Planning for the future can be a complex process. An estate plan needs to be tailored to fit your needs. This may mean benefiting a charitable cause, taking care of a long loved pet or providing as much financial security to your loved ones as possible. Depending on your goals, you’ll need to turn to certain estate planning vehicles, such as wills and trusts, and customize them so that they further your best interest.
Yet, far too often Californians stop evolving their estate plan once they have a basic will and maybe a simple trust. The truth of the matter is that there is much more that can go into your estate plan to ensure that it is as holistic as possible.
One consideration is life insurance. Many people avoid considering life insurance simply because, like estate planning, it requires you to think about your own passing. However, the right life insurance policy can serve as an investment to better ensure that your family is financially secure in the event of your passing. There are a number of different types of life insurance policies, though, and fully understanding them is crucial to choosing the one that is right for you.
Term life insurance is one inexpensive option, but it only provides coverage for a set term. It can be quite expensive to renew term life insurance after the initial term has run and the policyholder ages. Permanent life insurance, on the other hand, is a type of investment that is not subject to cancellation. It can be expensive, but it can provide a sort of dividend payout if the premium is more than adequate to cover the cost of the policy. Other options include whole life insurance, universal life insurance and variable life insurance.
Life insurance can play an important role in estate planning. However, it is just a small piece of a much larger puzzle. If you want to learn more about how to engage in effective estate planning, including discussing matters such as wills, trusts and life insurance policies, then it might be time to sit down with an estate planning attorney to discuss options.
