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Why Is Estate Planning Important?
Introduction to The Right Estate Plan for You
Before you can make the right estate plan for your family and situation, you have to know some basics about the subject. Mid Oregon has hosted Estate Planning Workshops for years, we understand how crucial this is to financial well-being. We want to help you answer the question, why is Estate Planning Important?
When a person dies owning property, that property has to go to somebody, somehow. Any competent adult can arrange his or her affairs to choose “who gets what.” The process of making those decisions is a minimal definition of estate planning. A good estate plan provides a legal and practical mechanism to dispose of your property after death in a way that fulfills your wishes and the needs of your survivors, while minimizing taxes.
Why Is Estate Planning Important?
There is an unfortunate, widespread misconception that this is a subject of interest only to the wealthy. If you don’t decide who’s going to be in charge and what’s supposed to happen and then arrange things accordingly a combination of luck and state law will control your property upon your death. Whether it involves a fortune or a modest sum, there is no way for anyone to enforce your intentions if you have not given them legal effect in the ways we will look at here. Maybe everything will work out fine without a bit of planning. But bear in mind that families can be torn apart in jockeying for legal authority, small sums of money, or even minor household items.
What not to think
If you want your wishes to be fulfilled at your death without starting World War III, avoid the following age-old invitations to disaster:
- “Everybody already knows who’s supposed to get what.”
- “In my desk drawer is a list of my possessions and the persons to whom they should be given.”
- “I don’t have much. The kids can just come in and divide it among themselves however they decide.”
- “Last year I put all my money in a joint account with my oldest daughter. After I die, she’ll split it three ways with her brothers.”
- “All I have is life insurance (or ‘All I have is an IRA.’) My son is the only beneficiary listed on the form, but I want him to share it with his sister.”
In all the often-heard statements above, people think they have their affairs in order, but they really have no estate plan. These well-intentioned folks are asking for family squabbles and other problems.
For many people, too, an important part of estate planning is seeing to it that their wishes for children or grandchildren are implemented. This includes the choice of a guardian for minor children, as well as guidance as to how the kids should be cared for and how funds destined for their benefit should be managed and distributed. Even many people with adult children are likewise concerned about money management.
Important people to appoint
Do you care who your personal representative will be? Somebody must be given responsibility and the necessary authority to “wrap up” your affairs, pay debts, as well as preserve, gather and distribute your assets in accordance with your wishes. This person is called an executor if you have a will, or a trustee if you have a trust. Your personal representative should be a trustworthy person (or bank) with common sense, good judgment and the fairness of a referee. The personal representative may hire lawyers, accountants and other professionals with estate funds for assistance, but fees and other costs can be saved if the personal representative and/or family members are able to do some of the “legwork” themselves.
If you don’t appoint someone
Without an estate plan, your “wrapper-upper” will be chosen by the court, and might not be the person you would have wanted. Sometimes, family bickering develops over who should be appointed by the judge. Often, a neutral lawyer is appointed, and must be paid with funds you leave behind.
Doing it yourself
Before examining the tools of estate planning, a word about “doing-it-yourself” is in order. A great deal of self-help is possible by the lay person who takes time to educate him or herself. But people do need attorneys in most estate planning, probate and other legal situations at least for a consultation, or to answer some questions.
Of course, not all “do-it-yourselfers” are doomed to failure, but they take a substantial risk of overlooking a potential “complication” that would be obvious to an attorney.
Yes, will-preparation software and online services can produce adequate results in simple situations. Often, however, these approaches don’t fully deal with the particular details, contingencies and very specific issues that are likely to be critically important to your family. Some clients use software programs just to learn a little and “get something on paper” before consulting a lawyer. This is a fine idea.
Recorded Estate Planning Webinar Available
Mid Oregon Credit Union has asked Estate Planning Attorney Jeff Patterson and his Estate Planning Essentials seminar to Central Oregon in a seminar on June 6th, You can register here to attend this free workshop, Jeff, who is with Lynch Murphy McLane LLP in Bend, also has a past presentation available for free viewing on our Mid Oregon YouTube channel. Jeff covers some key estate planning concerns, while answering questions from the live attendees. You can also watch it below.
Creative Ideas for Budget-Conscious Travelers
After a long hiatus from traveling during the pandemic, many Americans are once again pulling their suitcases out of storage. While the impulse to go crazy with plans may be strong, you probably don’t want a vacation-debt hangover that lasts for months after your trip. Here are a few creative ideas for budget-conscious travelers.
Review Anticipated Expenses
Before you hit the road—or the air—tally up anticipated expenses so you know what to expect. Once you get a fairly accurate picture of what your vacation will cost, then start manipulating the numbers to make it more affordable. Here are a few ways you can save:
- Search online for cheaper accommodations and flights. Aggregator websites like Google.com/travel/ and HotelsCombined.com will look through online travel agencies and hotel sites to find the best deals. Go to Orbitz.com, Travelocity.com, and Expedia.com for deals on flights, but don’t stop there. Go directly to the airlines’ websites to see if they offer even lower prices with fewer fees.
- Look for package deals. Some packages even include meals, a big expense for large families. If you’re traveling to a family reunion or meeting up with multiple families, check out group-booking sites such as Groople.com.
Ideas for Budget-Conscious Travelers
- Consider swapping homes. Trade homes with people who live where you want to spend your vacation and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on hotel costs for a two-week vacation. Do a Google search for “home swap” or “home exchange.”
- Plan ahead to save on meals and snacks. Stay at hotels that include continental breakfast for guests. If your room has a minifridge, buy your favorite drinks and snacks and store them in it.
- Look for two-for-one coupons and other discounts. Check in the hotel lobby, area newspapers, and on the web for money-saving coupons for area attractions, tours and restaurant meals. Deals are out there for those who look for them.
How Will You Pay?
Finally, figure out now how you’re going to pay for the vacation. A word of advice: Don’t let vacation debt linger for several months after you get back home. Ideas for budget-conscious travelers should inclPlan to pay off credit-card debt in full when the bill arrives by using savings in combination with money from a home equity line of credit or small closed-end loan from the credit union. Loans and lines of credit likely have lower interest rates than most credit cards, so you can pay down that debt much faster.
How to keep yourself safe from scams
scam/ skam/
noun. a dishonest scheme; a fraud.
According to the FBI, Americans were hit by an unprecedented rise in cybercrime during the pandemic, with nearly 850,000 reports to the FBI and losses surpassing $6.9 billion.
It seems like every time you turn around, a new scam is making the rounds and the goal is the same—to get you to provide your personal information so they can steal your data, money, or both.
Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself. The most obvious is not to share your personal information like your bank account number, SSN, or date of birth. Common sense right? Yes and no. Criminals are continuously developing new and sophisticated ways to capture the data they need from you. The question now is how to recognize a scam?
Scams target everyone
Scams target people of all backgrounds, ages and income levels. There’s no one group of people who are more likely to become a victim of a scam, all of us may be vulnerable at some time.
Scams succeed because they look like the real thing and catch you off guard when you’re not expecting it. Scammers are getting smarter and taking advantage of new technology, new products or services and major events to create believable stories that will convince you to give them your money or personal details.
Learning how to recognize scammers’ tactics is the best way to avoid being scammed. Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed way to tell for certain if a request is legitimate. The things to consider as signs a company or person is trustworthy are some of the same things scammers imitate.
Reduce your risk of being scammed
- Be suspicious. Scammers work hard to appear trustworthy. Consider the request before you engage.
- Don’t trust unexpected contact. Scams often come through as an unexpected phone call, text or email. Always take steps to know who you’re dealing with.
- Do your research. Use Google or if it’s from a company or individual you are familiar with, contact them.
- Resist demands to act quickly. Anyone presenting a legitimate request will allow you time to consider your response. If you feel under pressure, take some time — or turn it down.
- Never open attachments or click on links in emails or texts if words or images make you feel wary. You have nothing to lose by ignoring or deleting the email.
- Check for spelling and grammar errors. Some scams are good at imitating the communication style of reputable companies, but many scam correspondence will include obvious mistakes.
- Don’t share personal information. Scammers number one priority is to discover bank details and passwords. A legitimate business will never ask for such information via phone, text or email.
- It’s not secure. Always look for the https (not http) and the padlock icon in the address bar to ensure there’s a secure connection between you and the website. This is not a guarantee that it is legit, however, so do not rely on this alone, as some scam websites are beginning to use https too.
- Offers you something that sounds too good to be true. If online shopping deal, a prize for winning a competition that you have not entered, or an unclaimed gift card sounds good to be true, it probably is.
- Asks you to use a non-secure payment method. How are they asking you to pay? Scammers often ask you to pay by non-secure payment methods such as money orders, pre-loaded gift cards, and cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. These methods are difficult to track and difficult to recover. Always look for secure payment options such as PayPal or credit card.
Remember that scammers will:
- Try to gain trust by claiming to be from a well-known business or impersonating a known contact
- Suggest their own verification procedures, like going to websites they have created or calling numbers they provide to you
- Appeal to your emotions to get what they want
- Create a sense of urgency to get you to make decisions without thinking.
Remember that you have the right to be impolite and to be firm to keep yourself safe from scams. It’s perfectly fine to say no outright if you have a bad feeling about something. Bottom line, if you think it’s a scam, it probably is.
For more information: Read Fraud or Stickley on Security Articles, explore Mid Oregon’s Security and Fraud Center, visit the FTC’s Identity Theft Information Webpage
You can also check out the Preventing ID Theft: Information from our webinar, presented by the Digital Forensics Team at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.