Preserving & Protecting Your Family’s Assets & Legacy

Headed into retirement? Consider your estate plan

On Behalf of | Jun 22, 2020 | Estate Planning |

As one phase of your life is wrapping up and you prepare to enter another, you probably have a lot of questions. You may be looking for a new place to live or new hobbies as you exit the workforce, but this time of transition is also great for looking at your estate plan, whether you have created one already or not.

If you haven’t made an estate plan yet…

Heading into retirement is the perfect time to start estate planning. As you get ready for the next phase of your life, now is the time to set up how your estate will be handled after you pass. Here are a few things that you can address in your estate plan:

  • What will happen to your home and large pieces of property
  • Who will get family heirlooms
  • How you will distribute savings and other types of financial property
  • What you will leave to your children and grandchildren
  • How you will pay for long-term care
  • Who will be your power of attorney, both financially and medically
  • What medical decisions you would like to be made on your behalf
  • What you would like your funeral and burial plans to be like

Creating an estate plan can be helpful in understanding how you can use your assets to benefit your retirement and your family after you are gone.

If you already have an estate plan…

Perhaps you diligently sat down with your lawyer when you began having children. You created an estate plan that your happy with but haven’t thought much about it since. Heading into a new stage of life, like retirement, is the perfect time to revisit.

You may be moving to a retirement community, heading down south for the winters or simply downsizing now that the kids are out of the house. You should incorporate those changes to your estate into your will or other planning documents. You may also have had changes in your family dynamics, like kids who got married or have children. Consider how you would like to include in-laws or grandchildren into your plans as well.

Your priorities may be changing as you move into retirement. You are likely less tied down to the home, are having more time for hobbies and are getting ready to travel more. You can use your new lifestyle to create an estate plan that helps you make the best of your retirement.

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