Hi friends!

This week we’ll touch on two related components of estate planning: power of attorney and medical directives. Then we’ve got some great streaming shows our staff are loving for folks who need a new show to binge.

If you’re thinking about estate planning, power of attorney and medical directives are likely going to come up for you. They aren’t about asset distribution the way wills and trusts are, but they’re very important to ensuring that decisions you want are being made on your behalf.

Power of attorney is a legal document that grants permission for another person to act on your behalf with financial matters. For example, suppose you own your home jointly with your spouse. If one of you became incapacitated, and the home needed to be sold, a durable power of attorney would allow one spouse to sign for the other when they are not able to because of disability or incapacitation.

Medical directives are similar in that they let someone else make medical decisions for you in the event that you can’t make them for yourself. One thing we urge our clients to think about is that once someone becomes a legal adult, their parents don’t automatically have the power to make medical decisions for them anymore, so we encourage parents to have medical directives for their adult children until their children get married. It’s also important to choose a successor agent in case you and the person you appoint in your medical directive are both incapacitated.

If you have questions about these specific documents, or your estate planning in general, get in touch with us! We’d love to talk you through the process and help you figure out what’s best for you.

Thinking and talking about things like power of attorney and medical directives can be hard, so if you want a palate cleanser, we’ve got some great streaming recommendations for you:

• The Home Edit (Netflix): If you love seeing how other people live, and also home organizing, and also reality shows, this is perfect for you. The hosts help regular people and celebrities declutter and organize their homes to create beautiful spaces.

• Pig Royalty (Discovery+): Trust us, this isn’t just a show about kids showing pigs. It’s about identity, intergenerational feuds, power grabs, and a lot more. Some critics have called this show the unexpected hit of 2021.

What are you watching right now? We’d love to hear about your recommendations!

Have a great week and we’ll catch you back here next time.

How We Help:

This week we worked with a couple looking to diversify outside of their stock and bond portfolio. We had several meetings with this couple to identify what their true goals were. It did not take very long to uncover that investment real estate was something they both could have a passion for.

Our planning at Obsidian always starts with a list of prioritized goals. Investment properties satisfied several goals and objectives for this young couple. They would be able to continue to diversify their wealth, and they would be able to create an additional stream of income for their future retirement.

Also, they saw real estate as a way to work and build something together while securing not only their future and potentially the future of their children. Our analysis showed how to optimize their specific situation and investments over the next 5 years. Of course, as the economic environment changes, we are here to guide them and adjust their comprehensive long-term plan.

Advisory Services offered through Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions, LLC. Securities are offered through Triad Advisors, member FINRA/SIPC. Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions, LLC, and Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions, Inc, are not affiliated with Triad Advisors.