Mass Mutual realPERSPECTIVES

*This post was sponsored by Massachusetts Mutual Financial Group (MassMutual). All opinions are my own.

When MassMutual reached out to me to take a personal look at my financial health, as a millennial with a young family already established, I thought it might be a little late at this point to discuss our finances in a major way. We own a home and have 401ks so we’re good, right? Well, not exactly. What I learned through the realPERSPECTIVES campaign is that it’s never too late to take your financial wellness into consideration and you can always improve… because yes, being confident with money, investments and your insurance is a form of wellness. That’s how I choose to look at it and I think you should as well.

Propah tip: Educate yourself. I started with the MassMutual Facebook quiz, to see how much I really knew, or rather how financially savvy I am, in 11 quick questions. I thought for sure I would ace it because I consider myself to be an intelligent woman. Well, I only scored 7 out of 11. I was actually kind of bummed that I didn’t do better. That being said, I knew where my knowledge was lacking and was able to tackle some new-ish topics that I didn’t know about except for on a basic level. Like I mentioned before, we have 401k’s but after viewing MassMutual’s Retirement To Do List, I was much more aware of the reasons behind what my husband has been telling me about my retirement contributions and financial priorities. If you’re reading this honey, I’m sorry I wasn’t a better student until now but am vowing to keep myself up on our financial health!

Propah tip: Don’t be discouraged by temporary setbacks or bumps in the road. We are parents of a feisty toddler and have our second baby on the way any day now. It’s an interesting position to be in, not super young any more but not close to retirement. We wanted what a lot of millennial home buyers wanted, to find our special place in the suburbs. We wanted to start a family somewhere cozy and secure. We wanted to save for retirement while also living comfortably. A very important part of this vision was to be financially stable and to make smart choices for our future, building our financial pyramid, if you will. One thing we are always talking about is how we need to start to put money aside for the kids’ education. We’re actually kind of disappointed in ourselves that we didn’t get our act together sooner but are now motivated to make it happen. Yes, we could have got the ball rolling earlier but when dealing with your finances, don’t get discouraged, we just have to keep on truckin’ towards our set goals, even if there are setbacks.

At the end of the day, you and only you can take responsibility for your financial goals. Whether you’re still paying off student loans, looking for financial security, searching for your first home or trying to build and protect a young family *raises hand*, it’s super important to know what decisions you have to make and more importantly the why behind those decisions. We eat healthy, exercise, try to lower stress so why not add the financial element into our personal wellness? It’s the smart thing to do and while not as zen as yoga, being financially strong will allow our family to be flexible now and in the future.

Did you take the quiz? How did you do? Like me, did you have areas to work on?