It is that time of year again. No, it isn’t you whether you should give up on your new year’s resolutions because let’s be honest, that happened a few weeks ago.
Instead, it is that time of year when your mailbox is filled with tax forms. Tax documents are being printed and sorted and filed and prepared as the height of tax season approaches. Some of us will get our taxes done by the April 15 deadline. Others, like the good procrastinators that we are, will slide in under the October 15 deadline. And as every CPA will tell you, the tax deadlines seem to be all year round these days.
Regardless of when you pay your taxes or gleefully get a refund, you deal with taxes every year.
The same cannot be said for other critical documents in our lives. Which documents may those be?
As the saying goes, there are only two guarantees in life: death and taxes. And since we’ve already addressed taxes, the next subject is death and specifically, our wills.
The numbers tell the story:
- A study in 2023 said 64% of people think everyone should have a will.
We know we should eat healthy yet fast food restaurants thrive. We know we should exercise yet I never have to wait for an exercise machine at the YMCA. We know we should have a will in place yet the numbers speak for themselves.
* Seventy percent of Americans have an outdated or no will at all.
I have to admit that I fall into that category. I am proud to say that my husband and I have a will. It was strongly encouraged when we took our first long-distance trip after our first few kids were born.
We were fortunate to have my husband’s brother and his wife agree to take the children if something happened to us and our wishes were spelled out in the will. Thankfully, we never got into the specifics like “Do you know how pairs of shoes will be blocking your front door with seven kids?” or “Do you know what your grocery bill is going to be with five boys emptying a gallon of milk a day?”
But it has been so long since I have even looked at the will that I’m not even sure all seven kids are mentioned; diapers may even have a line or two in the document.
I’m joking about it be out-of-date but there are real-life and possible, damaging consequences if working with an old will.
But at least there is a signed piece of paper with our wishes.
Friends regularly share that they don’t have a will. And these friends are not spring chickens. These friends have worked years to accumulate assets but don’t have a plan in place upon their demise. If they don’t decide what happens when they die, someone else will
Which brings us to the next set of numbers:
- You should revisit your will every three to five years.
That is not every three to five decades like most of us probably do. It is two or three times a decade.
We may not think our life is changing that much so we don’t have to look over our wills.
But we have kids. They grow up. They move out. They have kids of their own.
We buy a house. We start a business. We remodel a building. We make investments. We lose investments.
Our world is changing around us and our documents need to reflect those changes.
Another thought to consider is whether your heirs truly need your assets. A child may become more successful than their parents as they age, so the son or daughter doesn’t need an inheritance. Perhaps those assets could benefit a charitable organization or even your community. A change in a will or estate plan could reflect those changes in your life.
- 40% of people don’t think they have enough for will.
They don’t think they have enough money or enough assets for it to matter. But in the end, the amounts don’t matter. And if you don’t have a will, the assets you do have could be eaten up financially through lawyers and the court system. So regardless of how much you have - or don’t have - everyone should have a will.
A few years ago, several members of the McCook Philanthropy Council visited the local law offices to determine how much basic will preparation would cost with $100 cited for a basic will. Since then, the price may have gone up or you may have a more complex estate but the price is worth it for peace of mind and to make sure your wishes are met. Search online to begin but plan even a short visit to a local attorney to get a will started.
Because as we all know, we aren’t getting out of our taxes and we aren’t getting out of here alive.
