I just completed a two-night retirement planning course that came with over 200 pages of workbook and a supplemental session. I think I left with more questions than answers and an overall numbing of the complexity of estate planning.
From long-term care, Medicare, life insurance, avoiding probate, required minimum distributions, tax planning for these distributions and just about everything else, the course highlighted the many ways that a savvy individual can maximize their assets in retirement and beyond.
And what about those who aren’t as fortunate to pay for a course, invest the time, hire a lawyer, financial planner and accountant, and learn all the advantages and loop holes? Estate planning becomes one more contributor to generational wealth inequities and perpetuates the gap between the rich and poor.
I have long been an advocate for personal finance as a required course in high school and college, and this conviction is even stronger today. If you are a leader — whether that be of a business, Girl Scout troop, nonprofit, or group of friends — do yourself and others a favor and broadly share wisdom and resources about financial planning. Doing so will make you richer far beyond a purely monetary sense.
