Many Americans who save for retirement can leave gaps in their estate planning, like not updating beneficiaries. Your retirement and estate plans should work together. Both prepare you for the future: retirement planning builds your savings, and estate planning protects those savings and ensures they’re distributed according to your wishes. Reviewing your estate plan before you retire may help prevent tax issues for your heirs and helps your assets last through your lifetime and beyond.

When Laura's mother came home after hip surgery, Laura used two weeks of vacation helping with therapy, meal prep, and travel to appointments. When the time ran out, she faced a dilemma: return to work and leave her mother alone, or take unpaid leave and fall behind on bills. Maine's new paid family medical leave program (PFML), which opened for applications recently, aims to eliminate such decisions. The law goes into effect on May 1st. Under the program, eligible employees and the self-employed may take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a loved one.

Losing someone you love stops everything. The shock and grief can feel overpowering, but decisions about final arrangements may need to be made quickly.  This checklist walks you through the immediate steps — some more urgent than others — at a pace you can manage. What is most important to remember is that you don't have to do everything all at once.

Beneficiary (or "transfer-on-death designations") often have the final word even if you name who you want to inherit your money in a will. The precedence of beneficiary designations over a will means that keeping your beneficiary forms up to date is crucial to comprehensive estate planning.

Estate planning for families doesn’t just focus on generational wealth transfer and financial assets. It can also help you preserve family heritage and non-financial assets like heirlooms or rituals. Without a plan, such "assets" could be lost, forgotten, or a source of conflict.

If you divorce, remarry, and fail to plan properly, your final wishes might not unfold the way you expect. A comprehensive estate plan, however, covers how you want your estate distributed and to whom.

Summer often brings milestones like graduations or weddings. They can affect your guardianship choices, beneficiary designations, or trust distributions. Use your trip as a reminder to check whether your estate plan still reflects your current family situation.  In case something happens, having an estate plan in place gives you comfort in knowing your assets and loved ones are protected. It frees you to savor new sights and experiences without leaving loose ends for your family to tie together.  

You still manage your medications and book your own appointments. But a fall, a stroke, or a sudden illness could leave you unable to speak for yourself. If that happens, who talks to your doctor? Who manages your finances? Will everyone know what you would have wanted? Legal planning helps you prepare for these possibilities. It keeps you in charge --- of your care, your choices, and your future -- no matter what life brings.

A recent Caring.com survey found that many people view estate planning as essential when they acquire valuable assets like a home or a substantial cash windfall. More than half of the respondents -- 56 percent -- said they don't have a will or trust because some feel they lack enough assets to leave anyone. But estate planning involves more than things -- it also involves people; your final wishes form the future for those you love. The best time to plan is when you're healthy and don’t face a crisis. Yet, as the survey showed, some age groups are more prepared than others, and certain factors influenced their choices.

With Valentine's Day approaching, the stores are filled with heart-shaped candy boxes and fancy cards. Perhaps a better way to show your love for your family is to do some estate planning.  An “I love you” will (also called a "mirror," "sweetheart," or "reciprocal" will), lets you leave your estate to your surviving spouse. Later, upon the survivor's death, the estate likely passes to their children.

If you’ve started the estate planning conversation, it's time to turn it into a team effort. If not, consider why it’s worth broaching the discussion before it’s necessary. Involving everyone in the process helps sidestep misunderstandings and disputes later. The goal is to create a plan that honors everyone while it preserves not just assets, but family harmony.

An average of six out of every ten American adults lack an estate plan. Like a sandcastle washed away, without a plan, the lifetime legacy you’ve built could vanish. When your loved ones grieve, as medical bills mount and deeds gather dust, your final wishes can remain a mystery.