Most people go through life with a “CROSS YOUR FINGERS™” estate plan, meaning they either have no plan in place at all or have a plan, but it hasn’t been reviewed in a long time. Because of this, they are crossing their fingers, hoping that when something bad happens, everything will turn out “OK”. Can you relate?
With proper estate planning, you can uncross your fingers, knowing that if something unfortunate happens, you have a plan in place to help ensure that everything will work out the way you would want. The result – peace of mind!
So what makes an uncrossed fingers estate plan? Three things:
- It is customized for you and your family. Most plans are cookie-cutter, one size fits all type plans. Aren’t you and you family worth more than that? A customized plan, tailored to meet your goals and concerns is something every family should have in place.
- Everything you own is properly titled and aligned with the plan. You have a trust, but have all your assets been reregistered to and beneficiary designations aligned with the trust? Chances are the answer to this question is “NO.” For those folks that have a trust in place, the trust will be ineffective when needed, if no one has taken the time to properly fund the trust with the assets. Not funding your trust is like buying a house, but never moving the furniture in.
- It is actively monitored and adjusted. When was the last time someone has looked at your plan? For most people that have a plan in place, it has been awhile since it was last reviewed. To illustrate why it is important to have your plan reviewed with some regularity, try this simple exercise – take out picture of yourself and your family that were taken the same year that your estate plan was signed. Next pull out pictures of yourself and your family that were taken this year and compare the two pictures. Do you notice any changes? What if you did the same comparison with your financial picture over the same time period? Do you think that the laws and the tax rules may have changed over that time? If no one is taking the proactive steps to monitor and adjust your plans as “life happens”, your plan will not work the way it should because it based on the “old” picture.
Give us a call today to discuss your particular situation and start the process of uncrossing your fingers and obtaining peace of mind!.