Will vs. Estate Planning- What’s The Difference?
Writing a will and estate planning- two very different concepts that are often confused as the same. If you are already into planning for the future, are weighing out all your options, and deciding upon the actions that need to be taken in the worst-case scenarios of fatality and death, you definitely need someone to hold your hand and provide you with investment management and advice upon strategies regarding the same. If so, this article might prove to be a guide to the idea of estate planning.
First and foremost, you need to understand the difference between a will and an estate plan. To break the concept into the most simple terms, a will is basically the last testament that lets your family known about all your desires and wishes that you would like them to fulfill when you die. It is a document listing out all the assets that you own and the division of the same between the family members.
The purpose of drafting up a will is to avoid any sort of family conflicts and see to it that your assets are in safe hands. A will can further also contain instructions regarding the upbringing of your children, and in the case of a minor child, it lets you appoint a guardian for your kid as well.
Estate planning, on the other hand, has intentions similar to a will but is a vast ocean if compared. Estate planning is a number of documents clubbed together, keeping in mind the needs of each family member and deciding what is best for the future in the wake of your death. If you go with estate planning, it is better that you also get a team for investment management and advice as well as for risk management and advice.
Further, estate planning has a number of aspects, each of which needs to be taken care of. It requires you to also draft up a living will. This testament dictates all your wishes and desires in case you come across a major incident that renders you unable to speak or communicate in any way. The testament will consist of instructions for your medical care, the power of attorney for your children as well as your own financial needs. The person upon whom you bestow the power of attorney will work for and under the directions prescribed by you. Of course, getting your investment management and advice team on board for this purpose seems like a suitable choice. Whenever it is about fiscal assets or real estate, another smart decision is to keep your risk management and advice team in the loop so that they have knowledge about all your movements and can advise you upon the same.
Other essential components to consider for estate planning could be clearly stating the designations of each beneficiary, appointing a guardian for your child, etc.
Author’s Bio: The author is a blogger. This article is about the difference between drafting a will and estate planning.
