Many people assume that estate planning is something you do when you’re nearing the end of your life, that it isn’t relevant when you’re young.
There’s a lot of legal jargon that pops up when it comes to insurance, wills and end of life preparations — it can get pretty overwhelming if you’ve never had to deal with any of it before.
That’s why at Bequest, we’ve made it our mission to make the process of getting a will and life insurance as easy and straightforward as it can be. If you don’t understand the terms being used, it isn’t going to make the process any easier, is it? Let’s take a look at what an estate is — it’s actually a relatively straightforward concept!
The most common legal and financial use of the term ‘estate’ is in reference to a will, as in “he left his entire estate to his children in his will”. An estate is everything of value that a person owns, including investments, assets, and accumulated interest.
You might have heard the term estate planning, which is the process of organising what you would like done to your estate after death. Part of estate planning includes things like choosing an executor, naming your beneficiaries, making an inventory of all your stuff, and figuring out estate tax laws.
In order to properly plan for every eventuality, it’s important to know the value of your estate — especially when it comes to writing your will and even when figuring out how much life insurance coverage to get. It’s also worth noting your debts because they don’t always die with you — your estate will be used to pay off any debts first.
Many people assume that estate planning is something you do when you’re nearing the end of your life, that it isn’t relevant when you’re young. However, life can change in the blink of an eye, and planning for the future now can help take some of the pressure off later. After all, why put it off until tomorrow if you can do it today!
We hope we’ve been able to clear up what an estate is — it really is just the sum of everything you own! In order to protect your estate and make sure that it goes to the people you want it to after your death, it’s incredibly important to write a will. At Bequest, wills and life insurance are what we do best, so please reach out if you have any questions!