Unburden

How can you make life easier for those left behind?

Feb 22, 2023

Good Wednesday to you!

First, I recommended a Morgan Housel article at the very bottom of last week’s letter, and not only do I consider it a “must read”, I also got several email replies from y’all letting me know how impactful the article was and how it really made you think.

And that’s the mark of a great article, right?

If you haven’t read it yet, click here.

And of course, I’d love to know what you think.

Now, on to this week’s letter…

An almost universal refrain I hear from my clients is,

“I don’t want to be a burden on my kids.”

And while this is most often uttered in the context of wanting to avoid being a physical or financial responsibility later in life, that’s not the whole story…

Of course, it’s smart to plan for your care and support later in life through adequate savings and investments, but there are also tools like Long Term Care insurance or a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.

But what about… after you’re gone?

By not addressing your estate planning and taking the opportunity to clearly communicate your wishes - financial and otherwise - you risk being burdensome to your surviving spouse, children, and others.

Thankfully, this is easily addressed.

First, put your estate plan in place.

Or update your existing estate plan if necessary.

This could be your last Will & Testament. Or it could be a revocable living trust. Or maybe an even more complex structure.

With a Will, your survivors will still have to probate your estate. In Georgia (where I live), the probate process isn’t too bad, but it’s still a process that needs to be addressed and will take time.

And maybe cost some money.

With a revocable living trust, you can avoid the probate process altogether — if, and only if, you fully fund your trust with your assets and property.

This might be a way to further unburden your survivors.

But in addition to addressing your financial and estate planning, you might also consider creating an Ethical Will using a tool like the Lasting Matters Organizer for your spouse and children.

For more on Lasting Matters, check out my conversation with Barb Sedoric.

And while this will likely be very personal to you and your family, there are some people that literally consider money itself to be a burden.

As Warren Buffett has said,

“You should leave your children enough so they can do anything, but not enough so they can do nothing.”

Perhaps it makes more sense - in the spirit of not being a burden to your loved ones - to spend or give more money away during your lifetime. For instance, instead of leaving hundreds of thousands - or millions - of dollars behind, maybe you could cover the costs for a family vacation every 3-5 years or help pay for your grandchildren’s college.

Whether you want to make things easier for a surviving spouse or not be a burden on your children during or after your life, there are some steps you can take.

While these generally fall under the umbrella of “estate planning,” just know that an estate plan is more than a set of legal documents drafted by an attorney.

Speaking of which, you need to regularly review ALL your beneficiary appointments and make sure they’re accurate and up to date.

This would include life insurance policies, POD/TOD designations for non-retirement accounts, all retirement accounts (401k, 403b, 457, IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEPs, and more), pension and other company benefits, and anywhere else you have the opportunity to name a beneficiary or beneficiaries.

If you’d like to discuss any of this, please hit reply and let me know.

Or perhaps this checklist will be helpful:

Click image above to access full document

And if you need some assistance getting your estate plan in place, I can point you to some good resources.

Links & things

Living Big

Wanted to share this “Live BIG List” with you… it comes from another financial planning firm and I love the concept. Give it a review and let me know how you’re living BIG without spending much - if any - money:

What does it mean to live BIG?

Private Lives vs Public Personas

Here’s another article I’d really encourage you to read. It’s from Joy Lere, a clinical psychologist, where she writes about a recent family trip. Her opening line really caught my attention and it’s something I’ve written about before as well: