Hi there,
One of the things I've learned over the last twelve years is that people rarely avoid estate planning because they don't care. More often, it’s because it’s really hard to make sense of something that feels unfamiliar.
There are new legal terms, important decisions and stacks of documents. And somewhere along the way, the whole process starts to feel bigger than it really is.
Of course, this doesn't just happen with estate planning. It happens any time we're beginners. I recently met with my financial planner. Halfway through our meeting she stopped and asked, “Are you okay? You look concerned.” I laughed and said, “I'm not concerned. I'm just really bored.” There were numbers, then more numbers, then somehow... even more numbers.
She could tell she'd lost me. So she changed how she was explaining things, asked me a few questions, and I was back in the conversation. She didn't become less knowledgeable but she became a better communicator.
That conversation reminded me of something I think about often. The longer you've worked in any profession, the easier it is to forget what it felt like before you understood all the jargon. We all become fluent in a language our clients don't speak.
