If I’m being honest, I’m not sure how estate planning attorneys stay in business.

If talking about money is taboo, talking about your money and your own mortality? That’s the perfect recipe for “I’ll deal with this next year.”

But when you look at it through a different lens, legacy planning is actually one of the most profound acts of kindness you can perform for your family. It’s the final roadmap you leave behind, one that helps guide the people you love through an already difficult moment.

If you want your impact to be felt exactly as you intended, here are five essential things worth thinking about today:

1. Be Clear About What You Want

In estate planning, ambiguity is the enemy of peace.

Leaving “everything for the kids to figure out” sounds fair in theory, but in practice it often turns into a group project fueled by grief, stress, and high emotions.

Brené Brown says it best: “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.”

That idea applies perfectly here. When intentions aren’t clearly documented, it creates space for assumptions, resentment, and unnecessary family conflict. Being clear means:

• Having a complete estate plan in place, including a will, trust (if appropriate), and financial and medical powers of attorney
• Completing a personal property memorandum, because we’ve seen more conflict over mom’s wedding ring or dad’s firearms than over brokerage accounts and IRAs
• Including a short “family love letter” that explains the why behind your decisions, so no one is left guessing or feeling overlooked

Clarity doesn’t create tension. It prevents it.

2. Give While You’re Still Here

Why wait until you’re gone to see the impact of your generosity?

Using the annual gift tax exclusion allows you to transfer wealth to loved ones today, without triggering gift taxes or dipping into your lifetime exemption.

As of 2025, you can gift $19,000 per person, per year, to as many individuals as you like. If you’re married and elect to split gifts, that number effectively doubles per recipient.

This can be a powerful way to help with a grandchild’s education, a child’s first home, or a family business, while also reducing the size of your future taxable estate. More importantly, you get to see the impact while you’re still around to enjoy it with your loved ones.

3. Know Your Tax-Friendly (and Tax-Unfriendly) Assets

We all owe our fair share in taxes, but most people don’t want to leave the government a tip.

Not all inherited dollars are created equal. The tax bill attached to assets can vary dramatically, depending on what you leave and to whom.

• Tax-friendly assets: Roth IRAs, taxable brokerage accounts, and life insurance proceeds are generally received income-tax free by heirs
• Tax-unfriendly assets: Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s can become tax bombs. Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, often during your children’s peak earning years, sometimes at rates north of 37%

Thoughtful asset placement, deciding which assets go to which heirs, can dramatically reduce the tax burden your family inherits.

4. Charitable Giving — During Life and at Death

For many families, legacy planning isn’t just about passing wealth forward. It’s about passing values forward, too.

Charitable giving can be one of the most powerful and tax-efficient tools in an estate plan, both during life and at death.

During your lifetime, tools like donor-advised funds (DAFs) allow you to:

• Take an immediate tax deduction
• Invest charitable dollars for potential growth
• Support multiple charities over time in a thoughtful, intentional way

DAFs are especially useful in high-income years, after liquidity events, or when you want to involve children in philanthropy before wealth transfers occur.

At death, charitable giving can be just as impactful:

• Charities can be named directly in a will or trust
• Retirement accounts, especially traditional IRAs, are often ideal assets to leave to charity, since nonprofits don’t pay income tax
• Charitable bequests can reduce estate taxes while ensuring assets go exactly where you intend

When coordinated properly, charitable giving can reduce taxes for heirs, align money with values, and create an impact that extends well beyond your family.

The goal isn’t complexity. It’s alignment.

5. Start the Conversation with Adult Children Now

The worst time to talk about your estate is during a crisis.

Start the conversation with your adult children while everyone is healthy, calm, and thinking clearly. You don’t need to disclose every dollar if you’re not comfortable, but you should cover the logistics:

• Where are important documents kept?
• Who is serving as executor and financial or medical power of attorney?
• What are your wishes regarding medical care and end-of-life decisions?

Normalizing these conversations removes the taboo and ensures that, when the time comes, your family can focus on grieving and honoring your life, not hunting for passwords and paperwork.

Final Thought

You don’t need a perfect plan.
You just need a clearer one.

Start with this: get your estate plan in place and have one honest conversation with your kids.

Because clarity is a gift.

And the best legacies aren’t measured only in dollars, but in how easy you made it for the people you love to move forward without you.