It’s often said that most people don’t have an estate plan. And this is true, as the majority of Americans haven’t done their planning yet.
But the key thing to remember is that this doesn’t mean no one wants an estate plan or that no one understands how valuable it is. Most of these people will tell you that they are going to make a plan, but they haven’t done it yet. So the issue is simply that people are putting it off. Why are they doing that?
They think they should do it when they’re older
First off, some people will put off estate planning because they simply think they don’t need to do it yet. They imagine making an estate plan after they retire or when they get closer to the end of their life. But you can never really predict when your family may need that estate plan, so it usually makes sense to plan in advance. For example, people of all ages can become incapacitated and not be able to make decisions for themselves, which means that a power of attorney could benefit someone in their 20s.
They want to acquire more assets
There are also people who say that they simply don’t have enough assets or enough wealth right now to make an estate plan. They think that they need to be in a higher income bracket or have more possessions to pass on to their children. But you can certainly make an estate plan today and update it as your wealth increases. Many people who own things like property or retirement accounts may not realize they are already in a position to begin estate planning.
They don’t know how to begin
Finally, a lot of people want to make an estate plan, but they don’t know how to get started. This makes it easy to procrastinate and put it off for another day. But the truth is that doing this significantly increases the odds of passing away without an estate plan. That’s why it’s so important to look into the steps that you can take. You may find that estate planning is not nearly as difficult as you assumed.