Estate Planning Is Part Of Life
Sometimes you hear estate planning spoken about as something that is taking place outside of the flow of your life as it unfolds. In these instances the subject is addressed from the standpoint that there is this package of assets that will always stay untouched from the time you start planning until the time you pass away. As a result estate planning involves optimizing, protecting, and ultimately distributing these assets to your loved ones someday, while the dynamics of your finances while you’re still alive are not mentioned as part of the process.
Of course if you have virtually unlimited wealth it is possible to have a bundle of assets that is sufficient to cover any and all eventualities while you’re living and a separate bundle that comprises your estate. This would be ideal in a perfect world but unfortunately few of us live in that world. The average lifespan is just over 78 years of age at this point in time, so if you were to pass away at that age your estate might look entirely different than it would if you were to live to the age of 85, 90 or 95 and spend considerable time in a long-term care facility along the way.
So it is important to recognize that when you are engaged in retirement planning the exercise is intimately connected with planning for your twilight years and the ultimate distribution of your legacy after you pass away.
Estate planning attorneys always emphasize the fact that planning your estate is an ongoing process. You don’t know what the future will hold and you have no way of knowing exactly what your expenses are going to be during your retirement years and through the latter stages of your life. Without this information you can’t make truly firm estate plans, so you should be prepared to react to ever-changing circumstances and adjust your estate planning documents based on the inevitable ebb and flow of your life as the years pass and the unknowns become known.
