A 12-month guide for women taking over their household’s finances for the first time. One step at a time. In plain language. Built for the moment you actually need it.
If you’ve just lost your spouse and are now responsible for finances you’ve never managed alone — you’re not behind. You’re where this series begins.
Each piece in First Steps After Loss covers one month of the first year after a loss. The first 30 days. The next 60 days. Month three. Month six. The one-year mark. We move at the pace life actually moves — not the pace of a generic financial-planning calendar.
You can read the whole series, or you can jump to where you are. There’s no wrong way in.
Bills, accounts, mail. The handful of things that need a hand on them right now — and the long list that absolutely does not need to be solved this week.
Bank statements, credit card statements, mortgage paperwork. How to read them, what each line actually means, and how to know what’s normal vs. what to ask about.
Going into a branch on your own for the first time. What to ask. What to bring. What to do if you don’t understand the answer.
Social Security survivor benefits, pension transitions, life insurance proceeds. What arrives, when, and what to do with each of them.
Setting up online banking, autopay, statements you’ll actually look at. How to be the one in charge without doing it the hard way.
What’s working. What’s still hard. What’s ready to be planned for, now that the early fog is starting to lift.
The paperwork-discovery phase. What to do when you find an account you didn’t know existed. How to update beneficiaries on what you do know about.
Joint cards, joint loans, the mortgage. Which debts are still yours. Which ones aren’t. How to find out for sure.
Income coming in, expenses going out, what’s left. The first budget that’s actually yours. Plain spreadsheet, no apps required.
Beneficiaries, wills, healthcare proxies. The pieces you can update without an attorney — and a plain explanation of when an attorney is worth it.
The first dollar that goes toward your future, not toward closing out the past. Where to put it. How much to start with. Permission to start small.
What you’ve learned. What you can do now that you couldn’t do twelve months ago. How to keep going, gently.
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