Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, I'm back in a black and were brown.
Speaker 2: This is Tiffany Elice, Brian Ambish and Mandy Woodruff Co.
Speaker 1: So Mandy, are you ready to die?
Speaker 3: Segue? How that wort segment? I bet you're not. I
Speaker 3: bet you're not.
Speaker 4: Uh No, I'm scared though.
Speaker 1: It's really a question that we should all kind of
Speaker 1: ask ourselves or do we have the two most important
Speaker 1: documents that you ought to have before you pass on
Speaker 1: from this life and onto whatever the next stage that
Speaker 1: you believe in. And so we have brought on the amazing,
Speaker 1: the incomparable these splendiferous art, beautiful, smart art Steel art
Speaker 1: Is Steel is a state planning attorney who helps entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: and families protect what matters most. She actually started her
Speaker 1: career I'm gonna say this wrong because I don't know.
Speaker 3: It just looks crazy. Yes, yeah, who, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1: And she went to work for work at the General
Speaker 1: Tax Council for Discovery Communications, Yes, like Discovery Channel.
Speaker 3: She's kind of a big deal.
Speaker 1: She started her own law firm because you know, Flyinis
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, and she started legal Ease get it
Speaker 1: like Legal Ease like downs Road for entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take this and play this every single time.
Speaker 1: Somebody introduces Legal Ease for Entrepreneurs podcast in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: which is amazing which a parents minority business owners to
Speaker 1: tackle the legal needs for their business.
Speaker 3: Welcome.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited what.
Speaker 4: I said, if you handle the intro, and that's what
Speaker 4: we got.
Speaker 1: Today has been like the worst day of my life.
Speaker 1: Oh so I say no, But you know what, the
Speaker 1: best way to get out a bad day is to
Speaker 1: just make the next moments like amazing, you got get amazed?
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's what I bring when I come to podcasts.
Speaker 4: Well, this is a topic that I'm really really excited
Speaker 4: about because, you know, on a recent episode, we got
Speaker 4: some questions around life insurance and it just reminded me
Speaker 4: that it's, yeah, it's one of those questions that people
Speaker 4: don't like to I mean, just the fact that Tiffany asked,
Speaker 4: are you ready to die? I got really hot and
Speaker 4: sweaty just thinking about that. But when you break it
Speaker 4: down into just like the simple things, the checklist of
Speaker 4: every the few things, the simple things everyone should have
Speaker 4: in place, it's not you know, it's not that intimidating,
Speaker 4: it's not that scary, and it's something that you can
Speaker 4: do and forget about until your day.
Speaker 2: Comes and then you still never have to do and then.
Speaker 4: An angel problem after that point. Yeah, but my guilty
Speaker 4: truth is that I'm not ready to die. I don't
Speaker 4: have anything art. I don't have a power. I don't
Speaker 4: have a state plan. I don't even know what that is. Really,
Speaker 4: I don't have a will. I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4: I don't know about Tiffany, but I feel like I
Speaker 4: want to get it right. I've just been sort of
Speaker 4: intimidated for so long, and you know, I suffer from
Speaker 4: that young, invincible thing where I was in my twenties
Speaker 4: and now I'm hitting the threes and I I'm feeling
Speaker 4: a little bit more mortal every day, and I want
Speaker 4: to get my stuff together.
Speaker 2: Wait until you have kids, think I do have I
Speaker 2: do have life insurance.
Speaker 1: I got that when I was young and popping in
Speaker 1: my twenties and I bought a condo, so I was like, ooh,
Speaker 1: if I die, Like, how do I got to.
Speaker 2: Pay for this thing?
Speaker 3: Other than that, I don't have anything, like, I don't
Speaker 3: have a will.
Speaker 1: Although I do have a really great business lawyer who
Speaker 1: is drawing up some contracts for me. Now about what
Speaker 1: happens to have a business partner? What happens if either
Speaker 1: one of us passes and leaves a business.
Speaker 3: You know, like prematurely. But other than that, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't have any other My plan is quite honestly,
Speaker 1: to live forever.
Speaker 3: So I hope that. But what should we do? Please?
Speaker 1: Get us started? What's the if we don't have anything?
Speaker 1: If you are Mandy, right, not Tiffany, because I have
Speaker 1: a little something. If you were Mandy, what's the first thing?
Speaker 2: Where do we start?
Speaker 3: What should we do?
Speaker 2: Okay? Okay? So first I think I like for people
Speaker 2: to start to think about a state planning differently. It's
Speaker 2: it's not so much if we didn't think about it
Speaker 2: or associated so much with death as much as with
Speaker 2: a legacy and what we want to leave behind. I
Speaker 2: think we would have a very different approach to it.
Speaker 2: And when I talk when you talk about like what
Speaker 2: you want to leave behind? I think a lot of
Speaker 2: of us think about how we want people to remember us,
Speaker 2: but we don't think about death, right, we don't want
Speaker 2: to think about that day that will die. But we
Speaker 2: think about how we would want to be remembered, like
Speaker 2: what footprint would we want to leave on this earth
Speaker 2: and what would we want people to say about us?
Speaker 2: And I think that if we think about estate planning
Speaker 2: that way, then it's not so taboo. But that's definitely
Speaker 2: a problem, and it's and it's one in the black
Speaker 2: community that is just so prevalent and it's debilitating, is
Speaker 2: actually hurting us, and it's it's interesting because I'm a
Speaker 2: Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that
Speaker 2: he is my Lord and savior. I believe that when
Speaker 2: I die, by his grace, I will go to Heaven.
Speaker 2: And so it's it's not something that I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know what's going to happen. I don't want
Speaker 2: to die in a horrible accident. But I'm okay with that,
Speaker 2: and most Christians say they are. But then still we
Speaker 2: just avoid this topic because it's like it's so negative.
Speaker 2: God forbid, don't talk about dying. But it's like it's
Speaker 2: the one thing that he promises us.
Speaker 4: Right, it's a well, just to interrupt for a second,
Speaker 4: it's an individual. It's like you're thinking about it in
Speaker 4: your own in the sense of yourself. Oh, you know,
Speaker 4: when I pass on, I'm not afraid to die. I
Speaker 4: know I'll be taken care of, you know, with whatever
Speaker 4: religion you might believe in. But it's about thinking beyond yourself,
Speaker 4: Like what about the people you leave behind? Is that
Speaker 4: what you're kind of.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, because you will leave, you will leave. I mean,
Speaker 2: for most of us, we will leave at least one
Speaker 2: person who loves us dearly who is going to be
Speaker 2: significantly impacted by our our loss or their loss of us. Right.
Speaker 2: So not only do you know, we hope that that
Speaker 2: person recovers from their grief, but we also don't want
Speaker 2: to leave them in a financial mess when we die
Speaker 2: if there's something that we can do about it. So
Speaker 2: when you think about a state planning, there's like a spectrum.
Speaker 2: I like to say, I think it goes. It starts
Speaker 2: at planning for incapacity, and a lot of people, if
Speaker 2: they do get to the topic of a state planning,
Speaker 2: they never talk about incapacity. All they think about is
Speaker 2: like Tiffany who goes and gets the life insurance policy, right,
Speaker 2: But that life insurance policy is only paid out if
Speaker 2: you die. What happens if you're in a car accident. Okay,
Speaker 2: So first of all, in order for me to make
Speaker 2: my point, some bad things will have to happen.
Speaker 1: Okay, I've already knocked on wood and too hot oil,
Speaker 1: so we don't have.
Speaker 2: To do it every time, right, exactly covered by the blood.
Speaker 2: So what happens if you're in an accident and you're incapacitated? You,
Speaker 2: let's say you didn't have a partner, a business partner,
Speaker 2: and you're in a coma, who does anything? Who has
Speaker 2: access like permission to go to your bank account and
Speaker 2: take money out for payroll? Who has the ability to
Speaker 2: take money out of your personal account to pay your
Speaker 2: mortgage on your home, or your car payment, or your
Speaker 2: power bill or your rent right. So a lot of
Speaker 2: people skip over that step of what happens if something
Speaker 2: happens to me? But I don't die, because a lot
Speaker 2: of stuff will happen automatically when you die, but a
Speaker 2: lot nothing happens if you're incapacitated. So the number one
Speaker 2: document that I say every single person should have single
Speaker 2: not single, married kids, not with the father or mother whatever,
Speaker 2: even children, even people who are over eighteen going to college,
Speaker 2: is what's called a power of attorney when that document
Speaker 2: gives whoever you name, the authority to act on your
Speaker 2: behalf in your stead as if it were you. Now,
Speaker 2: you can have two types of power of attorney. You
Speaker 2: can have what's called a general durable power of attorney,
Speaker 2: or you could just have a general power of attorney.
Speaker 2: The durable power of attorney is a power of attorney
Speaker 2: that takes effect the minute you sign it. So the
Speaker 2: minute you sign it, while you're still walking around and
Speaker 2: find this person has the authority to act on your behalf.
Speaker 2: Now you may wonder, well, if I'm okay, why would
Speaker 2: I do this. For example, Tiffany, you have a business partner,
Speaker 2: so you may give him a business power of attorney general.
Speaker 2: It would be a it would be a business not general,
Speaker 2: but it would be durable, so it would take effect
Speaker 2: the minute you sign it. He would be able to
Speaker 2: make whatever decisions you specify in that document. So you
Speaker 2: could say he can't enter into contracts up to a
Speaker 2: million dollars up to five million. He can go and
Speaker 2: close bank accounts, but he can't sell the business. Right,
Speaker 2: so you would limit what he could do. But that
Speaker 2: power of attorney would take effect the minute you sign it.
Speaker 2: And then it would endure your incapacity, So if you
Speaker 2: became incapacitated, he would still have the power, and then
Speaker 2: it ends when you die or if you die. Okay,
Speaker 2: So that's what a durable power of attorney is. A
Speaker 2: general power of attorney only takes effect when you're incapacitated.
Speaker 2: It's also called like a springing power of attorney. Now
Speaker 2: for people who are just you know, for non business people.
Speaker 2: You can have different types of power of attorney. You
Speaker 2: can have a real estate one, so you could give
Speaker 2: someone a very limited power of attorney so that they
Speaker 2: could sign real estate documents on your behalf. So if
Speaker 2: you're buying a home and you're going to be traveling
Speaker 2: for work and you want someone else to sign all
Speaker 2: of your closing documents, you can give that person a
Speaker 2: real estate power of attorney. Now, the reason why you
Speaker 2: would want it to just be a real estate power
Speaker 2: of attorney is because that's the document that's giving somebody
Speaker 2: the permission or the authority to sign on your behalf.
Speaker 2: So it would be included with all of the closing documents,
Speaker 2: and it would be public. So you wouldn't want like
Speaker 2: your general power of attorney to be a public document,
Speaker 2: so you could create a real estate one. You could
Speaker 2: create one for your business. You could create one for
Speaker 2: if you have five businesses, you could create one for
Speaker 2: each business. You could create a tax power of attorney
Speaker 2: so that somebody has the ability to talk to the
Speaker 2: IRS or your state tax department on your behalf. You
Speaker 2: can carve it out as much as you want, or
Speaker 2: you can make it as broad as you want, but
Speaker 2: everybody needs to have that document.
Speaker 4: Oh where do we get one of those?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: Can I go to I've definitely like started maybe one
Speaker 4: or two power as an attorney because at least once every
Speaker 4: few years, I'm going to get my life together and
Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna get one.
Speaker 2: But I never do, but.
Speaker 4: I'll like I started one on Rocket Lawyer. I tried
Speaker 4: on Legal Zoom, but I've never really gone to a
Speaker 4: real life attorney for that. And I don't know, I
Speaker 4: don't know why. But what do you what do you recommend?
Speaker 2: There are two things. Some states have what's called a
Speaker 2: statutory power of attorney, So the legislature of that state
Speaker 2: or some committee, probably fresh out of law school, law
Speaker 2: students have drafted a power of attorney that would be
Speaker 2: accepted in that state. They've done that free of charge,
Speaker 2: and it's on some website. I have a list of
Speaker 2: all of those states. I don't have it with me,
Speaker 2: but I have a list of those states that have them.
Speaker 2: If you live in one of those states, you could
Speaker 2: go and download one of those, Like if you just
Speaker 2: wanted to cover your basis right now, you could go
Speaker 2: and download one of those. And most of the time
Speaker 2: what those states will have are different types of powers
Speaker 2: like the ones I just described, and then you can
Speaker 2: just check whichever one you're giving to that person. So
Speaker 2: I would do that before I would ever go to
Speaker 2: Legal Zoom and Rocket Lawyer. The reason I say not
Speaker 2: to go to those places, it's because what they're basically
Speaker 2: doing is just giving you a really generic document. A
Speaker 2: lot of the laws are updated in these states, a
Speaker 2: lot of the laws are updated with the different institutions
Speaker 2: that you could use power of attorneys with, and a
Speaker 2: lot of those companies don't really give you instructions on
Speaker 2: what is in the document and how to use it
Speaker 2: and how to effectuate the document, meaning like how to
Speaker 2: sign it to make sure is an actual document. So
Speaker 2: I would definitely not recommend using any of those programs
Speaker 2: for any estate planning documents, and a lot of core
Speaker 2: have actually started to not accept those documents because they're
Speaker 2: not being prepared by lawyers. It literally is just a
Speaker 2: document system that you go in, you put your state,
Speaker 2: and it generates a certain amount of text. So you
Speaker 2: would be way better off using the one that your
Speaker 2: state prepared because they had lawyers who were barred in
Speaker 2: that state prepare it. The other option is to go
Speaker 2: to a lawyer. Power of attorneys generally will cost you
Speaker 2: about two fifty three four hundred dollars. I mean four
Speaker 2: hundred would be the high end for a power of attorney. Generally,
Speaker 2: they're about I think two fifty.
Speaker 4: Here's another question, how do you pick your power of attorney?
Speaker 4: You know what in my case, you know, I have
Speaker 4: a husband and that kind of thing. But what are
Speaker 4: some options, like what would be a good person to
Speaker 4: you know it could it be a business partner or relative? Like,
Speaker 4: how do you choose the right person? It's a big
Speaker 4: it's a big deal.
Speaker 2: Right, So it would depend on the type of power.
Speaker 2: So if it's if it's a power for your business,
Speaker 2: then yeah, you may choose your business, your business partner,
Speaker 2: and then that power would be limited only to your business.
Speaker 2: It would have to be someone who you trust, someone
Speaker 2: who you believe would act on your behalf or act
Speaker 2: in a way that you would act if you're incapacitated.
Speaker 2: And what I always tell people is don't pick someone
Speaker 2: as your power and then don't tell them. Discuss with
Speaker 2: them because surprise, right, Yeah, Like, so discuss with them
Speaker 2: what you would want in certain situations, what your goals
Speaker 2: are for certain things. So, for example, if you're making
Speaker 2: someone a power of attorney for a home I mean
Speaker 2: for a home purchase, you would obviously talk to them
Speaker 2: about You're like, hey, I'm going off to wherever for
Speaker 2: them or deal with my house issue. You would obviously
Speaker 2: give them some boundaries, but ultimately you would just have
Speaker 2: to trust that person and trust that they would do
Speaker 2: what you would want, especially for the durable one, because
Speaker 2: you would be incapacitated. And this document gives them the
Speaker 2: ability to act on your behalf, and anything that they
Speaker 2: sign would be binding unless they acted beyond the scope
Speaker 2: of the document, or they defraud you know, somehow they
Speaker 2: did something fraudulent. But other than that, you would be
Speaker 2: you would be held responsible for anything that that person
Speaker 2: signed on your behalf, So it would have to be
Speaker 2: someone who you trust. It may not necessarily be a
Speaker 2: family member, It could be a friend. And that's the
Speaker 2: other thing that I tell people to really consider all
Speaker 2: the time, or a lot of times, especially for single people,
Speaker 2: because most of us are with our friends and people
Speaker 2: who are in our age group right more than we
Speaker 2: are with our family. But if something happens to you,
Speaker 2: your friend would probably know I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 2: depending on how close you are to your family. But
Speaker 2: your friend would probably know which bank you bank with,
Speaker 2: They would know who your who your landlord is, or
Speaker 2: you know places you frequent and and things you order
Speaker 2: you know, like places you order from, like your Netflix account,
Speaker 2: or you know all of those things. Your friends would
Speaker 2: probably know that better than your parents would. But if
Speaker 2: you don't have a power of attorney and something happens
Speaker 2: to you, your parents can't just you know, let's say
Speaker 2: your wallet is in your apartment and your bank card
Speaker 2: is in there, and for some reason, your PIN number
Speaker 2: is there with it. Your parents can't just go to
Speaker 2: your bank account and take out money to pay your landlord.
Speaker 2: That would be fraudulent. They would not have permission to
Speaker 2: do that. So in order for your parents to get
Speaker 2: any access or any of your next of ken, your brother,
Speaker 2: or whoever, to get access to any of your assets,
Speaker 2: they would have to file a petition in court. That's
Speaker 2: called a conservative a conservatorship petition. In order to do that,
Speaker 2: they're going to have to hire a lawyer. Whenever a
Speaker 2: lawyer has to file a document in court. We've gone
Speaker 2: now from the two point fifty or even the five
Speaker 2: hundred for the POA to at least three or four
Speaker 2: thousand dollars. And then we're dealing with the court. So
Speaker 2: it's not like they're going to be like, oh, this
Speaker 2: person needs to pay Mand's you know, Mandid's mom needs
Speaker 2: to pay her rent, Let's get her in here right away.
Speaker 2: It doesn't happen that way. The court has a docket, right,
Speaker 2: so you just fit in wherever you can. The probably
Speaker 2: the quickest emergency hearing you could get would be like
Speaker 2: a Friday or something. Right. And then in order for
Speaker 2: you to become a conservator of anybody's money or assets,
Speaker 2: you have to get what's called a bond. It's like insurance,
Speaker 2: because they don't want somebody for the person who is
Speaker 2: incapacitated to come back and sue either you or the court,
Speaker 2: it would be a mess. So you're basically getting insurance
Speaker 2: to be able to manage this person's funny, Well, the
Speaker 2: court doesn't offer that, So you have to go to
Speaker 2: a special company made just for this to buy this
Speaker 2: conservative conservatorship insurance, and they have their own requirements. Sometimes
Speaker 2: they require that you get a lawyer. So even if
Speaker 2: you're trying to do this by yourself, which sometimes you
Speaker 2: know a lot of courts will have these forms online
Speaker 2: and you're like, Okay, I'm going to try to do
Speaker 2: this myself. Once you get to that stage, they may
Speaker 2: require that you hire a lawyer because they figure your
Speaker 2: chances of not screwing this up or way less if
Speaker 2: you have a lawyer who's guiding you through the process.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they do a credit check. Sometimes they require that
Speaker 2: the person seeking the bond be a US citizen, not
Speaker 2: even a resident, a US citizen. Sometimes they bar people
Speaker 2: who have criminal records. So I've I've had estates where
Speaker 2: no one in the estate, no relative, could qualify to
Speaker 2: be a personal representative, so they literally could not probate
Speaker 2: the estate either because they couldn't hire a lawyer, or
Speaker 2: they somebody was a felon or somebody was a non
Speaker 2: citizen and it's crazy, right. What you need to do
Speaker 2: is to just get a POA. POA waives all of
Speaker 2: that stuff.
Speaker 4: And does it apply to your your spouse as well,
Speaker 4: that they won't be able to access those accounts on
Speaker 4: your behalf.
Speaker 2: Unless yeah, unless they are listed on your account as
Speaker 2: a joint owner. Now again, we're talking about incapacity mm hmm.
Speaker 2: With death. If you're so with death, if you're bank
Speaker 2: account is under a certain amount, depending on the state,
Speaker 2: depending on the bank, your spouse may be able to
Speaker 2: access some of that money because they're your next of ken,
Speaker 2: or your parents may be able to, or your your
Speaker 2: child may be able to. But that's only if you die. Mm.
Speaker 3: So the limbo is what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: I say that, yeah, and people plan for death, if
Speaker 1: they're going to plan at all, They typically plan for death, don't.
Speaker 3: They don't plan for the.
Speaker 2: In between exactly exactly. So that's why I always shay
Speaker 2: the power and the power of attorney is not a
Speaker 2: document you need when you're sick, Like you could be
Speaker 2: traveling and you could need somebody to sign something for you,
Speaker 2: or you could need someone to speak to someone on
Speaker 2: your behalf. So it's a document that you should have
Speaker 2: regardless of your age, your marital status, your your family status,
Speaker 2: whether or not you have children, young children, you know whatever,
Speaker 2: like you should. Everybody should just have this document, especially
Speaker 2: if you're in a state that I have did one
Speaker 2: for you. There's no reason to have to not have it.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: So that's power of attorney would pay?
Speaker 2: Is well worth it?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 4: Sorry, can you say that again. I talked over you.
Speaker 2: I said the two point fifty you would pay or
Speaker 2: three hundred or five hundred even let's just say five hundred,
Speaker 2: it would be well worth it.
Speaker 3: Okay. Okay, so power of attorney check, we need that.
Speaker 4: What's next? What's number two?
Speaker 2: And so? Okay, So the next thing is a little bit.
Speaker 2: I think it's controversial because and I'm talking about life
Speaker 2: insurance now, I will say that I don't sell life insurance.
Speaker 2: I don't know too many of the requirements and what's
Speaker 2: good and what's not. But I want people to think
Speaker 2: of life life insurance in a different way than just well,
Speaker 2: I don't have I don't have any children, I don't
Speaker 2: have anybody to leave anything to. I don't own anything.
Speaker 2: What's the point of me paying X amount per month
Speaker 2: and leaving all this money, who am I going to
Speaker 2: leave it to? And so I think that the number
Speaker 2: one thing that people say to me when I say
Speaker 2: everybody should have an estate plan is but I don't
Speaker 2: own anything. What am I going to leave behind? And
Speaker 2: I always say, you have a life, don't you go
Speaker 2: get life insurance? Ensure your life? Because what people don't,
Speaker 2: when people don't really think about, is think about the enrichment.
Speaker 2: And I know this is going to sound a little
Speaker 2: bit crass, but think about the enrichment that you bring
Speaker 2: to people's lives most of us, right, and then like
Speaker 2: think about that just disappearing and how you can make
Speaker 2: up for that. And when I talk about the enrichment, yes,
Speaker 2: we all you know, we have people who love us.
Speaker 2: We love people, but like for a lot of us
Speaker 2: who probably make more, the most money in our family,
Speaker 2: or who went to college and got that job, like,
Speaker 2: imagine how much money we would contribute to our community
Speaker 2: over our entire lives and then for that to just
Speaker 2: be gone and then there's no replacement for it. That's
Speaker 2: how I look at it, and I think that people
Speaker 2: should use life insurance as a way to create a
Speaker 2: legacy for our community. And when I say our community,
Speaker 2: I mean the Black community because say it well, because
Speaker 2: one we are way behind when it comes to generational wealth.
Speaker 2: I mean I've talked about this on my podcast. There
Speaker 2: was a study that came out last year in February
Speaker 2: that basically said that the college adult, the white college adult,
Speaker 2: has seven point two times more income access to income
Speaker 2: than the college adult who was black. Seven point they
Speaker 2: both went to college, but the white person has seven
Speaker 2: point two times more income. And then another statistic was
Speaker 2: that a single parent white home, a white single parent home,
Speaker 2: has two point two times more income than a two
Speaker 2: parent black home. Because white people have had a head
Speaker 2: start on building generational wealth. And when you look back
Speaker 2: to like the nineteen seventies, and the reason for this
Speaker 2: is when you look back to the nineteen seventies and
Speaker 2: white people had a chance to buy homes for really
Speaker 2: low mortgages, they were able to get really low interest rates,
Speaker 2: whereas black people weren't even able to buy homes period.
Speaker 2: And you take that one home, just at one home,
Speaker 2: they didn't leave millions of dollars. You just take that
Speaker 2: one home and you leave it free and clear, to
Speaker 2: the next generation. And I always tell people like, imagine
Speaker 2: if you could go two years without paying rent, Like
Speaker 2: how much money you would save just by not having
Speaker 2: to pay rent. And so this wealth has compounded year
Speaker 2: after year. And what this study was saying is that
Speaker 2: the only way we can make up this gap. Going
Speaker 2: to college not gonna help. Being in a two parent
Speaker 2: home not gonna help. All these things. Being more educated,
Speaker 2: it's not going to close the wealth gap because Black
Speaker 2: people aren't passing wealth down. Like, the only way the
Speaker 2: next generation gets better is if they have something to
Speaker 2: start with. So it's like starting from zero every single year.
Speaker 2: It's like every year you build up your business, and
Speaker 2: then January first comes around and there's like two of you.
Speaker 2: It's like business person number one, business person number two.
Speaker 2: You build up your business all year, January one comes around,
Speaker 2: they take everything away from you and they leave this
Speaker 2: other person with their business and they say and they
Speaker 2: say start over, And you're like wondering, how come I
Speaker 2: can't ever catch up to this person. You could make
Speaker 2: millions of dollars, you still would be behind, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, because you've never passed it on, because
Speaker 2: you're not passing it down right. So what I tell
Speaker 2: people is when you think about life insurance, like, think
Speaker 2: about the income that our community would be losing if
Speaker 2: you were to die, if your life were to be
Speaker 2: cut short. Think about your children and how much it
Speaker 2: would help them even if you left them fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: You know, people think like, oh, you know, who needs
Speaker 2: twenty five or fifty thousand or one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: You know. I was talking to somebody the other day
Speaker 2: and they were like, for every aunt or uncle or
Speaker 2: relative I've ever lost, if I got five thousand dollars,
Speaker 2: I would be pretty well off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, like they're like when I was in
Speaker 1: when I visited Nigeria for the first time, I was
Speaker 1: twenty one, right after college, and I remember there's one
Speaker 1: uncle in the.
Speaker 3: Village who was like wealthy.
Speaker 1: Like my parents' villages, they didn't really have much money,
Speaker 1: like no running water, everybody was still going to the
Speaker 1: stream and no electricity, but there was one uncle that
Speaker 1: was like lit, I mean, like car on the dirt
Speaker 1: road everything. And I was asking my dad, how why
Speaker 1: is this one uncle? And I used the word uncle
Speaker 1: loosely because I have no idea if he was related
Speaker 1: to us or not just everyone's in the uncle.
Speaker 3: That's just how you say, mister and missus.
Speaker 1: So I was like how, and my dad said his
Speaker 1: grandfather thought of him? And I said how he's like
Speaker 1: do you see on his land that he has all
Speaker 1: of these palm trees? And palm oil is a very
Speaker 1: expensive oil and very desired oil in Africa, And it
Speaker 1: takes one hundred years from my understanding, for a palm
Speaker 1: tree after planting to mature to reap palm seeds that
Speaker 1: make palm oil. One hundred years. He said, someone thought
Speaker 1: of him before he was born and planted palm oil
Speaker 1: trees knowing that they would never in their lifetime benefit
Speaker 1: from planting these trees.
Speaker 3: That's why most people don't do it.
Speaker 1: So they planted these and this man now has you know,
Speaker 1: acres of palm oil trees and he this is what
Speaker 1: he lives off. Was because it's such an expensive and
Speaker 1: I remember that hitting me like that was life insurance.
Speaker 1: His grandfather bought life insurance for his future grandson and
Speaker 1: as a result, he's wealthy, and so will his kids
Speaker 1: and his kids kids and his kids kids.
Speaker 2: Be right right, And that's the thing, like we don't
Speaker 2: think about it because it's like, well, I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: benefit and it's like, yeah, but what if somebody had
Speaker 2: thought about you? You know what I mean? Like, what
Speaker 2: if somebody had thought about you and had created a
Speaker 2: trust for you and we're paying your rent right now?
Speaker 2: And you know, I was watching Sister Act too last night.
Speaker 2: Don't ask why pass it, but you know the one
Speaker 2: with Lauren Hill and her mom didn't want her to
Speaker 2: sing and her mom kept telling her how it's a
Speaker 2: dead and job. And you know, obviously this girl, Lauren
Speaker 2: Hill has this amazing, beautiful voice, and you know, I
Speaker 2: kept thinking about it. I don't know if it's because
Speaker 2: this podcast was coming up, but I was like, here,
Speaker 2: we have a girl who has this amazing voice, and
Speaker 2: her mom is stifling her because she wants her to
Speaker 2: go and get a job, because she wants her to
Speaker 2: be able to support her own self, because she knows
Speaker 2: as her mom she can't do it. And it's like
Speaker 2: how many dreams? How many? Like my greatest accomplishment would
Speaker 2: be if my son, who's three years old, could be
Speaker 2: a teacher making a fifty thousand dollars salary and still
Speaker 2: be able to afford a deep a house you know
Speaker 2: where we live, which is Western Virginia, which is you know,
Speaker 2: average five hundred thousand dollars. So for him to be
Speaker 2: making a fifty thousand dollars salary and still be able
Speaker 2: to easily afford a five hundred thousand dollars house, that
Speaker 2: will never be me. I have to be the one
Speaker 2: going out there and making that much money because no
Speaker 2: one left it for me. But I don't want him
Speaker 2: to be in that position. I don't want his kids
Speaker 2: like this house that I own. He one day it's
Speaker 2: going to have it free and clear, and his kids
Speaker 2: or him or whoever will have a place to stay
Speaker 2: and not have to pay rent. Like That's how I
Speaker 2: see it because I've been around people who are in
Speaker 2: those positions and I see how easy their life is,
Speaker 2: and it's like, I want my kid's life to be easy.
Speaker 2: So when you think about life insurance, if you don't
Speaker 2: if you don't have actual savings that you can leave on,
Speaker 2: get a life insurance policy, and think about who in
Speaker 2: your community, whether that's your immediate family, your extended family,
Speaker 2: or your actual community. And one of the things I
Speaker 2: always talk about, and I think this is something you
Speaker 2: mentioned before tiffany where. You're like, even if you don't
Speaker 2: want to be a millionaire, make the million, keep your
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand dollars and give the nine hundred thousand
Speaker 2: dollars away, and you're going to give it to some
Speaker 2: organization that all the other benefactors or patriarchs or whoever
Speaker 2: they're called, the people who give money benefactors are not
Speaker 2: going to think about maybe there's a homeless shelter in
Speaker 2: your neighborhood that is not going to be left in
Speaker 2: the will of you know, some super rich person. Right,
Speaker 2: maybe you could leave fifty thousand dollars to them to
Speaker 2: keep them running. And the reason you know about them
Speaker 2: is because it's in your community. Maybe someone you know
Speaker 2: who you went to school with, or someone in your
Speaker 2: family had to use that shelter at some point. I mean, like,
Speaker 2: look at Prince right, the Purple One. Yes, he died
Speaker 2: with a three million dollar estate, and a lot of
Speaker 2: people are like, oh, you know, you're trying to say
Speaker 2: that black people don't have money, and no, I'm just
Speaker 2: saying we don't think about estate planning. And like, when
Speaker 2: you think about someone like him, who fought so hard
Speaker 2: during his life to protect his music, his image, and
Speaker 2: to own it. He provided for nothing. So his sister,
Speaker 2: who it looks like is going to inherit his estate,
Speaker 2: could literally sell it. She could sell it to justin Timberlake,
Speaker 2: which would be like the greatest tragedy ever. Right, but
Speaker 2: he could.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 2: I mean like and Prince would be turning over in
Speaker 2: his grave. And then look at all of the other
Speaker 2: programs or our organizations that he donated money to. They're
Speaker 2: not gonna get any of that money he could have
Speaker 2: if he made a will. He could have put in
Speaker 2: his will, I want my entire estate to go to
Speaker 2: the Boys and Girls Club in Paisley, wherever he lived.
Speaker 4: I can't believe he did it.
Speaker 6: What not such a tragedy, right because think about all
Speaker 6: the money, all the money our community could have been getting,
Speaker 6: because we just look at what he donated money to when.
Speaker 2: He was alive. He held a concert in Baltimore during
Speaker 2: the Freddie Gray riots. Right, So like that kind of
Speaker 2: money would have been so helpful, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: So I think people like you said, Mandy, like we
Speaker 2: need to stop thinking one is not benefiting us, but
Speaker 2: we should start really thinking about, like how can we
Speaker 2: pass this down and make life easier because black people
Speaker 2: now are making more money than we've ever made in history.
Speaker 2: We are more educated than we've ever been educated in history.
Speaker 2: But none of that is going to close the wealth
Speaker 2: gap if we don't pass this money down and you
Speaker 2: cannot take it with you when you go. Whether they
Speaker 2: say you never see a U haul following a hearse right.
Speaker 4: Unless you're an Egyptian. But well, like practically speaking, tell me, okay,
Speaker 4: so you know, when we spoke before, you'd mentioned, you know,
Speaker 4: leaving something to a nonprofit if you wanted to practically,
Speaker 4: how do you make sure that a you know, a
Speaker 4: nonprofit or a charity or you know, like a non
Speaker 4: human person or organization can get the can get the
Speaker 4: whatever funds you leave behind.
Speaker 2: So you would you could do that two ways. You
Speaker 2: could put it your will. So your will is how
Speaker 2: you dispose of your assets. Now, the only thing with
Speaker 2: the will is that the will is public. So anything sorry,
Speaker 2: So anything you put in your will, once it's filed
Speaker 2: with the court after you die, it has to be
Speaker 2: produced to the court and once it's filed, it will
Speaker 2: become public and the court is going to have to
Speaker 2: manage it. And because you're going to have to keep
Speaker 2: going back to court. There's going to be a lot
Speaker 2: of fees, there's a lot of delay because you're on
Speaker 2: the court's time. So the best way to do that
Speaker 2: is to create a will and then pour over all
Speaker 2: of your assets from your estate into a trust and
Speaker 2: the trust so when you hear trust fund, that's where
Speaker 2: it comes from. The trust is an agreement between you,
Speaker 2: who creates it, and the trustee, So you would appoint
Speaker 2: a trustee to man the trust, and the trust is
Speaker 2: a private document, so the will would still go to
Speaker 2: the court. But all I would say is, you know,
Speaker 2: you have to say your name, have to say where
Speaker 2: you live, you have to you know, put some other
Speaker 2: boilerplate language in there about your debts, and you have
Speaker 2: to name a personal representative or executor or administrator, depending
Speaker 2: on what state you're in. And then you would say,
Speaker 2: I leave all of my assets to the trustee of
Speaker 2: the Art Steel Trust, and that would be the end
Speaker 2: of your will. You would sign it and then that
Speaker 2: would be it, okay, and then all of your disposition.
Speaker 2: I leave one hundred thousand dollars to the Boys and
Speaker 2: Girls Club, I leave you know, a million dollars to
Speaker 2: plan parenthood, I leave X amount to the Literature Academy,
Speaker 2: I leave Yes Brown Ambition podcast. All of that would
Speaker 2: be in your trust. Now, in the trust, you can
Speaker 2: leave outright gifts, meaning once the trustee goes through all
Speaker 2: of your debts and gather as an inventory of all
Speaker 2: of your assets, they would give that one hundred thousand
Speaker 2: dollars to whoever you named, or so that would be
Speaker 2: an outright gift. You give them their money and they go,
Speaker 2: or the trustee could put some conditions on the distribution.
Speaker 2: Now that's the one that you're normally going to do
Speaker 2: for your family or for younger children, because you don't
Speaker 2: want to leave them that money outright. Now, if you
Speaker 2: have minor children, you definitely want to consider how you
Speaker 2: want to leave the money to them if you draft
Speaker 2: your will when they're still minors. Now, if you don't
Speaker 2: leave a will, if you don't have a will and
Speaker 2: you have minor children and you die without a will,
Speaker 2: what's going to happen is the court is going to
Speaker 2: appoint someone to take care of that child's money, but
Speaker 2: only until the child reaches the age of majority, which
Speaker 2: in most states is eighteen, and I think probably only
Speaker 2: one maybe Connecticut, it's twenty one. So if you don't
Speaker 2: plan properly, so if you don't leave a will at all,
Speaker 2: and you have all this money in life insurance, right,
Speaker 2: that life insurance policy won't pay the money to the
Speaker 2: child because children can't hold legal title to property meaning money,
Speaker 2: So they won't pay any of that out until someone
Speaker 2: goes to court and gets a court order and takes
Speaker 2: it to the life insurance company, and then they will
Speaker 2: pay that money. So now we have the same problem again.
Speaker 2: In order for that person to get the conservatorship over
Speaker 2: the child's money, they have to file a petition. They
Speaker 2: have to get a bond. In order for them to
Speaker 2: get the bond, the bond company has its own requirements,
Speaker 2: which are all the requirements that I repeated to you earlier.
Speaker 2: I've also seen situations where parent leaves money to child
Speaker 2: in a life insurance policy. Either they name the child
Speaker 2: directly and the child as a minor, or they don't
Speaker 2: leave any benefit sharing on the life insurance but the
Speaker 2: child is their only kin, so all of it goes
Speaker 2: to the child and it is not paid out. The
Speaker 2: child might be eight nine years old. It's not paid
Speaker 2: out until the child turns eighteen because no one could
Speaker 2: qualify to be the conservator of that money. It's crazy,
Speaker 2: and you just think about how different that child's life
Speaker 2: could be if they had that money. So now you're
Speaker 2: going to hold the life insurance, Polly, the life insurance
Speaker 2: company is going to hold onto this money for eight
Speaker 2: nine years. Who knows what they're putting it in. They
Speaker 2: have some fiduciary duty, but it could be a million
Speaker 2: dollars or whatever. And you have your eighteen year old
Speaker 2: child inheriting this money when they're all this money when
Speaker 2: they're eighteen, So there's there's more than just one step, right.
Speaker 2: So it's great to get life insurance, but make sure
Speaker 2: you plan for that life insurance so that it does
Speaker 2: go from generation to generation. You can set your trust
Speaker 2: up where your child can have access to those funds
Speaker 2: for their life, and then when they die, you know
Speaker 2: their children can have access to it. You don't have
Speaker 2: to always give all of your gifts outright. You could
Speaker 2: put in there that nonprofit can get five thousand dollars
Speaker 2: a year every year for as long as this trust
Speaker 2: is keeps going. There's money in the trust, so you
Speaker 2: don't have to give it outright to an organization and.
Speaker 4: All of this everything we're talking about power of attorney,
Speaker 4: making sure you have your life insurance, your will, your trust,
Speaker 4: anything like that. Is that all those things are covered
Speaker 4: or would be able to be covered by an estate
Speaker 4: planning attorney.
Speaker 2: Is that right? Yes?
Speaker 4: Yeah, they could manage it all for you and make sure.
Speaker 4: Because that my fear is like I get all this
Speaker 4: stuff done and it's like in Google docs and I
Speaker 4: have some of it saved to my email and it's
Speaker 4: like all over the place. So and then wanting a
Speaker 4: safe place to keep everything and someone I can trust to, like,
Speaker 4: you know, have my documents together so I don't have
Speaker 4: to think about them and you know, when the time comes,
Speaker 4: my loved ones will know where to get all that information.
Speaker 2: Right. So, So the way that I do it, whenever
Speaker 2: someone comes to me for estate planning, I have them
Speaker 2: fill out a questionnaire. In that questionnaire, I have them
Speaker 2: list all of their assets and after so after that
Speaker 2: then I have the talk you know, what do you
Speaker 2: want You have a million dollars? You want it all
Speaker 2: to go to the kid? Do you want to split
Speaker 2: it with you know whatever? We talk about the actual plan,
Speaker 2: how do you want this? I tell them the pros
Speaker 2: and cons. Well, here's what happens. If you don't give
Speaker 2: the child anything. When they turn eighteen, they'll they'll just
Speaker 2: be waiting like a dog with whatever foaming at the mouth.
Speaker 2: And when they're thirty five and then they're gonna blow it. Anyway,
Speaker 2: So we talk about the plan. Then I draft the documents.
Speaker 2: I draft the power of Attorney, I draft the will,
Speaker 2: I draft the trust. They are two separate documents, and
Speaker 2: then and there's some other little documents that go along
Speaker 2: with it. And I put on the bottom of my
Speaker 2: wills prepared by the law offices of Arnett Steel, so
Speaker 2: that if anybody finds that will hold hold.
Speaker 3: On, holdup, did you say Arnett?
Speaker 6: Okay?
Speaker 2: I who know, it's on the interwebs. I'm not hiding it.
Speaker 4: And also your name also sounds like a superhero art
Speaker 4: are Net either way, awesome name it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, that was like you know, you know, it's
Speaker 2: so funny because like I have to put like my
Speaker 2: legal name on documents, like for legal ethical reasons. So
Speaker 2: people are always thrown off. They always think like Art
Speaker 2: is my boss, of course, because you know, Art's a
Speaker 2: guy's name anyway, So I always put on there that
Speaker 2: I prepared the will so that when whoever finds it,
Speaker 2: they can contact me and I can give them that
Speaker 2: questionnaire that includes all of the assets, right, because people
Speaker 2: need to know. This is the first thing I tell people.
Speaker 2: Gather all your assets, right, because you know these With
Speaker 2: all you financial people out there telling the people to
Speaker 2: open six different bank accounts.
Speaker 1: It can get I mean I have a list, yes,
Speaker 1: but you're right, and not everyone has like all of
Speaker 1: their stuff in one concise.
Speaker 2: Place exactly so have and they don't give me account numbers.
Speaker 2: I just tell them to tell me the name of
Speaker 2: the bank, maybe the last four or two or whatever,
Speaker 2: so I can give that to someone and say, well,
Speaker 2: when they came in, these are this is where they
Speaker 2: had all of their stuff. Now, the two things that
Speaker 2: you want to three things, three people you want to
Speaker 2: contact when it comes to the will and the trust.
Speaker 2: You're a personal representative. That is the person who is
Speaker 2: going to carry out your wishes as it pertains to
Speaker 2: the will. So the will is going to be presented
Speaker 2: to the court. If you hear the term probate, that's
Speaker 2: the probate court, the will court. They will do whatever
Speaker 2: they need to do. But if you have what's called
Speaker 2: a poor over will where you're also using a trust.
Speaker 2: There's not really anything for them to do in probate court.
Speaker 2: But that person technically it's called the personal representative. Okay.
Speaker 2: And then you want to select a trustee. The trustee
Speaker 2: is the person who's going to manage the trust. Now,
Speaker 2: you generally have two options when it comes to selecting
Speaker 2: a trustee. You can select an individual and that can
Speaker 2: be someone you know or a family member or a friend,
Speaker 2: or you could select the company. Now they're pros and
Speaker 2: cons of each right, because if you select an individual,
Speaker 2: you can tell that person all about what you want.
Speaker 2: You can kind of make side agreements and be like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put this in the trust, but really, you know,
Speaker 2: depending on how you know the person or whatever. But
Speaker 2: the drawback to that is that person is maybe a
Speaker 2: family member, so they may feel a little you know,
Speaker 2: soft toward whoever's asking for the money, you know. And
Speaker 2: then the other option is you can use a co
Speaker 2: company like Fidelity or Chase or Prudential, all of these
Speaker 2: retirement company, you know, retirement bank accounts companies out there.
Speaker 2: They usually will have a trust management a department or
Speaker 2: you may have local ones like the New Jersey Trust Company.
Speaker 2: They're much smaller, but all they do is trust management.
Speaker 2: So if you choose them, you know they're going to
Speaker 2: follow your trust document to a t because they don't
Speaker 2: want to be sued, right, So either way, you need
Speaker 2: to speak to that person beforehand in order to name
Speaker 2: them as a trustee. And then if you have children,
Speaker 2: you want to name the guardian of your children, and
Speaker 2: you want to name the guardian of your children property,
Speaker 2: your children's property. Now, the guardian of the child is
Speaker 2: the person who's going to take care of the kids,
Speaker 2: you know they're wellbeing, and the guardian of the miner's
Speaker 2: property is a person who's going to be in charge
Speaker 2: of the money. It can be the same person, it
Speaker 2: could be a different person. There is no matter who
Speaker 2: you name, the court is always going to have a
Speaker 2: hearing to make sure that whoever you name is fit because,
Speaker 2: as you know, when it comes to children, the court
Speaker 2: is always charged with acting in the best interests of
Speaker 2: the child. So they want to make sure that the
Speaker 2: person who you've named is fit to actually take care
Speaker 2: of this child. And maybe you did it when your
Speaker 2: child was first born and that person was like your
Speaker 2: best friend and they live next door. But ten years later,
Speaker 2: your child's now ten years old, that person could be
Speaker 2: living in a different state, you know, so the court
Speaker 2: is always going to have to see. But the most
Speaker 2: important thing about your will is remember the bond I
Speaker 2: was talking about. You can waive that in your will.
Speaker 2: So you can put in your will that you don't
Speaker 2: want anybody, any of your representatives. You don't want them
Speaker 2: to be required to get a bond, and then they
Speaker 2: won't have to get it, so you skip that whole step,
Speaker 2: so then they can be a personal representative. Wow, I
Speaker 2: know so much.
Speaker 3: Exactly. I'm like, that's.
Speaker 2: Here, you go, bye, going, Mandy to answer your question.
Speaker 2: So when I'm done with all of that, I actually
Speaker 2: give my clients. So you're going to sign a copy
Speaker 2: of your will. You're going to not a copy. You're
Speaker 2: going to sign your will. You're going to sign your
Speaker 2: power of attorney. You have to keep those original documents
Speaker 2: now for your will. Some states do allow you to
Speaker 2: file the original copy or the original of your will
Speaker 2: with the state. Now, you can always go back and
Speaker 2: revoke it and take it and tear it up, but
Speaker 2: that's one way to safe keep it. I tell people
Speaker 2: don't put in your safety posit box, because if you're
Speaker 2: the only one who has access to the safety posit
Speaker 2: box and you die, then nobody can go and get
Speaker 2: it because it and the will, the will's in the
Speaker 2: safety positive box. Yeah, so tell your family that you
Speaker 2: have a will. I don't. I don't. I don't think
Speaker 2: I'm of the opinion that people shouldn't hide that. They
Speaker 2: should say I went to a lawyer, I prepared the
Speaker 2: will a will. Here's the lawyer's name. If that person
Speaker 2: is your executor or your trustee, let them know, I mean,
Speaker 2: talk to them beforehand, but then let them know I
Speaker 2: named you as trustee, you know, so that way people
Speaker 2: aren't like, does she have a will? Does she not
Speaker 2: have a will? Know she had to have a will,
Speaker 2: you know, or at least you're letting people know at
Speaker 2: some point you went and got a will, because then
Speaker 2: that could inform other decisions, and you know, help solve
Speaker 2: a lot of problems.
Speaker 4: Do you have any sort of like checklists that you
Speaker 4: that you can provide, because honestly, I just selfishly, I
Speaker 4: would like, I'm just gonna put it on my fridge
Speaker 4: and just look at it.
Speaker 2: So I do have one. So anybody listening, let me
Speaker 2: make sure I get this right. Anyone listening can text
Speaker 2: will power two four four two two two.
Speaker 4: Oh damn. I thought you're gonna be like, download this way.
Speaker 4: You are so official you.
Speaker 3: Don't even know. Man, I got my phone out.
Speaker 5: I'm like again, wait, say it again, say it again,
Speaker 5: triple check to make sure I'm not telling you guys
Speaker 5: to download my contract checklist?
Speaker 3: And is this all one word will power?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Will power? Yeah, it's all one word w I
Speaker 2: L L P O W E R okay or yeah
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter, okay. Yeah, And it's four four two
Speaker 2: two two. So once they text that number will Power
Speaker 2: to that number, they'll get a text saying please provide
Speaker 2: your email address.
Speaker 1: I say it hello, please reply with the text coat
Speaker 1: in your only email address so we can send you
Speaker 1: everything we promise sex.
Speaker 3: You think I won't done.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So in there, it's actually a workbook that defines
Speaker 2: a lot of the terms that we talked about in
Speaker 2: case people need to review them. I give you like
Speaker 2: some pointers on you know, how to choose your everything
Speaker 2: I just went over basically. But at least you have
Speaker 2: it in writing and you can start feeling it's actually
Speaker 2: a fillable workbook. So it'll ask you like, who do
Speaker 2: you want to be your trustee? Just to get people thinking,
Speaker 2: because again, you know, just I don't want to say
Speaker 2: just pick somebody. But this is not It doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you're gonna die. I always tell my clients, actually, now
Speaker 2: that you've done this, you're gonna live forever.
Speaker 3: So here's a question, aren't that? So? How often?
Speaker 1: Because I got I joked with you earlier that my
Speaker 1: my dad was like, I've.
Speaker 3: Got a will, No need to worry. I'm like, Daddy,
Speaker 3: I read the will.
Speaker 1: It says Tiffany, aged six, belongs to her uncle should
Speaker 1: I pass away.
Speaker 3: That's not like I'm thirty eight now, right.
Speaker 1: How Meanwhile I was I was joke.
Speaker 3: I was with my mom.
Speaker 1: She's doing some estate planning and preparing for retirement, and
Speaker 1: we're sitting down with financial advisor that I was helping
Speaker 1: her interview and she he was telling her, you need
Speaker 1: a will.
Speaker 3: You know do you have? She said I have one?
Speaker 3: And I told her. I was like, mommy, you know
Speaker 3: about that will? How do you know?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, so, first of all, now it's a
Speaker 1: secret that you have, you know?
Speaker 3: And she looks like, and I'm like, well, first one,
Speaker 3: why wouldn't you tell me?
Speaker 1: I'm just nosy, So I should just go through all
Speaker 1: their paperwork when they were like, await, like at parties
Speaker 1: or whatever.
Speaker 3: So I was like, I know what's in this folder?
Speaker 3: Oh I belong to uncle, uncle Mike her Okay, well
Speaker 3: how come Tracy gets go well uncle telling me I
Speaker 3: like him better?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: So that was one and then two. So but how
Speaker 3: often should you update like this? Like this is every year?
Speaker 3: Like what does that look like? No?
Speaker 2: I think that when you have major life changes, right,
Speaker 2: So if you have a child. Most people come to
Speaker 2: me when they have a child, so you want to
Speaker 2: include your child in the will. If your children are
Speaker 2: minor are minors, but then obviously you know when they
Speaker 2: become adults, that's a completely different estate plan than when
Speaker 2: they're like five or six years old. So most people
Speaker 2: will say every like, revisit it every five or six years.
Speaker 2: So I would say maybe I would say six to seven.
Speaker 2: And if you have any major life events, So if
Speaker 2: you get married, the law takes care of a lot
Speaker 2: of that for married people, but if you get a divorce,
Speaker 2: you definitely want to change your estate plan if your
Speaker 2: spouse was included in there. If you have a child,
Speaker 2: you would want to update it so that you would
Speaker 2: include that child. If you I don't know, if you
Speaker 2: have like a major, major, major increase in your income, yeah,
Speaker 2: then you would want to do it. But buying, let's
Speaker 2: say you put your home that you currently own in
Speaker 2: a trust and then you sell the trust, I mean
Speaker 2: sell the home. You don't need to update it for that.
Speaker 2: The trust will only include property that actually exists at
Speaker 2: the time that you die, So selling property that you
Speaker 2: put in the trust. Moving to another state, unless that
Speaker 2: state's law is really really wacky, then I would. And
Speaker 2: there are only a few that I can think of, Like,
Speaker 2: for example, in Louisiana, you can't disinherit your children, meaning
Speaker 2: you have to leave your children something if you live
Speaker 2: and if you are domiciled in the state of Louisiana
Speaker 2: when you die. That is not the case for any
Speaker 2: other state. In any other state, you can leave your
Speaker 2: children completely out of your will. So that's the only
Speaker 2: time you would have to update your will. But if
Speaker 2: you move to another state, that state would would still
Speaker 2: be would still use that will because they states give
Speaker 2: each other what's called the full faith and credit. They
Speaker 2: have to accept legal documents from other states, so like
Speaker 2: the same. And if you get married in New Jersey
Speaker 2: and you move to wherever, you're still married okay, okayeah,
Speaker 2: so moving selling property, no major life changes, yeah or
Speaker 2: every I would say six to.
Speaker 4: Seven years setting calendar alert.
Speaker 2: Right, you're zero for you, Mandy.
Speaker 3: I mean I got life insurance though.
Speaker 4: I didn't mean to be like I don't have anything.
Speaker 4: I'm good, but I say I get through my employer though,
Speaker 4: and I understand that if you work for yourself, you
Speaker 4: don't always get well.
Speaker 2: That's one of the best ways to get life insurance.
Speaker 2: It's like, just get it when your employer is offering it,
Speaker 2: because a lot of times when you leave, especially all
Speaker 2: these full time people who are working on their side
Speaker 2: hustles and hoping to turn it into their full time job.
Speaker 2: Is get it when you are at your employer, and
Speaker 2: a lot of times when you leave sometimes you may
Speaker 2: be able to take just take it with you. I
Speaker 2: know I was able to do that when I left Discovery.
Speaker 2: So I have the same life insurance policy paying about
Speaker 2: the same rate for the same amount that they were offering.
Speaker 4: Oh interesting, Yeah, I've heard some employers it can be
Speaker 4: portable and then sometimes it's not. So I should check
Speaker 4: and see if mine is portable, because you know, if
Speaker 4: it's not, then it's only going to be more expensive.
Speaker 4: Along where I wait to get my own exactly my
Speaker 4: own policy.
Speaker 2: That Malcolm m J. Harris, his company does help entrepreneurs
Speaker 2: get life insurance. Tell you man, he is for the people.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be hitting you up about MJ.
Speaker 2: MJ.
Speaker 4: Smarty Smarty Artie, That's what I'm gonna start calling you.
Speaker 3: Did you that at school? Art?
Speaker 2: No, Unfortunately I didn't get my glory. Then it's okay.
Speaker 2: Somebody who went to hil.
Speaker 4: You don't want to peak too soon?
Speaker 2: Yeah you don't, you do, that's true.
Speaker 3: But yes, this.
Speaker 4: Was.
Speaker 3: This was awful.
Speaker 1: Honestly, I'm learning so much. I'm like, this is I
Speaker 1: think so any of our listeners can really relate, whether
Speaker 1: they have aging parents or you're just thinking about your
Speaker 1: own kind of like history, or whether.
Speaker 3: You have kids or not.
Speaker 1: There's so much to unpack, and I think you really
Speaker 1: helped us to at least start to unpack it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, shameless plug for myself, Tiffany, I'm
Speaker 2: going to be talking about this in a lot more detail,
Speaker 2: if you can imagine that. In your Liverage Academy which
Speaker 2: willow Yes.
Speaker 3: If you are not a member.
Speaker 2: You play three week series you guys.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: So the Literature Academy what I try to do. Man,
Speaker 1: if we have to have you on, girl, what are
Speaker 1: waiting on about?
Speaker 4: You?
Speaker 3: Come talk about how to start a podcast?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: But the Literature Academy, for those of you had don't know,
Speaker 1: is my online school, and I really try my best
Speaker 1: to have really dope, mostly brown instructors who are experts
Speaker 1: in their fields. And Art is one of our experts
Speaker 1: and she she's kind of like a mini lesson on
Speaker 1: estate planning and now she's going to do a full
Speaker 1: fledged course and then we're excited. It's her course starts
Speaker 1: this month in April. It's three weeks, so every Thursday
Speaker 1: she's going to be diving deep and you're going to
Speaker 1: get some corresponding documents alongside of it. So if you
Speaker 1: are an Academy member, and if you're not, you can
Speaker 1: join us if you go to join LRA dot com.
Speaker 1: I know I don't talk about it much here because
Speaker 1: we're all about BA here, but certainly you can come
Speaker 1: on over. Academy's less than ten bucks a month, and
Speaker 1: I do that on purpose because I really want us
Speaker 1: to have access to the tools that we typically are
Speaker 1: left out of, so I keep it really low cost.
Speaker 1: But I get like the best people out there, and
Speaker 1: art is amazing.
Speaker 3: No, you are really there. They're already super excited.
Speaker 1: I went live in the because the Academy has their
Speaker 1: own private Facebook group.
Speaker 3: I want live today.
Speaker 2: Yo.
Speaker 1: It's so I just love, like, I just love helping
Speaker 1: brown women because it's like I always feel like I'm
Speaker 1: a like a kid on Sunday morning in church doing
Speaker 1: my solo.
Speaker 3: They're just like, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: They're so encouraging. Right. Yeah, I was like a.
Speaker 1: Lot today and I was like and then I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you guys, and they're like yes, Sibony, yes, Brahma.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what, I just love my people,
Speaker 1: Brown women, black women. You guys are just amazing. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, they were super excited.
Speaker 3: They were like, we love art.
Speaker 1: So yeah, this is something because what me and Mandy,
Speaker 1: what we do here is like what you know we
Speaker 1: try to do overall is to provide a platform to
Speaker 1: share information in a way that's going to affect people
Speaker 1: of the diaspora, like you know, that might not otherwise
Speaker 1: get this information at least not dispersed in this kind
Speaker 1: of fun, like hearted, easy to consume and.
Speaker 3: Understand kind of ways. So be a podcast all.
Speaker 1: Day, every day. Tell a friend, Tell a friend.
Speaker 2: Mandy, what are you doing?
Speaker 3: You're acfully quiet today.
Speaker 4: I'm waiting for an opening. It's hard when there's three
Speaker 4: of us and I don't want to talk over anybody,
Speaker 4: so I feel like it's it's like a double dutch.
Speaker 2: That's yeah.
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh no, I just want to say thank
Speaker 4: you so much, Art, And I agree with everything Tiffany said,
Speaker 4: and yeah, Brown, ambition is where it's at. You are
Speaker 4: broad ambition personified. And I love just the conversation that
Speaker 4: we're having around being. You know, I feel like financial
Speaker 4: success is just exponentially greater when you when you when
Speaker 4: you're planning for not just yourself, but for the people
Speaker 4: behind you. That story about Tiffany's grandfather and planting that
Speaker 4: what kind of tree was it? I'm gonna to get?
Speaker 2: And I actually think it's more rewarding when you're when
Speaker 2: you're just when you're imagining like two or three generations,
Speaker 2: like how need.
Speaker 4: To just fix the world just thinking about someone besides
Speaker 4: your damn self, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and you just think of all the problems
Speaker 2: as black people, Like how many of us wouldn't have
Speaker 2: have to go through the criminal justice system if we
Speaker 2: have money, you know, right. I know money doesn't solve everything,
Speaker 2: but it could help.
Speaker 1: Brot wrote those solves it either, right,