Proper estate planning is one of the most important elements of a complete financial plan and often the most overlooked. Roughly half of my new clients either have no estate plan or an incomplete plan or an outdated plan. My two guests to discuss the issues are Ryan Barrett, a member of both the State Bar of California and Utah State Bar, and Mike Piper, CPA.

Ryan is an estate planning attorney who began his legal career in southern California ten years ago after obtaining a Juris Doctor as well as a Master of Business Administration from a concurrent program at Pepperdine Law and Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. Mike is the author of the popular blog “Oblivious Investor” at ObliviousInvestor.com and the creator of the free Open Social Security calculator at OpenSocialSecurity.com. He is also the author of several books on taxes, investing, and Social Security, and now a new book, After the Death of Your Spouse: Next Financial Steps for Surviving Spouses.

This podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free forum at Bogleheads.org and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities around the country. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added on a regular basis. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.