Securing Your Legacy with Estate Planning — With Tim McCleskey Jr.

9.13.24: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

9.13.24: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Well, welcome back to the federal retirement show. I'm your host, Val Majewski with American Benefits Exchange. And as always, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to learn about the things that we discuss on this show, because that is what it is for. It is for you, the federal employee who is looking for honest and accurate information when it comes to your benefits and retirement information. And that's what this show is founded on. That's why we started it. That's what we plan on continuing to do. As long as you'll keep watching, right. We appreciate your attendance. We appreciate you viewing our content. And joining me today, a special guest. You've seen him before, Mr. Tim McCluskey. He's one of our, our regional representatives, uh, expert in federal benefits and retirement information, travels the country speaking and presenting to, uh, Various federal government agencies. And again, you're not going to find anybody as knowledgeable as Tim in the industry. So, Tim, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join me and join us on the show here at the Federal Retirement Show.

Speaker2:
Glad to be here. Thank you so much, Val.

Speaker1:
Tim. You're welcome. Of course. Anytime I wish we had you on, you could end up being a co-host at some point because we're going to have you on more and more. But I wanted to discuss today. So if you don't if you're not familiar with Tim, if you haven't seen him on previous episodes, I highly recommend go back and view our previous content, because Tim's joined me for a number of different shows, including our 100th episode that we passed several weeks back. But Tim again is a is an expert in federal benefits and has his own website. We're going to link to that website in the description of this. So I highly recommend if you're watching this as a recording, you go and click on his his website. Click on the link that we're going to be discussing today so you can follow along. But we're going to be talking about? One of his recent blog posts, and it actually discusses one of the top ten mistakes that we have with American Benefits Exchange when it comes to top ten mistakes that we see federal employees make. And it's by no means a comprehensive, that those are the only ten that we see federal employees make just these. This is one of the ten, but it revolves around estate planning. And and Tim recently wrote a really good article blog post talking about estate planning mistakes and how to avoid them. And then before we dive into all the talking points, you know, tell me a little bit about, you know, why this blog and why estate planning, um, you know, is a near and dear to you and why you wanted to share this with the folks out there?

Speaker2:
Well, you know, there's a huge misnomer when it comes to estate planning. You know, first of all, when people just hear the word estate, the assumption for middle America is I don't have any estate, so I don't I don't need to do anything. Or there's the notion that you must have millions and millions of dollars or billions of dollars to even consider focusing on planning with your estate for your family. And that's just not true. One of the things I used to say to people, if you own a rock, you need to do estate planning. Um, but you have things that are valuable and important to you. And I felt like, you know what? It's so important for people to understand that everything that they've worked for their entire lifetime has value to them and to their family. And so you want to ensure that everything that you've worked so hard for is used in the most appropriate way, and is given to those people that mean the most to you.

Speaker1:
Well, the article that you wrote, there's 13 points, 13 bullet points, and it seems like a lot, but we're going to go through them pretty quick. And the first one, kind of common sense is failing to plan. Like you said, people may not realize they need an estate plan. So I mean, how often do you see that? You know, there's there's no plan of action, right? There's a failure to plan at all.

Speaker2:
Very, very rare. Do I run into people who have done any type of estate planning? In fact, one of the misnomers is that people think, if I have a will, I've done enough. And I said, no, that's just the tip of the point, right? The good thing is, if you've done it, great. Um, the challenge even with that is many times we do it once and we don't review it. We don't go back over through it to make sure that things are still the same space that they need to be in. Life changes often. So, you know, we need to revisit those things. But one of the biggest issues is ensuring that people have what's necessary and know that their estate is valuable not so much to the world, but to them and their family. So it's so vital that we just take a look at those bits and pieces.

Speaker1:
And then you talk about family as well. I mean, there are people out there that create an estate plan or have some sort of plan, but they don't discuss that with their family, their friends, their loved ones that will be affected, you know, by the estate plan. So that's point number two is not discussing with family and friends. I know that's seems like common sense, but it's not always what goes on. Yeah.

Speaker2:
That's true. You know, there are three key things that I find with people who don't discuss this with their family. One, um, people have grown up where you just don't talk about money. You don't talk about problems, you don't talk about challenges. Um, and then you have people who just. The kids don't want to hear about it. No, mom, dad, we don't we don't want to talk about you dying. And so they tend to not have that that conversation. And then three, some people are just apprehensive in expounding upon their estate to their family. They don't want them to know it's personal. It's private. You know, I made mistakes in the past, or I got too many resources, and I don't want my kids to be trying to figure out what's the quickest way to to end me, you know, at end of life. And I really do have these conversations with people, and they are concerns, but we have to have the conversations early. So when time comes and we have to start dealing with the estate, with the family, um, it's not a shock. It's something that we've really thought through.

Speaker1:
Yeah. When it comes to, you know, federal employees that that you and I talked to, I know we talked to federal employees on a daily basis. This is not something. I mean, I would go back, right? Benefits and retirement are even typically not something that the average federal employee is thinking about on a daily basis. And on top of that, they're certainly not thinking about, you know, what is my estate plan going to look like? So yeah, discussing a plan number one two. And then you're sharing that plan with with family because those are the ones that are going to be utilizing what this person put in place. That's that's key right. You don't want them to be confused or left uh, in the dark. And they're out of the loop and they don't even know where to where to start. This person may have done the greatest estate plan ever, but, you know, the people don't even know where to start. The beneficiaries don't even know where to start. When it when it ends up in the, you know, in the end. Right? Um, that's exactly right.

Speaker2:
You know, one of the things I do say to people is, you know, when you have one mother, you have one father. And typically I'm talking to the mother or the father and say, your children have one mom one day. And when something happens to mom, the last thing they're thinking about in that moment is the estate. It's the or the property. They're thinking, I just lost my mother. So the mind is not really where it normally would be emotionally, mentally. And it's going to take some time. But if you have things laid out and you've had those conversations, albeit tough year after year after year, for maybe 30 minutes to an hour each year, by the time it happens, they are prepared to handle that circumstance in a most appropriate way.

Speaker1:
And the same way. The next point that you put in your your post, your article, is you're not naming more than one beneficiary. So that's a common mistake, is somebody might name a single beneficiary and forget about, you know, contingents or other people or so secondary, you know, beneficiaries, you know, why is this an issue? And why should people look at naming more than one beneficiary?

Speaker2:
Well, you know, one of the things that can be challenging is, you know, if you have a spouse, naturally, most people will name their spouse. But what if you have one child or no spouse and just that one child? Logic would say, I'm going to name just that child. Um, but, you know, should something happen to that person prior to you passing, then it becomes an issue with your estate and you're dealing with probate issues. You deal with tax issues, things that you didn't even think may even come up because you assumed that person was always going to be there. And we all know somebody where this has happened. So we have to think more Circumspectly about who else can assist can help. Can I leave my estate too? Should this other individual unfortunately not be available.

Speaker1:
Well, that that's something. Yeah. We don't we don't have that crystal ball to know exactly what's going to happen. So planning for contingencies in this case a contingent beneficiary is definitely helpful because we don't know we don't know what's going to happen as well as we can plan. Things can change. Um, and a part of the planning too, when you think, hey, we don't know what's going to happen, we we hope we live a healthy lifestyle or, you know, we don't end up in a situation medically. But the next point that you made talks about power of attorney or healthcare representatives, right? You're talking about power of attorney. If you if somebody becomes mentally incapacitated, power of attorney if they become medically incapacitated and can't make judgments for themselves, you know, this can be a big deal if they don't have that in place and give that that power of attorney to somebody to make those decisions for them.

Speaker2:
That's right. Having power of attorney for health and power of attorney for financial didn't mean you're giving up control. And I think that's one of the challenges that people have is, oh, I don't want to give somebody power of attorney. But the idea is this is not happening to you today. This is something where right now you're you're lucid, your mind is sharp. But 20, 30, maybe even 40 years from now, you may need some help. And it's always nice when you have that loved one, particularly if it's not a spouse and maybe a child, or even a grandchild or niece or nephew that has to help make sure the bills are still paid. Make sure the lights stay on, uh, make sure you're not being taken advantage of by someone who realizes you have resources that are available. And two, to ensure that if a power attorney for health, that somebody else besides you knows what's going on with your body, ensuring that you get the medications you need. If you have to go to a specialty doctor, you want to make sure that you can get there. If somebody can communicate effectively for you as a wonderful advocate.

Speaker1:
Yeah. Then that I mean, that can be a big deal. That plus, if you don't dedicate or dictate who you want that to be, then there can be a struggle within the family of who makes that decision. You're you're now making it a clear cut and dry choice. Hey, this is the person that I trust with those decisions. And you know, that's it, right? There's there's a this person has power of attorney. And then along with that, right. Something happens and you're talking about confusion about, you know, who's going to make a decision or what. Uh, planning for their final arrangements and what they want to have happen. You know, when when they do pass away, uh, is taking a big stressor off the family. And a lot of people just say, well, they're going to get, you know, life insurance money or they're going to get this, they're going to get that. But then what do they do with it if they don't? People are grieving. They don't want to sit there and necessarily plan for a funeral or have to plan for some sort of service that they don't necessarily know what you wanted to have happen. So, you know, do people people neglect the planning part, right? They might get the, the, the life insurance money or whatever, but do they actually plan with their final arrangements? Are and write that down or dictate that to somebody within their plan so they know what's going to happen. So, you know, planning for final arrangements. What what what kind of points can you give on that part?

Speaker2:
You know, one of the things I will say is nobody gets out of life alive, right? And if you do, I want to know your formula and how you're going to do it. But the thing is, we we believe that the idea of planning for passing on should come when we think we're at the cusp of passing on, but nobody knows when it's going to happen. When you actually plan and prepare something as simple as the clothes you want to wear, the jewelry you want to wear, those things can become emotionally taxing and planning for that. If it's your children or spouse or grandchildren, and if you have a family that's been merged together and you have two sets of children and somebody's trying to plan for that, oh my goodness, the emotions that you didn't even know you had. Begin to run high. So it's great to have those conversations and plan it out. And even if you decide I'm not going to talk to them about it, put it in writing and even make it legal. So that way they see your signature. They know this is what mom wanted, this is what dad wanted. And people are more prone to want to adhere to your wishes. They'll feel much better emotionally when you've done that for them. You're helping them by doing it.

Speaker1:
Yeah, and we talk about estate planning, you know, making sure they protect their assets or their assets get passed on to the proper people. But a lot of times we know we're in the digital age and we forget also about digital assets. So what kind of digital assets should somebody think to put into their overall estate plan and have a plan for the digital assets? What kind should we be looking at?

Speaker2:
Now, a lot of times when people think, oh, digital assets like cryptocurrency. Well, I mean, you need to have that as part of your estate planning as well. But we're looking more so at like social media. We're in the age of social media and a lot of people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s have social media accounts. And so what you want to do is ensure that you're able to either take those accounts down or have somebody that you trust that can manage those accounts in the most appropriate way. And there may be some opportunities where you have decided to to pay for certain things within those accounts. Well, that needs to stop. And so we need to figure out who's going to be the person that's responsible for managing that or cancelling those subscriptions to all of those accounts. So money's no longer coming out. These companies don't know that you've passed on. They just know they're getting revenue, or somebody is able to see and assume that you're still there and available when you're not. So you want to have somebody that can manage that in the most appropriate way.

Speaker1:
Yeah. When everything's online, you don't have it. Most people don't have a checkbook anymore. Traditionally write or or receive statements in the mail that a family member is going to see and say, oh, you know, mom or dad had these different checking or savings accounts or these different, you know, digital things that that are online somewhere. So if you don't properly put those into the plan and announce what those are, people may have no idea what you've you've got and those assets, like you said, Tim, for payments and other things can be dwindled away over time instead of taking care of you at the time of death, just because you've declared what it is you have. You've you've put everything out there within your within your plan. Even so, let's say it wasn't just bills you were paying. What if you wanted money not to go to a subscription, but you wanted money to go to charity? You know, upon death, you know, is that that's something that to they you've got to put your wishes for, say, charitable donations, um, into it. So it's not just stopping the subscriptions that come out of a checking or savings or a credit card account or whatever. It's, hey, I want this money to be used for this purpose. And people need to outline that as part of their estate plan is their charitable donations.

Speaker2:
You know, I like how you said people need to outline that. Um, and they do. And a lot of cases too. If you have relationships with your loved ones, you're going to be aware that they may be being given resources to, you know, a specific charity, maybe a church, things of that nature. But you may not be aware that they're going to give a lump sum, um, or maybe even a part of a life insurance policy. And people do tend to do that. But not only do you want to outline it, you want to make your family who's going to receive resources from you, aware, uh, of what you're going to be doing. So that's not so many small things can trigger people when somebody passes away. And unfortunately, when it comes to money. So you want to plan appropriately and make those that you trust aware of what's going to take place. So it is not a shock when it happens.

Speaker1:
Yeah. Then it becomes a if it's not written down, it's not part of a properly designed estate plan, then it can become like a he said. She said, well, I heard that your mom or dad wanted to do this or that, you know, and it becomes a much more of a battle if it's not properly outlined, like we were just saying. Correct. Um, along with that too. So point number eight, and if you're following along, you know, with the the blog article, if you've gone to the link, point number eight is talking about not thinking about your children's futures. And that's something if you do have young kids, you know, you want to plan, uh, what happens in the event that you pass away prematurely. So yeah, I know it's like, oh, I'm going to live beyond, you know, my kids going through college and they're going to be on their own. But in a lot of cases, again, we don't have that. We don't have that crystal ball. We don't know when something's going to happen. So what about planning for children's futures? Is it you know, future education costs? Is it you know, what happens if with, uh, putting money aside because you're not going to give a, you know, an adolescent a lump sum of money that they're going to you got to plan properly of what's going to happen if if you pass away prematurely. So what about children? Are the people typically missing?

Speaker2:
I think the thing that people typically this is what to do not necessarily with resources, but what to do with assets like property. Um, what do we do with the house? You know, if something happens to, to, to, to a loved one and then you have children that are under the age of 18? Well, a lot of times people will say, well, this amount of money is going to go to this child, this amount of money is going to go to that child. But you need to explain not only what you're doing, but consider explaining why you're doing it the way you're doing it. Because again, emotions are there. People are going to make assumptions just based on past conversation, past relationship. Maybe the last conversation you had wasn't the best. And so now you're trying to figure out what they did this because of this conversation and it had nothing to do with it. They did it a long time ago. Sure. So now you're carrying this this stress and these triggers just because you didn't have the conversation. Another challenge that I noticed people really do tend to have is not really preparing for what to do with that family home. That family home can become a big issue. Do we sell it? Do we keep it? And if you are fortunate to live where your children are now adults and you have grandchildren or great grandchildren, what do you do now? Do you sell it? And if this asset is worth $500,000, $1 million, what needs to happen? You have something in writing where you make a specific decision for them, and don't necessarily leave it up to them to decide, because that could become chaotic. Now we have families, um, that they can make a great decision and you know who you are, but then you also know who you are when they would cause chaos and friction. So you got to think those things through and consider, again, having a conversation up front. Several. So when you made your choice, they were already been made aware long before you passed why you wanted to do what you wanted to do. Sure.

Speaker1:
Now this is this is going to sound counterintuitive on the next point, because the next point, point number nine, is a mistake that people make is getting too specific in their state plan. So we're thinking, all right, we want to specify a lot of these things, but where can they go wrong when it comes to being too specific with their estate planning?

Speaker2:
Well, one of those things could be, I'm going to leave all of my jewelry to X person because you don't have to say why. Just just say what you're going to do and outline it and make it almost so um, organic where they don't have they don't see that emotion in it unless there's something that's going to be positive where everybody can be appreciated in that regard. Um, but the challenge sometimes can be I'm doing this because of this person or this because of that. And some people can actually put that in their will and their estate planning. And in order to hurt people, don't do that because it causes friction in the family after you pass away unnecessarily. It's not important at that point. The important thing is that they had a loved one, and they want to have memories that are lasting, and they're wonderful for them and everybody within that family.

Speaker1:
Yeah, that would be that'd be interesting, right? You're thinking, I can't believe that they said that about this person or that person. Then you get a little bitterness and just it's a little more. This should be a more of a matter of fact type of plan. Right. It doesn't have to be emotionally written down, just more matter of fact, here are the here are the things, the items. Bullet point. It doesn't have to get too specific, like you're saying descriptive if you mean.

Speaker2:
That's exactly.

Speaker1:
Right. Um, the next one. And this is a big thing too, if you if you do start, uh, your estate plan, a lot of times estate plans revolve around a trust, right? Whether it's a living trust is is typical. So. But if somebody sets up a trust, then once it's set up as part of their estate plan, it has to be funded, right? You can't just set up a trust and then everything automatically goes to the trust. You have to set it up and fund it then properly. That's that's what kind of gets this whole thing finalized a little bit more is the trust has to be funded. But a big mistake that people make is improperly funding that trust. So how are ways that they can improperly fund their trust? And what can we do to correct that mistake?

Speaker2:
I think what happens is people and I noticed this a lot. People listen to their friends or other family members and assume, okay, they did it this way. I need to do it that way. You cannot make financial decisions based on somebody else's life. Listen to people. Take information and then find a good attorney that can help you to make wise decisions. And sometimes that good attorney doesn't need to be the family member. Sometimes it can be. Sometimes the best attorney doesn't need to be somebody in the in the neighborhood, or maybe even somebody that you're in a social club with or even go to church with. We assume that, oh, they're an attorney, so they're the best person that I need. In some cases that may be true, but there are going to be some instances where you need to have outside counsel that has no emotional ties to you or your family, so they can help you to make the best financial decisions. And your trust is funded in the most appropriate way, because they're there to do a job and to do it to the best of their ability.

Speaker1:
Yeah, and that's the thing. Just if all the assets go into the trust, then now you've got all the directives within the trust to see how the assets get divided up upon, upon death. Right. So the beneficiaries of, you know, life insurance policies or 401 or other things, I mean, those have to bank accounts. Everything just goes into the trust, all all assets that you own. Like you said earlier, Tim, if you own a rock, you've got to have an estate plan. Well, if that estate plan revolves around it revolves around a trust of some sort, then that rock needs to go into the trust upon death, and then the trust will disperse that or give that to whoever. Um, another thing too, is just because money goes into a trust doesn't mean that. Or money or funds or assets or whatever it is, it doesn't mean you avoid taxes on those funds. Right? Unless it comes from a life insurance policy or, you know, some sort of Roth or tax free account, then perhaps you do avoid You avoid tax. But that's a big thing people don't put into consideration or give consideration to is how are my assets or the transfer of assets going to affect my beneficiaries from a tax perspective? Can you can you speak on that a little bit about what they may experience, the beneficiaries might experience from the tax side.

Speaker2:
Yeah. So so a lot of times and in most cases many people may not have to deal with estate taxes. Depending on your state. You know, your state has to have a valuable or ten, $13 million. Um, but there was a time when it was 5 million, and if it in time, it reverts back to that. You know, nowadays homes and everybody's aware of this. Homes are increasing in value. Right. So if you're fortunate to live at a ten, 15, 20, 30 years, your estate may be right on that cusp. So you have to be prepared for the possibility of estate taxes. And that's why having a good attorney helps so you can ensure, hey, am I going to have to pay any taxes? What are the resources that are going to be used out of my estate to cover those taxes, so your family doesn't have to do it themselves. I mean, it's just again, comes down to planning and the most appropriate way having a good financial planner, a good counselor that's going to ensure that your resources are used the best way possible. And you're not just giving the money away in taxes because you didn't know.

Speaker1:
We've seen this where people are asset rich but cash poor, so it's not like you're giving you're not giving millions of dollars from your TSP or a 401 K or IRA. It's not cash money. It's an asset like, you know, land real estate. Um, give me an example. You know, there's folks we work with at the USDA. You know, they have farmers and ranchers. They've got a lot of land. You know, they're not cash rich, but they've got a lot of land that is worth a lot of money. And if something were to happen to them, their their loved ones have a huge, uh, tax bill that they're going to be paying on the transfer of the property or things like that. Once, once the person passes and that tax liability might have to get paid for by, you know, selling part of the land or selling all of the land to pay the tax bill. And that's where, you know, things that are tax free, like preparing with life insurance. We've seen these types of people. Now that's it's a drastic example. But let's say they own, you know, $20 million worth of property. Um, and there's going to be a big tax liability that that person that that that land owner can protect their family by getting a significant amount of life insurance that would then be there to pay the the tax bill. So you're making an investment in a life insurance plan to pay the tax bill, and it ends up saving your beneficiaries a ton of money and hassle having to deal with with taxes. And, uh, there's a lot of examples of that.

Speaker2:
You are absolutely, absolutely right. And and I know a lot of people might have heard, you know, they'll say, well, okay, I'm not going to have all of this land. I mean, my family didn't have a lot of land, but I did have a lady last year that her father left her an apartment complex, and the apartment complex was worth about $7 million. And, you know, she had to. She and her husband had to pay taxes on that. And the father left resources specifically for tax purposes. And I remember in our conversation, she said, had he not left this month, I don't know what we would have done. And we're turning our taxes upward toward $90,000 in taxes. So it's estates like this and smaller that can be challenging for people that force you to have to go out and sell your property or your family's property for pennies on the dollar because you can't afford to pay the tax. You just don't want that.

Speaker1:
I've seen that. We've seen that, too, with people that, you know, they're forced, that they've got no other choice. Well, here's how you can pay the bill. You have to you have to sell it and you have to you have to sell it quickly, or else you're going to have to continue to maintain, you know, the the property and all this other things. So it is beneficial to plan ahead for that if you have those things. So if you look at all of your assets and will the transfer of these assets, whether they're physical, you know, cash money or something that is like land or, or real estate, will this cause a tax negative tax implication to my beneficiaries, and how can I prepare them for that? So how can I provide for that? That's very fortunate of that person you spoke with. Because had they not done it, I mean, they'd been like, yeah, we got this asset, this is great, but now we have to sell it prematurely to pay the tax bill. Um, once they do have their plan put together, I know that one of the the next to last point that you have is not securing that plan or putting it in a place or a location where it's protected, you know, it's not going to get damaged or lost. Um, not going to get, you know, just misplaced or things like that. So why is that a mistake that people make is not securing their plan once it's made?

Speaker2:
Well, a lot of times, and this is with a lot of your what I would call your financial papers, you know, but many times we put them in a file, we put them in a space in our home and we assume that they will always be there. Well, first of all, you got to realize that the home or the space, the dwelling that they're in, if something happens to that space, there's a fire, there's a flood, there's a tornado. Now those papers are gone and you don't even have access to this information. You're not going to remember all of this. So you want to have it in a fireproof case, maybe even a big vault lockbox, maybe even at the bank. Um, so those assets in on paper are secure. Now, here's something else to always consider. Consider insuring that your family members that are going to be involved in this estate planning or that are going to receive resources, have copies, maybe not on each piece of paper, but telephone numbers, names of companies, um, contract numbers, addresses, so they can have a space to put that information in. And they may have it in a digital space, maybe in their phone, maybe in an email. Another space besides you trying to hold on to it. So when something does happen, they have easy access because going back to mom and dad's house and emotionally trying to figure out where are the papers, where did they say they were? And now your mind is discombobulated because mom is gone and you're trying to figure out where to go and look for stuff. You don't want to have to have that to happen to your family. So ensure that you have it in a space that's locked up, that's fireproof and secure. But also consider making sure they have names and addresses and phone numbers and account numbers of those things that are going to be most important to you.

Speaker1:
Yeah, there's a lot of ways to do it right. There's physical lock boxes or safes or. Or vaults, if you will. But you can do it digitally as well. There are digital lock boxes, if you will, right, where people can upload all of their important documents and have them in a password protected space on the cloud. And then anybody who has access to it or has a passcode can log in and see all of those documents. So it doesn't have to be just a physical location, which I also recommend. And I'm sure you do too, having a physical backup if you're going to do a digital, because all those papers you're putting in there are probably printed on physical paper as well. But yeah, have backups to your backups so that in case something happens, you know, it's not like, uh, you spilled a glass of water on these on this folder, and all of a sudden now all of your all of your work is toast because it was just sitting there out in the open and could easily be damaged or misplaced or things like that. That's right. The last point that you made, and I agree this is this is awesome because estate planning is not a set it and forget it kind of mission. It's not hey, I did it once and we're done. That's it. We took we took care of it. It's something it's constantly evolving, right? This is an ever growing, evolving process and not frequently updating someone's estate plan is a mistake. So how often should somebody relook at their estate plan and and look at updating it, or at least making sure that it is up to date?

Speaker2:
You know, and people may not think this is as important, but it is because life happens. But I would say every 3 to 5 years review it. And sometimes, even if you're not going to make any changes, that may take you only 30 minutes. Um, but that small amount of time that you're spending reviewing all of the documents that are pertinent to this, this decision is going to be so key because I guarantee you there will be a conversation that you now need to have that maybe you forgot to have with your children or your loved ones, or you may need to call a company to make sure things are still set in stone, the way they need to be set in stone. Um, just bringing it closer to home for everyone. Most of us have a life insurance policy, and one of the things I find is interesting is people will buy a ten or 20 or 30 year term policy, and then 15 years later I'll say, hey, what type of policy you got? I got a 30 year term. And then we look at it and they have 15 years left. And I'll just say to them, no, you have a 15 year term, right. Most. That's why you have to look at these things often to recognize, okay, my time is getting shorter on this policy or my time is getting shorter on this other type of plan. What do I need to be prepared to do? And you gotta put it on your calendar so you'll know to make these necessary adjustments. Well, what if you get married? What if you. Unfortunately, you go through a divorce or somebody else passes away. What if your children are now adults and they have you got grandchildren, and you want to make sure your grandchildren are involved? Or what if you actually have to have the grandchild to help assist you when you're older and not the child? These are the reasons why you have to look at this material often, because you're going to, unfortunately, have to make some adjustments, and you need to be prepared to do that any generic term.

Speaker1:
Yeah, a number of things will change over time, right. Assets that you currently have, you may not have in the future. You may accrue new assets. Right. Buy a new property, a new home. Um, you know, accounts may be started or accounts may be closed that you previously had. So there's a lot of things that can change both within your assets and then also situationally, you know, through your family dynamic or through just whatever occurs that it is. It's great to keep it up to date. Also to remember what you have. You mentioned life insurance. Tim, I've talked to a lot of people that say, yeah, I've got a term policy, and then they say 30 years. Well, it was actually only 20. So uh, or I've got a whole life policy and it was term or I've got this and it was actually an accident only policy or they don't, they don't recall what it is they bought. So keeping those things fresh, uh, that way you're just you're just more familiar. It's not a set it and forget it plan. It's something that you continually have to review. It's a living, breathing document. That's what it's called a living trust. If you set up a trust, that's a good way to think of it. It's a living, breathing document. Now, if somebody does want to talk to you about estate planning, set something up. They have further questions. Maybe they've got other things that we didn't touch on today. How can they get in touch with you? Tim.

Speaker2:
So there are two ways one can communicate with me. They can just go to my email address, um, at Tim Junior at Federal Benefit co.com. That's Tim Jr at federal benefit co.com com or just send me a text. You know, we are in that digital age and it just makes it easy and I tend to respond a lot faster. But you can reach out to me at (615) 517-0596. Again, that's (615) 517-0596. And take some opportunity. Just take some time to to Google me. I always say Google Timothy McCluskey and make sure you add the junior. Otherwise you'll get my father. Um, just to kind of learn some things. Um, I have several YouTube videos out there that really talk through some of the challenges that we face in this life. Um, and we want to make our lives easier. Um, you can also go to my website at Fed Up Group.com Fed Up Group.com, which is financially educated with unlimited potential. So we want to make sure you have all the potential that is available to you so you can make the best choices for you and your family.

Speaker1:
Love it! Well, Tim, I really appreciate you taking the time. I followed the articles. When they come out, I'm on the newsletter. So I get I get notifications when the new one comes out. Um, I highly recommend you all that are watching this episode. You go to that website, subscribe to Tim's newsletter. Not only it's great for federal employees as as a federal benefits expert, but he's also got information that's great for anybody. So your friends, your family, things of that nature. Well, Tim, again, thank you for taking the time out and joining us on the Federal Retirement Show. Look forward to seeing you on again sometime soon in the future.

Speaker2:
Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it.

Speaker1:
You're welcome Tim. Well, as always, everybody, I appreciate your attendance. Appreciate your diligence and obedience and dedication to watching our show. You're the reason we have the show. That's what we do it for, is for you. The federal employees out there looking for information regarding benefits, retirement and other things that we believe are useful for you. Thank you for joining us. Look forward to seeing you on a future episode.

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