How are your 2016 New Year’s resolutions coming along? Whatever your goals or objectives are, hopefully you’ve taken at least one small step to achieving them. If you haven’t, it’s not too late!
A theme that’s common to many New Year’s resolutions involves planning. Saving money, managing time more efficiently, even losing weight — the success of any goal under these very broad categories involves thinking ahead and planning.
Planning does not come naturally for some. It’s so much easier to look at the next few hours than it is to look well into the future — 5, 10, 20, 40 years down the road. It’s even more difficult for some to think about what will happen when a death occurs, either of someone close or, yes, even your own. In any event, planning ahead, at least to some degree, is in everyone’s best interest.
Estate planners challenge their clients to plan ahead. Asset management, tax planning, and providing for loved ones are very common concepts that are typically addressed in the estate planning process.
As many of you are aware, I’ve used this blog platform to discuss relevant topics to estate and tax planning. My challenge for this year is to provide a discussion forum for those seeking to learn more about estate planning. While this forum will not, in any way, provide legal advice that is specific to anyone’s circumstance, it allows those who are interested in learning about the process to take the first step. I repeat: there is no substitute to reviewing your specific circumstances with a professional who can address your needs. Nonetheless, hopefully the information learned from the topics discussed here will prompt further conversations with the professionals who attend to your estate and tax planning needs.
My challenge to you is to engage in the conversation in whatever way you wish.
To begin, I’d like to refer to an article I posted some time ago: Estate Planning: Do I Need It? This article addresses the following topics: four myths that have plagued the meaning of estate planning, five reasons why everyone should pursue some form of estate planning and a general definition of the various components of the estate planning process. Read it through and tell me what you think.
Finally, it is my hope that the information you learn here will facilitate conversations with your trusted professionals, friends, colleagues and loved ones regarding your estate planning goals and objectives.
Stay tuned every Wednesday for further topics!
About the author:
Christopher Floss is an associate attorney at Hoogendoorn & Talbot LLP, a law firm based in Chicago. Chris concentrates his practice on matters pertaining to estate planning, tax compliance and planning, and estate administration. For more information on the content of this article or on his practice, you may contact Chris at cfloss@htlaw.com or by telephone at 312–786–2250.
Planning Your Future 