#RichLifeLawyer Podcast 015: Lean Estate Planning Case Management There are some estate planning lawyers out there who believe that the best case management system is just in time management: they simply work on what is the most pressing need at the time. I hate that methodology. I don’t think good estate planning lawyers constantly put out fires. I think good estate planning lawyers look ahead and plan their work so everything gets done on schedule and one time. That’s where…
Whenever I speak to groups of people (which seems to be happening more and more often) the first question I always ask is, “who here has an estate plan in place?” Typically about forty percent of the room raises their hands. And then I do something a little strange. I make everyone raise their hand. I do this to point out that we all have an estate plan, even if we haven’t personally created one yet. The difference between the…
#RichLifeLawyer Show 022: Why IRA’s are Bad for Estate Planning Imagine this scenario: you are 80 years old. You’ve lived a great life. You’ve saved all of your hard earned money and invested it into an IRA (individual retirement account). For the last 10 years or so you’ve been living off of that account. But it’s ballooned up to $4 million dollars, and you know you aren’t going to get to spend it all. No matter, though. You rest easy…
#RichLifeLawyer Show 014: Estate Planning Phone Calls Most estate planning lawyers have a terrible reputation when it comes to returning phone calls. It’s almost as though it’s a badge of honor that they are difficult to get in touch with. As if that makes them important. We, as you might guess, take a different approach to estate planning phone calls. We believe in being diligent. We believe in reaching out. And we believe in returning calls promptly. To learn how…
Legacy Over Currency When I first started thinking about getting into estate planning I knew from the beginning I wanted my message to be about more than just money. Money is nice, yes, but there is study after study out that says after a certain amount of money one amasses, the correlation to happiness ceases. That number is about $75,000. And, if you’ve ever hung out with people that have a lot of money you know this study to be…
Will No Contest Clauses Explained Whenever I have a hard time coming up with something to write about or talk about here I look to what’s happening with my clients. I think about their fears. I think about their decisions. I think about what’s important to them. And I also think about the questions they are asking. I know, as an estate planning attorney, that if one person is asking a question it is very likely a lot of people…
Estate Planning Law Firm Email Newsletter Today I want to talk a little bit about my email newsletter. If you come into contact with CMS Law Firm you are very likely going onto our weekly email newsletter list. When you first get on the list you are going to get a series of 10 emails sent out to you one each day before getting put onto a weekly email newsletter. Some people like email newsletters, some people hate them. Today…
