The Estate Planning Cliché

Many people enjoy a good cliché. These turns of phrase can represent an easy and colorful way to explain an idea. The world of estate planning—and finances in general—is rife with opportunity for clichés. As you probably know, an estate plan is a vital component of your overall personal financial plan. It’s an ideal setting to lay out all your wishes, should something happen to you.

Many people are hesitant to establish or even work on their estate plans. It’s for good reason—human beings are not wired to ponder their mortality in the context of how some governing body might interpret it. It’s generally safe to say that some of us don’t even care about what the U.S. government or their state government has to do with our final wishes.

In the spirit of exorcising three common clichés about estate plans and why everyone should have one, here are three important points to consider about estate plans:

1. If you don’t have a plan for your estate, your state does

Each state has different rules about how your estate will be handled and what happens to your property (i.e., all of the assets that you own) after you pass away. The lack of even a simple estate plan means the state you lived in at the time of your death will determine what should happen to your estate. It’s quite possible that the state’s decisions regarding your property won’t align fully (or at all) with your wishes, and that would be a shame for your beneficiaries and your legacy.

For those of us living in states with well-run finances and a governing body above reproach, you can ignore the rest of this. However, for the rest of us, read on.

2. Even a mediocre plan well executed today beats the perfect plan made tomorrow

This one is paraphrasing General George Patton, but why is this cliché even relevant? What did a World War II general know about estate planning? Probably very little.

However, General Patton realized that when something is important to you, it’s better to have a rough plan than no plan at all. In a quest to establish the perfect plan, we might rethink our choices over and over, to the point of paralysis, and end up with no plan at all. This does nobody any service and makes an uncertain situation even more challenging.

Estate plans are not written on granite tablets. Many documents in your estate plan are revocable and can be modified. Don’t let the idea of having the optimal plan triumph over having a plan altogether—even if it’s not what you consider the exact right plan. It’s a living, breathing document that’s open to amending as your circumstances or priorities change.

3. No one can read your mind

There are several technical aspects to estate planning that aren’t necessary to master in order to have a viable estate plan. But one truth above all is that, most likely, you're the only person who truly knows how you want your affairs to be handled when you’re no longer here.

Consider the last time you ordered something to eat through any of the popular food delivery apps, for example. Unless that chosen restaurant is actually your kitchen at home, there will be something inevitably “off” with your meal. Perhaps something is a touch too salty or not hot enough, or the portion isn’t quite big enough.

The reality is that it’s nearly impossible for a restaurant to anticipate your every gastronomic desire. So how on earth can someone else guess how you’d want your estate to be handled?

You can help out by writing down your estate wishes as clearly and completely as possible. This is your golden opportunity to ensure your estate plan is just that: YOUR estate plan. And that’s no cliché.

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