What if you came to a meeting, sat down as it was about to begin, and the person next to you greeted you with a series of hand gestures that you did not recognize? Perhaps you politely smiled or nodded and then turned your attention to the front of the room as the speaker was about to begin. The first thing you notice is that there is no microphone at the podium. “That’s odd” you think, but then the reason becomes clear.

The speaker isn’t speaking, at least not out loud. He begins the meeting with hand gestures that are clearly being understood by nearly everyone in the room. You later learn that he is using ASL, American Sign Language. You have stumbled into a presentation that is totally in ASL. You are not familiar, let alone fluent, in ASL, and you are lost.

This is what most of us feel like when we begin planning for our future, our retirement or preparing our estate documents. It is like the professionals are speaking another language. The question is what do you do?

Some people feel that if they admit this is like hearing a foreign language, that they have somehow failed, or that they should be much more knowledgeable than they are. These people will often blindly follow the advice of the professionals without really understanding what they are doing.

Others will bluster their way through, pretending to know understand what is being presented to them. They will likely feel frustration as they proceed, but will be afraid to admit that they were lying about how much they understood.

The wise among us will acknowledge what they do and do not understand and will ask for guidance and education. This does not, in fact, make them seem weak. In fact, it takes a mature person to admit what they know and what they do not know. The financial guru Dave Ramsey used to say that you need to find professionals with the “heart of a teacher” to help you. That saying is still true today.

When you are approaching your estate plan, you do not need to come to our office with “all your ducks in a row.” I have jokingly said that you need to at least know that “you have ducks!”

When new clients come into my office to address their estate plan, whether it is for the first time in their lives, or this is simply to update the existing documents, I ask them to be ready to share information that matters about their lives, and that I will need to create their final estate planning documents: Children, grandchildren, special needs, financial assets (And here is where the nerds really shine…they come in with a color coded spreadsheet that shows their last ten years of financial activity) debts, wishes including charitable wishes and so forth.

I will certainly ask you if you have a financial advisor or an accountant to assist you. We can address all of these issues. Please contact us at Salzmann Hughes. We have offices in Carlisle, Camp Hill, Chambersburg, Gettysburg and Hanover. You can contact me at our Carlisle office at 717-249-6333 or [email protected]. I would be happy to assist you in leaving the legacy you wish to leave.