Everyday Money Habits · Worksheet

Who actually decides.

Money has a life beyond you in two directions: what you give on purpose while you’re here, and what you leave behind. Neither happens by default — skip the first and giving becomes a leftover of zero; skip the second and a court or a stale form decides for you. This sheet is how you decide instead.

Beginner
Parent

Name

Date

Audience: For anyone putting giving and their affairs in order
Time: About 20 minutes
Materials: A few minutes with one account’s beneficiary form · a pen

Objective

Sort out who really decides where each thing goes — your will, a form, or a court — set a giving rate, and name one move.

Use this when

You’ve been meaning to set up giving, check a beneficiary form, or start a will, and want one concrete first move.

1 · Who really decides where each thing goes?

A will decides — these pass through your estate:

Your home, your car, your belongings.
Who raises your young children — the guardian clause is the only place you get to say.

A form decides — and it overrides the will:

Your 401(k) or IRA — pays whoever’s named on the beneficiary form.
A life insurance payout — the same.
Bank and brokerage accounts — once you add a transfer-on-death (TOD) form; otherwise they detour through probate.

A default decides — if you never act:

Everything you own, with no will — your state’s order and a judge decide.
This year’s giving — set a rate, or it defaults to a leftover of zero.

The surprise: your retirement accounts and life insurance — usually most of the money — ignore your will entirely. A perfect will and a stale 401(k) form sends your savings to the wrong person.

2 · Check what you leave

This isn’t about dodging estate tax — almost no one owes it. It’s the plain version of stewardship: leaving things in order for the people who depend on you. Tick what’s already true:

I know who’s named on my 401(k)/IRA beneficiary form — and a backup (contingent) name.

My life insurance names the person I’d actually want it to reach.

My bank and brokerage accounts have a transfer-on-death form — or I know they’d go through probate without one.

I have a will — and if I have young children, it names a guardian.

3 · Give on purpose

Set a rate, not an amount — a percentage of your income, not whatever’s left at month’s end — and give it first, so it isn’t the thing that gets squeezed. Who you give to and why is yours; the reason to give is never the tax break — treat that as a footnote.

My giving ratea percentage of income you can hold to, not a leftover

Where it goes, and whenthe cause, and the day it comes out automatically

4 · One move, this week

The outcome is a single line: my next move is ___. Do that one thing — set a giving rate and automate the first transfer, pull up one account and check who’s named on the beneficiary form, or start the will you’ve been meaning to.

My next move isset a rate · check a form · start a will

The date I’ll do it by"once I’m out of debt / settled / older" is how it never happens

5 · Reflection

Which "default" were you letting decide for you — a form, a missing will, or a giving rate of zero?

What you’d want the people who depend on you to find in order:

Based on the giving and estate-planning guides.