Somewhere along the way, “trust” became a word people associate with wealth they don’t think they have. Trusts are for other people, the thinking goes: people with more complicated lives, more real estate, more zeros. Most of the time, that’s not really true. So, do you need a trust? The better question isn’t whether you’re … Read more
Most business owners have a will. Far fewer have answered the question that matters most for what they’ve built: what happens to the business itself if they’re suddenly not there to run it. For any company with more than one owner, the answer usually starts with a buy-sell agreement, and for every closely held business, … Read more
There’s a comforting myth about estate planning: that it’s a project with an end date. You meet with an attorney, sign the documents and check the box. Done. It doesn’t quite work that way. An estate plan is a snapshot of your life and the law at the moment it was written, and both keep … Read more
There’s a particular kind of silence that shows up around estate planning. Parents don’t want to talk about it because it means talking about their own mortality. Adult children don’t bring it up because it feels like they’re asking about money, or worse, asking when. So the conversation just doesn’t happen, sometimes for decades, until … Read more
Ask someone why they haven’t written a will, and you’ll rarely hear “I don’t think it matters.” You’ll hear “I haven’t gotten to it yet.” It sits on the same shelf as the gym membership and the garage cleanout, a task with no deadline, so it never quite becomes urgent enough to finish. But if … Read more
Estate planning isn’t only for the ultra-wealthy, and it isn’t something to file away for later. It’s a core part of a complete financial life. At its best, it reduces stress, honors your wishes and protects the people you care about. This estate planning checklist breaks the work into five steps you can start before … Read more