Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way To Protect Your Assets
We sat down with a good friend recently and aside from the catching up and reconnecting, we had a long chat about their recent legal woes regarding their family’s assets. It turns out that her parents had a will that was over thirty years old. When they passed away, she was left with mountains of paperwork to sort through to determine where exactly all the family’s assets were located. She’s still not sure if she’s found everything and the reality is that she could be missing out on money that she could definitely use.
The moral of her story is this: A little planning in advance can save you (and your loved ones) a mountain of trouble (and paperwork) later on. So here are three important things you can do right now to secure your assets (or be proactive and help your parents secure theirs).
Step one: The most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your family’s assets is to contact an attorney and update your will. This should also include appointing guardians for your children, information about how you want your assets distributed, charitable donations, medical protocols, choosing your executor, as well as funeral arrangements. Some of this might seem morbid, but making your intentions clear will be a comfort to your loved ones.
Step two: Create an asset fact sheet. This is your way of communicating where to look for your assets should your executor or your beneficiaries need to locate anything. This should include the names of the financial institutions and account numbers, the locations and numbers of security deposit boxes, any deeds or property records, and any investment account information. For your privacy, you should NOT include any specific monetary amounts or contents. Think breadcrumbs and not whole loaves.
Step three: Communicate! Let your loved ones know that you’ve done this to provide for them. Whether you’ve placed your will and asset fact sheet in a security deposit box, entrusted it to your attorney, or keep it securely at home, inform your executor about where you’ve collected these documents and how to access them if they need to. Let them know that there’s a plan in place and when the time comes, it will be one less thing to worry about.
That’s it, three easy steps to make sure that your money goes where it’s supposed to, if you’re no longer around to make sure.
Rest in Peace-of-Mind,
Your Peak Potentials Team
P.S. We want to hear from you! Do you have an updated will? Do your parents have one? How will it feel to know that your family’s assets are protected?



October 12, 2011 



























