If you’re a little bit daunted by the process of retirement and estate planning, don’t feel bad. It’s a difficult, emotionally charged subject: We all know we will die someday, but most of us would prefer not to think about it too much.
Very few of us can claim to be an expert in the final management of our worldly goods. Why? Because we visit this topic so rarely throughout our lives. Generations turn over about every 30 years, so by the time we go through the same processes our parents went through, any information we might have picked up along the way has become dated.
“We meet with individuals all the time who created their [first estate-planning] documents back in 1987, forgetting that that’s 20 years ago,” says Bill Ringham, wealth planning services director at Bremer, a banking, insurance, and investment firm in St. Paul. “And their documents might have been very different back then, because their businesses have grown, or their estate size has grown, or their assets have grown, or their children have grown. I’m 44 years old, and 1987 doesn’t seem that long ago. But from a document perspective, 1987 is a long time ago.”
If, on the other hand, you don’t feel intimidated by the process, take care to avoid foolish pride. Estate planners say most clients come in with a few blind spots or misconceptions. Part of the planning process is education, and that’s as it should be. Otherwise there would be no point in hiring experts.
But there’s no harm in getting a
leg up on the process, even before the first meeting with your advisors. Here
are 10 of the top retirement and estate-planning suggestions from local experts.
They won’t tell you what to think about your nest egg—just how to think about
it.
1. Tackle it with a team.
Most high-net-worth individuals approach the disposal of their estate with a cadre of professionals—and regardless of the size of your portfolio, you should, too. The process should start early and continue throughout your career.
“Wealth management, to me, means: Where are you in your life cycle?” Ringham says. “When you are in the accumulation stage, you are working with individuals you are helping from an investment perspective. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn’t be working on the will at the same time. It’s just that your objectives might be different from someone farther along in their life.”
