The number one problem with estate planning

The number one problem I hear from friends who are estate planning attorneys… getting started. Because who wants to talk about death, unknown and unfamiliar laws, and potentially wrecking their kids? Starting then is hard. The number one issue. Not starting. 

True story. I met with a couple. They were sharp, kind, successful and quite friendly. They wanted to talk through legacy issues. Their net worth grew over their career—much more than they thought it ever would. I asked what documents they had in place. They shared an awkward glance, “well… we sat down with the attorney but never signed.” 

When was this?

1985. 

Starting is not easy. 

Let me toss out an idea my wife had about the 10-minute clean. We struggle with four little kids to clean our house. We love to simply live most of the time and like many of you, don’t like to stop all the time and grab the little stuff. We end up cleaning in big swoops. Getting started isn’t easy. 

One day my wife said, let’s commit to clean for ten minutes. That’s it.  She set the timer and once we got past that curve of laziness, we were on a roll. Once the timer hit we were in our groove and didn’t want to stop until it was done.  

That might not work for you, or you could be one of those clean people. I don’t know. But what I do know is this. Starting can be tough. If you make a commitment to simply starting that is a good chunk of the battle.

I’ll keep this post shorter than typical, so you can grab your calendar and mark out 30 minutes to start on this stuff. Who do you need to call? What do you need to write down? What is next? 

Ready? Go.