Most of my clients are not afraid of dying. They are afraid of becoming incapacitated and needing long-term care. You carry car insurance, home insurance, health insurance, without planning to crash, burn, or get sick, because the law requires it. Life insurance is not required, so most people do not have it. But life insurance, and an estate plan, are how you provide for your children when you cannot. That is why I say estate planning is an act of love.
What I Said
From my September 10 Parents Edition workshop at the Cambria Hotel in Calabasas, lightly edited for readability.
Most planning is for death, but as I mentioned before, most of my clients are not afraid of dying.
Most people are afraid to become incapacitated, to have that long-term care need, and you must plan for that. We all must plan for that, like we plan for our... You know, we have car insurance. We're not planning on getting into a car accident, right? We have home insurance. And we have health insurance. We're not planning on getting sick. But all three of those mentioned are required by law. That's why we have all that.
Everything else, like life insurance, is not required by law. That's why most people don't have it.
Anyone here has life insurance?
When we have life insurance, that's the way of expressing your love, because if I'm not here, not being able to provide income support for my children, then I know that they will... that in substitution of me. The same as the estate plan. If I'm not here, at least I have a say how, on what terms, my kids will receive certain things, who will take care of them, and how everything will be managed if I'm not here. That's the way of expressing your love. That's why I have this whole... Estate planning is an act of love.
The full talk, written down: Who Picks Up Your Child From School if You Never Come Home?
More on this topic: Estate Planning
More From the Workshop
- Estate Planning Is an Act of Love
- Blended Families: The Surviving Spouse Owns the Whole House
- I Named My Daughter Successor Trustee at 18. Most Parents Should Not.
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