Retirement Planning and Your Estate Plan | Oklahoma Estate Planning Attorneys (2024)

FAQs

Is estate planning the same as retirement planning? ›

While estate planning involves creating a plan for the transfer of the creator's estate to their beneficiaries after their death, retirement planning is the process of setting retirement income goals and taking steps to achieve these goals.

You might face a money crisis without a proper retirement plan when you retire and live without any direct income. Long-term investment plan - You should plan your long-term investments. Remember, you are keeping your money with another person. So, ensure you do research before investing in any long-term investments.

A: The three main priorities of an estate plan are to ensure that your assets are distributed in the way you prefer, that someone else has the authority to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so, and that your beneficiaries are clearly defined.

When Is an Estate Plan Required? Many financial consultants advise that an estate plan is required as soon as you reach legal adulthood and to update it every 3 to 5 years afterward. This is because you are now legally responsible for your money, healthcare (in some areas), and power of attorney at 18.

The 4% rule limits annual withdrawals from your retirement accounts to 4% of the total balance in your first year of retirement. That means if you retire with $1 million saved, you'd take out $40,000. According to the rule, this amount is safe enough that you won't risk running out of money during a 30-year retirement.

Do retirement accounts pass through probate? NO, as long as the beneficiaries are properly designated. Keep in mind that if the will stipulates anything about such accounts, the named beneficiaries take precedence over the will and the assets will be distributed to the named beneficiaries on the accounts.

Overspending, investing too conservatively and veering away from your plan — these are some of the most common traps you can fall into on the way to retirement.

Get Started on Estate Planning as Early as Possible

No matter if you are the breadwinner in a high-asset family with children and grandchildren or a recent college graduate with your first job, there are good reasons to consider what will happen to your family's financial health if you pass away.

What are the two key documents used to prepare an estate plan? ›

These documents include a financial power of attorney, an advance care directive, and a living trust or a last will. Here's what each of these documents accomplishes.

Some of the most important reasons for having an estate plan boil down to two main functions: protecting your beneficiaries when you die and protecting yourself if you become incapacitated.

32% of Americans don't have an estate plan because they've been procrastinating, and 25% don't have a plan because they don't know where to start.

One of the most important decisions in estate planning is picking the person, or people, who will be in charge of your assets and legally obligated to act in your interest.

The first step of estate planning is to list all of your assets and get a general idea of how much they are worth. While valuation is straightforward for most assets, it can be difficult with intellectual property like your music copyrights.

Traditionally, the process of planning for the transfer of assets to your loved ones after your death is known as estate planning. As you approach this process, you might also hear another term: Legacy planning.

While retirement planning focuses on your future while you are still alive, estate planning focuses on future planning for when you pass away. In estate planning, we begin to create a plan on how to pass on your assets to your loved ones, including things like cars, jewelry, houses, and finances.

Estate planning involves determining how an individual's assets will be preserved, managed, and distributed after death. It also takes into account the management of an individual's properties and financial obligations in the event that they become incapacitated.

Estate planning is the process by which an individual or family arranges the transfer of assets in anticipation of death. An estate plan aims to preserve the maximum amount of wealth possible for the intended beneficiaries and flexibility for the individual prior to death.