Most of us welcome spring, which means flowers, green grass, and getting the kids outside to play. But one thing about spring that no one welcomes is the threat of severe storms and tornadoes.
Here in Ohio, we just had a day of ongoing threats. Everyone was on high alert. At times like these, our instincts are always to do what we can to protect our loved ones. Calling our aging parents to ensure they can take shelter if needed; texting an adult child to remind them to be “weather aware.” Caring about and protecting our loved ones in times of potential danger is natural. I wish more folks would apply that same concern to their personal affairs. By that, I mean, do they have a will, at minimum, and even better, an estate plan that is complete and up-to-date? While an estate plan can benefit you during your lifetime, in the event you become incapacitated, for example, for the most part, we consider it to be of primary benefit to our loved ones after we’re gone.
Stay with me here … I’m about to tie all this together for you.
You know, using the latest storm tracker technology, forecasters can now accurately pinpoint when and where a tornado will touch down (within a compressed window of course). I’m sure that technology has saved thousands of lives. Unfortunately, there isn’t technology to forecast other unexpected events like when your house will be struck by lightning, when you’ll have a heart attack, or even when you will die. If we had that ability, I think we would conduct our lives very differently. We wouldn’t buy homeowners or healthcareinsurance until we knew for sure we needed it. And we wouldn’t draft a will until we knew the date we would die.
But that technology doesn’t exist. None of us knows what tomorrow holds, be it a natural disaster, a healthcare emergency, or even our own death. If we accept that, we can then better understand how important it is to do what we can to protect our loved ones. To be as ready as possible. I’m confident you have your estate plan, but just a tiny nudge here … when was the last time you looked it over to see if it needs any updates? Remember, an out-of-date plan can be almost as problematic as no plan at all.
In summary, speaking of being prepared, I discovered a good resource. Here is the link https://www.ready.gov/kit. You might find it useful. It provides a recommended list of items you should have on hand as we enter storm season. It’s always good to do what we can to protect our loved ones right?
Best Regards,
David H. Lefton
