Thinking about the end of life, or the possibility of a debilitating illness, isn’t enjoyable - but it is part of our financial planning process. Clients are generally excited to talk about investment planning and the prospect of retirement, but are often reluctant to address how their loved ones will be cared for or how assets will be distributed upon their death.
For the August 2011 issue of Financial Planning Magazine, Martin Shenkman explored how advisors approach estate planning in their relationships with clients. Our president, Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, shared our philosophy:
“We work holistically. Estate planning is always part of what we address for clients. Estate planning is defined as the process of getting resources to where you want them to go with the least cost and least problem.”
Shenkman points out that estate planning begins with a conversation, and Marilyn agreed. “People don’t like doing estate planning,” Capelli Dimitroff says. “It is amazing how many people put it off. They don’t want to deal with it. Clients come to us for investment planning and financial planning, and we can slip in the estate planning discussion. We’ll open the conversation with the client by asking them about how they want their finances handled if they cannot function or after they pass away. We also get a complete set of documents, scan them and read them to get a sense of what happens at death under any existing plan.”
