Estate Planning That Works, with Rick Randall

Rick Randall says that estate planning that works is not the norm, but it does not have to be that way.

The goal of estate planning is to dictate how you will transfer the baton of your life’s wealth and wisdom to generations after you.  With it, you ensure your legacy will live on, beyond you, rather than dissolving at your death.

Estate planning that works gives you the ability to control, preserve and protect the wealth you’ve created when you’re no longer able to.

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Love, Money, and Control says it like this:

With proper planning, you can control your financial and personal affairs while you are well and competent and leave instructions for how your affairs should be managed – in essence, still maintaining control – if you become physically or mentally disabled.

Love, Money, and Control

With estate planning, you set plans in motion today to take care of the things that are most important to you, like your children, your health, and your money.

It is the most efficient way to transfer wealth with minimal loss and ensure your assets aren’t tied up in probate and chiseled away by taxes.

Where Estate Planning Fits into Your Cashflow Creation System

Encircling your family and assets with a bulletproof estate plan will maximize your peace of mind.  But it’s just one small step of a greater journey of building time and money freedom.  

That’s why we’ve put together the 3-step Entrepreneur’s Cash Flow System.  

The first step is keeping more of the money you make.  This includes tax planning, debt restructuring, cash flow awareness, and restructuring your savings so you can access it as an emergency/opportunity fund.  This step frees up and increases your cash flow, so you have more to save, and consequently, more to invest.

Then, you’ll protect your money with savings, insurance and legal protection.  This is where estate planning fits in.  You’ll know that no matter what happens to you, your wishes will be carried out, your assets will remain intact, and your wisdom will empower generations after you. 

Finally, you’ll put your money to work and get it to make more by investing in cash-flowing assets to build time and money freedom and leave a rich legacy.

The Overwhelming Majority of People Don’t Get What They Wanted

Overall, estate planning is a critical part of planning for the end of your life.  It ensures what you want to happen will happen.

There are countless compelling reasons to do estate planning.

Yet, with all the reasons to plan, only about 30% of Americans have an estate plan in place.

That’s because it’s one of those things that’s easier not to do.

Firstly, it’s uncomfortable and distressing to think about the end of your life.

Secondly, we all know “that family” that fell apart because of an inheritance.  Wealth transfer is often fraught with turmoil and conflict, and we don’t want that to happen to us.  We’d rather ignore our dysfunction than confront it head-on.  Often the family dynamics invite a tension and disagreement about how the money will change hands, who will receive what, and how decisions will be made.

If you don’t put your own estate plan in place, your state will give you one by default, and it won’t be what you want.

Of those who do plan, many of those estate plans have very little chance of working.

Your Most Important Estate Planning Questions Answered

We brought Rick Randall, Founder of Randall Gentry & Pike, and Chairman and CEO of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys, onto the show to tell you why most estate plans don’t work, what to do instead, and to answer:

1. Why should I do estate planning?
2. Who is estate planning for?
3. How do I make sure my estate plan will work?
4. What will make my estate plan of the greatest value to me and generations after me?
5. What is estate planning that works?

An Innovative Estate Planning Leader

Rick Randall is an innovative leader in the Wealth Reception Planning™ movement. He develops and teaches concepts, tools, and systems designed to help client families and professional advisors create, appreciate and enjoy true wealth (both financial and non-financial), and to assure true wealth is efficiently transferred and effectively received.

Rick is the developer of The LifeSpan Planning Process™, The Three Step Strategy Planning Process™, The Three Step Strategy Practice Evolver Model™, and The Wealth Reception Planning Process™. His firm is widely known for helping clients create “plans that work” through personalized counseling, a formal updating program, and proactive settlement training.

A Founding Member of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys, Rick served as its first Education Director, later as its Executive Director, and now serves as its Chairman and CEO.

Rick Randall actively practices law in Indianapolis, Indiana. His area of technical expertise is retirement and estate planning integration.  Rick has attained the Certified Financial Planner® (CFP), a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations. He is also a Certified Wealth Mentor®, and trained Time to Think® Consultant.

Rick has a passion for legacy planning, the non-financial component of true wealth. He is an Ambassador for The Ultimate Gift Experience, a Fellow of the Legacy Builder Institute and a Certified Legacy Planner.

Why Most Estate Plans Don’t Work

Rick Randall discusses the primary reasons why most estate plans don’t work.

1. Most living trust planning is generic legalese that isn’t tailored to your specific dreams, goals, and wishes.
2. Most estate plans have no instructions or training for the person receiving the wealth.
3. Often, the assets are not coordinated and titled correctly (funding the trust), and therefore, the estate plan cannot be executed as desired.
4. Usually, there is no follow-up over the years, and consequently, the plan becomes outdated as the wealth and family dynamics change.
5. The financial advisor and the attorney almost never talk.

An “Unreasonable Commitment to Co-Creating Estate Plans That Work”

Rick Randall has a mission to transform the way America plans.  He is committed to being “unreasonable” in order to transform the estate planning industry from the inside out.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw

Both through his law practice, and through creating processes, checklists, mentoring and education for other attorneys across the nation, Rick is changing the statistics by creating plans that do work.

Here’s what must be in place, for an estate plan to succeed:

1. A plan custom-tailored to your hopes, dreams, and aspirations.
2. Wealth Reception Planning™ to provide training and instructions to the beneficiaries receiving the wealth.
3. Proactive check and review of all assets to ensure proper retitling to fund the trust.
4. Ongoing relationship-centric follow-up over the years to adjust and update the trust with your changing family and wealth dynamics.
5. Coordination with your financial planner to ensure your wealth and legacy work together.

The Benefits of Estate Planning That Works

While it may be easier not to do estate planning, the benefits far outweigh the difficulty.

Instead of making decisions when grief clouds your judgment, you make them now, when everyone is strong and healthy, and it’s much easier to make wise and well-thought-out plans.

When you plan in advance, you enter into the family conflicts early and intentionally, with someone who can counsel you through the decision-making process.

You gain peace of mind, knowing that your plans will work.  Because you know what to expect in the future, the process of building and enjoying your wealth along the way becomes that much richer.

Other Topics Discussed in the Podcast

1. Why estate planning is for everyone, not just the rich.
2. Estate plans, trusts, wills, and testamentary trusts, and how they work together.
3. Community property
4. State-specific guidelines
5. Specific estate planning concerns at different life stages.
6. How to pass on both your financial assets and your life wisdom.
7. How to coordinate assets with estate planning for beneficiaries who are minor children.
8. Avoiding Medicaid spend down in elder law planning.
9. Estate and business planning for business owners, including exit planning.
10. Spousal lifetime access trusts that allow both spouses to access life insurance cash value.

Start Creating Your Legacy Now

If you would like to create a comprehensive strategy to keep and control more of your money, including generational legacy planning, book a strategy call to find out the one thing you should be doing today to optimize your personal economy and accelerate financial freedom. 

Success leaves clues.  Model the successful few, not the crowd, and build a life and business you love.