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Estate Planning could more precisely be described as
leaving money wisely. Life is filled with paradoxes,
many of which involve money. From our perspective as
counselors to people of moderate means as well as to
the very rich, we have been astounded at how many people
spend lifetimes accumulating money but yet spend so
little time in deciding what the fate of their property
will be once they are gone. People will spend more thought
and effort on purchasing an automobile than they will
spend on planning their estates.
Why does this happen? The primary reason is that individuals
do not like to think about their own demise. There are
other reasons, including the fact that preparing a will
involves intimidating legal doctrines and tax considerations.
There also is a core of fundamental psychological and
emotional dilemmas to resolve.
The fact is that wills and trusts bring up a lot of
feelings. They bring up issues of control, issues of
people’s relationship with money, and people’s
relationship with their kids. These issues are so psychologically
glaring, and so psychologically invested, it’s
really difficult to get people to focus on them, to
unbundle them, and to really confront them.
At Koss Olinger, an advisor's relationship with people
exposes them to every aspect of the fundamental issues
that are at the core of the psychological, emotional
and structural aspects of the estate planning disease.
People from all walks of life face these similar kinds
of issues and for over 35 years we have worked closely
with both the client and their attorney to provide professional
guidance.
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