Downs Law Firm Laurel, MD

May 2019 Newsletter- Graduation Season

Despite the hectic pace of life in America today, most of us still enjoy a fair amount of leisure time. Almost all Americans (95 percent) engage in some sort of leisure activity every day. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics we get about five hours of leisure time a day, and spend…

Graduation Season…

This is a new newsletter platform. I apologize for sending you last month’s newsletter again the other day, due to technical difficulties. 

Late May to mid-June is a time for exciting growth transitions. They are occasions for great “Pomp and Circumstance,” where graduates reveal newfound maturity, parents beam with pride, and more casual observers are overcome with how quickly time passes by.

This year, I have several nephews and cousins who are finishing high school and are on paths to different colleges. In my hectic whirlwind life, seeing these milestones make me mindful of those who matter most and that I am aging. How did they get so old while I’ve managed to stay the same?

Denial may be part of this season, at least for me.

For those sending off a student to college, we recommend that the graduate, if over age 18, consider signing health care and property powers of attorney. As parents, we are used to being able to make decisions and help if there is a problem with our children. However, once the child becomes an adult, the parents have no authority to play the role they always have, absent some authority granted by the student.

These are times of ritual and reflection. As The New York Times’ David Brooks recently noted, rituals such as graduation ceremonies “encourage you to be more intentional about life.”  The best commencement speeches inspire the same goal: to pause and reflect before moving forward into life’s next chapter.

Graduations, just like college admissions, weddings, and vacations go much better with some thought and planning made in advance.

Finding The Will to Plan

Despite the hectic pace of life in America today, most of us still enjoy a fair amount of leisure time. Almost all Americans (95 percent) engage in some sort of leisure activity every day. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we get about five hours of leisure time a day and spend most of it (almost three hours) watching television. The rest of the time we are doing other activities like reading, relaxing, thinking, socializing, playing games, surfing the web, and participating in sports and exercise.

Conspicuously absent from that list is estate planning. Americans are almost overwhelmingly opposed to the idea. Harris Interactive recently polled more than 2,000 adults on the subject and found that 28 percent of us would rather do anything else, and nearly one-third said they would rather do their taxes or get a root canal.

Most Don’t Have a Will

It is little wonder then that most of us (61 percent) don’t even have a Will, one of the most basic estate planning documents. Dig a little deeper, and the numbers get even more disturbing. Among parents with minor children, only 30 percent have a Will, the most universally accepted legal document for naming back-up parents in the event the children are orphaned.

Of course, Wills are not the only documents needed to protect you (and your assets) in the event of death or incapacity. Another Harris survey found that only 29 percent of us have a Living Will to direct end-of-life medical procedures. Even older Americans are hardly prepared. The same Harris survey found that only 48 percent of those over age 65 have a financial power of attorney in place, authorizing someone to make financial decisions for them if they are incapacitated, and only 51 percent said they had a healthcare power of attorney in place, authorizing someone to make healthcare decisions for them if they are unable to speak for themselves.

Even though estate planning is not on anyone’s list of Top Ten Favorite Activities, most of us realize the need to get at least basic planning in place to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our assets from life’s uncertainties (and life’s one certainty, death). And yet, most of us haven’t done it.

Despite Good Intentions

Why not? The number one reason, given by more than 55 percent of respondents, is simple procrastination. Most people say they just haven’t gotten around to it.

To our clients, congratulations for taking the time to put your planning in place. That is a notable and important task done. For those who have delayed this important job, just as with a New Year’s Resolution, you know we all have good intentions, but our follow-through could use some work.

Piers Steel, a psychologist at the University of Calgary and one of the leading experts on procrastination, says it’s a “common pulse of humanity” to procrastinate, despite our best intentions. “One thing that defines procrastination isn’t a lack of intention to work,” Steel says. “It’s the difficulty of following through on that intention.”

Steel goes on to say that for most of us, procrastination isn’t a pleasant experience. It’s a feeling of growing pressure, knowing we will have to deal eventually with whatever it is we’re putting off, like creating the necessary legal documents to name back-up parents for minor children, state our preferences for end-of-life medical care, designate financial and health care decision-makers in the event of our incapacity or death, and outlining a plan to distribute our assets after death. As difficult as those decisions can seem, putting them off by procrastinating only adds to the pressure and makes us feel worse. In fact, Steel writes in his book The Procrastination Equation that procrastination leads to lower overall well-being, worse health, and even lower salaries.

Beating Procrastination

If you have resolved to get your estate plan in place this year – good for you!

Now, here’s a plan to beat procrastination: Steel says the trick is to reframe broad, ambitious goals into concrete, manageable, immediate chunks.

“Don’t try to eat the elephant at one sitting.”

So, instead of saying, “This year, I’m going to get my entire estate plan in order,” break that down into smaller, less formidable goals. For example, the first step is to make a call to an estate planning attorney and schedule an initial consultation. Don’t let yourself get stalled by thinking of all the decisions you will have to make to complete a comprehensive plan. Focus on one quick, easy action.

Pick up the phone.