Bringing Light to the Chaos of Death’s Bureaucracy

On the first day of creation, God said “Let there be light.” Just as Jesus is the light of the world, he brings truth and does not like chaos. Robby talks about going through the bureaucracy after a loved one's death, being the executor and dealing with their will and their affairs. There is a lot of chaos to go through in this situation, but hopefully Hans and Robby can bring some light to it all on this episode of “Finishing Well”!

Robby talks about his father, who had a clear plan for his life insurance. He told Robby a few days before he passed that Robby was the beneficiary and that the $10,000 benefit was to be used for funeral costs. This is not what ended up happening, as Robby’s father was wrong about the beneficiary. It was not Robby, but it was a trust, which meant the money had to go into this and then go through the will.  

Robby explains how hard this made it to get the money. It took him 3 weeks to get his father's death certificate. Then he had to start dealing with other stuff, such as his bank accounts and insurance policies. He even has to contact Social Security to pay back a check they made to his father after he passed. The life insurance policy was not available to immediately pay for the funeral costs like he intended. This is one part of the chaos that can be eliminated by simply looking at the policies regularly with a trusted agent.

Another way to stop some of the chaos is sitting down with your parents or in-laws and going through all of their insurance policies and estate plans. This will help to make sure the money goes directly to whom they intend it to, when they intend it to. The beauty of life insurance is that it can avoid probate if set up correctly. It gives your family members immediate money to take  care of your affairs.

Hans talks about the minimum every person should have in life insurance and what this covers. Even single people should look into life insurance; you will still have bills that are going to have to be paid after you pass. The base number for most people is going to be $25,000 but it is really going to depend on your personal situation.

Don’t forget to get your copy of “The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement” on Amazon or on CardinalGuide.com for free!

You can contact Hans and Cardinal by emailing hans@cardinalguide.com or calling 919-535-8261. Learn more at CardinalGuide.com.