October 30, 2025 • 25 mins
Do you believe an estate-planning myth? In this episode of Retirement Roadmap, Mark Fricks and Evan Fricks break down the most common misconceptions that cause even “well-prepared” families to face chaos when it matters most. From outdated wills to unfunded trusts and missing powers of attorney, they expose the hidden gaps that can make your plan collapse when your family needs it most.
Drawing from decades of hands-on retirement and estate-planning experience, Mark and Evan explain why estate planning isn’t a one-and-done event or something only the wealthy need. They reveal how fast-changing laws, family structures, and digital assets can render old documents useless—and why routine updates are essential for keeping your plan effective.
You’ll learn:
- Why every estate plan must be reviewed at least every three years
- The difference between wills, trusts, and beneficiary coordination
- How to avoid probate mistakes and unfunded-trust disasters
- The importance of naming both short- and long-term guardians for minor children
- Why healthcare directives and powers of attorney are vital for every adult
- How communication and family meetings prevent conflict and confusion
The truth is simple: an outdated or incomplete estate plan can undo decades of careful saving and create unnecessary taxes, delays, and heartache. With clear planning and open communication, you can give your family the gift of preparation—not a legal mess.
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Call 770-980-9262 to speak directly with someone about your retirement planning needs.
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Advisory services offered through MasterPlan Retirement Consultants, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor in the state of Georgia. Insurance, tax and commodities services offered through Fricks and Associates, Inc. dba MasterPlan Retirement Consultants. The aforementioned are affiliated companies.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
All matters discussed during this show are
for informational purposes only.
Each individual's situation mayvary, and the opinions expressed
here may not apply to everyone.
Materials presented are believedto be from reliable sources, and
no representations can be madeas to its accuracy.
All ideas and information shouldbe discussed in detail with one
of our qualified representativesprior to implementation.
Advisory services offered byMaster Plan Retirement
Consultants, a registeredinvestment advisor in the state
(00:22):
of Georgia.
Mark Fricks and Master PlanRetirement Consultants are not
affiliated with or endorsed bythe Social Security
Administration or any othergovernment agency.
SPEAKER_02 (00:30):
Do you believe an estate planning myth?
Hey folks, welcome back andthank you for joining us.
Welcome to Retirement Roadmapwith Master Plan Retirement
Consultants.
My name is Evan.
With me as always, RetirementPlanner Mark Fricks.
Today we'll be discussing commonestate planning myths and
shedding light on the trueimportance of a complete estate
(00:51):
plan.
These are not just harmlessmyths.
They can cause your estate planto fall apart when your family
may need it the most.
Mark, how often do we seeincomplete or non-existent
estate plans?
SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
All the time.
(01:51):
Yes, okay.
Lifetime for the can.
Yeah, they say tax laws arepermanent too.
So that's right.
Yeah, of course that's a myth.
And you may have some somenumbers or whatever, but um
lives change.
Um laws change, needs change,families change.
Um, you know, clients of ours,we I I go back at every probably
(02:13):
every third annual review andjust go back and check the
documents with them, check thebeneficiaries, make sure they're
still lined up, what's happenedsince then.
Uh so I I would say at leastevery three years they need to
be re-examined.
Uh also, have you added newaccounts and maybe you didn't do
the beneficiaries correctly?
Things like that.
There's so many different thingsthat can go on.
Uh, we had some major rulechanges here in Georgia back in
(02:35):
2018 concerning health caredirectives or or health care
power of attorney and financialpower of attorneys.
So anything written before thenis gonna be tough to use in
those situations.
And so again, things changenationally, federally, state,
the whole thing, and it reallyjust needs to be kept up with
the this is the number onereason why even the most
(02:57):
expensive estate plans.
SPEAKER_02 (02:59):
We know once you get into multiple trusts, joint
trusts, funding those, you canrack up quite the bill uh with
your attorney.
But number one reason why eventhe most expensive plans can
fall apart, and just like yousaid, it needs to be updated
with life's changes.
Um, some examples would be ifyou have minor children in the
home and then they reach 18 andnow they're adults.
(03:21):
Now they need some POAs,frankly.
They need healthcare directives,things like that.
Um more than once, and r prettyregularly I see people coming in
with wills.
And yeah, this was last updatedwhen my kids were children, and
now they have children.
So um, yeah, divorce is a hugeone.
Um if you have mixed families,um multi multiple families
(03:45):
coming together, definitelyanyone.
SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
Like a son or daughter divorce, um, uh had
more children or had childrenfor the first time, any
life-changing event for sure,uh, but even things you may not
see or or know because again, itmay be a law change.
Uh, you know, digital assets area big thing now.
You know, any paperwork that'svery old, they don't address
things like you know, logins foraccounts and and things of that
(04:10):
nature.
And and that's that's not anautomatic.
And I know in many states,people I've taught I've spoken
with that are associated withprobate courts are telling us
that uh it is getting harder andharder to get a will approved in
those states.
If it's of any age, if there'sany kind of an error, if there's
a misspelled name, an address, amissing address, something was
(04:31):
thrown out.
We we saw that recently, amissing address, and uh they've
had to uh hire an attorney um togo through and fight the court
on this, and otherwise it it'sit would be like they passed
away without a will.
So now the court decides whereeverything goes, which is a good
reason to have a will in thefirst place, of course.
But and don't, you know, I'vehad people tell me, well, I I
hand wrote a will.
(04:51):
Hundred years ago that may haveworked.
Fifty years ago, maybe.
Please don't sit down andhandwrite a will, sign it, and
have your neighbor sign next toit or whatever.
That is that is that's not gonnawork, okay?
I'm not a probate judge, but Ican tell you that's not gonna
work.
But just things like that thatneed to be uh addressed.
And and like we had a show, anepisode um a few months ago,
(05:13):
maybe a year ago now, um, andyou'll have to tell me the title
about not leaving a mess.
What was the uh The Gift ofPreparation, yeah.
Yeah, so this is kind of part ofthat as well, but um really
focusing in on these five areaswhere people really
misunderstand.
SPEAKER_02 (05:28):
Another good point and major life changes, but
something else to consider aswell is the proximity of your
powers of attorney.
If you have someone on yourhealth care directive who lives
states away or is not available,and or even you know, a lot of
people might choose someonethat's their age, and as they
get older, that person might beless available, depending on
(05:50):
health or even life, uh thingslike that.
So making sure the powers ofattorney can act.
SPEAKER_01 (05:55):
And speaking of proximity, don't put these items
in a safety deposit box at thebank.
Most accidents occur on theweekend, and so these documents
are for the living.
So your financial power ofattorney is so someone can make
financial transactions if youare uh are unable to.
More importantly, the healthcare directive or uh health care
power of attorney, somebody canmake health care decision
(06:17):
decisions for you.
That is not an automatic for aspouse, by the way, so be
careful with that.
Um but if they're locked away inthe safety deposit box, yeah,
yeah, you know you're you'reyou're out of luck until Monday,
I guess.
But um keep them in a safe placeat home, maybe have some copies
for some folks that are on thosedocuments, things like that.
And we may go into this more ina in just a minute, but since
(06:38):
that came up and popped into mymind, I thought it'd be
important to mention that.
SPEAKER_02 (06:41):
Uh well, myth number two estate planning is only for
the elderly or super rich.
We know that that's not true.
It's not just about who getsyour stuff or a tool for the
rich to minimize taxliabilities.
In fact, there are a lot of canthere's a lot of confusion about
trusts and how that actually ishelping your tax uh efficiency.
But it really is it's the sameas we discussed before.
(07:03):
It's the gift of preparation,it's making things as easy as
possible for your loved ones ifsomething unexpected happens to
you.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
We have spoken to so many folks that um have been an
executor or an executrix of ofan estate, and even when it's
fairly well done, it is a hugeheadache.
If there's anything that's notput together correctly, some of
the things we've alreadymentioned, it is a headache.
And it's a year, 18-month,two-year process if it's not
done correctly.
(07:29):
You don't want to leave that onsomebody.
I mean, if you if you've namedsomebody your representative or
your executor, that must meanyou trust them and care about
them.
You don't want to leave them aproblem.
Uh so absolutely, that's that'sa we've seen it.
That's all I can say.
We've seen it.
SPEAKER_02 (07:45):
And at the very least, power of attorney, health
care directive, living will toensure your healthcare wishes
are known.
Uh a lot of people think, oh,estate planning that just means
trust and wills, but no, no, wewant to make sure that your
health wishes are known, yourmedical desires on what happens
end of life.
Um, if someone needs to makemedical or financial decisions
for you, you also don't want toleave them having no idea what
(08:06):
you would prefer.
SPEAKER_01 (08:07):
Um, and you mentioned earlier this this is a
little bit associated with whatyou said earlier.
I've got a friend that uh has adaughter that's in college.
Uh I don't think she ownsanything.
The daughter um might have acar, but it maybe maybe in her
mom's name, okay.
But I insisted that they get ahealth care power of attorney.
Yeah.
Because God forbid she's in anaccident on the way back from
(08:28):
school or something.
You want to be able to step inwithout any kind of a court
interference or any kind of aeven a doubt and be able to help
that child, you know, authorizesearcher or whatever.
So, and by the way, in Georgia,the health care directive, there
is no charge for that.
It is online.
Make sure you go to the Georgiawebsite, but it is a uh document
that matches the state laws uhwritten by the state legislator,
(08:52):
uh legislation someone overthere might need a backup on
that.
Uh the people in charge inGeorgia um wrote that
specifically to match the laws.
So uh that document isavailable.
So worst case, if you've got uhkids over 18, at least print
that off and get that filledout.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
And some other really important considerations,
minor children.
You want to ensure that they'reraised by the people you want if
something were to happen to you.
And this is something that uhpopped into my that I discovered
in researching this topic uh formyself that hadn't really
thought about non-traditionalrelationships, people who may
not be married.
Um, but they the estate planningpreserves your loved ones'
(09:34):
rights to inherit or getinvolved in a medical emergency.
SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
At least make those decisions because if you're you
know, if you're uh living withsomeone but you got married,
there are not too many legalrights there.
But yeah, that person caresabout you, obviously, so you
want to give them some rights aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
Yeah, blended families, children of different
marriages, it can get so messy,and again, this is um saves not
only headache, um, provides youwith peace of mind, but you are
providing peace in this time foryour loved ones instead of
having to scramble.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Especially when there's so much other stuff
going on at that time.
And and that's one of thereasons when we uh work with a
client, instead of just sendingthem to one of our attorneys, we
first meet with them and fillout an estate planning workbook
that kind of explains all this,it kind of guides them through
the thinking process so thatthey uh can be more clear about
(10:25):
what their wishes are.
Sometimes it takes two or threemeetings to fill out that
workbook because they comeacross something.
Oh, I had not thought aboutthat.
What if one of my kids passesaway before I do?
Where does their stuff go?
What if all these what ifscenarios, and it can get
complicated, especially like yousaid, in second marriages and
blended families and things ofthat nature.
So our guidance in that regard,I think is very important.
(10:47):
We already understand thefinancial side, so we can kind
of bring that into thedecision-making side, and I it
just make it so uh so much moreclear.
Uh there's some great estateplanning attorneys out there.
Sometimes they're more aboutcreating the documents than
really finding out the wishes.
I'm not saying that's not ablanket statement, I'm just
saying um I think us working asa liaison between the client and
(11:11):
the attorney, we can reallydeliver the message because by
this time we've got to know theclient pretty well and their
family dynamics, things of thatnature.
So uh again, I think that's avaluable service that that we
bring to the table.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
Yeah, well, masterplanretire.com, perfect
segue.
You can go to our website,masterplanretire.com, and uh
there is a schedule now buttonthat takes you directly to our
calendar.
Find a time that works best foryou.
Uh, we'd love to meet in person,buy you a cup of coffee in the
office.
But uh a few years back, alongwith the rest of the world, we
got really good at Zoom.
So we're happy to do that aswell.
You can also call us at theoffice 770-980-9262.
SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
And that's schedule a meeting button.
Um, first of all, it typicallywe will sit down and run a
series of reports for uh forfolks.
This is complimentary.
But even if it's just, hey, Ineed some estate planning done,
we'll be glad to take youthrough that process and and and
just get you through that.
And that's not uh, and by theway, because of the attorneys we
work with um tend to be lessexpensive than just going on the
(12:11):
street.
I'm not gonna say that you knowit's it's half the price or
whatever, but because we aredoing a lot of the planning
work, uh, they are not onlyexpert estate planning
attorneys, but uh they are notthe most expensive out there as
well because of the work we do.
But so whatever reason you wantto meet, whether it be again to
talk about the subject today, totalk about your overall
(12:32):
retirement planning and whereyou're at, um schedule that
complimentary meeting.
I think you will be very gladyou did.
SPEAKER_02 (12:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
Uh myth three having a trustguarantees your family will stay
out of probate court.
SPEAKER_01 (12:46):
I have seen some wonderful trusts, beautiful
bound uh leather, uh reallythick paper, uh a nice font,
worthless because they weren'tproperly funded.
Um I I met a guy one time, thishas been 15 years ago, he said
he paid$10,000 for his trust.
Now let me tell you right now,that's about four times too
(13:09):
much, okay?
But secondly, it had never beenfunded.
So it was just the mostexpensive book, unless you
bought like a an originaledition of the Bible or
something.
The original.
Oh, so looking for that one,yeah.
Or the Ten Commandments orwhatever.
But but seriously, I mean, wewere like, we've got to get this
done.
And it had been two or threeyears since uh and that's what
(13:30):
that's the that's sometimes theproblem when you go to an estate
planning attorney.
So unless you pay them extramoney, they basically hand you a
set of instructions.
Here's how you find your trust.
And two reasons why I wouldn'twant to do that.
Number one is mistakes.
Number two is a lot of times wejust don't get around to doing
that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:46):
Okay, so and depending on the complications
of the trust and and your estateand what you need, funding is
not always a walk in the parkeither.
No, not at all, not at all.
So uh again, just um uhsomething else to be careful
with.
But it's true, a trust does notgo through probate, it avoids
probate.
That's one of the powerful uhattributes of a trust, but it's
if you do it correctly, needs tobe properly titled, assets need
(14:09):
to be properly titled, uh,beneficiaries need to make sure
they align with your state docs.
Um because also if you don'tchange your beneficiaries, um,
depending on what your plan isand what your need is, the
beneficiary on that account willtake precedent over whatever the
trust says.
So they need to you need to makesure that they align.
Um incomplete or inadequatefunding of a trust can basically
(14:33):
make it as though you had notrust at all.
SPEAKER_01 (14:35):
Exactly.
And again, that's part of therole we play is making sure that
gets done.
Uh we handle what we can handle,we give assignments on what the
client needs to handle, and thenwe follow up.
Did you do this?
As can I update this?
Can I see a copy of what you didto really make sure, not because
I don't trust the client, butmake sure it was done correctly
if it's something they had todo.
Again, I I I want it perfectlylined up.
(14:56):
You know, the stories we getwhen it's done correctly are
such a blessing because theysaid, you know, there was
nothing to it.
Uh we were able to agree, wewere able to follow the process,
um, we avoided uh maybe sometaxes, we we avoided probate
costs, which are climbing,rising as we speak.
Um so just very important, atrust is great, and we're
(15:17):
talking about a living revocabletrust at this moment, by the
way.
Um, but uh well written but alsoproperly funded and set up to
match the family situation.
What if what if it is a secondmarriage?
Maybe you don't want a jointtrust, maybe you want two single
trusts to make sure that youknow maybe each other's taken
care of, but you want to makesure your kids don't get
(15:37):
disinherited if the other onegets remarried or dies first or
you die first or whatever.
So again, it's a lot of thingsto think through, but that's
what we do.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (15:47):
Um myth number four.
Now, this one caught me with acouple of holes in my estate
plan.
Um myth number four (15:52):
social services will never take custody
of your kids if you haveguardians named.
So even if long-term guardiansare named.
That's the myth.
That's the myth.
Okay.
Even if long-term guardians arenamed, there could be instances
where social services may beforced to take temporary custody
of your kids.
If your legal guardians are notimmediately available in another
(16:15):
state, traveling, unable to bereached, whatever, authorities
have may have no choice but toplace your children with social
services until legal guardiansarrive.
SPEAKER_01 (16:25):
That is something new to me.
I didn't know that either.
I've not maybe we need to addthat to our workbook, but I can
think, you know, maybe let's saythe grandparents are the first
guardians, and God forbid thiscouple uh they're in a car wreck
and and and they they pass away.
These grandparents live fourstates away.
Um, yeah, they social serviceswill have to take those kids
(16:46):
into custody.
Um, so maybe a neighbor.
Yeah.
You know, they can step right inor something like that.
I I again I had not thoughtabout that either, but that's uh
that's that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Well, how do you avoid this problem?
It's as simple as havingshort-term legal guardians named
in addition to your long-termguardians who are authorized to
legally care for your kids untilthe long-term guardians arrive.
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Yeah, it's important.
Again, that's something we needto think about and and discuss
and maybe insert as part of ourplanning.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (17:14):
Um, myth number five, the fifth and final myth.
You don't need to tell anybodyabout your estate plan.
It's better to keep these thingsprivate.
SPEAKER_01 (17:23):
Sounds like a much older generation.
We do, seriously, seriously.
A lot of our uh older clientsare are very private from their
kids and grandkids about theirfinances.
Um I've seen instances wherefinally they they do open up,
but uh folks, and again, I'm nottrying to be uh to generalize
here, okay?
(17:44):
But many times people in their80s and 90s were raised to be
private.
You didn't discuss yourfinances, you didn't tell your
neighbor how much you made, ormaybe even you know your kids
certainly, or whatever.
Um, but this is important againthat they know where things are.
Uh have a family meeting.
I think we talked about this uhrecently in an episode about uh
sitting down with the family,maybe even with us as their
(18:06):
advisor, and and sharing whatthey want us to share about this
is how this is set up, this ishow things are flowing, this is
where the documents are, this isyou know, all that all that uh
information that's important.
Again, we never know when whensomething may happen.
Uh so many times, Evan, as youknow, we'll get a phone call uh
first thing in the morning.
You know, my husband passed awaylast night, what I do next.
(18:29):
And it was sudden, it was, youknow, they were not expecting
it.
And and so that that happens,and and uh I think having that
information, and I'm not sayingyou tell your kids or your
beneficiaries you know yourdeepest, darkest financial
secrets, but there needs to besome level of understanding of
where things are and how thingsare going to work uh from that
standpoint and and prepare themfor uh uh for an inheritance as
(18:54):
well.
And and maybe, hey, how tohandle this.
This this is our feelings abouthow we want you to handle that,
and you know, maybe continueworking with master plan for a
few years to to make sure thisflows easily and simply and and
reduce again, reduce taxes, helpguide through probate.
And and by the way, even with atrust, there can be things that
slip through the cracks thathave to go through probate, but
(19:15):
uh we want to be very carefulwith that.
That's why you have what'scalled a pour-over will, right?
So you still have a will with atrust, but it catches those
things that might slip throughthe cracks.
The example I always give is I Irun down to the Harley Davidson
store and buy me a motorcycle,and on the way back home I crash
into an 18-wheeler and die,right?
I forgot to put it in the nameof the trust when I bought it, I
(19:36):
just put it in my name.
Well, that can't go through thetrust, but the pour of a wheel
says pour it in the trust.
But on the way to the trust, itdoes have to go through probate,
but at least it's very minimalwhat has to go through there.
But you always try to becareful.
We had a recent example of uh uhthe trust was as as tight as it
could be, and and there werejust a couple of shares of
(19:56):
Macy's stock that the guy said,Oh, I'm selling that, I'm
selling that.
Every time we met, I'm sellingthat.
Well, guess what?
He passed away.
$2,000 worth of Macy stock.
He had to pay five thousand, no,it wasn't five thousand, three
or four thousand dollars forprobate to get that Macy stock
probated for his um.
And it took at least six months.
It was a while.
(20:16):
Yeah, it was a while.
And and and and then they had anold trust, and I don't want to
tell a bunch of old war storieshere, but an older trust that
the grandmother had set up thatmade it more difficult for her
son who then passed away, thatwas the spouse, to make so that
was another issue as well.
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
And and so just um That was a prime example of what
of reviewing your estatedocuments.
That trust was written like uh II feel like the attorney wanted
to be a columnist in his secondcareer or something, and the
cover letter was almost like uhuh there were jokes he put in
it.
SPEAKER_01 (20:48):
Editorial It was columns crazy it was very
interesting.
It was crazy.
Uh and at least it wasn'tboring.
No, and it was again was it aproper estate planning attorney?
Probably written, I think it waswritten in the 60s, you know, so
it's been around for a while.
But anyway, just uh another oneof those things that need to be
reviewed.
Is this going to work?
Things of that nature.
You don't want to wait tillafter the fact to find out where
(21:09):
the holes are.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:10):
Yeah.
I mean, have you ever seen um amovie where the family is going
crazy trying to find a copy ofthe loved one's will after they
passed?
It seems like it's in a lot ofmovies.
People like digging up things,trying to figure out who does
what, everyone's fighting,there's one crazy aunt that
comes out of nowhere, or uncle.
Yeah, these things happen fartoo often because people are
afraid either, afraid to talk totheir loved ones.
(21:32):
It isn't always a pleasantsubject, um, but they're hard,
it's hard to discussend-of-life, which is sometimes
it's personal and sad.
Um, but you've got to discussthose estate plans that you have
in place.
If you don't let your familyknow what documents you have or
even where to find them, there'sa that's in bold.
Make sure they know where yourdocuments are.
(21:53):
Um, they may be forced to spenda lot of unnecessary time, money
working with lawyers.
Um that takes a lot to sort outof an estate.
Even when you have a loctiteplan, if no one knows about it,
it's it's still gonna you haveto drag your feet and get go
through some.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
If you can't find them, it's as if you don't have
them.
And and so I I know ourattorneys keep a an original
copy as well, but I had asituation recently where um this
was way before they came to towork with us, um, the attorney
that did their paperwork had hadum retired.
Yeah.
And they couldn't find him,didn't know where the documents
(22:31):
were, they couldn't find theirset of documents, might as well
not have documents at thatpoint.
So again, just making sure thatit's understood where that is.
Again, you can go and go down toHome Depot or Sounds or
wherever, buy a nice fireprooflockbox, make sure you got a
couple of people with keys orthey're hanging in a certain
spot or whatever.
It's as simple as that uh tomake sure you're and again make
(22:52):
sure that anybody in thedocuments knows where they are.
SPEAKER_02 (22:55):
Yeah, I mean take time to have an open, direct,
honest communication with yourloved ones, talk to your family
in advance, order a pizza, do afun family night game or
whatever.
Do it in advance.
Cut out the chaos, the fighting,the misunderstanding if the
unthinkable when the unthinkablehappens.
Um and you know, there these arethe five myths for today.
(23:17):
We have uh a bunch of estateplanning episodes uh on YouTube
and the podcast platform andeverything else.
Um we even have one where weinterview an attorney, uh, a
couple actually.
Um there are so many gotchas wecould get into war stories.
You've shared several today.
Um I don't it's hard to even saywhere to begin because you want
(23:38):
to tell everyone, oh, this iswe've seen this before.
Well, check look out for this,we've seen this before, we've
seen this before.
But it's so important.
Um masterplanretire.com.
Go to our calendar, schedule atime with us.
Um, we will discuss yourretirement, 10,000-foot view of
where you stand now.
We'll stress test it.
Um, all that is completelycomplimentary.
(23:58):
Um, whether you become a clientor not, we'll run those reports
and give you uh an idea of whereyou stand in your retirement
preparation, uh, strengths andweaknesses, things that need
help.
But yeah, estate and legacyplanning is so important.
It's why in our planningprocess, it is the final thing
we do once we've created theplan, um, moved anything we've
(24:19):
needed to move, check out taxstrategy, everything that we do,
the very icing on top, which isreally um what holds it all
together, is the estate plan.
SPEAKER_01 (24:27):
It really is, and and it connects with everything
you do financially.
So you can't just say um, youknow, this this has nothing to
do with that, it does affect it.
So thanks for joining us today.
We uh glad you joined us.
Uh, but until we see each otheragain, remember land well and
prosper.
unknown (24:43):
Take care.
All matters discussed during this show are
for informational purposes only.
Each individual's situation mayvary, and the opinions expressed
here may not apply to everyone.
Materials presented are believedto be from reliable sources, and
no representations can be madeas to its accuracy.
All ideas and information shouldbe discussed in detail with one
of our qualified representativesprior to implementation.
Advisory services offered byMaster Plan Retirement
Consultants, a registeredinvestment advisor in the state
(00:22):
of Georgia.
Mark Fricks and Master PlanRetirement Consultants are not
affiliated with or endorsed bythe Social Security
Administration or any othergovernment agency.
SPEAKER_02 (00:30):
Do you believe an estate planning myth?
Hey folks, welcome back andthank you for joining us.
Welcome to Retirement Roadmapwith Master Plan Retirement
Consultants.
My name is Evan.
With me as always, RetirementPlanner Mark Fricks.
Today we'll be discussing commonestate planning myths and
shedding light on the trueimportance of a complete estate
(00:51):
plan.
These are not just harmlessmyths.
They can cause your estate planto fall apart when your family
may need it the most.
Mark, how often do we seeincomplete or non-existent
estate plans?
SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
All the time.
(01:51):
Yes, okay.
Lifetime for the can.
Yeah, they say tax laws arepermanent too.
So that's right.
Yeah, of course that's a myth.
And you may have some somenumbers or whatever, but um
lives change.
Um laws change, needs change,families change.
Um, you know, clients of ours,we I I go back at every probably
(02:13):
every third annual review andjust go back and check the
documents with them, check thebeneficiaries, make sure they're
still lined up, what's happenedsince then.
Uh so I I would say at leastevery three years they need to
be re-examined.
Uh also, have you added newaccounts and maybe you didn't do
the beneficiaries correctly?
Things like that.
There's so many different thingsthat can go on.
Uh, we had some major rulechanges here in Georgia back in
(02:35):
2018 concerning health caredirectives or or health care
power of attorney and financialpower of attorneys.
So anything written before thenis gonna be tough to use in
those situations.
And so again, things changenationally, federally, state,
the whole thing, and it reallyjust needs to be kept up with
the this is the number onereason why even the most
(02:57):
expensive estate plans.
SPEAKER_02 (02:59):
We know once you get into multiple trusts, joint
trusts, funding those, you canrack up quite the bill uh with
your attorney.
But number one reason why eventhe most expensive plans can
fall apart, and just like yousaid, it needs to be updated
with life's changes.
Um, some examples would be ifyou have minor children in the
home and then they reach 18 andnow they're adults.
(03:21):
Now they need some POAs,frankly.
They need healthcare directives,things like that.
Um more than once, and r prettyregularly I see people coming in
with wills.
And yeah, this was last updatedwhen my kids were children, and
now they have children.
So um, yeah, divorce is a hugeone.
Um if you have mixed families,um multi multiple families
(03:45):
coming together, definitelyanyone.
SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
Like a son or daughter divorce, um, uh had
more children or had childrenfor the first time, any
life-changing event for sure,uh, but even things you may not
see or or know because again, itmay be a law change.
Uh, you know, digital assets area big thing now.
You know, any paperwork that'svery old, they don't address
things like you know, logins foraccounts and and things of that
(04:10):
nature.
And and that's that's not anautomatic.
And I know in many states,people I've taught I've spoken
with that are associated withprobate courts are telling us
that uh it is getting harder andharder to get a will approved in
those states.
If it's of any age, if there'sany kind of an error, if there's
a misspelled name, an address, amissing address, something was
(04:31):
thrown out.
We we saw that recently, amissing address, and uh they've
had to uh hire an attorney um togo through and fight the court
on this, and otherwise it it'sit would be like they passed
away without a will.
So now the court decides whereeverything goes, which is a good
reason to have a will in thefirst place, of course.
But and don't, you know, I'vehad people tell me, well, I I
hand wrote a will.
(04:51):
Hundred years ago that may haveworked.
Fifty years ago, maybe.
Please don't sit down andhandwrite a will, sign it, and
have your neighbor sign next toit or whatever.
That is that is that's not gonnawork, okay?
I'm not a probate judge, but Ican tell you that's not gonna
work.
But just things like that thatneed to be uh addressed.
And and like we had a show, anepisode um a few months ago,
(05:13):
maybe a year ago now, um, andyou'll have to tell me the title
about not leaving a mess.
What was the uh The Gift ofPreparation, yeah.
Yeah, so this is kind of part ofthat as well, but um really
focusing in on these five areaswhere people really
misunderstand.
SPEAKER_02 (05:28):
Another good point and major life changes, but
something else to consider aswell is the proximity of your
powers of attorney.
If you have someone on yourhealth care directive who lives
states away or is not available,and or even you know, a lot of
people might choose someonethat's their age, and as they
get older, that person might beless available, depending on
(05:50):
health or even life, uh thingslike that.
So making sure the powers ofattorney can act.
SPEAKER_01 (05:55):
And speaking of proximity, don't put these items
in a safety deposit box at thebank.
Most accidents occur on theweekend, and so these documents
are for the living.
So your financial power ofattorney is so someone can make
financial transactions if youare uh are unable to.
More importantly, the healthcare directive or uh health care
power of attorney, somebody canmake health care decision
(06:17):
decisions for you.
That is not an automatic for aspouse, by the way, so be
careful with that.
Um but if they're locked away inthe safety deposit box, yeah,
yeah, you know you're you'reyou're out of luck until Monday,
I guess.
But um keep them in a safe placeat home, maybe have some copies
for some folks that are on thosedocuments, things like that.
And we may go into this more ina in just a minute, but since
(06:38):
that came up and popped into mymind, I thought it'd be
important to mention that.
SPEAKER_02 (06:41):
Uh well, myth number two estate planning is only for
the elderly or super rich.
We know that that's not true.
It's not just about who getsyour stuff or a tool for the
rich to minimize taxliabilities.
In fact, there are a lot of canthere's a lot of confusion about
trusts and how that actually ishelping your tax uh efficiency.
But it really is it's the sameas we discussed before.
(07:03):
It's the gift of preparation,it's making things as easy as
possible for your loved ones ifsomething unexpected happens to
you.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
We have spoken to so many folks that um have been an
executor or an executrix of ofan estate, and even when it's
fairly well done, it is a hugeheadache.
If there's anything that's notput together correctly, some of
the things we've alreadymentioned, it is a headache.
And it's a year, 18-month,two-year process if it's not
done correctly.
(07:29):
You don't want to leave that onsomebody.
I mean, if you if you've namedsomebody your representative or
your executor, that must meanyou trust them and care about
them.
You don't want to leave them aproblem.
Uh so absolutely, that's that'sa we've seen it.
That's all I can say.
We've seen it.
SPEAKER_02 (07:45):
And at the very least, power of attorney, health
care directive, living will toensure your healthcare wishes
are known.
Uh a lot of people think, oh,estate planning that just means
trust and wills, but no, no, wewant to make sure that your
health wishes are known, yourmedical desires on what happens
end of life.
Um, if someone needs to makemedical or financial decisions
for you, you also don't want toleave them having no idea what
(08:06):
you would prefer.
SPEAKER_01 (08:07):
Um, and you mentioned earlier this this is a
little bit associated with whatyou said earlier.
I've got a friend that uh has adaughter that's in college.
Uh I don't think she ownsanything.
The daughter um might have acar, but it maybe maybe in her
mom's name, okay.
But I insisted that they get ahealth care power of attorney.
Yeah.
Because God forbid she's in anaccident on the way back from
(08:28):
school or something.
You want to be able to step inwithout any kind of a court
interference or any kind of aeven a doubt and be able to help
that child, you know, authorizesearcher or whatever.
So, and by the way, in Georgia,the health care directive, there
is no charge for that.
It is online.
Make sure you go to the Georgiawebsite, but it is a uh document
that matches the state laws uhwritten by the state legislator,
(08:52):
uh legislation someone overthere might need a backup on
that.
Uh the people in charge inGeorgia um wrote that
specifically to match the laws.
So uh that document isavailable.
So worst case, if you've got uhkids over 18, at least print
that off and get that filledout.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
And some other really important considerations,
minor children.
You want to ensure that they'reraised by the people you want if
something were to happen to you.
And this is something that uhpopped into my that I discovered
in researching this topic uh formyself that hadn't really
thought about non-traditionalrelationships, people who may
not be married.
Um, but they the estate planningpreserves your loved ones'
(09:34):
rights to inherit or getinvolved in a medical emergency.
SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
At least make those decisions because if you're you
know, if you're uh living withsomeone but you got married,
there are not too many legalrights there.
But yeah, that person caresabout you, obviously, so you
want to give them some rights aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
Yeah, blended families, children of different
marriages, it can get so messy,and again, this is um saves not
only headache, um, provides youwith peace of mind, but you are
providing peace in this time foryour loved ones instead of
having to scramble.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Especially when there's so much other stuff
going on at that time.
And and that's one of thereasons when we uh work with a
client, instead of just sendingthem to one of our attorneys, we
first meet with them and fillout an estate planning workbook
that kind of explains all this,it kind of guides them through
the thinking process so thatthey uh can be more clear about
(10:25):
what their wishes are.
Sometimes it takes two or threemeetings to fill out that
workbook because they comeacross something.
Oh, I had not thought aboutthat.
What if one of my kids passesaway before I do?
Where does their stuff go?
What if all these what ifscenarios, and it can get
complicated, especially like yousaid, in second marriages and
blended families and things ofthat nature.
So our guidance in that regard,I think is very important.
(10:47):
We already understand thefinancial side, so we can kind
of bring that into thedecision-making side, and I it
just make it so uh so much moreclear.
Uh there's some great estateplanning attorneys out there.
Sometimes they're more aboutcreating the documents than
really finding out the wishes.
I'm not saying that's not ablanket statement, I'm just
saying um I think us working asa liaison between the client and
(11:11):
the attorney, we can reallydeliver the message because by
this time we've got to know theclient pretty well and their
family dynamics, things of thatnature.
So uh again, I think that's avaluable service that that we
bring to the table.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
Yeah, well, masterplanretire.com, perfect
segue.
You can go to our website,masterplanretire.com, and uh
there is a schedule now buttonthat takes you directly to our
calendar.
Find a time that works best foryou.
Uh, we'd love to meet in person,buy you a cup of coffee in the
office.
But uh a few years back, alongwith the rest of the world, we
got really good at Zoom.
So we're happy to do that aswell.
You can also call us at theoffice 770-980-9262.
SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
And that's schedule a meeting button.
Um, first of all, it typicallywe will sit down and run a
series of reports for uh forfolks.
This is complimentary.
But even if it's just, hey, Ineed some estate planning done,
we'll be glad to take youthrough that process and and and
just get you through that.
And that's not uh, and by theway, because of the attorneys we
work with um tend to be lessexpensive than just going on the
(12:11):
street.
I'm not gonna say that you knowit's it's half the price or
whatever, but because we aredoing a lot of the planning
work, uh, they are not onlyexpert estate planning
attorneys, but uh they are notthe most expensive out there as
well because of the work we do.
But so whatever reason you wantto meet, whether it be again to
talk about the subject today, totalk about your overall
(12:32):
retirement planning and whereyou're at, um schedule that
complimentary meeting.
I think you will be very gladyou did.
SPEAKER_02 (12:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
Uh myth three having a trustguarantees your family will stay
out of probate court.
SPEAKER_01 (12:46):
I have seen some wonderful trusts, beautiful
bound uh leather, uh reallythick paper, uh a nice font,
worthless because they weren'tproperly funded.
Um I I met a guy one time, thishas been 15 years ago, he said
he paid$10,000 for his trust.
Now let me tell you right now,that's about four times too
(13:09):
much, okay?
But secondly, it had never beenfunded.
So it was just the mostexpensive book, unless you
bought like a an originaledition of the Bible or
something.
The original.
Oh, so looking for that one,yeah.
Or the Ten Commandments orwhatever.
But but seriously, I mean, wewere like, we've got to get this
done.
And it had been two or threeyears since uh and that's what
(13:30):
that's the that's sometimes theproblem when you go to an estate
planning attorney.
So unless you pay them extramoney, they basically hand you a
set of instructions.
Here's how you find your trust.
And two reasons why I wouldn'twant to do that.
Number one is mistakes.
Number two is a lot of times wejust don't get around to doing
that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:46):
Okay, so and depending on the complications
of the trust and and your estateand what you need, funding is
not always a walk in the parkeither.
No, not at all, not at all.
So uh again, just um uhsomething else to be careful
with.
But it's true, a trust does notgo through probate, it avoids
probate.
That's one of the powerful uhattributes of a trust, but it's
if you do it correctly, needs tobe properly titled, assets need
(14:09):
to be properly titled, uh,beneficiaries need to make sure
they align with your state docs.
Um because also if you don'tchange your beneficiaries, um,
depending on what your plan isand what your need is, the
beneficiary on that account willtake precedent over whatever the
trust says.
So they need to you need to makesure that they align.
Um incomplete or inadequatefunding of a trust can basically
(14:33):
make it as though you had notrust at all.
SPEAKER_01 (14:35):
Exactly.
And again, that's part of therole we play is making sure that
gets done.
Uh we handle what we can handle,we give assignments on what the
client needs to handle, and thenwe follow up.
Did you do this?
As can I update this?
Can I see a copy of what you didto really make sure, not because
I don't trust the client, butmake sure it was done correctly
if it's something they had todo.
Again, I I I want it perfectlylined up.
(14:56):
You know, the stories we getwhen it's done correctly are
such a blessing because theysaid, you know, there was
nothing to it.
Uh we were able to agree, wewere able to follow the process,
um, we avoided uh maybe sometaxes, we we avoided probate
costs, which are climbing,rising as we speak.
Um so just very important, atrust is great, and we're
(15:17):
talking about a living revocabletrust at this moment, by the
way.
Um, but uh well written but alsoproperly funded and set up to
match the family situation.
What if what if it is a secondmarriage?
Maybe you don't want a jointtrust, maybe you want two single
trusts to make sure that youknow maybe each other's taken
care of, but you want to makesure your kids don't get
(15:37):
disinherited if the other onegets remarried or dies first or
you die first or whatever.
So again, it's a lot of thingsto think through, but that's
what we do.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (15:47):
Um myth number four.
Now, this one caught me with acouple of holes in my estate
plan.
Um myth number four (15:52):
social services will never take custody
of your kids if you haveguardians named.
So even if long-term guardiansare named.
That's the myth.
That's the myth.
Okay.
Even if long-term guardians arenamed, there could be instances
where social services may beforced to take temporary custody
of your kids.
If your legal guardians are notimmediately available in another
(16:15):
state, traveling, unable to bereached, whatever, authorities
have may have no choice but toplace your children with social
services until legal guardiansarrive.
SPEAKER_01 (16:25):
That is something new to me.
I didn't know that either.
I've not maybe we need to addthat to our workbook, but I can
think, you know, maybe let's saythe grandparents are the first
guardians, and God forbid thiscouple uh they're in a car wreck
and and and they they pass away.
These grandparents live fourstates away.
Um, yeah, they social serviceswill have to take those kids
(16:46):
into custody.
Um, so maybe a neighbor.
Yeah.
You know, they can step right inor something like that.
I I again I had not thoughtabout that either, but that's uh
that's that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Well, how do you avoid this problem?
It's as simple as havingshort-term legal guardians named
in addition to your long-termguardians who are authorized to
legally care for your kids untilthe long-term guardians arrive.
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Yeah, it's important.
Again, that's something we needto think about and and discuss
and maybe insert as part of ourplanning.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (17:14):
Um, myth number five, the fifth and final myth.
You don't need to tell anybodyabout your estate plan.
It's better to keep these thingsprivate.
SPEAKER_01 (17:23):
Sounds like a much older generation.
We do, seriously, seriously.
A lot of our uh older clientsare are very private from their
kids and grandkids about theirfinances.
Um I've seen instances wherefinally they they do open up,
but uh folks, and again, I'm nottrying to be uh to generalize
here, okay?
(17:44):
But many times people in their80s and 90s were raised to be
private.
You didn't discuss yourfinances, you didn't tell your
neighbor how much you made, ormaybe even you know your kids
certainly, or whatever.
Um, but this is important againthat they know where things are.
Uh have a family meeting.
I think we talked about this uhrecently in an episode about uh
sitting down with the family,maybe even with us as their
(18:06):
advisor, and and sharing whatthey want us to share about this
is how this is set up, this ishow things are flowing, this is
where the documents are, this isyou know, all that all that uh
information that's important.
Again, we never know when whensomething may happen.
Uh so many times, Evan, as youknow, we'll get a phone call uh
first thing in the morning.
You know, my husband passed awaylast night, what I do next.
(18:29):
And it was sudden, it was, youknow, they were not expecting
it.
And and so that that happens,and and uh I think having that
information, and I'm not sayingyou tell your kids or your
beneficiaries you know yourdeepest, darkest financial
secrets, but there needs to besome level of understanding of
where things are and how thingsare going to work uh from that
standpoint and and prepare themfor uh uh for an inheritance as
(18:54):
well.
And and maybe, hey, how tohandle this.
This this is our feelings abouthow we want you to handle that,
and you know, maybe continueworking with master plan for a
few years to to make sure thisflows easily and simply and and
reduce again, reduce taxes, helpguide through probate.
And and by the way, even with atrust, there can be things that
slip through the cracks thathave to go through probate, but
(19:15):
uh we want to be very carefulwith that.
That's why you have what'scalled a pour-over will, right?
So you still have a will with atrust, but it catches those
things that might slip throughthe cracks.
The example I always give is I Irun down to the Harley Davidson
store and buy me a motorcycle,and on the way back home I crash
into an 18-wheeler and die,right?
I forgot to put it in the nameof the trust when I bought it, I
(19:36):
just put it in my name.
Well, that can't go through thetrust, but the pour of a wheel
says pour it in the trust.
But on the way to the trust, itdoes have to go through probate,
but at least it's very minimalwhat has to go through there.
But you always try to becareful.
We had a recent example of uh uhthe trust was as as tight as it
could be, and and there werejust a couple of shares of
(19:56):
Macy's stock that the guy said,Oh, I'm selling that, I'm
selling that.
Every time we met, I'm sellingthat.
Well, guess what?
He passed away.
$2,000 worth of Macy stock.
He had to pay five thousand, no,it wasn't five thousand, three
or four thousand dollars forprobate to get that Macy stock
probated for his um.
And it took at least six months.
It was a while.
(20:16):
Yeah, it was a while.
And and and and then they had anold trust, and I don't want to
tell a bunch of old war storieshere, but an older trust that
the grandmother had set up thatmade it more difficult for her
son who then passed away, thatwas the spouse, to make so that
was another issue as well.
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
And and so just um That was a prime example of what
of reviewing your estatedocuments.
That trust was written like uh II feel like the attorney wanted
to be a columnist in his secondcareer or something, and the
cover letter was almost like uhuh there were jokes he put in
it.
SPEAKER_01 (20:48):
Editorial It was columns crazy it was very
interesting.
It was crazy.
Uh and at least it wasn'tboring.
No, and it was again was it aproper estate planning attorney?
Probably written, I think it waswritten in the 60s, you know, so
it's been around for a while.
But anyway, just uh another oneof those things that need to be
reviewed.
Is this going to work?
Things of that nature.
You don't want to wait tillafter the fact to find out where
(21:09):
the holes are.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:10):
Yeah.
I mean, have you ever seen um amovie where the family is going
crazy trying to find a copy ofthe loved one's will after they
passed?
It seems like it's in a lot ofmovies.
People like digging up things,trying to figure out who does
what, everyone's fighting,there's one crazy aunt that
comes out of nowhere, or uncle.
Yeah, these things happen fartoo often because people are
afraid either, afraid to talk totheir loved ones.
(21:32):
It isn't always a pleasantsubject, um, but they're hard,
it's hard to discussend-of-life, which is sometimes
it's personal and sad.
Um, but you've got to discussthose estate plans that you have
in place.
If you don't let your familyknow what documents you have or
even where to find them, there'sa that's in bold.
Make sure they know where yourdocuments are.
(21:53):
Um, they may be forced to spenda lot of unnecessary time, money
working with lawyers.
Um that takes a lot to sort outof an estate.
Even when you have a loctiteplan, if no one knows about it,
it's it's still gonna you haveto drag your feet and get go
through some.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
If you can't find them, it's as if you don't have
them.
And and so I I know ourattorneys keep a an original
copy as well, but I had asituation recently where um this
was way before they came to towork with us, um, the attorney
that did their paperwork had hadum retired.
Yeah.
And they couldn't find him,didn't know where the documents
(22:31):
were, they couldn't find theirset of documents, might as well
not have documents at thatpoint.
So again, just making sure thatit's understood where that is.
Again, you can go and go down toHome Depot or Sounds or
wherever, buy a nice fireprooflockbox, make sure you got a
couple of people with keys orthey're hanging in a certain
spot or whatever.
It's as simple as that uh tomake sure you're and again make
(22:52):
sure that anybody in thedocuments knows where they are.
SPEAKER_02 (22:55):
Yeah, I mean take time to have an open, direct,
honest communication with yourloved ones, talk to your family
in advance, order a pizza, do afun family night game or
whatever.
Do it in advance.
Cut out the chaos, the fighting,the misunderstanding if the
unthinkable when the unthinkablehappens.
Um and you know, there these arethe five myths for today.
(23:17):
We have uh a bunch of estateplanning episodes uh on YouTube
and the podcast platform andeverything else.
Um we even have one where weinterview an attorney, uh, a
couple actually.
Um there are so many gotchas wecould get into war stories.
You've shared several today.
Um I don't it's hard to even saywhere to begin because you want
(23:38):
to tell everyone, oh, this iswe've seen this before.
Well, check look out for this,we've seen this before, we've
seen this before.
But it's so important.
Um masterplanretire.com.
Go to our calendar, schedule atime with us.
Um, we will discuss yourretirement, 10,000-foot view of
where you stand now.
We'll stress test it.
Um, all that is completelycomplimentary.
(23:58):
Um, whether you become a clientor not, we'll run those reports
and give you uh an idea of whereyou stand in your retirement
preparation, uh, strengths andweaknesses, things that need
help.
But yeah, estate and legacyplanning is so important.
It's why in our planningprocess, it is the final thing
we do once we've created theplan, um, moved anything we've
(24:19):
needed to move, check out taxstrategy, everything that we do,
the very icing on top, which isreally um what holds it all
together, is the estate plan.
SPEAKER_01 (24:27):
It really is, and and it connects with everything
you do financially.
So you can't just say um, youknow, this this has nothing to
do with that, it does affect it.
So thanks for joining us today.
We uh glad you joined us.
Uh, but until we see each otheragain, remember land well and
prosper.
unknown (24:43):
Take care.
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