If anybody depends on you or your income, you need to evaluate your financial health and risk management.
Take care of this in order for you to take care of the ones you love if the unthinkable happens.
Illness
Diseases
Death
Coma
“And those of you who die and leave behind wives should bequeath for their wives a year’s maintenance and residence without turning them out, but if they (wives) leave, there is no sin on you for that which they do of themselves, provided it is honorable (lawful marriage). And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.” Quran (2:240)
Surah al Baqarah (2:240) specifies to the T and broken down to 2 main principles:-
1. Bequeath for the wives
2. 12 months of maintenance on top of housing to be taken care of for the wife upon husband’s demise.
The need to prepare a legacy and even the quantum is ordained in the Quran.
So from one Muslim to another, I would urge putting a big priority to ensuring that your obligations are met. The good news is that there are many ways to ensure adherence to the ayaat.
How do you plan for it?
How do you know how much?
How do you do it?
How do you safeguard your family’s interest?
It all begins with planning and budgeting. To start is to evaluate your cashflows
Do you know how much the monthly household expenses including rent/mortgage food, groceries, utility bills, car expenditures are?
How much your kids need each month for childcare, school tuition and extra curricular activities?
Do you have at least 12 months worth of funds to accommodate the said expenses, and not to forget providing shelter?
Some of you may have the networth and assets on standby to provide. Some are on their way on building this amount in the form of savings.
Others may find another alternate way of funding via life insurance/takaful. All depends on your overall family dynamics and financial circumstances. Identifying risks and managing it is also crucial in evaluating takaful needs, especially if there’s debt in your finances. The last thing we want is to leave the family laden with debt you have accumulated over your lifetime.
Bequest is leaving a legacy and this is synonymous with estate planning. Depending on the circumstance this could come via few methods including hibah, wasiat and trusts.
The Quran scripture has engraved basics of financial planning and its importance.
Observing a reminder in the Quran of 2:180 that reads “it is prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you, if he leaves wealth that he makes a bequest ro parents and next of kin, according to reasonable manners, this is due to Allah fearing”.
If you fail to plan you will plan to fail.
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