Assets, instructions and intentions
Legacy & Estate Planning
This is about organization, not paperwork for its own sake: who receives what, who decides what, and whether anyone knows where any of it is written down.
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Two different words
Legacy vs estate.
They get used interchangeably. They are not the same thing, and confusing them is why some plans cover the money perfectly and leave everything else undecided.
Legacy
- Broader than money
- Values, intentions and what you want remembered
- Support you want to make possible for people or causes
- Conversations, not only documents
Estate planning
- Organizing legal and financial instructions
- Who receives assets, and how
- Who may act on your behalf if you cannot
- Documents prepared and reviewed by qualified legal professionals
Key pieces
What people usually mean by “getting it in order”.
High-level explanations only. Which of these are appropriate depends entirely on your situation and applicable law.
Designations on retirement accounts and insurance policies naming who receives them.
A legal document setting out instructions for assets that pass through the estate.
Legal arrangements some families use to hold and direct assets under specific terms.
Authority for someone to act on financial or legal matters if you cannot.
Instructions about medical care and who may make decisions on your behalf.
How an account is held can affect how it transfers.
May support beneficiaries and wealth-transfer goals.
Life insuranceDesignations available on certain accounts that direct them to named people.
Your Financial 360° does not prepare legal documents or provide legal advice. Wills, trusts and other legal documents should be prepared and reviewed by appropriately licensed legal professionals.
The part that surprises people
Beneficiary designations can override other intentions.
Depending on the account type and applicable law, a beneficiary designation on a retirement account or insurance policy generally controls who receives that asset — regardless of what a will says.
That is why an out-of-date designation is not a small clerical issue. A form completed on a first day of work in a previous decade can quietly direct a significant asset to someone the rest of the plan never intended.
Primary and contingent beneficiaries are separate fields. Many accounts have one filled in and the other blank.
Pause and check
Assumptions worth double-checking.
Does your will (if you have one) still match the family you actually have?
Do your accounts know who gets them, or does a court decide?
Does anyone besides you know where any of this paperwork lives?
Most people assume the answer is yes to all three. Most people are wrong about at least one.
Common mistakes
Six that come up repeatedly.
Designations that no longer match the family or intentions that exist today.
Without one, distribution generally follows state law rather than your preferences.
Different assets transfer by different mechanisms, and they do not always agree.
A perfect plan nobody can find is difficult for a family to act on.
Accounts, photos, subscriptions and business logins are often unaddressed entirely.
Marriage, divorce, a death, a birth or a business change all warrant a review.
Legacy questions worth sitting with
- Beyond assets, what do I want the people I love to understand or carry forward?
- Is there a cause, community or person I want to support in some way?
- Would my family know my wishes about medical care if I could not express them?
- Do the beneficiary designations on every account still reflect what I intend today?
- Does anyone I trust know where my documents and account information are kept?
- Have I reviewed any of this since the last major change in my life?
- Is there a conversation I have been meaning to have and keep postponing?
Educational information only. Not legal or tax advice. Estate and beneficiary rules vary by state and by account type.
Your next step
Review My Legacy Plan
Nine short questions to see which parts are already organized and which are still assumptions.