Finance BLIND SPOT: YOUR ESTATE Assumption: Once you write your will, your estate plan is done. Reality: Your will is only the first step in your estate plan. A common blind spot in mid-late retirement. A lot of us have heard about the danger of dying without a valid will. So, we go to a lawyer and write one. Then we bring it back, stuff it at the back of some drawer, and forget about it. To some extent, that’s understandable. Estate planning is complicated. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and it also forces us to focus on issues which we’d rather not think about. Little wonder why most retirees would rather spend time on other things. But the fact remains, there’s something that we miss when we don’t consider the “big picture” of our estates. By failing to come up with a proper plan for distributing our assets when we pass away, we risk losing some of those assets to taxes, fees and other costs. Even worse, we risk passing on legal hassles and inter-family conflict to our heirs. If you haven’t taken a look at your estate plan recently, make it a priority to do so within the next few months. Start with your will: does it fairly reflect your wishes, your assets and your current family situation? Then, move on to your power of attorney document, and perhaps a living will – a document that lets others know what treatments you want should you become incapacitated. Even if you don’t think of your assets as an “estate,” you should seek out some tax advice to ensure that those assets will be distributed in a way that minimizes taxes, probate fees and other costs. And if you’re looking to make a donation to a cause which you care about, it makes sense to find a qualified charitable advisor who can help you sort out the most effective and tax-efficient way to give. Feeling overwhelmed?That’s fair – as we said, estate planning can be a very complicated part of personal finance. The best thing for most of us is to seek out professional advice, to ensure that we get it done right the first time. CSANews | SUMMER 2019 | 33
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