August Is Make-A-Will Month

Milestone #7 Is About More Than Money

When most people think about getting their financial life in order, their minds usually go first to the numbers. How much do I earn? How much do I owe? Am I saving enough? Am I making smart decisions with what I have?

Those questions matter. But eventually, another question becomes just as important:

What happens to everything I have worked for when I am no longer here to manage it?

That is why August, recognized as Make-A-Will Month, is a timely reminder to look beyond simply accumulating money and think about protecting what matters most. The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel encourages families to use the month as an opportunity to consider wills and other important documents that can help communicate their wishes and provide greater clarity for the people they love.

It also connects directly to one of the most important ideas in TheMoneyBooks.

Money Milestone #7: Protect Wealth

The earlier Money Milestones help build a stronger financial foundation. They are about learning how money works, protecting yourself, preparing for emergencies, managing cash flow, reducing financial vulnerabilities and building wealth over time.

But building wealth is not the finish line.

If you have worked hard to build something, you also need to think about how it will be protected, transferred and ultimately used according to your intentions.

Milestone #7 asks us to think beyond the question, “How much money will I leave behind?” It asks deeper questions. Who will receive what I leave? Who will be responsible for carrying out my wishes? Who will make important decisions if I cannot make them myself? Will my family know what I wanted? Will they know where important documents and information are located?

Those are not just legal questions. They are part of being financially prepared.

A Will Is About Clarity

A will is one of the most familiar tools associated with this conversation, but people often misunderstand who needs one. Wills are sometimes thought of as something only wealthy or elderly people need.

In reality, a will is fundamentally about providing instructions and clarity. It gives you an opportunity to communicate what you want to happen to certain property after your death, subject to applicable laws and any other legal arrangements you have in place.

For parents, the conversation can become even more important. Families may need to consider who they would want caring for minor children, who they would trust with important responsibilities and how they want certain assets handled for the benefit of their family.

Without appropriate instructions, the people you love may be left trying to make difficult decisions during an already difficult time.

Make-A-Will Month is a useful reminder to ask a very basic question:

Have you actually put your wishes in writing?

A Will May Be Only One Piece

Protecting wealth can involve much more than creating a will. Depending on your family, assets and circumstances, there may be other documents worth discussing with a qualified legal professional.

A trust, for example, may serve purposes that are different from a will and can help determine how certain assets are managed or transferred. A power of attorney may authorize someone to handle certain financial or legal matters if you are unable to do so yourself. Healthcare directives and healthcare powers of attorney can help communicate your medical wishes or identify who should make certain healthcare decisions if you cannot communicate them yourself.

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel likewise emphasizes that wills, trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives can all play a role in preparing your affairs.

The point is not that everyone needs the exact same collection of documents.

The point is that financial education should help you recognize the questions you need to ask and know when it is time to involve the right professional.

That idea fits naturally with TheMoneyBooks. Financial education is not about becoming your own lawyer, accountant or financial professional. It is about understanding enough to make better decisions, recognize gaps and take appropriate action before a problem occurs.

Don't Forget Your Beneficiaries

Milestone #7 also means understanding that a will does not necessarily control every part of your financial life. Certain accounts, insurance policies and other financial products may have beneficiary designations that determine who receives those assets.

That means beneficiary reviews are another important part of protecting wealth.

Think about how much life can change over ten or twenty years. People get married. Children are born. Families grow. Relationships change. People divorce. A person originally named as a beneficiary may pass away. New accounts may be opened, new property acquired and new financial responsibilities created.

A designation made years ago may no longer reflect what you want today.

Protecting wealth is not necessarily something you do once and forget about. It deserves periodic attention as your life changes.

Could Your Family Find Everything?

There is also a practical part of Milestone #7 that has little to do with creating a legal document: organization.

Imagine someone you trust having to step into your financial life tomorrow.

Would they know where to begin? Could they locate your important documents? Would they know about your insurance coverage? Could they identify your major financial accounts? Would they know where your will or trust is stored? Would they know which attorney, accountant or other professional to contact?

Even a carefully prepared document has limited usefulness if no one knows it exists or where to find it.

Protecting wealth therefore includes creating clarity around the financial life you have built. That does not mean giving everyone access to sensitive passwords or private information. It means making sure the appropriate people know that important documents exist, where they are securely located and whom they should contact if something happens.

Your Legacy Is Bigger Than Money

This is where the idea of legacy becomes much bigger than an account balance.

Your legacy may be the home where your family created memories. It may be the education you worked to provide, the business you spent decades building, the causes you cared about or the people you wanted to help. It also includes the values and lessons you hoped to pass from one generation to the next.

And one of the greatest things you may be able to leave your family is clarity.

Clear documents. Clear beneficiaries. Clear instructions. Clear communication about your wishes.

Instead of leaving a financial puzzle for others to solve, you can take steps today to make things easier for the people who may one day have to carry out those wishes.

Make August Your Milestone #7 Month

Make-A-Will Month gives us a natural opportunity to revisit Milestone #7.

Ask yourself:

• Do I currently have a will?
• If I have one, when was it last reviewed?
• Has my family or financial situation changed since then?
• Are my beneficiary designations current?
• Do I have the appropriate documents if I become unable to make decisions for myself?
• Does someone I trust know where my important documents are located?
• Are my financial records organized well enough that my family could understand them?

You may not know the answers to all of those questions today, and you do not need to solve everything at once.

Financial education begins with knowing which questions to ask.

The Money Milestones are not simply about becoming better at money. They are about becoming more intentional with it. You work to earn it, manage it, protect it and build it.

Milestone #7 reminds us that another responsibility eventually follows: making sure what you have built can continue doing what you intended it to do.

That is what Protect Wealth is really about.

And Make-A-Will Month might be the perfect reminder to begin.

This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal or tax advice. Laws and individual circumstances vary. Consult an appropriately qualified legal or tax professional regarding your specific situation.