It’s a funny thing about wills, almost everyone will tell you they’re important, but less than half of adults in the U.S. have one. Do you have will paralysis?Maybe you just don’t know the right questions to ask. Today, we welcome financial advisor Ron Blue to find out how to overcome the fear of making out a will.Ron Blue has many long years of helping folks align their finances with God’s principles for managing money.
Then we’ll take your calls at 800-525-7000.
A will is like a road map. We don’t use them so often these days with GPS, but you may remember drawing a map for someone to find their way to your house.Your will is the financial map your friends and relatives can use to distribute your estate assets according to your desires.
Drafting a will is important, but it’s rarely urgent. Most of us would sooner spend the time and money paying our bills than we would making a will. But in the grand scheme of things, a will is more important than your electric bill.
If the power company cuts off your electricity, it won't take you long to identify the past-due bill as your more urgent problem. Unfortunately, most of us only act on the "urgent" things in life, waiting until the "important" things become immediate problems before we attend to them. You can live forever without a willbut if you die without one, your family will have an urgent, immediate problem.
If you die without a will, the state you live in will essentially provide one for you through the probate court. If that happens, you can be sure you'll owe a hefty sum in taxes, administrative fees, and other expenses.
Apart from an unwillingness to accept our own mortality, the single greatest contributor to will paralysis is the fact that we do not understand how to make a will. Most people who have wills only draft or revise them a few times in their lives, so the task almost always represents a new, unfamiliar experience.
Proverbs 13:22 says that "a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children." Instead of balking at the seemingly strange or difficult task of making a will, break the job down into manageable steps. Drafting a will can be divided into two main components: your job and that of your professional financial planner or attorney.
Consider leaving assets to your children via a trust, which their guardians may use until they finish college or reach a certain age. At that point, the assets in the trust could be distributed between the children and charities.
As your children grow, you may have less of a need to leave your assets in a trust, other than for tax planning purposes. Some people, though, appreciate the security and protection a trust can offer, no matter how old their children are.
es, while our children and grandchildren typically receive the majority of our estate assets, other family members and friends may have played an important role in your life or they may have a particular need you would like to meet through your estate.
When you die, you will have the opportunity to give amounts that would have been impossible during your lifetime.While the Bible doesn’t address this question directly, the scriptural guidelines for giving indicate that, at the minimum, you could tithe through your estate documents. In other words, ten percent (or more) of your assets could go to charity.
Ron Blue has been our guest today. You can read more about simplifying the will-making process in his book,Generous Living.
Here are a couple of questions we answered from our callers on today’s program:
I have been paying for years for accidental life insurance. Should I continue this?
I am retired and have a retirement account. Is there any way to take a substantial buyout without a tax cut?
Ask your questions at (800) 525-7000 or email them [email protected]. Visit our website atMoneyWise.orgwhere you can connect with a MoneyWise Coach, purchase books, and even download free, helpful resources like the MoneyWise app.
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