2022 October Update

The first summer in a long time when many people could get outside and enjoy some socialization is really, officially over. If you’ve been reading along with us for a while, you know that the Spring team loves, loves, loves summer. It’s why we’re “Spring” planners – we’re preparing every spring for a great summer. We have a hard time admitting when that warm and beautiful season is over, but it’s time now to accept the truth, and move into the next part of the year.

In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s pretty common for October and November to usher in events that focus on moving into and accepting this change. Events like Thanksgiving celebrate the bounty of the year, and remind us to be grateful. Events like Halloween (at least, in its original forms!) remind us that darkness and transitions are normal. Events like Diwali remind us to create light when daylight is in short supply.

In short, it’s a great time to think about estate planning.

Some people in the planning and advisory professions wonder why it’s so hard to motivate people to consider their wills, and pay to have everything tied up with a nice, legally valid little bow.

We think we know why.

It’s because we don’t want to think about – much less spend money planning for – the fact that we’re going to die. Our culture has, for a long time, revered youth more than anything else and shunted our aging communities to the sidelines. It’s as though we’re pretending that the natural cycles of change – of birth, life, and death – might not apply to us.

Intellectually, we know the truth. But aging and death, and especially the incredibly necessary grieving of all kinds of loss, are not things we’re used to doing well. Emotionally, they can be tough to face.

We get it. We think we’re going to live forever too. How else would we get everything done?

But on the off chance we don’t live forever, we need to plan for the alternative. And since we won’t directly benefit from the execution of those plans, we need a different kind of motivation to get the hard work done. That motivation is love.

If you’ve ever been the executor of a friend or family member’s estate (0/10 stars – we do NOT recommend), you know it’s hard work. You’re grieving the loss of someone important, someone who has entrusted the closure of their affairs to you. You’re faced with endless paperwork, bureaucracy, and a whole group of people who are looking to you to help them process their grief, which probably wasn’t what you signed up for. Assuming you even signed up in the first place. Some people are quite surprised to learn about their appointment as executor of a loved one’s estate only after they’ve departed. (Rule number one of estate planning: don’t do that).

As someone who is alive right now and has people in your life who you love, we want you to think about them. When they lose you, they’re going to have a tough time. Please make it easier on them. That’s really what estate planning is about. It’s not about the things that you leave behind. It’s about the people. What can you do to make it easier for them?

We’ve written a few articles about this (here, here, here, and here), and Julia just recently participated in a webinar to help you think through it.

Since spooky season is here, why not get right into it?

Practice Notes:

The BC members of our team will be out of office on Friday, November 11th, for Remembrance Day. Turns out, this isn’t a statutory holiday in Ontario, so Sandi plans to work. But it’s a free Friday, so, as below, she can use it to focus on being a great planner.

“Free” Fridays remain booked permanently in our calendars. These days are free to us at Spring in the sense that they are our opportunity to work on becoming better planners, whether through collaboration and discussion, education, research, or even a little down time. It’s been a regular practice since the summer of 2017, and we will continue to set aside the time to become better versions of ourselves every week. Even 1% better is solidly worth it, because we know that will be reflected in the work we do for you.

Events:

Julia will be speaking at the Financial Planning Weekconference on Tuesday, November 22nd, talking all about how CFP certificants can work collaboratively with other professionals (inside and outside of our own organizations) to support clients in achieving their best lives. 

On October 12, Julia spoke as part of the Steadyhand Estate Planning Webinar, joining David Toyne and Lucy Main for a discussion about some of the key things to consider in estate planning.

Planning News Digest:

• Does more money equal more confidence? No, but more confidence might equal more financial stability.
• FAIR Canada’s latest update! This non-profit is Canada’s investor rights advocate and worth following / supporting for education and your own financial well being: September Update.
• The Making of Successful Female Family Enterprise Leaders: Interviews with 46 female family business successors from 13 countries are distilled into patterns of childhood, career paths, challenges, and opportunities – and seven important traits are identified.

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