The new year provides incredible opportunities to capitalize on the momentum of transition and looking forward to the future.
Keeping your goals very specific when it relates to accomplishing financial goals and estate planning goals is necessary to ensure you accomplish them appropriately. Writing down “I will complete my power of attorney this year” or “I will save more” isn’t specific enough which makes it all too easy to be put off again and again.
Come up with a specific number or date by which you intend to accomplish these goals and write it into or put it on your calendar. Research has shown that the manual act of writing and holding yourself accountable in this manner can greatly increase the power the thought has in your memory. Setting dates in your planner to revisit these goals and identify any potential obstacles to get in there is also very important.
Perhaps the first step towards accomplishing your estate planning, for example, is completing an inventory of your assets. Rather than writing ‘complete estate plan’ on your to-do list, decide to take this first important step of creating an inventory.
When you complete this initial step, you can then begin a second step of contacting an estate planning lawyer to make and appoint and to understand any other details or paperwork you’ll need to bring to their office for this first meeting. Taking it one step at a time makes it much more likely that you’ll accomplish these goals and by tying dates to their completion, this can help hold you accountable and ensure that you accomplish these important tasks before an emergency occurs.
Need support along the way? Work with a NY estate planning lawyer.