The vast majority of people don’t even start thinking about planning their estates until they reach retirement age.  If that’s your plan then you’re making at least two mistakes:

1. (1) You are gambling that nothing will go wrong until you’re ready to plan; and
2. (2) You are severely limiting what you can accomplish with your estate planning.

We all know that we will eventually die but understandably it’s an uncomfortable subject for all but the most morbid among us.  The problem is that having the “I know it’s something I should do but I’m still young and I don’t want to think about it right now” or “I know I need it, but I don’t have time right now so I’ll just wait until next year” philosophies will leave you family in a world of pain after you’re gone.  Emotionally for all of the obvious reasons, but also financially and legally because of the probate procedures that anyone without a well executed estate plan has to go through.

Life rarely happens exactly as most people anticipate: people have children without getting married, people get divorced, they marry more than once, then again, they may never marry or have children.  Real life is full of options, choices and twists of fate.  In short, it’s life.

You have to be prepared for the unknown and provide for your loved ones who depend on you in case you’re not around.  Every time we leave our homes and get in our cars, we are at risk of being in a car accident.  Sorry, but that’s the reality.  The point is that nobody is immune from the unknown or unplanned; accidents can happen to anyone and you have to be prepared for those unknown eventualities.  So how do you plan for the unknown?  Well there’s always insurance – every insurance agent on the planet will tell you to buy their insurance to plan for the unknown.

Here’s the rub, insurance, in and of itself is limited.  My auto insurance isn’t going to do a thing for me when the next big earthquake hit’s California causing a Giant Redwood Tree to lose a gargantuan branch.  This branch will then hurtle to earth at astronomical speeds and land perfectly on the little toe on my left foot causing much pain and a trip to the emergency room. After reviewing my auto insurance policy, I will unfortunately confirm that I’m out of luck getting my insurance company to pay for an “act of God” never mind that I wasn’t in my car at the time of the incident.

Remember … life happens and no one can predict it. This is one of the reasons why estate planning is the best and most inexpensive long term insurance coverage that you can ever buy.  We can’t plan for everything specifically, but we can have a solid plan for every eventuality.  For example, if that tree hit my toe and I was in such unbelievable pain that I couldn’t communicate (as would likely be the case because I have a child like tolerance for pain), the person I’ve selected as my Health Care Agent could tell the doctors what to do about my toe!  Excellent, that’s one less worry keeping me up at night.  What would I have done without my little toe?  Which little piggy would have gone “wee, wee, wee all the way home?”  Thank goodness for estate planning.

We take precautions to try and extend our lives for as long as possible. We make sure our cars are in working order.  We eat healthier foods, exercise, and have regular checkups.  And as a result of certain global events we have all become more aware of our surroundings and any threats to our security.  There are no guarantees in life, but we are doing the best we can.

The key issue then becomes: what if that is not enough?  What if you don’t make it to the end of the “normal” road of life?  What would happen to your loved ones if you died today?  Will there be enough money to provide for them the way you would want?  Will they even be able to get to the assets you leave behind or will your assets be tied up in courts, held ransom by the painfully slow probate process that can take up to 12-16 months or more (keeping in mind your assets are tied up in the probate court this entire time)?  How much will they really get (probate in CA can cost up to 5% of the entire value of your estate)?

Wouldn’t it be better to make sure that the people you care about will be taken care of the way you want no matter what happens during your life?  Of course it would.

You could gamble and wait until the last possible minute to plan your estate.  You could be like those people who make estate-planning decisions from their deathbeds in the hospital.  But do you really want to be making some of the most important decisions of your life that will affect your family’s future, potentially for generations, in that kind of condition?  Wouldn’t it be better to put a plan in place now and then have the rest of your life to think about it, polish and fine tune it until it’s exactly what you want?  Remember, estate planning is a process and not an event; you can always make changes to your plan whenever you want.  Frankly having any plan in place is better than having no plan in place.

Planning your estate now doesn’t mean you will die tomorrow, just as buying life insurance doesn’t mean you’re getting ready to die nor does buying homeowner’s insurance mean your house will burn down tomorrow.  So if you act now, you won’t have to worry about what could happen to your family if your life doesn’t follow the normal progression…or about making bad decisions at the last second when you’ve run out of time.

It’s called peace of mind…and you can have it and you certainly deserve it.  So, when’s the best time to plan your estate? Now!