Is Your Estate in Order? How to Protect Your Family's Finances

If you died the minute you finished reading this article, would you be prepared?

Death is a thing no one likes to think about. No one likes to think about their mortality; we are all young and invincible. We are too busy building our portfolios, saving for early retirement, raising our children or thinking about anything and everything else.

This week someone told me that had he not almost died a few times on the road driving to work, he would never have gotten insurance. Because “it’s a waste of money.” He has 6 kids and a stay-at-home wife. He’s the breadwinner.

*Speechless*

The Repercussions of Not Planning Ahead

Do you have a wife, kids, rental houses, financial obligations to extended family? If you departed this world today, would you leave no wake in life? No matter your age, I promise there are repercussions to your death outside of just sadness.

Guess what!

Like many others, this guy didn’t prepare, and his family is suffering not only the loss of him, BUT also a financial loss.

If you died today, would your wife and kids be taken care of?

Better question: If you died today, would those who are left behind be left in the lurch?

Another friend I was talking to told me that 300k would be PLENTY for his family of 8. Really? Is it really? If you make 100k a year, that is 3 years of your wife having time to get her “stuff” together before she has to start supporting the family. For a lot of us, one person took a backseat to another, so the earning potential is not the same. So could you really be able to take care of your family. Is $300k enough to reinvest to produce and income till they can get back on your feet?

Even if You’re Not Married

If you are single, you may be wondering, how does this pertain to me?

This amazing guy was full of life and dedication to what was doing. He loved in his day job. He was in the same place as my husband. He and my husband winged together. We were honored and excited to be in the same squadron again. He was young, vibrant real estate investor. (Don’t worry, I was training him right. Give him 15 years and he was going to beat me!) He was excitedly telling me all about the house he just bought in Austin and the house he was going to buy when he came home from deployment.

Than the unthinkable happened — and he didn’t.

Don’t kid yourself that with the thought, “I’m not a fighter pilot.” This could be you in your car!

Do you really want to do to do that to your family?

Preparing your documents for death is AWFUL — trust me! No one knows better than me how much “fun” doing all that can be. The last day before my husband left for San Diego to leave for deployment, guess where we were:

Getting our documents signed at base legal.

Protect Your Family’s Financial Future

Do you think that was fun? Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do was think about my husband’s mortality. I didn’t want to spend the hours filling out the “estate” information or get our real estate attorney to put together the trusts, wills, living wills, and everything else I would need to protect my financial future. Or use one of my precious days off to get this all done.

But that’s the responsibility of being an adult, an investor, someone who knows and acknowledges their responsibilities.

Are you going to be:

The person who only left your spouse 100k insurance so they have to go back to work within 3 months of your death after moving across the country because they’d just relocated due to your job?
The person whose spouse got nothing because you didn’t fix the paperwork when you were married 7 years ago?

You are investors! You know and embrace paperwork. Otherwise, you wouldn’t invest in real estate.

Do yourself and your family a favor! Don’t skimp where it really matters:

Make sure you have your documents in place
Make sure you have adequate insurance so your family is taken care of until they can realistically get on their feet. DON’T forget to talk to your partner to make sure they agree with the amount of time you think!
Make sure your beneficiaries are the “right ones.” The last thing you want is for your will be prepared — and your family still destitute!

Investors: What have you done to ensure your loved ones’ financial future should the unthinkable happen?

Leave me a comment below, and let’s talk!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.