties, but now that we’re parents, we know what we like, and we like it a lot! Let loose with some seriously good music. Music sets the tone for everything at your epic party – so think such amazing nineties throwbacks all the way to the newest Justin Bieber or Drake album. Everyone loves to let loose when they’re spending time away from their children, and not only is dancing incredibly fun, it’s also a great way to stay in shape, so it’s a win-win for everyone!

Just like they told you to “sleep when the baby sleeps” when you became a parent, I’m telling you now to “play while the kids play.” So, if you’re lucky enough to get an entire weekend or even just the night, take advantage of it and throw whatever version of a “rager” is to you. You won’t regret it, and most importantly, you deserve it!

Music plays an important role in any wedding ceremony because it helps in creating a festive & romantic setting for you and your fiance. It’s simply impossible to even think of a wedding ceremony without the ideal songs or music. And since this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most couples out there, the room for error is very marginal. Such is the reason why you need the proper suggestions to ensure that you choose pitch-perfect music for your wedding day. 

The following are some of the most significant recommendations that you can undertake to ensure that you choose the ideal wedding music. 

Tips For Choosing The Perfect Music For Your Wedding Ceremony

1. Book Your Wedding DJ

According to the best wedding DJ in Sydney, before you start your planning for the wedding music, you need to first hire the person who will be presenting it, in front of all the guests. By hiring your preferred wedding DJ, you can ensure that your music will be showcased in the same manner as your expectations. This is the reason why it’s essential to communicate all your requirements & expectations to your hired wedding DJ. Your wedding DJ can also even suggest or guide you in your music selection process.

When you proceed to hire wedding DJs, be sure to check their websites, reviews, social media handles, and so on. 

2. Consider Your History

It doesn’t matter how long you and your fiance have been together, but there’s bound to be a similar taste in between – be it an artist, song or even a music genre – through which both of you can connect easily. 

Think about your past – is there any tune or song that you loved to play in your car with your partner? Or is there a song that you often play in your kitchen when cooking food with your fiance? It can also be a song that helps you and your fiance remember about one another or a tune that you both loved when attending a music concert together. The list is practically endless. Any of the aforementioned guides will help you find the perfect wedding music in Sydney. 

3. Look Online Or In Stores

Nowadays with so many music streaming services online, you can easily search for tunes from specific artists, themes, or genres. Be it Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music – finding the right kind of music isn’t challenging anymore, especially when you have the technology at the palm of your hands. Simply sit down with your partner and start wish-listing for songs to play at your wedding. 

If you’re not happy with the results online, you can always head over to your local record or music shop, and make the decisions there-in. You can play the music in person and get a feel of how the tune will be heard through the big speakers. Furthermore, you can expect the music collection at a record shop to be a lot more diverse than online music streaming platforms, especially because of licensing issues. 

4. Know The Lyrics Of The Songs

Even though it might seem like a trivial issue, you must know the lyrics of the songs that you’re planning to play at your wedding ceremony. You don’t want to play a tune that’s not fit to be played at a wedding, thereby ruining the morale & mood of your wedding guests. Thus, knowing the lyrics is crucial because you get to know what the song is all about. 

In case you’re planning to hire a wedding DJ for your upcoming wedding ceremony, be sure to get in touch with our experts today. We’d be happy to help you out right away.