What Is Legacy Planning?
Legacy planning is the act of preparing how you will bequeath your property and assets to your loved ones after your death. It’s more or less a synonym of estate planning, but the term has gained popularity among financial advisors in recent years. This is perhaps because “estate planning” has come to evoke death, or perhaps because “estate” is associated with the wealthy.
Ultimately, though, there are no hard and fast requirements that clearly distinguish the process as legacy planning rather than estate planning. The process entails anything and everything that ensures you’re happy with the legacy you leave behind.
Why Is it Important?
Whether you call it estate planning or legacy planning, transferring wealth from estate to beneficiary is often far from simple. Just dealing with the probate process alone can take months, sometimes years. Many legacy or estate plans will therefore rely on trusts to avoid the probate process altogether. You can fill more specific needs in your plan.
Long Term Support
Many clients view their estate plans as a “one and done” task. Once executed, the binder of documents is put in a drawer and rarely thought of for some time. However, an estate plan is intended to be modified as family and financial situations change — hence why revocable trusts are also known as living trusts.
Determining how you want to live is as much a part of an estate plan as planning for what happens when you die. Your financial advisor can show you how gifts may impact your financial plan and can help make you feel more comfortable about transferring wealth and helping loved ones during your lifetime.
Finally, even with plenty of sound legal advice, an estate plan can be botched if proper follow-up is not implemented. Annual housekeeping tasks that are often required on lifetime wealth transfer strategies are all decisions that can be reviewed and monitored with a financial advisor.
Current events have put the most carefully drafted financial and estate plans to a test. The benefits of having the right financial advisor as a member of your team has never seemed more important. Knowing you have a trusted advisor who puts your interests first is yet another way of saying, “We are in this together.”
Fresno Financial Planner Takeaways
Soutas Financial your Fresno financial planner would like to remind you of these points: Legacy planning is the act of preparing how you will bequeath your property and assets to your loved ones after your death. An estate plan is intended to be modified as family and financial situations change — hence why revocable trusts are also known as living trusts. Your financial advisor can show you how gifts may impact your financial plan and can help make you feel more comfortable about transferring wealth and helping loved ones during your lifetime. Annual housekeeping tasks that are often required on lifetime wealth transfer strategies are all decisions that can be reviewed and monitored with a financial advisor.
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