Get Your Stuff Together

I read this article in last Sunday's Boston Globe that stresses the importance of having a will and getting your financial documents in order. The article talks about Chanel Reynolds, a widow who created a website, Get Your *Stuff* Together, in the aftermath of her husband's untimely death in a bicycle accident. She created the site to help others avoid the struggles she faced after his death by not having their will signed and financial affairs settled. Her site includes useful checklists for what to do to get your financial documents in order.

The Boston Globe article includes a statistic that 57% of adults in the US don't have a will. Why is this? I think it's simply that fact that we don't want to admit that we are going to die. I'm sorry to be Debbie Downer, but the fact is that we are all going to die eventually. Hopefully, it will not happen for a very long time. When it does happen, it's nice to leave your loved ones a will and your finances in an organized state. This way, they can grieve your loss without hunting down all of your financial accounts and figuring out who should get what. Also, depending on your assets, setting up a trust will help those you leave behind to avoid paying estate taxes. 

Craig and I just finalized our estate plan a few months ago. I'm embarrassed to admit that we put it off for as long as we did. (Again, it's the whole not wanting to admit that we are going to die thing.) In addition to our will and estate documents, our lawyer gave us a checklist for how to set up the beneficiaries of our accounts. She also advised us to make each other joint owners of all of our accounts so that we can access them right away. It's reassuring that we have everything written down and decided should the unthinkable happen and one or both of us pass away which will most likely not happen for a very, very long time...