One of our jobs as CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals is to tie up loose ends for our clients. We like to help clients plan ahead, even as far ahead as thinking about their wishes at the end of their life. Many people dread this topic, but COVID has brought these decisions to the forefront, for better or worse. Over the past year, some have been forced to make challenging decisions for loved ones due to the pandemic. While no one is ever ready to lose a loved one, being prepared can help provide some peace of mind for your loved ones during an already difficult time.
If you are not sure where to start, we can help prepare you to meet with an estate planning attorney to ensure you have the proper documents in place. There are questions you should be asking yourself first as well as questions you should be asking the attorney. While we are not estate planning attorneys and do not draft these documents, CCMI can help ensure no stone is left unturned and you are making the best use of your time in your meeting with an attorney. We can provide names of estate planning attorneys who have helped other clients and we do not receive any compensation for these referrals. Furthermore, if you would like to educate yourself on estate planning, you can view Matt Ryan’s video, which covers the five basic estate planning documents.
Kim Benson specializes in helping clients going through life-changing events, including those who have lost a loved one. While she believes completing your estate plan is a critical step in the process, it’s also important to share the location of these formal documents with your family, executor, and/or successor trustee. You should also include other types of information for your heirs, including passwords to websites as one example. In most families, we often see one spouse who takes on the role of family CFO. A question to consider if you are the household CFO: Do your loved ones know where to find these important documents if something was to happen to you? A question to consider if you are going to be handling the affairs of a parent or loved one: Do you know if they have their documents in order and do you know where they are?
We know these are not easy conversations and CCMI can help guide you and your family. Now is as good a time as any to address these concerns before it may be too late. If you are looking to get more organized, begin the process of creating an estate plan, or would like to know what else is important to have available for loved ones, reach out to CCMI and we will be happy to help you.
CCMI provides personalized fee-only financial planning and investment management services to business owners, professionals, individuals and families in San Diego and throughout the country. CCMI has a team of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professionals who act as fiduciaries, which means our clients’ interests always come first.
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