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TRUMP UNIVERSITY WEALTH BUILDING 101

their death. If you want to leave your assets to your family, or a favorite charity
or cause, you must specify your wishes in a properly established estate plan.
Otherwise, a court could determine the distribution of your assets and the care
of your dependents in a way that doesn’t follow your wishes. The chances are
good that the government’s wishes may not match your own.
Another misconception about estate planning is that it is only necessary for
the purpose of avoiding estate taxes. Many estates, even modest-sized ones, are
vulnerable to both state and federal inheritance and /or estate taxes, but that’s not
why all estates need some degree of estate planning. The main reasons are to:

• Make sure your assets go where you want them to go.
• Control assets while you are alive but incapacitated.
• Control assets after death.
• Minimize the emotional and financial burden on your heirs.

• Minimize feuding among heirs over your estate.
• Increase the amount available for charitable donations.
• Avoid the cost and delay of probate.
• Provide for a guardian of minor children or for elder care.

As you can see, these are all very important considerations that apply to
everyone, not only the wealthy.
Another reason that people tend to put off estate planning is that they
mistakenly believe that it’s not necessary until “later” in life. Nothing could
be further from the truth. Different stages of life call for different estate plan-
ning strategies.
Like most priorities in our lives, estate planning changes as our life expe-
riences change. When we are young adults, we typically don’t think about
estate planning. At this stage, we usually have few assets, don’t have a spouse
or children, and are focused on getting ahead in our careers. As we begin to
put down roots, however, estate planning becomes more important to us.
As we grow in experience and assets, our strategies for estate planning
change, too. In entering the next stage, our greatest concern is providing for
our young families in the event of our death. Since we may not necessarily
have many assets we should think about life insurance, which is often rather
inexpensive at this point. No one wants to think about death, but that is part
of the responsibility of a parent or business owner—to provide for those who
depend on us with a comprehensive estate plan.
As your children and, hopefully, your assets grow, your estate plan should
grow and become more complex. You may begin adding others to your list of

beneficiaries, such as an alma mater, your church, or a charity. As you’ll see

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