What’s in an estate?

Your estate is, simply, everything that you own. An estate consists of your investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, bank accounts, and certificates of deposit; your retirement accounts such as individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans; real estate; and life insurance policies. It also consists of your “stuff”- furniture, appliances, jewelry, collectibles, and all the other items of personal property. The value of your estate is the value of all these assets, less mortgages and any other debt.

*Excerpt from Love, Money, Control: Reinventing Estate Planning by Daniel O. Hands, Robert A. Esperti, and Renno L. Peterson

Isn’t estate planning just for rich people?

It’s not about how much wealth you have accumulated that’s important; it’s about what and who are important to you. Take as an example a widow with two grown children who has only a house and $200,000 from a life insurance policy on her late husband. Does she need estate planning to protect herself and her two children? To some people, $200,000 isn’t a lot of money. Even so, the widow wants to be assured that she can live in comfort in her own home. What if her son has an alcohol problem? Wouldn’t she worry that he will just drink up whatever amount she leaves him at her death? Wouldn’t she feel better leaving money to him in such a way that it could be used for his rehabilitation? It’s not whether you have an estate that requires planning, it’s whether planning will provide you with a sense of comfort and well-being about your and your family’s future.

*Excerpt from Love, Money, Control: Reinventing Estate Planning by Daniel O. Hands, Robert A. Esperti, and Renno L. Peterson