Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Slip into something more comfortable and delve into personal finance with Josh Sheluk and Colin White, experienced portfolio managers at Verecan Capital Management. Each episode demystifies complex financial topics, stripping them to their bare essentials. From investment strategies and financial planning to economic headlines and philanthropic giving, delivered with a blend of insight, transparency, and a touch of humour. Perfect for anyone looking to understand and navigate their financial future with confidence. Subscribe now to stay informed, empowered, and entertained.
Verecan Capital Management Inc. is registered as a Portfolio Manager in all provinces in Canada except Manitoba.
Welcome to Barenaked Money, the podcast where we strip down the complex world of finance to its bare essentials with your hosts, Josh Sheluk and Colin White, portfolio managers with Verecan Capital Management Inc.
Colin White:Welcome to the next edition of Bare Naked Money. Colin and Josh, the OG coming at you. We are going to talk about mistakes again, which I guess has been a common theme of for us lately. But this time, it's specific to mistakes made in estates. And we're not talking wineries, are we, Josh?
Josh Sheluk:Well, I think you have wineries on your mind because you visited a couple this week. But why don't you share with our audience what you learned earlier this week about wineries from a financial perspective?
Colin White:Oh, they are a terrible business, an absolutely ungodforsaken terrible business. But, hey, the kind of fun and cute to spend some time at recreationally for sure.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. Good. So, yeah, states and the estates that are not the fun and cute kind is what we're talking about today. And we're thinking about what are the biggest estate planning mistakes that we've seen, And, hopefully, this conversation will help some of our listeners avoid some of these big mistakes.
Colin White:Yeah. And then just to take that a step further. I mean, what we're looking to do is to give you some things to think about, you know, as you're getting ready for this conversation to go talk to your professional advisors because there's a lot of time that can be saved upfront by thinking through your priorities. And hearing anecdotal stories about mistakes other people have made, should, you know, somewhere in here help you form those thoughts and make you in a better position to communicate with your professional advisers on the details of what you're trying to get done.
Josh Sheluk:Can I lead off with an easy 1? Just a layup, just a slam dunk? What 1 of, if not the biggest mistake, not having a will. Can we agree that that is a massive oversight?
Colin White:Well, I I was gonna frame it a little bit differently but mean the same thing. To me, it's thinking you have time. Sure. Yeah. Putting it putting it off because, you know, well, we've been thinking about it, but blah blah blah, which leads to not having a will.
Colin White:Thinking you have time. And and this is kind of the paradox of of estate planning. You're planning for, hopefully, you're planning for a long a long prosperous life. But you're talking about the ultimate demise. You know, so thinking you have time is is a mistake, and that leads to not doing a will or not finishing a will.
Colin White:Now we've had clients where the will's been drafted by the lawyer, but never did get signed. Like, come on. Like, just stop it. Like, don't that's that's just a tease because, again, that ends up going to court. And we had 1 client where they were tied up in court.
Colin White:I think it's close to 4 years before everybody finally signed off and everything. That was just absent a signature. You know? So don't assume you have infinite time when when it comes to your estate planning. And then I guess the the the next piece of that is sometimes you don't have all the answers and that's okay.
Colin White:Write down all the answers you have. Like, just something is better than nothing. Even if you don't know all the answers, make up a couple of answers. And then say, I reserve the right to change my mind later. You know?
Colin White:And if the muse descends and you you you do come up with a better idea, it's okay to make changes. It's not okay not to do it.
Josh Sheluk:Yep. 15, 000, 000 Canadians without a will still. We need to move the needle.
Colin White:Absolutely. So what's our goal, Josh? You want that to be down to 14, 000, 000? Like, are we try trying to
Josh Sheluk:That's that's a mil if we get a 1000000 people to do a well over the rest of my career, that that is a big accomplishment. So, yeah, sure. Let's set it there. That's a stretch goal.
Colin White:There we go. Let's let's let's let's aim for that. No. And let's let's slow let's let's talk for a second. I don't know what's what's on your mind or what comes next for you.
Colin White:What in your experience, Josh, what what prevents people from having a will? Other than just straight procrastination, I never got to.
Josh Sheluk:Well, yeah, honestly, I think that's the biggest thing. Straight procrastination. I guess procrastination is always 1 of those things where, as you said, you think you have time. It's always, well, I have this thing to do that's more important. So let me do this.
Josh Sheluk:Let me go over to the grocery store. Let me go out for dinner, or let me do this, that, or the other thing. Right? So it is always about there there's a lack of urgency with will writing. And that lack of urgency, I guess, is understandable because most of the time you think you have years to go.
Colin White:Yeah. Most of the time in your life.
Josh Sheluk:And most of the time you're right. Most
Colin White:of the time.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. I I don't know how how we we invoke this call to action. But as you said, if you don't have a will, the courts decide.
Josh Sheluk:And that's not a good option for probably anybody. So just get it done. It really is not that time consuming. I don't think, like, you gotta put some thought into it up front. It's gonna be, what, a couple hours worth of meetings with a lawyer and a bit of review of the will.
Josh Sheluk:It's not that time consuming. You need to set some time aside for it.
Colin White:Well, I mean, you know, people think that sometimes getting a well done can be expensive. The only thing more expensive than getting a well done is not having a well done. That's way more expensive. But I I do run into people who have intractable problems that they don't know what to do. Whether it's Yeah.
Colin White:Hey, I don't have an executor. And they get hung up on they don't have an executor. Well, there's solutions to that if you go talk to your adviser. You know, sometimes it's I don't know what to do about the kids. My father's married to an idiot, and I don't want him to get any of the money.
Colin White:I don't know how to do that. So sometimes, you know, not defending the procrastinators, Josh, but sometimes you hit an intract what you think is an intractable problem that you can't resolve in your head. And you say, I can't answer this 1 question. Therefore, I don't know what to do, but it will. Oh, look.
Colin White:A hockey you know, it just kinda rattles around the back end. You feel bad about yourself, and you need extra ice cream. And and, you know, you just you you never come to a conclusion.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. Yeah. But those are also good points. Cost to me comes up way too much because as you said, it's very expensive to die without a will. There'll be a lot more legal fees involved with something like that than just going to a lawyer and getting 1 done.
Josh Sheluk:And there are if cost is really a big hurdle for you, there are some pretty cost effective options that are out there that are maybe not perfect and maybe going to be flawed. But, again, as you said, better than nothing. Oh,
Colin White:Well, yeah. And, you know, sometimes you talk to there's somebody comes to us and, you know, you can't name an executor for whatever reason. Maybe you've got, you know, 1 living room and they live in the US. Or nobody in your orbit is good with money. Or the people around you have already been executives and they've sworn they would never be an executor again.
Colin White:You know, however you find yourself on an island, there are sources of professional executors that can be brought into play. And, you know, that's, again, that's 1 of those conversations you can have with a a trusted adviser. The other thing to consider is that, you know, your family your view of your family is very, it can be very 1 dimensional. Like, you're seeing your family situation in a very specific way. Sometime the act of sharing your family story with somebody who's helping you plan, there might be an idea that you just haven't thought of.
Colin White:You know? Because I've certainly sat through a few hundred conversations about people planning their estates, as have many of the lawyers. And sometimes there's your perspective out there you're not aware of. So, you know, starting the process saying I need a will, but I I can't answer x, y, and z questions. It's just a matter of putting that under the universe, talking to an adviser who can engage you in a conversation because maybe it's not as complicated as you're holding it to be.
Colin White:But, you know, again, it's you're right, Trish. I think back to, you know, like, the the People's Republic of Nova Scotia. And, you know, this is actually a global thing, about oak organ donation that many people think is important. But asking people to opt in to organ donation has been very unsuccessful. You know, making it so they have to opt out has made it wildly more successful.
Colin White:Mhmm. You know? So if we could have some kind of negative option for wills, maybe
Josh Sheluk:Yeah.
Colin White:Maybe this is gold. Maybe may maybe this is the answer. Send everybody their will and say, here's your will. You know, if you decide to change it, you know, bring it into us, and we'll change it for you.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. Not a bad idea. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. That it's a bit half baked, but I think there's something there.
Colin White:Well, this is how all great ideas start. Just half baked ideas, Josh.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. But it isn't that kind of what we have in place today with the court system? It's like there basically is a hierarchy of how your assets get distributed if you die without a will. So maybe the point is just making this a bit more front and center for people and sending sending this list to to every individual that doesn't have a will and saying, here's how your assets will be distributed if you die today. Do you want your brother to get 25% of your assets?
Josh Sheluk:No. I hate that asshole. Okay. Well, then get a will done because that's how you solve the problem.
Colin White:Okay, Josh. Should we bring Catherine in right now to this to this podcast and tell her that this is gonna be our new project going forward? We're gonna send out default wittles to all of our clients who are on record as not having the will?
Josh Sheluk:Not sure if we can do that without being lawyers ourselves, but, hey, we got a good business idea for the lawyers that are out there.
Colin White:Well, there you go. There you go. Now listen. We're we're making a little bit of fun of it. And, you know, we should be trying to scare you.
Colin White:Actually, this is the part where you should be scaring people, Josh. You know, do you love your family? Do you love your kids? All that kind of stuff. But most people are carrying around, an amount of guilt about a number of things, and this is just 1 other thing on that list.
Colin White:So, yes, thinking you have time or not having a will, I think, is probably the was gonna say the biggest mistake might not be depending on how you score mistakes, but it is 1 of the big ones.
Josh Sheluk:Okay. So to me, that is the biggest mistake because it's such an easy thing to address, but give me something that might trump it.
Colin White:Well, again, it depends on what open end of scale of of suckiness you're using. But somebody who has a very intricate will that's absolutely impossible to enact. Yep. You know, somebody who says to the
Josh Sheluk:to the trust the to the trust the trust the will is worse than having no will. That could be true. Yeah. Because there are people who will draft a will,
Colin White:and again, you find this more with people who don't give professional advice, but they'll they'll they'll do a will kit or something and they'll disinherit their wife or they'll disinherit their husband or disinherit a kid. And that's true. You can challenge that kind of stuff. Right? And you have other people say, okay, this kid's gonna get 3%, this kid's gonna get 17%, this kid's gonna get 15%, with no rhyme or reason other than some mental scorecard they kept in their head, which again is something that can be challenged.
Colin White:You get people who my money is only gonna be used for green energy projects, you know, in this particular geography and, you know, all kinds of restrictions put on something that are just undoable. So and the pro the reason I would score this is worse, and this is open for debate, and we can have we can have a challenging conversation in the comments, is you've created a legal document now. So you have a bad legal starting point that you now have is gonna get contested. That may be more expensive depending on on how badly drafted the will is. You know, you could do things like appoint the US citizen as an as an executor.
Colin White:You know? So they've gotta come across the border and post a bond and do all kinds of other legal work to act on your behalf. So a badly draft will, I'm gonna argue, is actually worse than not having a will. That doesn't make not having a will good, but on an open ended scale of suckiness, it it may not suck the worst.
Josh Sheluk:Okay. So my scale is gonna disagree with your scale a little bit, but we both made up these scales in the last 10 minutes. So, you know, we're not gonna quibble too much about it. But I think the the main point that you're trying to make for the most part is that overcomplication can be a bad thing. And I think we're both on the side of simple is better because it could be something like, yeah, executor on the wrong side of the border.
Josh Sheluk:It could be something like, I want 15 trusts set up for each 1 of my great grandchildren, and all of a sudden you're like, okay. We're gonna put $5, 000 in trust for each of them, but it's gonna cost $2, 000 a year just to file the tax return. Are you sure that's what you want? So, yes, sometimes overcomplication can be very problematic and create headaches or issues or legal concerns or all kinds of different problems.
Colin White:I think you're actually talking yourself into being on my side of the fence as you're I noticed that look on your face, Josh. You were, like, talking yourself out of your position and maybe into mine.
Josh Sheluk:I think to where I would agree with you is there can be a way to structure a will that is so horribly, awfully bad that it's worse than not having a will. But I think that's gonna be very, very few and far between, and I would say, more often than not, not having a will is gonna be worse. Because let's let's say there is actually an issue with the way that you've drafted 1 part of the will. Most of the time, there's gonna be legal recourse to address that. And so even this is where I wanna encourage people to do this even if it's not perfect.
Josh Sheluk:Most of the times, something's gonna get worked out even if it's not like every letter is is is perfect all the way through.
Colin White:I am willing to stipulate right here and right now that there are fewer than 15, 000, 000 badwills.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. There you go. Okay. So you agree with me. I'm right.
Colin White:On an order of magnitude on an order of magnitude, yes, there are fewer bad wills than there are no wills.
Josh Sheluk:Yes. There you go. Good. So just coming back to the the first point, and and partially on this point as well. 1 of the other mistakes that I think is is made too often is not updating the plan.
Josh Sheluk:So you have the will. It's properly drafted. But just because it was it was a goodwill, to use your words, a good it was a goodwill 10 years ago, doesn't mean it's a goodwill still today. So, something that I think is overlooked is just at least pulling it out of the drawer or wherever it's stored every once in a while, reading through it and making sure it's all still valid and makes sense and that you haven't lost connection with the cousin who is supposed to be the executor or something like that.
Colin White:Well, that's a good point because a few things can change. There's gonna be a lot that changes. Let's just let's just call it what it is. So the ages of people involved are gonna change. The people alive is gonna change.
Colin White:Your the size of your estate and your goals and priorities are gonna change. And rules and regulations change. Yep. So you need to keep all that into account. For example, I mean, the recent capital gains inclusion rate changes the math on an estate now.
Colin White:You know, or sorry, can change the math in your state. Right? So maybe that changes some of the math in your world. So that's why, I mean, again, it's not something you wanna, you know, read every month or every week necessarily, But it is something you don't wanna leave sit for 10 years. So somewhere between every week and once every 10 years, there's a good number to review it.
Colin White:And it's, you know or something changes in your world, make sure it gets reflected in your will. Yeah. Not reviewing a will can cause problems for sure.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. And and those changes, again, it's not like you buy a new car, you update the will. It's new kid, new grandkid, someone's deceased. Keep an eye on the executors and powers of attorney that you have set up because those people can change or somebody passes or somebody's incapable of of acting on it. So those are the types of things you're talking about, I think.
Colin White:Well and and actually, you know, over my tenure of giving this kind of advice and watching people go from, hey. Listen. I've got, you know, growing kids. I'm sending them off to university now. Hey.
Colin White:Look. They've launched. They're good. This is all my money now. And then grandkids show up and it's like, well, shit.
Colin White:I want all this money to go to the grandkids. You know, the dramatic arc that people go through from becoming more or less, I'll use the air quotes selfish. I don't know if that's the right word. But how you value things. Don't underestimate how dramatically that can shift over life.
Colin White:I have seen normal functioning, well adjusted people when they become a grandparent lose all sense of anything and have a whole new personality type that's almost unrecognizable. And that's not to say it's gonna happen. But if you think that you're not going to change as you get older, and then your priorities are not gonna be potentially radically different. I don't think you're giving, you know, enough credit that, you know, what you value over time can can sometimes change fairly dramatically.
Josh Sheluk:So it's kind of an offshoot of this and families and changing things. And 1 of the other things that I think is done, incorrectly a lot of the time is just a lack of communication. I've said so many times to so many clients, just communicate what you wanna have happen because your will is I think a lot of people view it as somewhat of a private document, and it is. But at the same time, you wanna if coming back to 1 of your examples, if 1 of the kids is getting 17% and another is getting 15% and there's a valid reason for that, sometimes just communicating that to them ahead of time is going to solve the conflicts and problems that might exist. And I had somebody say yesterday to me, well, I'm just gonna let my kids, they get along well, I'm just gonna let them figure out what happens to me when I pass.
Josh Sheluk:And I said, that's great that they get along well right now. But when a loved 1 passes away, it's a very emotional and very stressful time. And the last thing you wanna have happen is communication hasn't happened ever on this topic, and all of a sudden, all of these things are coming to the forefront all at 1 time.
Colin White:It's it's almost like they wanted to sabotage it. Hey. They've been along so well for so long. I'm gonna screw that up. I'm I'm going to put them in a heightened emotional stake, put all kinds of money in the picture, and see if they can still get along.
Colin White:Like, you know? Yeah. It's it's absolutely misnomer for sure that communication and families and money. I mean, Josh, how much time do we spend not only in the states, but just in general, families and money. You know, there's there's all kinds of stuff that's caught up in it.
Colin White:There's, the whole socioeconomic aspect of the amount of money that's given a generation, and how much they accumulate, and how it changes people's decision making, and what 1 generation thinks to what the other generation is doing with money. And, you know, there's all kinds of issues there that make it very fraught. And this this this is no different. But sabotaging your kids by not giving them any guidance, I don't think is fair or reasonable or as kind as you think it is. Having good as good a communication as possible.
Colin White:I'm gonna I sound like a a an ad campaign for advice, but sometimes having a moderated conversation with all family members present can make a big difference. I had it happen not that long ago where, you know, the the mother was trying to set aside money for the grandkids and her son was power of attorney. So she brought her son in to have a conversation with me, and she's talking about setting up all these trusts for the grandkids. And I said, well, he's your power of attorney. Right?
Colin White:Yeah. Do you trust his decision making? Oh, no. Absolutely. He's like, okay.
Colin White:Why don't you just leave the money to him and tell him that you wanted to be used to support the grandkids? I never thought of that. It's like
Josh Sheluk:Keep it simple. It's
Colin White:no. You don't have to have a big formal thing in place because we get into all the aspects of a trust, the cost, and, you know, its directions and giving it a freedom to to meet nebulous things in the future and all the rest of it. But the whole idea that somebody she's already given a power of attorney to, who ostensibly can make these decisions, who obviously you've demonstrated some level of trust, just have the conversation and then that reduces the need for having all kinds of complications in the will.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. Yeah. The communication solves so many problems, especially when there's something inequitable, I would say, Because if Received inequality. Yeah. But if Susie is getting the armoire and Lucy's getting the chair, like, are is first of all, is that what they both want?
Josh Sheluk:May maybe neither of them want either of those things, and that that's a topic for conversation as well. But, just communicating why that is set up the way that it is, I think, can go a long way. All the the whole idea, I think, of all this estate planning stuff should be avoiding conflict, whether it's between 2 people or financial conflict or legal conflict or something like that when you pass away. And communication, I think, is maybe the the most concrete way to do that when it comes to some of these complexities.
Colin White:Well, it is. But, I mean, I also think that different people have different goals with regards to your state. Some people is, you know, I don't want the government to get a nickel. Yeah. You know, and I I wanna minimize my tax bill.
Colin White:And it's a game. And it's for nothing other than their own edification. And I wanna make sure that this government doesn't get any more of my money. How do I do that? And that can be a goal.
Colin White:Sometimes it's, I wanna maximize the value that I have to the next generation or I wanna support a charity or again, people can have different goals. But underlying every 1 of those, I absolutely agree with you. Like, you you can have a bigger goal. But the secondary goal, and as important is, keep it as simple as you possibly can. Like, every little additional amount of complication you put there makes it more fragile.
Colin White:You're more likely to bump into a situation with unintended consequences that's gonna leave a mark. Right? It's funny, Josh. As we're having this conversation, I reflect I had a meeting this week with a client and the communicate it's funny, the communication thing. And the way it manifested itself in this meeting was interesting.
Colin White:They had all of their estate, and they were saying, okay. Now I need to take this and pass it to the next generation because I has it. I wants to make sure we still has it. And it was that direct. I said, well, do the kids want it?
Colin White:Oh, I don't know. I just but we have it. So, you know, we should give it to them. It's like but, you know, the form you leave it in matters. Oh, I guess you're right.
Colin White:Like, it was almost like I'd rung a bell or something, and they'd woken up out of a sleep. It was like, well, I never thought of it that way. Yeah. You you could actually sell some of this off. It's like, what?
Colin White:I'll let the other kids to use that building lot. Well, they'd have no use for that at all. Okay. Do you wanna use it for something? Oh, no.
Colin White:We'll never use it. Okay. You know, it's it's almost like you're, like, walking down AAA dark tunnel with them and they're just like, oh my god. I never looked at it that way. But they again, it's very, very, very easy to do to say, this is what I has, and this is what I'm gonna give to the next generation without questioning any of that.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. It's almost like an offshoot of the endowment effect where you value what you have burden hand more than you would value that same thing otherwise if it was somewhere else like that lot. That building lot is 1 of those things where it's like, well, I have it, so it's very valuable to me. And you're just like, well, is it really, or would you rather just have a bunch of cash in your pocket and do something with that?
Colin White:And this is funny. This is like, well, building lots are very expensive. Yeah? So if you sold it, you would get more than you normally would. Yeah.
Colin White:And just stay with me. You go back into the market and maybe buy 1 that you wanted. Well, I suppose so. But but you're right. The downward effect is actually perfect.
Colin White:I don't think it's not showing. I think this is actually it. Like, I have it. Therefore, I disproportionately value it. Yeah.
Colin White:And that I love my family, so I want that to stay in my family without saying, hey. Listen. They could actually buy something that was in the same time zone just for shits and giggles.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. The building lot in Singapore might not help that much.
Colin White:Okay. Absolutely. It it
Josh Sheluk:Probably valuable, though.
Colin White:Yeah. I'm not that familiar with Singaporean, property law, but I yeah. I'd I'd be willing to guess.
Josh Sheluk:Yep. I had 1 more thing on my list, but what else do you have?
Colin White:0II can't think of anything, but what's on your list, Josh? What what haven't we talked about?
Josh Sheluk:Well, this is I guess it's a bit more finance focused, But I think as we move towards our states, all of us, we forget, or neglect to think about what the cost of administering the estate will be, and most importantly, maybe, the tax bill might be. And I I guess there could be something that makes this comment not true, but I can't imagine that your tax bill for your estate could ever ever be larger than the estate itself. So I think a lot of people look at it as, well, I have a $2, 000, 000 estate. What do I care if there's a $500, 000 tax bill? But the problem is you might have $2, 000, 000 worth of real estate, and your tax bill is due in 6 months, for $500, 000, now what do you do?
Josh Sheluk:It becomes very problematic. And I've seen this happen several times over the last couple years where sizable estates, have actually, the the larger the estate, the bigger issue it seems to be with having liquidity available to pay the tax bill somehow. I don't know why that is, but, maybe the tax bills are bigger. Maybe there's just a greater chance of having a liquid assets. But I think the costs, out of pocket costs, immediate costs, short term costs to the estate are greater than a lot of us think about, before we die.
Colin White:I What you're seeing recently, Josh, is the the the intense run up in real estate prices.
Josh Sheluk:Yep. That could be it too. Yeah.
Colin White:A huge unrealized gain and people not paying enough attention to liquidity. Yep. But I'll I'll push back a little bit. I mean, look, you know, having a liquid estate, yes. Having an illiquid estate's bad.
Colin White:Liquid estate, good. So there needs to be some kind of transaction in there. But the other problem that we get into when we people start talking about these big nebulous things like your estate plan and you're having trouble wrapping your head around it or having trouble making a decision on how things should be done. And, you know, when you get confused, some people will glom onto 1 thing. It's like, must minimize tax.
Colin White:So okay. So the whole estate becomes about minimizing the tax. Why? Well, it's the 1 thing you can wrap your head around. So I'm gonna beat this puppy to death.
Colin White:Like, I'm gonna pay the least amount of tax possible, and everything else goes out the window. Now, you know, sometimes it's like, alright. Fair enough if this is what you wanna do, but this probably isn't what you're gonna wanna do longer term. Trying to keep that in in perspective. Like, you know, a tax the taxable estate, you shouldn't make it bigger than you want it to be.
Colin White:Right? But it shouldn't be the only thing or the or the first thing you're trying to to accomplish in the state. And that's a bit judgy of me to say, but I would suggest that most people have something more important than the size of the tax bill that they're trying to satisfy in their state. Notwithstanding, it has to be liquid enough to execute your wishes because if it's not liquid, people are not gonna get what you left them.
Josh Sheluk:Yeah. Yeah. And and that's the biggest thing is is it's not about trying to minimize tax necessarily. Obviously, that's a noble goal if you can accomplish everything else and then minimize tax. That's great.
Josh Sheluk:But it's more about making sure that the tax bill can be paid without compromising what those other priorities are. Because all of a sudden, if you have to buy or sell the family cottage to pay the tax bill, that might not be what you wanted if you wanted that family cottage to be passed on to the next generation. So that's the the bigger thing is just making sure that there's a plan in place, understanding what the the tax bill or the estate costs might be, and having a plan in place to deal with it is more important to me than trying to minimize tax or eliminate some of these costs at all at all, at all costs. Yep. No.
Josh Sheluk:Absolutely.
Colin White:Are you ready for the big finish?
Josh Sheluk:Give it to me.
Colin White:Having an estate plan is way better than not having 1. Whatever reason you don't have 1, talk to your most trusted adviser and just start talking. Because what's holding you back from getting it done may not be as big as what you think it is. And there may be a simpler, easier, or more convenient way to accomplish your goals that you're aware of. So don't hesitate to bring it up in conversation.
Colin White:It's not the big hairy monster you've created it into being. Start the conversation with a professional adviser and let them help.
Josh Sheluk:Can I give you my 1 takeaway that I had after I put my list together? Absolutely. None of this stuff is super complicated. Like, I don't have some master plan for coming up with the the greatest estate ever. Do a will, update it regularly, keep it simple, and communicate it.
Josh Sheluk:That's all you have to do. It's that simple.
Colin White:Well, yes. But, you know, there's a lot of organizations out there trying to make it more exciting to try to entice you. And, frankly, maybe they're gonna whittle down that 15, 000, 000 number faster than we will. Because we did that's not an exciting close, Josh. I I was going for more exciting close trying to get people hope.
Colin White:You know? But, honestly, this isn't that exciting. It's it's it's terrible when it's not done. I'm not sure that it's exciting when it is done. So it's kind of asymmetric.
Josh Sheluk:Check your mail, people. You'll be getting a makeshift will any day now.
Colin White:Not the dumbest thing we've ever come up with on a podcast, Josh.
Colin White:If you're breaking a sweat trying to figure out what your financial adviser's talking about, you're not getting the service you need. You probably hate trying to get an answer from them, but you also think moving your accounts will be a headache, and it might be. But working with don't rock the boat wealth planning dot com or dot ru isn't exactly stress free, is it? Call us.
Colin White:We will demystify the world for you.
Announcer:Please note, the information provided in this podcast is for general information purposes only. It is not intended as financial investment, legal, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. Our discussions are not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to make any specific investments. Financial decisions. Listeners should be aware that investing involves risks and that past performance is not indicative of future results.
Announcer:Barenaked Money is produced by Verecan Capital Management Inc, a licensed portfolio management company in Canada. We operate under the regulatory framework established by the provincial securities commissions in the provinces within which we operate. The views expressed in the podcast are our own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any regulatory authority. Remember, at Verecan Capital Management Inc, we focus on aligning our goals with yours, prioritizing integrity and transparency. For more information about us and our services, please visit our website.
Announcer:Thank you for listening and let's continue to challenge the norms of the financial services industry together.