Who Needs an Estate Plan? (Video)

My daughter was off at working at a summer camp and trying to get enrolled at the  university.  The university kept sending paperwork for her to sign.  Because she had signed a power of attorney, we were able to sign for her and keep the process moving along. 

In our last episode, we talked about what estate planning is. In summary, estate planning is about you maintaining control, or at least deciding who is in control of your stuff now and later.  You decide who is in control and control who gets what, when, and how much.

Anybody over 18 should have at least a minimal plan.

So, who needs a plan?  Anybody that doesn’t want to give up control.  Anybody that wants to know who will make their decisions if they can’t.  Anybody that wants to decide who gets what, when, how, and how much.  Because if you don’t make those choices now, you will lose control and the state will take over making those choices.  The state will be in control.

Think of planning like insurance.  It is your insurance policy against losing control.  Losing control of your choices and who gets your stuff.

If you are over 18 years old, you need an estate plan.  You need a plan because you don’t know when an accident, heart attack, stroke, dementia, medical incident, or something else will happen and you’ll wish you had a plan in place.  Once something happens, planning is probably the last thing you’ll be thinking about.