“We work through the variables
with them
in a conference room on a four-by-eight
screen,” Fee
says.
“And once
you do
that—once you show them how to
stage the
assets and
what those
assets are
supposed to do for
them—there’s an
amazing thing that
occurs.
Nine out of ten
say that for the
first time,
they
actually feel
like
they own their assets
instead of their assets owning
them.”
9. Keep revisiting your plans.
Estate and retirement plans are not set in stone—nor should they be, Skotterud says. Instead of thinking “Whew! I’ve got that taken care of,” you should be monitoring and reviewing them on a regular basis.
“I would say once you get set up initially, you should revisit the investment side every six months,” he says. “For estate planning and financial planning, once a year will usually suffice, unless something like a birth, death, illness, or sale occurs that would trigger a meeting.”
“One of the things that’s nice is that their estate plan is always subject to change until they die, provided they don’t make it irrevocable,” Ringham points out. “We recommend that people should review their wills or revocable trusts every three to five years, after major life events, or even after major tax law changes. It’s just so that they understand that their documents are still doing what they thought their documents were doing when they originally had them drafted. And you never know, after a certain period of time, their family dynamics might have changed, or their charitable considerations might have changed.”
10. Think like a fiduciary.
Yes, retirement and estate planning is an emotional process, colored with all the complexity and individuality of the person who made the money. But Twele would like to see his clients step away from those emotions every once in a while.
“A trustee on the board of a charity is bound by law to act as a fiduciary and to have his or her client’s best interest at heart,” he says. “If you want to grow your estate, think more like they do. Stop being emotional. Take a 20-year approach. Create that discipline, where you treat your assets as a company would treat its pension plan.”
That means not panicking if the market plummets, and (conversely) not holding onto assets that aren’t doing anything for you. Above all, it means diversifying to even out the market’s highs and lows. It used to be that diversity meant 30 stocks and 25 bonds; now, with lower brokerage fees, it can mean hundreds and hundreds.
“Minimize your costs,” Twele says. “Don’t panic and get out when things are bad. That’s not prudent, and it would get you sued if you were a trustee. Take the same approach that they would: Ask yourself, ‘What would a professional do with my assets today?’”
