"He has drawn back, only in order to have enough room for his leap." ~Friedrich Nietzsche What leap are you preparing to take?

I left this prompt alone for awhile because I didn't feel as though I was about to leap into anything. Cautiously approach, maybe, but not leap.

However, yesterday I jumped off the cliff into the financial world of municipal bonds, mutual funds, annuities, and a myriad of other complicated financial transactions about which I profess total ignorance. My leap wasn't really voluntary, it was forced out of necessity. My mother's complicated finances were the last bastion of her affairs I hadn't touched. Frankly, they intimidated me and I also realized it would take up even more of my time to learn about what was going on enough to handle those affairs. So I let it ride as long as possible.

My mother used to be a numbers wizard, and she and my dad built up a complicated portfolio. As all the statements come in month after month, I've come to recognize the many names--Franklin, Invesco, HIINA, Lincoln, and the list goes on. I religiously added the interest deposits into her checkbook, filed the paperwork into their respective folders, and took it all in to the tax preparer each year. Beyond that, I had no further understanding and I was content to let things ride. My mother would report receiving phone calls occasionally from brokers, reporting that bonds had been called and asking her to make decisions about reinvesting her money. She was handling the situation without my assistance, which was fine with me.

But her recent hospitalization took a heavy toll on my mother's mental faculties, and all the figures, investment companies, and financial terms have become more jumbled in her mind. Suddenly, she no longer understands the difference between a bond being called and selling a bond. A big blunder almost happened recently due to her confusion, and it could have cost her dearly. I knew that my time of blissful ignorance was quickly coming to an end. Then one of her long-time, trusted financial advisors, sensing her confusion, told her in a nice way that he'd really like to talk to me. So that's how it came to be that I finally took the plunge.

I was dreading that phone call, but it actually went well and I felt good about it afterwards. We talked for about an hour and I received my first lesson in investing/brokering. He was informative and not at all condescending. We're going to work on transferring all her assets over to his firm so they are all under one "roof."  Until talking with him, I didn't realize that this could be done without incurring penalties. I trust him--he's been with our family for a long time and he's the financial advisor/broker for both my uncle and my cousin in Florida as well.

I'll never be the numbers wizard that my mom was, it just isn't my thing. But if I can gain a basic understanding, enough to feel comfortable about handling my mother's affairs, I'll be happy. And there's an added benefit--I'll be able to make more informed financial decisions for myself in the future. A win-win situation.