Ever just find yourself sitting around feeling like you’re about to die?
Yeah, me neither. Guess what? Pretty much nobody else thinks that way either.
So what am I even rambling on about? Well, the fact that you don’t feel like you’re about to die doesn’t mean that you won’t die eventually. It also underscores the fact that, with few very serious and sad exceptions, none of us knows when we’re going to die.
That being the case, if you care about your family and protect your kids - in other words, if you care that your survivors are prepared and properly situated to administer your estate as simply and seamlessly as possible - then you have to make sure your estate plan is in order. Whether we’re talking about ensuring that children don’t overspend their inheritance, coordinating beneficiaries with your investment accounts and life insurance, digital assets, guardians for minor children, or generally choosing who gets what, having an estate plan is essential.
But what about your friends, family, clients, associates, etc.? Maybe you’re the kind of person who, like me, is totally comfortable talking about my inevitable demise - often joking about it to the dismay of my wife - and don’t mind asking others what kind of planning they’ve done. I’m going to guess, though, that you’re probably more the kind of person who finds that kind of conversation to be intrusive, uncomfortable, or otherwise better left avoided.
Why is that? Well, I think it’s common and reasonable for people to be uncomfortable with their own mortality. Most of us enjoy our lives and prefer not to dwell upon it’s finality. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking can cause real turmoil for our loved ones, resulting in unnecessarily lost time, effort, and expense in cleaning up the mess that could easily have been prepared in advance.
So what’s my point here?
Well, I have a few suggestions about helping you, or the people you love, move past those mental blocks that prevent good planning, and allow us to help ourselves and our friends with some good decision making.
Failure to plan is a plan destined to fail.
This may seem like a clever turn of phrase, but it’s also objectively true. Money will go to the wrong people at inappropriate ages. Property will be sold below market value. Unnecessary taxes will be paid. Children will be inadvertently disinherited. Former spouses will inherit by mistake. I’ve seen all of these problems firsthand, and each time I think to myself how easily they could have been prevented.
Knowing that a failure to plan is a path to great harm, consider the fact that it’s worth a slightly uncomfortable conversation for the tremendous benefit of helping someone you care about. If you had a friend who seemed sick, and you thought they should go to the doctor, I imagine you’d be willing to get a little annoying with that friend in order to achieve the greater good of ensuring their health is properly monitored. Similarly, we know we’re all going to die - so, we all should be willing to nudge our friends to make sure that they or their family aren’t left in complete disarray when that happens.
Ultimately, nothing can replace the feelings of loss and grief that come from the passing of a loved one. However, it’s hard to overstate how much worse that grief can be compounded when coupled with the headache of a messy estate, without any planning, left in the hands of the survivors.
So, do your friends and family a favor, and ask if they have their affairs in order. You’ll be doing them and their family a bigger service than you may realize.