BY NIKHAT KHAN
REGISTERED REPRESENTATIVE, NYLIFE SECURITIES LLC
This is our third “Community Corner” post! Thank you to Nikhat Khan for contributing this valuable advice about estate planning and why it’s important. Nikhat works as a Licensed Agent & Registered Representative offering securities through NYLIFE Securities. As a Financial Services Certified Professional (FSCP), she specializes in helping clients build long-term financial strategies tailored to their goals.
Estate planning is similar to planting a beautiful garden in your home backyard. Both processes need careful planning, nurturing and regular maintenance to ensure they thrive for years to come. Just like a garden comprises several components to ensure its growth and sustainability, estate planning also includes certain key elements that play a vital role in ensuring that assets are properly managed and passed down to loved ones in the family.
In a garden, the soil is the most important part since it holds everything together and provides the nutrients necessary for plants to grow. Just as you can’t plant seeds in poor soil, you can’t create a solid estate plan without understanding your assets, liabilities and goals. Preparing the soil means organizing your finances and deciding who should inherit your estate. Once the soil is ready for the right plants, in estate planning, it is equally important to select the right legal tools to protect your assets and help to ensure they grow over time. The right legal tools refer to drafting a will, setting up trusts and naming beneficiaries for your estate plan.
The next crucial step in setting up a beautiful garden is consistent watering and sunlight to thrive. Similarly, an estate plan requires timely updates to reflect major life changes such as marriage, the birth of a child or acquiring new assets. Ongoing care and attention are necessary to keep things developing according to the plan, whether in a garden or in estate planning. Just like sunlight is essential for a garden’s growth, advice and support from an estate planning professional (such as an attorney or financial advisor) provide the necessary guidance for making informed decisions. These professionals help ensure your estate plan gets the proper “sunlight” to grow in the right direction.
As a part of the ongoing care of a healthy garden, weeding is necessary to remove the unwanted plants. Similarly, in estate planning, you need to weed out any legal or financial issues that could complicate your plans, such as avoiding probate, minimizing taxes and helping to ensure your assets are protected from unnecessary risks.
Finally, by installing a sturdy fence, a gardener ensures that their hard work remains safe and that their plants can grow undisturbed. In estate planning too, trusts and insurance policies act as protective barriers that can safeguard wealth and financial legacies from external risks. This includes shielding assets from potential threats such as creditors, lawsuits, excessive taxes and unforeseen financial burdens.
To summarize, after nurturing your garden, you enjoy the flowers, fruit, and beauty it provides. Similarly, when you plan your estate carefully, your loved ones will reap the benefits of your hard work, helping to secure their future and continuing your legacy.
