Life Long Estate Planning-In spite of popular suggestions about the importance of living life in the moment, the freedom to do so is generally available only as a result of some earlier planning – financial and otherwise. Many people think of financial planning as having to do primarily with investments but there is much more to it than that. While managing investments is one of the specialties of Warren Ward Associates, I believe that our adherence to the six-step financial planning process actually offers the greatest value to most clients, even those who are initially interested in investments. My thoughts today relate to estate planning, one of the elements of the financial planning process. I have heard clients of all ages tell me that they have no need for estate planning, always citing what they believe to be a good reason for their conclusion. If you don’t think that your present life situation requires estate planning, please read just a bit further before you make a final decision. Parents of young children – Everyone who is raising children has hopes and aspirations for them. At this stage of life, estate planning primarily involves making a decision about who you’ll ask to raise your children should you become unable to do so. That in turn leads to deciding how best to fund the expenses which are likely to accompany child raising. Securing your children’s future – even in your absence – is the key element of estate planning for the parents of young children. Middle age – As the issue of raising children becomes less urgent, we move into a time of life where our own potential disability becomes more important, but sometimes disability occurs even before middle age. When Terri Schiavo’s situation made the news last year, it was not often remarked upon that she suffered her heart attack while she was still in her 20’s. If she had executed the proper legal documents, including a Living Will and the naming of a Health Care Representative, it’s quite likely that she would have been cared for (or not) as she chose and there would have been much less heartache for all involved. In or nearing retirement – Now that the lifetime gift/estate tax exclusion has been raised, many fewer families have an estate tax problem to worry about. Still, it is probably not a good idea to leave it to the government to make your estate-related decisions for you – although it is certainly prepared to do so, if you fail to make a will and keep it current. In addition, even though credit-shelter trusts are not required nearly so often as before, the establishment of some sort of trust may, in fact, be the best way to pass assets on to future generations. In our experience, people have estate planning needs more often than they realize. We are not attorneys and we do not offer legal advice but we do suggest that you think carefully about the entire range of potential estate planning issues before deciding that your situation doesn’t warrant any. If you do decide that you have needs which should be addressed, contact your attorney and get started sooner rather than later. If you do not have an attorney, we will be glad to make an appropriate recommendation. Although we believe that people are best served by working face-to-face with a person who will get to know them, there are alternatives if you can’t afford an attorney. The public library has reference materials available for review or you may contact our office for links to no cost on-line resources.