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CHAPTER 1
Estate Planning
Planning Your Future
Like it or not, none of us will live forever, and as much as we may want to put it off, planning for your future financial needs should happen now, not when you’ve hit the golden years. In this volume you’ll dis- cover the ins and outs of financial planning for retirement, estate plan- ning, wills and trusts, and what makes sense at various stages of your life, planning for unexpected expenses, and other helpful information.
Estate Planning
First off, what is estate planning? In a nutshell it’s the process by which an individual or family arranges the transfer of assets in anticipation of death. An estate is the total property, real and personal, owned by an individual prior to distribution through a trust or will. Real property is real estate and personal property includes everything else, for example, cars, household items, and bank accounts. Estate planning enables you to distribute the real and personal property to your heirs according to your wishes and desires. An estate plan aims to preserve the maximum amount of wealth possible for your intended beneficiaries and flexibil- ity for you prior to your death.
Now that you have a better idea what estate planning is, the next logi- cal question is, why does it matter? As explained by All Business (www. allbusiness.com), you are free to decide to leave what happens to your
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