At Gilfix & La Poll, we take pride in innovating new ways to serve our estate planning clients. We recently published an article in Estate Planning magazine covering two ways in which we build beneficial relationships with our clients that address modern, timely issues.
The first is helping clients take advantage of “new economy” services. These are online-based businesses that are exploding in popularity. Many are very well suited to seniors and retirees, but awareness of these services among these groups remains low.
We divide new economy businesses into two categories: “getting help” and “providing help.” The first group comprises businesses that help seniors live productive, fulfilling lives even as their mobility may be decreasing. These include home health and safety monitoring services, transportation services and grocery delivery. The second group allows retirees to earn supplemental income by providing services such as rooms for rent, dog-sitting and transportation using their own vehicles.
We also cover in our article the importance of multigenerational estate planning. Some firms, in an effort to stay competitive, resort to churning out as many wills and trusts as possible, as quickly as possible. They may pay little regard to either the big picture that includes older generations’ estate plans, or the critical details that can make or break a plan.
We take the opposite approach. When possible, we consider a client’s estate plan and that of their living parents together as one comprehensive, carefully crafted strategy. This brings families together and allows us to avoid surprises down the road, giving clients greater peace of mind and allowing them to better care for their parents and/or their heirs.