Have you developed a comprehensive end-of-life plan?
By investing the time in putting together this plan, you’ll:
- Create peace of mind for you and your family, knowing that you have planned for their future and prepared them, to the best of your ability, for a time when you will no longer be with them.
- Improve the ability of your surviving spouse, partner, or executor to carry out your wishes with minimal effort and frustration.
- Preserve wealth based on legal and financial preparation and reduce the potential for lost benefits and support mechanisms.
- Allow for prompt action. While it may be uncomfortable to think about and plan for one’s passing, doing so can help ease the pain and stress your loved ones will experience when the time comes.
Not sure where to start with creating your plan? It’s important to first collect and organize the following for others in the event of your passing:
- A declaration of your executor (and other key support roles, as required)
- Your desires for your personal remains
- Your desire for a ceremony
- Messages to family and friends
- An inventory of physical assets
- An inventory of financial assets and accounts
- A listing of relevant insurances
- A listing of relevant pensions and support services
- A listing of key contacts, including those for:
- Workplace/pension benefits
- Investments
- Insurance
- Family and/or pet care
- Notification of family and friend
- Physical and/or electronic copies of critical documents, including passports, birth certificates, and vaccination certificates
- Access directions to online files and photos
- Access information to all online accounts and services
- A final will and testament to define your direction for all the above
Additionally, in the event of your incapacitation, you should define your healthcare direction and decision-making authority.
Once you have your plan in place, it shouldn’t just be set it and forget it, though. On an annual basis, review all of the documentation and ensure everything is up-to-date. Remove any outdated documents or information and ensure all contact information and pertinent details are accurate.
You should also create a simple survivor’s briefing sheet and use it to discuss your guidance in the event of a family member’s passing. Using some discretion, share the location and access to needed administration and important assets, heirlooms, and materials. This simple exercise can help ensure your family is fully aware of next steps should the inevitable occur.
If compiling the above seems overwhelming, there’s an easier way. The Survivor Guide™ is a thorough planning system that helps your loved ones carry out your wishes—with minimal effort and frustration.
This comprehensive planning system includes:
- Easy-to-follow instructions to assist in the construction of a personally tailored version of your end-of-life plan.
- A simple flowchart to help your surviving spouse, partner, or executor navigate through the stressful, confusing, and often frustrating process that follows the loss of a loved one.
- Helpful administrative tools, including data sheets designed to collect important personal and financial information and form letters necessary when attempting to manage the affairs of one’s estate.
- A flexible design intended to accommodate your specific needs.
“Working through The Survivor Guide™ prompted us to talk. Instead of a subject avoided, end-of-life planning became a less feared, and more constructive family conversation.”
—Margo Gibbs
Learn more about The Survivor Guide today and start the process of your end-of-life planning.
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