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Revisiting Your Estate Plan in the New Year

Dec 30, 2022 12:37:21 PM The MacMillan Estate Planning Team Estate Planning, Tax Planning, Trust Planning, Will Planning, family estate planning, legacy, Wealth Planning, Succession Plan, Retirement Plan

Everyone craves a fresh start to a new year, and we couldn’t agree more at MacMillan Estate Planning. January can be a terrific time to revisit your estate plan with your estate planner to ensure you are still on track to meet your goals and to confirm your estate plan accurately represents your wishes – a lot can change in a year!

While a will is vital, many think a standalone will is sufficient in lieu of an estate plan – this is not correct! A will is just a distribution plan of your assets. With life expectancy on the rise, many of us will spend more time in our retirement years than we did in the workforce, so a strong estate plan has never been more important. As our founder, Sheri MacMillan, always says, “A good estate plan should be focused on you and what is most significant to you.”

We believe that any good estate plan has four cornerstones: a tax plan, a legal plan, a life plan and a legacy plan. The plan for your taxes ensures you aren’t giving too much of your wealth away in taxes, your legal plan protects your tax strategy, and your life plan (the most significant portion of your estate plan) details how you will allocate and enjoy your wealth in retirement, and your legacy plan dictates how your assets will be passed down to your loved ones when that time comes.

At MacMillan, when crafting an estate plan for our clients, we encourage them to think through their retirement years in blocks. Start with early retirement, the time when you are just figuring out what the rest of your life will look like. Then, focus on mid-retirement, a period when many like to allocate time to enjoy themselves, try new experiences and travel. Finally, your late retirement is a time when many will want to plan to settle down close to home or their loved ones. This allows you to plan for the different stages of your retirement while acknowledging the differing priorities of each stage and ensuring you can enjoy your wealth after your years of hard work to accumulate it.

The MacMillan Estate Planning team is here to help you reach your financial goals and safeguard your significance, whether it’s by auditing your current estate plan or creating a new one for you – contact us today to have a conversation about creating or updating your estate or will planning.


At MacMillan Estate Planning, our team of professional trust and estate practitioners, chartered accountants, financial planners, and legal professionals look forward to assisting you with the design of your estate plan and will ensure you build, protect, and enjoy your wealth. The information provided is general and may not be suited to your objectives or sufficient to ensure the protection of you and your family. You should not act on this information without providing MacMillan Estate Planning with the opportunity to ensure that it is suitable for your unique situation.


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