Podcast 109: Why Navigating Estate Planning for Retirement is Critical

As you approach retirement, have you given much thought to your estate planning? If not, this podcast episode is a must-listen! Join us as Gregory sits down with Wes Blanchard, a leading estate planning attorney, to discuss the importance of getting your affairs in order before it’s too late.

Wes shares real-life stories that highlight the dangers of procrastination and the consequences it can have on you and your loved ones. He’ll guide you through the key steps to protect your assets and ensure a smooth transition into your golden years, whether it’s setting up a will, establishing powers of attorney, or ensuring your financial affairs are in order.

Retirement is a time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, but without proper estate planning, you risk leaving behind a mess for your family to sort out. Tune in to this episode and gain the knowledge and confidence to help take control of your estate planning and help secure your future. Don’t wait until it’s too late – this podcast episode offers guidance on why taking control of your estate planning is crucial as you approach retirement!

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Investment advisory products and services made available through AE Wealth Management, LLC (AEWM), a Registered Investment Advisor. Neither the firm nor its agents or representatives may give tax or legal advice. Individuals should consult with a qualified professional for guidance before making any purchasing decisions. 02704682 – 12/24

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Estate Planning, Online Tools, Legal Zoom, Holistic Approach, Financial Professionals, Life Changes, Asset Management, Medical Decisions, Social Security, Life Expectancy, Family Conflicts, Inheritance Issues, Financial Advisor, Estate Plan, Proactive Planning

SPEAKERS

Gregory Ricks, Wes Blanchard

Gregory Ricks 00:04
Wes so we got Wes Blanchard here, which I think is one of the top estate planning firms in the country. He nails it on everything he does, and he’s serious about always being better at that. Welcome to the show Wes. How are you today?

Wes Blanchard 00:21
I’m doing very well. Thanks for having me, and I appreciate the kind words. I really do.

Gregory Ricks 00:26
Yeah, that’s one thing that I’ve liked, and I’ve have worked with other attorneys in the past from an estate planning standpoint, and that’s one thing I typically had the school and coached them and yourself is you just always bring it, you’re on top of it. You’ll even bring me ideas and stuff, and that’s tremendous, and always having the best interest of the client. Going forward, what are some of the things that are top of mind this week.

Wes Blanchard 01:01
Well, you know, I always, especially when I have the opportunity to be on the radio with you, and we’re talking to so many people at once, I like to bring in real stories, right? And, of course, we can’t disclose clients and things like that, but these are things that we see. And the reason I think that’s important, it folds right into what you were talking about. With me trying to stay on top of the ball, we’re trying to make clients lives a little bit easier. And sometimes that means, that means keeping them out of my office. You know, maybe we don’t need to see them as soon as, as soon as we actually end up seeing them. So, um, in in keeping with that, what we’ve seen over the last few weeks is some interesting stuff, but it’s a topic I think that we’ve touched on many times. Gosh, I’ve been on the radio, what Since 2017 or so with you, and maybe even earlier 2015 I believe so, almost 10 years incredible to stop and think about. But um, back to the topic. You know, it’s something we’ve talked about before. It’s, it’s getting your estate plan, I’d say halfway done using online tools, right? Legal Zoom is really what we’re targeting right now. And we had another instance of that this week, and it’s that estate planning always, always seems to be at the last second. It’s always something has shaken you in your life that wakes you up a little bit, opens your eyes and says, Oh, man, I have to go talk to Wes I have to go get this done. We don’t want that to be the case. Ideally, you come in, you get it taken care of. And I love this saying, because it’s an infomercial that, you know, I grew up watching, but that Ronco oven, you set it and forget it, right? That’s what I like to see. An estate plan that works that way. You keep it in mind as life changes, but you get it done early enough, and you say, hey, that’s out of the way. Let me go live the rest of my life. I like

Gregory Ricks 03:00
that an estate plan that set it and forget it, because it’s going to do a couple core things is to make sure who you care about most is taken care of, and that when it’s all set and done, everything sorted out, passed around and everybody gets along right, right?

Wes Blanchard 03:23
And that that comes with literal planning. That’s the planning. Part of estate planning is you have to get out ahead of it, right? You get into a situation, and you bring strategy to fix it, and then you go about your life. And so that’s a large part of it. And what you talked about before we went to the break was okay. How do we make sure that when Marge is at the end of her life, that we have enough assets? Well, that’s a two pronged approach. We want to make sure, from a legal perspective, that we have her state situated right. We have powers of attorney in place that enable people to continue to carry on her affairs, from a financial perspective, enable her loved ones to make the right medical decisions. From a financial planning perspective, you want to make sure that, hey, look, we’ve got money coming in for her on a monthly basis, right on top of her Social Security. We’ve got enough life insurance to know that the house is going to get paid off. The credit cards are going to get paid off. You know, we’ve, we’ve got her financially stable that if she needs to be in a long term care facility, well, look, we’ve got money in the market that we can pull out and take care of that for her, right? And that’s, that’s where, again, it comes back to that holistic approach that we’ve touched on a couple times today already. Is you have to have financial professionals that help you with this. This is not something you typically want to game plan for yourself. Maybe you can, maybe you’re that you know one and one in the rare number that that comes in and you you hit all the points, and you do a great job. Okay? But most people are going to need help with this kind of thing, and you don’t want. To come to the front door of these, these places at the very last second?

Gregory Ricks 05:06
Yeah, I agree with you there. One of my thoughts on that is somebody having money, but not no, not close family, but extended family that will have to step in and take care of things. And I had a conversation with a lady few years ago, and she really didn’t have anybody help. Husband had already passed. She had money, and I said, You are slowing down, and I’m worried about you. She said, Well, I want to remain in my home. I said, that’s not going to happen. I need you working on the plan for you transitioning. We’re talking about having wills, and one of my topics regarding that is we all think we have time to get it done. Yeah, okay, I’ll get to that later. I’m going to live a long time which we have a surprising death, and I and we see this from time to time. It seems like more often. And I just think, you know, when Social Security there Roosevelt, you know, enacted Social Security way back then, and what was the life expectancy of males and Social Security would turn on at age 62 back then, and they were really not expecting the average male to draw on Social Security, and females would not draw it for long. So those meaning, yeah, we expect you to die in your early 60s at the latest. And now average life expectancy is subject to IRS tables somewhere around late 70s, early 80s, but if you both make it to 65 men are living as a couple, we go and look you make it to 65 and do a reset on life expectancy. That takes you to late 80s, early 90s, male and female. There with that said, I was kind of surprised by this long time New Orleans sports reporter and broadcast television anchor Ed Daniels died at age 67 on Friday. Daniels suffered an apparent heart attack while covering the New Orleans Saints training camp in irvine california. He was flown back to New Orleans, where he later died at an area hospital. This is not the first time I’ve seen that and not been surprised. I know people personally that all of a sudden they had a heart situation and died days later, or they just collapse. I always kind of state the most dangerous thing we do every day, and Wes, I’ll ask you this, did you walk here today? No, I drove. You drove? You know, a lot of people die in car accidents. It happens every day, and you’ve got to be defensive and look out for others, because others clearly aren’t looking out for you. I had two people, and I’ll define it as try to hit me yesterday, and it was just and there are, one was I was moving on to the interstate, but they were merging off, and did they not even bother looking, because they were coming right into me. So I break, got on the horn, and then let them move on, like whatever I had to be defensive, or I was going to be on the side the road waiting for law enforcement to deal with an auto accident, and that was twice, within an hour that happened there that I had to be aware and avoid an accident. So with that said, we think we have a lot of time, and then we don’t. So one of my phrases is regarding that, or if I’m at a public event, I say, and you’re going to get back in your car and drive home from here. What if you died on the way home? How would your estate plan look? Is your spouse taken care of? You know, is there a plan for this? Is there a plan for the income? Is there going to be financial problems you’re leaving behind, or, even worse, is everybody going to get into a fight over it and argue and then be litigated? From that standpoint, and that’s one reason I speak more bluntly about that, because the question is, because I you don’t have any time, because it can happen at any time, you know, heck, based on my family history and how proactive I’m on health, you know, I’m going to be around a long time from a health standpoint, and want to be around unless something happens that takes me out. So I like people to look at it. Wes, what if you died today? How would it look? Your thoughts?

Wes Blanchard 10:39
Yeah, well, quickly, just want to give well wishes, obviously, to Ed Daniels, his family. I’m a huge sports fan. I think people who listen to show know that grew up with him on the airwaves. And, you know, he brought a lot of joy to us, to me in particular, I watched him for a very long time. He’s great at what he did, but you know, just obviously, if you’re any kind of sports fan locally, you know who he is, and it’s sad to see him go. So we can wish his family Well, looking at the estate planning perspective, yeah, it’s tough, because situations just like that, you have to understand that you don’t always see it coming. It coming. It could be an auto accident. It could be something like a heart attack. You just don’t know when. And so estate plan cancer, right?

Gregory Ricks 11:26
And then they say, yeah, get you a I’ve heard this several times this year too, where somebody says, yeah, they told me to get my fares in order. Yeah, if there’s a bucket list thing, you better get to doing it because you don’t have law,

Wes Blanchard 11:41
that’s it. And so, you know, in that that situation, you have some time to get something together. But let’s be clear, estate planning oftentimes can be a process. There are times where you can come in and look, you’re in and out of my office in a few hours, or we talk on the phone once, and we meet and sign. You know, a couple of days later that happens as well. But if you have a large estate, a complex estate, you have assets in different areas, different states, we have to start working on that. That all takes time, and so when that bell rings, time is no longer on your side. And I’d love to see statistic. I don’t know if it’s capable of being calculated at the level of procrastination for estate planning, it’s got to be up there with one of the highest daily lifelong things that’s procrastinated. Right? We’re all going to go out and cut our grass every day because the grass grows. Right? No one really procrastinates that. Estate planning always, always seems to be at the last second. It’s always something has shaken you in your life that wakes you up a little bit, opens your eyes and says, Oh, man, I have to go talk to Wes I have to go get this done. We don’t want that to be the case. Ideally, you come in, you get it taken care of. And I love this saying, because it’s an infomercial that, you know, I grew up watching, but that Ronco oven, you set it and forget it, right? That’s what I like to see, an estate plan that works that way. You keep it in mind as life changes, but you get it done early enough, and you say, hey, that’s out of the way. Let me go live the rest of my life.

Gregory Ricks 13:22
I like that an estate plan that set it and forget it, because it’s going to do a couple core things, is to make sure who you care about most is taken care of, and that when it’s all said and done, everything sorted out, passed around, and everybody gets along right,

Wes Blanchard 13:45
right? And that that comes with literal planning. That’s the planning. Part of estate planning is you have to get out ahead of it, right? You get into a situation, and you bring strategy to fix it, and then you go about your life. And so that’s a large part of it. And what you talked about before we went to the break was, okay, how do we make sure that when Marge is at the end of her life, that we have enough assets? Well, that’s a two pronged approach. We want to make sure, from a legal perspective, that we have her state situated right. We have powers of attorney in place that enable people to continue to carry on her affairs from a financial perspective, enable her loved ones to make the right medical decisions. From a financial planning perspective, you want to make sure that, hey, look, we’ve got money coming in for her on a monthly basis, right on top of her Social Security. We’ve got enough life insurance to know that the house is going to get paid off, the credit cards are going to get paid off. You know, we’ve, we’ve got her financially stable that if she needs to be in a long term care facility. Well, look, we’ve got money in the market that we can pull out and take care of that for her, right? And that’s, that’s where, again, it comes back to that holistic approach that we’ve touched on a couple times today. Already is you have to have financial professionals that help you with this. This is not something you typically want to game plan for yourself. Maybe you can. Maybe you’re that, you know one and one in the rare number that comes in, and you you hit all the points, and you do a great job. Okay? But most people are gonna need help with this kind of thing, and you don’t want to come to the front door of these, these places at the very last second.

Gregory Ricks 15:29
Yeah, I agree with you that I’ve got I read this this morning and I said, Oh my gosh, this is interesting here, because this can go two different ways, but I Epoch Times here. I read this this morning and prep for the show and and it’s a Dave Ramsey article, but usually I don’t share his stuff, but this is scenario that really ties into estate planning, says, Dear Dave, I’m 32 and and debt free. Except for my house, my grandmother passed away a couple months ago, and her family and her will has caused problems for my family. I was on her. I was her only relative living in the same town as she got older, so I looked in on her and helped her Take care. Take care of her because she didn’t want to go into a care facility. In her will, she left everything her house and her property, along with about 300,000 to me, some of my relatives said they deserve something. Two have even accused me of wanting everything she had and turning my grandmother against them. I don’t like what’s happening, but I’m not sure what to do. I never asked her for anything. Sign Jeffrey, now before I read his response, which is really good spot on, we’ve seen this go the other way, where there is manipulation, and that happens and and people get cut out. We’ve talked about that in the past and seen that, but also we’ve seen this on the other end to step in and help. So here’s what Dave responded, dear Jeffrey, I hate it when things get ugly between family members, especially at a time when everyone should be pulling together and supporting each other. I’m sorry you’re going through all this. Let me ask you a question, Did you love your grandmother? It sounds to me like you did a lot. It takes a special person to step in and help the way you did. I think it’s pretty obvious she loved you, too. When a person dies, you can give their belongings to anyone they choose. It was your grandmother’s stuff, so it was her decision period. She could have spread it around among you and the rest of your family, but she didn’t do that. She had her reasons, and her final wishes were that were just that her final wishes, no one in your family, even you, deserved anything from her. I thought that was a great line. Once again, no one deserved anything from her. So when when money’s left behind, it is all a gift, because it’s that person’s money. They built it. It’s theirs, and it’s a choice of what to do with it when they’re gone. I know this is a hard position for you to be in, Jeffrey, this has probably crossed your mind, so I’ll go ahead and say it, generally speaking, it’s possible to transfer part of your inheritance to someone else, even if it’s not specified in the will or trust. Keep in mind, you might need court approval for such a transfer, depending on the jurisdiction, jurisdiction and specific family circumstances. Or you can let anyone who has a problem with your grandmother’s decision contest the will. Of course, one possible outcome is that you might have to spend some money. She left fighting them in court. The lady left. What she left, there’s there’s no more. It was her house, her property, her money. The others aren’t entitled to what she had, just because they’re related or they want it. He even suggests, if you go to church, I’d advise you spend some time talking with your pastor about the situation you’ve got a lot. Folks mad at you right now, and I think you might benefit from some kind words and objective point of view. He also recommend that sitting down with a good financial planner, someone with the heart of a teacher, and talk about how to best handle the new found inheritance. Regardless of your decision, it’s always best to have a plan and be prepared, as I was reading it this morning, before I got to his suggestion, that was one of my thoughts, is share it, yeah, with some of those.

Wes Blanchard 20:37
I think that is always going to be situation specific. It sounds to me like the person who wrote in is probably very well open to that idea because they don’t like the family strife that this has caused. And it sounds to me like they would prefer just to level it out and get back to where things were before grandma died, that being said. You know, grandma left you with that option because she gave it all to you. She knew that either you would understand that she felt like you were the best person to have it, or that you would take time and decide what was best for everybody. And I think it’s a great point. I’m glad you kind of underlined that portion of the story. You’re not entitled to anything from anybody. This is that’s not the world we live in. You don’t deserve anything from anybody who’s passing away. That’s not how that works. If you’re taking care of your parents or your grandparents with the underlying expectation that you’re going to get repaid for this on the back end, you need to reassess your thought process as a person you do, you need to be doing that out of the goody heart now if you’re spending money, okay, maybe you do keep track of that, and you say, Look, when, when things happen, and then she passes on, you know, I’ve spent a lot of money making sure that she’s comfortable. Cannot at least get repaid for that. That’s completely reasonable. It is, right. But if, if we’re talking a step beyond that, where you feel like you’re now entitled or deserve a part of the estate for your efforts. Yeah, you probably should go talk to your pastor. You need to talk to somebody. Because if you’re talking to yourself, you’re in an echo chamber. That’s, that’s the wrong place to be. And I think that’s, a good perspective to have with the outside looking in on estates. We’ve seen surprises happen in estate planning. I’ve helped plenty of clients, and I hate to say it this way, but I’ve helped them design those surprises. But they have their reasons. Like the article said, they have their reasons to do what they did, and sometimes that comes as a shock to the person it’s impacting, but again, it rolls right back to the idea that you don’t deserve and you’re not entitled to anything from anyone.

Gregory Ricks 23:11
Yeah, that’s really good article.

Wes Blanchard 23:17
It’s very interesting,

Gregory Ricks 23:18
yeah, and one of the things I see where he would like this to be smoothed out, and one of my thoughts is it ain’t never going to get back to the way it was, right? It’s not so accept that. But with that said, let’s see if we can smooth this out. He was not expecting to inherit money, right? But he he has. But how do you kind of smooth things out with that and and I think that’s where a financial advisor for a sounding board, at least needs to be involved. And counsel, probably an attorney as well, because somebody, if they’re very they might choose to litigate, they’re going to waste their time based on, it sounds like this is a done deal, but to smooth this out, and it might not be the money they want, and they might, and some of them might, well that’s that should all go to our side, or something like that. They’re all going to have their take, but can you smooth it out to where things are okay? Probably never going to get back to perfect, but see what they think they should have and find a middle ground. Yeah, yeah. So that was my thought, ugly situation to be in, but that’s where, when you’re doing a state plan and doing a will and a trust, you got to step outside the box and think about that going forward, and if not, and that’s even if you’re not going to be fair, that’s. One thing I talk about is signal them with what’s coming.

Wes Blanchard 25:09
Yep, lay the groundwork. Lay the groundwork because it makes life a little bit easier. You’re not going to be here to witness the fight or to referee. Yeah,

Gregory Ricks 25:17
one of the core things is so everybody gets along, and if it isn’t going to be balanced and somebody might be hurt, well, signal it to them. Yeah, tell them. Tell them. Why have them mad at you, not other members of the family, right there. So I that’s a really strong article to finish up with you on on the show today. So what another thing we do at the firm? And I wrote this down here. So remember, we nudge people continuously. If they don’t have this estate planning, handle it comes up, and we give a nudge. Keep reminding, get this handled. What’s the steps to go forward? If somebody’s like, Okay, y’all got my attention. I need to get started.

Wes Blanchard 26:03
Yeah, look, we try to give you a plethora of options, right? You can always call Greg’s office 504832 9200, that’s inclined in my mind, but you can call my office directly to 504-500-8473 visit either one of our websites, and that’ll get you linked up with with our our intake folks, and get you on the calendar and things like that. So, you know, we again, we try to make ourselves accessible. We’re not one of these firms where you’re going to call in and, you know, you never get to meet with me. Now you’re going to meet with me. We’re going to talk you and I, and we’ll get your problems sorted out.

Gregory Ricks 26:41
Awesome. Thank you for being here today. This was a really great show at the.

Disclosure  23:31

Investment advisory products and services are made available through AE Wealth Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Insurance products are offered through the insurance business Gregory Ricks and Associates, Inc, a wealth management does not offer insurance products. The insurance products offered by Gregory Ricks and Associates, Inc, are not subject to investment advisor requirements. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal, any references to protection, safety or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strengths and claims of the paying ability of the issuing Carrier. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used as a sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual situation. Gregory Erickson Associates is not permitted to offer and no statement made during the show shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with nor endorsed by the US government or any other governmental agency. The Information and opinions contained herein provided by third parties have been obtained by sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed by Gregory Ricks and Associates. Please remember that converting an employer plan account to a Roth IRA is a taxable event. Increase in taxable income from the Roth IRA conversion may have several consequences, including, but not limited to a need for additional tax withholdings or estimated tax payments the loss of certain tax deductions and credits and higher taxes on Social Security benefits and higher Medicare premiums, be sure to consult with a qualified tax advisor before making any decisions with your IRA, neither a wealth management or advisors providing investor. Investment advisory services through AE Wealth Management recommend or facilitate the buying or selling of cryptocurrencies. Third parties and guests of the show are not affiliated with nor do their opinions reflect those of Gregory Ricks and associates or AE wealth management. Ae Wealth Management provides services without regard to political affiliation, and the views of individual advisors do not necessarily reflect the views of AE wealth management. We are ask Gregory.