5 Estate Planning Tips For The Empty Nester

No more school buses. No more huge grocery lists. The last bird has left, and now the nest is empty!

You can be ecstatic or depressed. If you are still making payments on student loans or college tuition, you might not feel like an “empty nester.” You may be simply attempting to recall what life was like before your children moved in.

• This stage in life can be a great opportunity to revisit both your financial plan and your plan for the important things you want to do next.
• If your newfound financial flexibility permits it, consider, funneling more cash toward retirement savings.
• Plan to where to live in 5, 10, even 20 years from now. Instead of downsizing, explore right-sizing your residence every 5 -10 years.

When was the last time you revised your estate plan?

You may have created a will when your children were born to make sure they were cared for in the case of your untimely departure, but it has likely remained largely unchanged since then if you’re like many busy parents of toddlers and teenagers. You might now have more assets or property. There’s a chance you had more kids. Maybe you had a divorce and got remarried.

1. Revisit Your Powers of Attorney

One of a will’s purposes is to designate the people you want to handle your funds in the event of your incapacitation or death, as well as the person you want to make medical choices for you. You may have previously named spouses, siblings or parents, but over the course of 18+ years, family members may have aged or passed, and you may have divorced. Any events that have transpired has to be accounted for.

2. Plan how you’ll leave your inheritance to your grown children.

You might have given all of your assets to your spouse to divide among your children if you had an estate plan in place when your kids were still very young, or you and your spouse might have set up a trust to keep all of your assets until your kids reached a specified age.

3: Modify Your Life Insurance

Your previous estate plan likely included life insurance policies for you and/or your spouse. The amount of insurance you carried was presumably calculated on an amount that would have paid for raising your children, paying for their schooling, and maintaining your family in the home.

4. Considering Long-Term Care Insurance

One crucial component of your estate plan is who will care for you if you are handicapped. It might be more obvious to you now that your children are adults who should be in charge of your daily care and well-being. On the other hand, perhaps you are well aware that in order to ensure your personal welfare, you will need to supplement your retirement savings. In this instance, long-term care insurance is an excellent alternative.

5. Plan Your Retirement

You will unavoidably reach a point in your life where you are prepared to hand the reins over to the following generation if you own and operate a family business. Even if it may seem like a long time from now, it is crucial to start making preparations for transferring your interests to a child who has expressed an interest in managing the company. Even more of a reason to start considering your options if there is no obvious line of succession.

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