Luckenback, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love... and Estate Planning)

I had hair to spare. My high school graduation was still six days away.  It was Saturday, May 21, 1977. 

That day the Billboard Hot Country Singles Chart posted Luckenback, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) as the number one single for the week. The song made famous by Waylon Jennings would go on to spend a total of six weeks in the lead position. Who knew then Luckenback would be the last song to sit atop the charts that long until Tim McGraw and Faith Hill released It's Your Love 20 years later (1997)?

If you don't remember the lyrics of Luckenback, that's okay. The basic gist of the song is a call away from the trappings of material success to simpler ways, simpler times.

We've been so busy keepin' up with the Jones
Four car garage and we're still building on
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

So, Kyle, what does this have to do with estate planning? Glad you asked. Many of my clients are feeling like their present and future material success is under assault by forces bigger than they can comprehend, define or identify. 

In a world that is bailing out businesses too big to fail with cash and punishing businesses too small for relief (with more taxes to bail out the businesses too big to fail), the basics of estate planning will remain within the control of responsible adult Americans as long as incapacity and death remain part of the human condition. This is especially true if you are a business owner.

My clients have spent their lives working hard, playing by the rules, paying their taxes, spending less than they earn, giving generously to family and charity, accumulating wealth and... poof... life as they knew it seems to be in a political, cultural and economic free fall. Add to this the certain uncertainty regarding the estate tax present and future, and it is little wonder I am seeing an increased client focus on getting back to the "basics of estate planning." Yes, clients are finding comfort in making plans for the things they can control.

These basics include, but are not limited to planning for incapacity by executing durable powers of attorney and advance health care directives (especially for newly-minted adults who just graduated from high school, entered the workforce or military service), planning for orphaned minor children by appointing guardians (back-up parents), planning for inheritance protection by establishing long-term discretionary trusts and planning for long-term care expenses by shifting some of the risk through long-term care insurance.

Have you taken care of the basics of estate planning for yourself and your loved ones? If you are in the business of advising clients about their investments, insurance and/or and tax compliance, I encourage you to help them get back to the basics of estate planning. Make sure they get to an estate planning attorney or, if they have an existing estate plan, help them coordinate a review with the attorney who prepared that plan.

As I have heard it said, life comes at ya fast. Some days I feel like that graduating high school senior, sans a full head of hair (see below), listening to Waylon Jennings with the world by the tail. Other days I feel every one of my (now) 51 years. While I cannot control politics, culture, economic forces, or even the estate tax, I have taken care of the basics of estate planning for myself and my family. And that is great peace of mind.

Comments

[Scott Busch]

My God, you are brave! It's not just the hair (abundance of), but that shirt - do they call those "long-horn" collars in Texas?

[Saccha]

Making a will should never be ignored. We never know what might happen to us. Hence, it would be better to be prepared and list down the things that we want to pass on to the special people in our lives. Anyway, thank you for this article. I learned lots from it.

You might also be interested in an article I stumbled upon. The article also talks about drafting your will.

Read the original article here