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Episode 36: Top 5 Reasons People Don’t Have an Estate Plan That Will Work
8 Plays22 days ago
This week we're diving into the top five reasons why many people don't have a functional estate plan—and why those reasons might be putting you at risk. Think estate planning is only for the rich? Think again. Everyone with assets like a house or a car needs a plan, and we'll explain why simple mistakes and delaying can cause big problems. We'll debunk common myths about estate planning, like the idea that your spouse automatically gets everything, and we’ll show you why going cheap on your estate plan can end up costing you more.
Plus, don't miss our holiday gift ideas that definitely won’t be included in anyone’s Will—from rotisserie chickens to medieval armor.
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Transcript
Introduction to Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About, and the other one is you. I'm Lori Burch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trust, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining, because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you. Let's dive in.
Why Effective Estate Plans Are Rare
00:00:39
Speaker
So what are we talking about today?
00:00:44
Speaker
um State planning. Great question. Oh my gosh, really? Top five reasons people don't have a state plan that will work. So top five reasons it's important. Top five reasons why people don't have an estate plan that will work. That last part's important. That will work.
00:01:08
Speaker
that will work because you want things to work, right? yeah yeah Is that not the point? Or is it is it just this feeling, like which if you were gonna go skydiving and you were given a parachute that had a bunch of holes in it, would you be okay with having the parachute? Because at least you have a parachute.
Misunderstandings About Estate Planning
00:01:29
Speaker
um No. That's enough for me. Thank you. Right.
00:01:34
Speaker
So let's let's dive in, shall we? Is that what I say in the intro? Yeah, you say let's dive in. Something like that. Let's dive in. It's like sky diving. Sky dive. Oh, that's just how naturally good at this I am. So number one reason. Well, this isn't the number one reason, actually, we're going to do like a countdown. So the first one we're going to talk about is they don't think they have enough money for it to matter.
00:02:02
Speaker
So I think one of the biggest things is people,
00:02:07
Speaker
especially when you hear the expression estate planning, we've talked about this before, like Sarah, do you think that you have an estate? Do you need estate planning? After working here, do you think that? Before working here, because that's the general public. Before working here, no, I would have thought never. Right.
00:02:27
Speaker
would you been Would you have been one of those people where you'd contact us and say, I need a will, but I don't need a state planning? Probably.
00:02:41
Speaker
What about you, Sam? I just don't think I ever thought about it, if that makes sense. like yeah like If you'd asked me, Do I have an estate? If something makes sense, yes. I know, I know. were um But like, if you'd asked me, like, do you have an estate? I would have said I genuinely have no idea. Oh, brutal, the brutal honesty of a Kiwi.
00:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, yes, so yeah, I don't i've i've talked about this so many times but I don't love the expression of state planning even though it's the technical practice area Because it's very misleading people think that you have to have a lot of money and stuff and all of that And that's really not what it means. I mean if you have A car if you have a bank account you have a house You have things that if something happened to you nobody has rights, automatic rights to oversee things for you or make decisions or inherit those. So it's very it's it's a really big misunderstanding that people think that they need to have enough money for it to matter. And the big thing is, especially for us, because we deal with so many people who have young kids, and I could tell you something, and I speak from experience, if you have young kids, by default, you probably don't have a lot of money.
Common Misconceptions in Decision Making
00:04:03
Speaker
those two things are a causal relationship. Okay. I heard we're expensive. However, kids are are little beans that you have been entrusted to take care of. And so even with this so-called estate planning or whatnot, um you need to make sure, well, who's going to take care of them? You want the state to take care of them. You want them to be in foster care. um Whatever little money you have, you want that just to be controlled at 18. I mean, again, they don't think that they have enough
00:04:42
Speaker
um But they do. I mean, even being able to handle debts to tell the debt collectors to go away, we've dealt with things like that. So that's a very ah very common reason that people really, really mess this up and they don't have an estate plan at all or they don't have one that will work.
Cost and Effectiveness of Legal Help
00:05:00
Speaker
Another one, and this one hits really close to home for me because it's just one that really grinds my gears.
00:05:10
Speaker
What's the origin of that expression and is it racist?
00:05:15
Speaker
Wow, we're just putting on ad diving right in. see I hope not. um
00:05:24
Speaker
So people don't know what will happen or they assume things that will happen automatically. And Sarah, take note, we could probably do a whole podcast just on the misperception of things happen automatically. Well, won't my spouse be able to make medical decisions? Well, won't my um parents be able, you know, even though I'm 19, 20, won't they be able to ah be able to step in and make decisions? Or I wrote on a piece of paper that my best friend could be the guardian of my child, won't that work? Or
00:05:59
Speaker
probably the biggest thing that we deal with as a misperception in Texas is when married couples buy homes together, they just assume that the other will automatically get it. And we just don't have that thing in Texas. It's called joint tenancy, joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, and we don't have that. So there's a lot of things where automatic is the last thing that'll happen. and that the The government dictates a lot of things. and so Am I going to get help from you guys to do a little rapid fire of just a sampling of 10 things that the state will decide for you that don't actually happen automatically? Is this, am I going to help them all? Oh, all three of us. Yeah, you might as well get in on the yeah this. is it We haven't gotten to the Sam Sarah section yet. Yeah. Rapid fire here or just a sampling of a few decisions the state will make for you. Cynthia.
00:06:57
Speaker
The court will determine the guardian of your children. Your family could end up in court fighting over the kids or the kids could end up in foster care. All right, the court will determine the trustee of your child's estate. Your spouse may have to make a yearly report on how they are managing any money the state grants to your underage children. The court will determine who inherits your estate. The court will appoint an administrator for your estate.
00:07:25
Speaker
Your court-appointed administrator may have to post a bond to guarantee that they are responsibly managing the money the state grants to your underage children. Your family heirlooms may be divided up, one-third going to your spouse, two-thirds to your children. If the family cannot agree, the court can have the heirloom sold and divide the proceeds. and If your spouse remarries after your death, their new spouse may be entitled to an interest in the assets from your estate.
00:07:55
Speaker
The new spouse will not be legally required to use those assets for your children, and they will not be required to leave any of those assets to your children. In blended families with children, a new spouse may become partners. Partners? Yeah, partners with stepchildren, or possibly an ex-spouse in handling your estate. I am trying to avoid that as much as possible with my mom and my
Pitfalls of DIY Estate Plans
00:08:19
Speaker
stepdad. Love him, though. He's great, so is my mom.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah, so again, another another big reason an estate plan won't work is when you assume that things will just work out the way you want, and that's just a small sample size of what happened. All right, we've got three more to go since we're doing five, and we're counting down, because the last one is the big one. The next one is, ooh, this one hits hard.
00:08:49
Speaker
They think the cost to use a qualified law firm is too, air quote, expensive. We never hear that, right? Never. No, no. Right. So I think I'm trying to think of situations where something is good enough.
00:09:15
Speaker
Because that's something that we'll hear like, Oh, you know, I just went online and did this or we used our HR benefits that we have or we're just doing that just temporary or just hand wrote who could take care of my kids before we left on vacation, like just this idea of or they try to find the like the least expensive law firm like they're calling around and that's the only thing like sam you never deal with that right you never deal with people calling and it's like they don't care at all they just want the cheapest thing that's out there yeah never so is there a situation where the cheapest thing is better than nothing i mean there's gotta be something you're like racking my brain and i'm thinking okay
00:10:07
Speaker
Like sometimes like ah food, like hole-in-the-wall restaurants are sometimes better than like, you know? That could be an example. Sometimes they're super good. Honestly, nothing else brings a bell.
00:10:21
Speaker
I mean, hold on. Okay. You know, like, whenever you're at the state fair, and it's really, really hot. And so you just need something. So like, whenever they hand out those, um the free little things that you just fan yourself with, that's better than nothing, I guess.
00:10:35
Speaker
is from i think ah they're called fails
00:10:40
Speaker
Okay. They're just yeah hand fame and fan. Hand fan. Hand fan. They're just not the traditional hand fan that folds out. It's like a popsicle, big popsicle stick with paper. It's a cardboard.
00:10:55
Speaker
Yeah. But I guess that's better. Like I think if you're, if you're like dying of thirst and you get like just a little sip of water. Yeah. That's really better than nothing.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah. So friends, it's the exact opposite in this case. I think in in most cases, in many cases, like it's not, it's not better than nothing. It really is nothing. Or in many cases, it's worse than nothing because you think you've got something and you don't. So,
00:11:32
Speaker
And the whole purpose of like trying to find the cheapest way to do this is what? To save money, right? And in our experience, do people end up saving money? No. No.
00:11:49
Speaker
They do not. They do not, sadly. And what happens is, you know, you're going to spend the money anyway. So you might as well spend some now to save more
Procrastination in Estate Planning
00:12:01
Speaker
later. Otherwise, just rewind a little bit and hear the rapid fire of the decisions that Texas is going to make for you.
00:12:09
Speaker
So people often think that it's too expensive. And, you know, I to do this right. And, you know, for us, we're in the I'd say kind of the middle tier of fees, certainly in the lower tier for the quality and time and expertise that we have.
00:12:27
Speaker
But if you're calling around, there will be firms that that are at a higher price point and there will be firms that are a lower price point. And we've done this on a previous podcast. It's also a resource that's on our website where we have a checklist of what to look for in a qualified law firm. Like what do we mean by that? And guess what is not on that list? Which one's the cheapest? And the other thing is, is you might,
00:12:55
Speaker
but You know, I use this expression a lot that we're not a hundred dollar bill, not everyone's going to like us. and so there are certain things that are deal breakers when you're looking for a qualified firm and there are certain things that may fit you that other people don't care about like I think back to the one potential client we were talking about and he went with a different firm and I had inquired what were the reasonings just so we know for ourselves and he said that he found a firm where the attorney gave him his
00:13:28
Speaker
ah personal cell phone number and would be available 24-7. And I told him if that is a criteria you are looking for, you made the right decision, sir, because that is not something we will do.
00:13:44
Speaker
So, and I was thinking, I think that about a lot of things. Actually, I think about sometimes when I use the GPS and it's always trying to find like the fastest route, but maybe your goal isn't to get there the fastest. Maybe your goal is to have no unprotected left turns.
00:14:08
Speaker
That's probably my least favorite thing in the world. Oh, honestly, saying my stepdad will go out of his way to make sure that he does not have to turn left. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I'm a big proponent of that. Another thing is, and this is probably a little bit better of an example or more reasonable example is I think about the sometimes driving home from the office and all especially without the construction that's going on on Coit.
00:14:35
Speaker
I'll take the route through Richardson on water view that turns into independence at that point. And it takes me longer to get home. I mean, frankly, probably only a few minutes, but it's less instruction. So that's there's a criteria for Lori that some people wouldn't care about. And it's also prettier, especially this time of year. They really have a lot of Christmas lights and decorations that are out. And so maybe you want to take a more scenic route.
00:15:03
Speaker
ah For example, i do I've never I've never done this But san antonio one of my favorite places to go And I have driven from dallas to san antonio five trillion times Apparently going through johnson city is a it takes about an hour or two longer than taking 35 But apparently it's a very pretty route. But when I wanted to go Yeah, I think you do avoid Wico. Oh, yeah. So my point is, is when you're you're making decisions, like there are certain things that might just be specific to you and your needs, and then certain things that are you should definitely have. And so some of the most critical ones we think
00:15:53
Speaker
and it's it's never going to be cost, is one, making sure that a firm focuses, has a majority of their focus on estate planning, on wills, on trust. If they don't do this regularly, then they really don't have enough experience to know what they're doing. Another piece is do they also practice probate? Because if you don't See how courts banks hospitals Interpret these documents then you really have no busy drafting them. You might as well just be doing hypothetical exercises in law school at that point and I know that I personally, you know, you all know birch law knows that
00:16:38
Speaker
how painstakingly I have taken on the task of creating our templates and our language and the things that we use to put in there and all of that has been developed and evolved through experiences that we have. I mean the whole AKA thing that we do that did not That was not something that we would have done 10 years ago. But when you start seeing in probate court or even with title companies where they can't make the mental leap, that Lori L. Birch is the same as Lori Louise Birch.
00:17:16
Speaker
then we know, because we've seen how these documents are interpreted, that we better put an AKA that yes, in fact, Lori L. Birch is also known as Lori Louise Birch. That is the same person. That's crazy. Maybe I should do an AKA of Lori spelled L-O-R-I since so many people think that's how it's spelled anyway.
00:17:43
Speaker
But yes, so I think I think that's super, that's super important. Again, there's a lot of other criteria we think are good to look for. But then there are other things that may be more specific to you. But the point is, is that the idea that you're not going to have an estate plan that works because you don't want to go to a law firm because you perceive them to be too expensive. It's cheap, gets very expensive.
Streamlining the Estate Planning Process
00:18:07
Speaker
So trying to shortcom that shortcut that, which leads me, it's it's a natural segue to the second to last reason people don't have an estate plan that works. And that is they think DIY is better than nothing. This is what we were just talking about, right? And so, oh yeah. And Sarah gets really testy about this. Yeah.
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah. And so being the time of year that it is, at least when this is being recorded, not necessarily when it's being listened to, but you know, it is a holiday season, but this really applies any time. And I, but I think about it more because you're, especially if you have kids, you're thinking about like buying them the, you know, a toy or something and Can you imagine like getting something or maybe you go the knockoff route, right? I won't mention like Sheehan or Teemu or Wish, all not sponsors.
00:19:06
Speaker
where things don't exactly they aren't they aren't exactly the same as as the original or even if it is the original if it's defective like you think you're getting the product and then you wrap it up and then here comes Christmas morning and they unwrap it and they're so excited and it's broken it doesn't work Well, imagine thinking that you're going and getting the same thing from one of these crappy online will sites or or a state form or these boxes that you know these brilliant people who give general financial advice, who are not lawyers, put these little will kits together that you just answer some questions and it generates documents.
00:19:51
Speaker
Imagine that being the same thing is like the newest and greatest toy and instead instead of Christmas morning finding out it's broken in this scenario You're dead in your family's meeting with the probate attorney and the probate attorney has to say this is broken now with Christmas morning, maybe you've got a gift receipt and you can go return it. And a broken toy may just be your kid crying, but you can make up for it. There's really no way to make up for it when you have a broken estate plan. And you're dead. And you're dead. Right. And you don't know until it's too late. I mean, that's what we, that's what we discover. So, um,
00:20:37
Speaker
I think one of those common things we see with, well, the single, okay, what is the single biggest problem we see? And this one infuriates me, but what is the single biggest problem we see with the DIY Yeah, they're not signed properly. and not sign Which like literally means they won't work. Yeah, it's it's crazy because I think a lot of people in their heart of hearts think, you know that this probably isn't the best, but they do think it's better than nothing. And it never occurs to them how important, how critical that signing is.
00:21:16
Speaker
and I know this doesn't come up in every episode, but it probably comes up in every other episode. That's how much we talk about this. But it's also a testament to how often it happens and how big of a problem it is. And I look, I'm puzzled by it. I really, really am. But I think it's just the legal documents, no matter how basic and simple they seem to us, are very foreign and scary to people who don't deal with them all the time. So while we think it's very simple to flip, I mean, even Sarah, because she's like the star witness of the office. So even though she's the only person in birch law that has nothing to do with client work,
00:22:00
Speaker
She witnesses so much that she probably feels pretty comfortable as a witness, knowing exactly where to flip and exactly when it says witness, like that doesn't throw her off. She's like, that's me.
00:22:18
Speaker
But the stuff that we review, I mean, ah it'll be left blank, it'll be signed by family members, it'll be signed by the notary, but then the notary block is blank. I just, I can't, I can't wrap my head around it. Every now and then, whenever we get wills that are signed outside of the office, I will just, hey, Sarah, tell me what's wrong with this, just for our sheer amusement. And she usually gets it right, yeah.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, she's a lot. So come on people. Good job. Proud of you. Yeah. And that is something that we take pretty seriously, because while we well, our preference is to have people come into our office for us to oversee that process, we do have legitimate reasons that people have to do it off site. And we give very good instructions. And then we follow up with them. And I think pretty much almost every time they follow through and they send us copies of their signed documents so that we can before it's too late. So that's the point, right? We can make sure
00:23:20
Speaker
that it was done correctly. And Sam's the one that really manages this. And I think, Sam, you said before that it's like 50-50, whether they got it correct or not with our guidance. yeah So 50% of the time for people who are signing things offsite, even with our instructions and guidance, still mess something up. So not my favorite reason, because I'd love to tell you that it's, oh, our vast legal knowledge and the way we've expertly drafted certain language. And it is all those things.
00:23:48
Speaker
But it really is just getting getting it signed. But what I was going to say, the other thing that I see with the online stuff is people exclude their spouses because
Excluding Spouses in Estate Plans
00:24:01
Speaker
going back to what we were talking about earlier about this automatic, you just make these assumptions that you make these assumptions that things just go automatically to your spouse. So when it's asking you questions, um you know, if you die, who do you want things to go to? You're not thinking, oh, I have to actually say my spouse.
00:24:24
Speaker
and you'll skip to like your kids or your sister or what have you. And we've had those instances where somebody's will says, um okay, I'm married, but if I die, everything goes to my kids. in And then of course, those are the ones that got signed correctly. So we have to use it.
00:24:44
Speaker
That's another thing people don't understand. If there is something that is a valid will legally, we can't just say, no, we' we'll do something else. We have to use it. Yeah. Or you can wait for years when it's no longer valid. I mean, it can do that too, but then it's a little bit more easy. But you don't have to wait for years to be able to like settle things.
00:25:07
Speaker
Oh, yes. So anyway, those are all all really top reasons that people have an estate plan that will not work. But the number one reason. I don't think it's money. I don't think it's time. I don't think it's any of these things. The number one reason is flat out procrastination.
00:25:33
Speaker
And in fact, we don't, Sarah, we don't even use this enough, but we have round to its little circle. This that say to it and it's around to it to remind people. has to get wrong And I, okay. Sarah says, hold on. And I'm going to, but I'm going to keep talking. So I don't know know if that really is holding on. Uh, but the real, the biggest thing is that we fight against there for those who are watching this, there is a round to it.
00:26:03
Speaker
And then conveniently our phone number and email on the back. ah
00:26:11
Speaker
it it really The biggest thing we fight against is just the sense of urgency. and i Get that people don't want to talk about it. I get that it's busy. You're busy. I get that it's overwhelming. I Also would put my schedule up against anybody else's and I'd like to see if you can make a case for it being that much busier or hectic like you make time and you spend money on the things that you prioritize and
00:26:44
Speaker
And I realize this is not some fancy vacation. I realize that it's not the coolest, newest appliances that make your kitchen pop. This personally, because we have some pretty nice new appliances that we got. um I get it. We get it.
00:27:06
Speaker
But it's kind of one of those things that you just need to have as a baseline plan. And that's why, quite often, I'll use the example of um having insurance. Like, insurance, what is snoozefest? Who wants to think about that? But it's one of those things. And I would love to see either the tax code give incentives or the government give some sort of incentives for having an estate plan the way that they do with having like car and homeowners insurance. Like you have to have those things or there's a lot of penalties or issues ah with it. And if anything, insurance you're paying for every single year and you may never have a claim. An estate plan, if you do it once, you may only have to update that maybe never, but maybe two or three times your entire life
00:28:01
Speaker
And one of the biggest difference between an estate plan and an insurance policy is you may never have an insurance claim, but I think we established that your number is going to be up at some point. It's just the reality and You know, being the time of year that it is, but again, whenever you're listening to this, it's always the right time. But we are about to get to people who are making new year's resolutions or starting the year fresh. And we know that this is something that's on people's list. And I think one of the most common things we see with people who walk out of our office after signing their will or trust or powers of attorney is relief.
00:28:48
Speaker
is they they feel accomplished. They feel secure. They feel empowered that they did the right thing. And it's a good feeling. It has
Encouragement to Complete Estate Plans
00:29:00
Speaker
value to it. And so we try to help incentivize people as to why now. And I don't care whether it's January, February, March, April, fill in the blanks.
00:29:16
Speaker
It is always the right time to get this done. Oh, you think you might move next year? Now is the right time to get this done. Oh, you think you might be going through a divorce? Now is the right thin time to get this done. Oh, you think you might have more kids? Now is the right time to get this done. I mean, you can always update or change or tweak this, but you never know what tomorrow will hold.
00:29:39
Speaker
And whatever it's going to take for you to get this done, get it done. And it doesn't have to be that overwhelming. In fact, we're talking about paying for value with a lot of quality law firms like ourselves.
00:29:55
Speaker
Part of what you're paying for is for us to simplify simplify and streamline it. You don't have to come with a you know all your account information and bank information and all your paperwork and all this and all of that. Sam, when when someone's calling and they say, I need to get a will done, what what kind of stuff do they have to provide us for the very first meeting?
00:30:21
Speaker
like for the discovery meeting. Sure. Like my, I mean, just themselves early. I mean, we we asked them, na yeah, like they phone like getting there, like, like we'll ask like contact information, like what prompted them to reach out, which is usually procrastination. Um, well they're looking for in a lot like that. Um, but I mean, mainly themselves. you mean and they don't have to per They don't have to put together all their financial accounts and all their names and passwords and all no don't let that about how many steps. This is a really good test. We might have to edit this out because I might get infuriated. What like what are our steps, Sam, from start to finish? like and And keep in mind, like we're trying to demonstrate
00:31:11
Speaker
The efficiency and the streamlined process that firms like ours can guide people with so don't get into nuts and bolts Like we send drafts and we send the same email and we did like just big like what are the major milestones?
00:31:24
Speaker
um So you cool us. Um, we have our initial cool. We schedule you for a discovery meeting. Um, and then if you want to hire us, then you can, or you have a meeting with the attorney and then hire us. Or if you hire us at the discovery meeting, you have a meeting with the attorney afterwards. After that to, uh, you'll get your drafts if they look good. Or if you want to update them, et cetera, et cetera. And then you get in for a signing. Yeah.
00:31:53
Speaker
yeah I mean, it really can be that easy. yeah Easy. Okay, so yes, that's perfect, Sam. You did a great job. Thank you. have Gold stars all around. But those are really, those are really the top five or five of the most common reasons we see people that that don't have an estate plan that will work, particularly that last one, just procrastination. Just get it a done, people. Just have it done. You're going to feel really good about yourselves.
Estate Planning as a Holiday Gift
00:32:23
Speaker
High fives for adulting. So before we wrap up, I do think
00:32:27
Speaker
I really don't know and I haven't looked closely at what they've planned for us. So I begrudgingly, I'm just going to turn this over because I think Sam and Sarah have prepared top five reasons for things. Go ahead, take it over. Okay, so we have a couple of lists. um The first one is top five reasons your estate planning plan doesn't work. ah The first one is your child shreds it up to make riptile bidding. Yeah.
00:32:56
Speaker
um
00:32:59
Speaker
This one is purely hypothetical, but um you ran out of toilet paper and you just had no other choice. Wow. Wow. ah Your kid decided to decorate since it is the holiday season and they made some pretty snowflakes out of them and then just throw away the risk because they don't need them. You needed a snack and you had no chips left.
00:33:26
Speaker
You hate the fawn times you roam in and threw them into a pit of fire. I'm really glad that you didn't say you hate small caps. No, never. Because who would hate small caps? Right.
00:33:47
Speaker
ah So hey, Sarah, quick question just before we get to the gifts real quick. Yeah. are you so you're saying that somebody took their state plane documents, cut them into tortilla chip size pieces and just like ate them or just use them like fry them up, you know, oh, put them in the air. Like, yeah. Yeah, you have is that better than nothing, your fryer. You know,
00:34:14
Speaker
Maybe you like them in the first and then you mean make them more flamboyant? Yeah, they already are. Yeah. And then from the air fryer. So you just go blaze. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm going to be real with you guys. I don't think this is your best work. No, man. What's your gift thing? This we we struggled. It shows.
00:34:38
Speaker
Okay. So moving on, we now have, since it's the holiday season, we have a list of the top five gifts to give for Christmas or whatever holiday. I made the mistake of reading these. Okay. Number one, this is same idea it is that is a potato pal, which is a potato with your face on it.
00:35:00
Speaker
You can order it online and send it to somebody. I could glitter balm. I like it. Potato pal. Thumbs up. That's the actual name for it. A whole rotisserie chicken. Oh, I would love that. Another thumbs up for me. I would love that. Yeah, right? Also, this potato pal. I've seen them shark tanked on sponsor. Okay. Oh, shark tank? If you want to sponsor us.
00:35:28
Speaker
That's what it says as seen on Shark Tank. Wow. Yeah, the you are on fire now and you're not slowing down with this third one because I am totally on board with this. Go. Yeah. Yeah. Number three, a full suit of medieval armor.
00:35:45
Speaker
Okay. ah So I want to know, I want to interrupt you here because yeah two years ago, someone told me, like, Oh, hey, Lori, look, they're auctioning off one of Elvis's jumpsuits. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I need to get that. And then they're like, What would you do with it? and i'm Like, wear it.
00:36:06
Speaker
right But then I'm like, wait, is it early 70s jumpsuit? Because I couldn't fit into those. Or is it more like mid to late 70s jumpsuit? Because those would be a lot roomier.
00:36:20
Speaker
But Lori, you could possibly devalue it. Think of the patina. I would wear it. ah Okay, fine. All right, number four. Okay, number four. If they have a birthday before Christmas, so like, say two weeks before Christmas, you give them one shoe as their birthday present, and then give them the second shoe at Christmas. Do they know? No. You just get one shoe. Yeah, they just get one shoe. Okay. mean What do they say?
00:36:53
Speaker
What if they have a birthday one month before Christmas? I think i think that's a i think that's like the limit. is So I have a question now. yeah My mother's birthday is on the 22nd. Those of you who know my mother, how would this go over? if Not well, but I think it would be hilarious. You would have three days of hell hearing about how inconsiderate you are.
00:37:18
Speaker
a You don't realize that she has two feet. Shout out to my son. He's a saint. You never noticed that she has two feet. He puts up with my mother. And we land I mean, I guess at least you thought of me. So I should be happy that you at least got me something. ah kid I can't. I can't understand if it's like you're you're using your mom's voice. It's the same mom still like we have the same mother. We do have the same mother.
00:37:48
Speaker
Okay, you may continue. Different ethnicities though. Right, Sam? Very different. One likes nachos and one likes potato salad. Actually, my mom does like potato salad.
00:38:03
Speaker
I mean, with raisins. Oh, nevermind. No, I'm just kidding. My mom doesn't. But I see that meme a lot where people make fun of white people for putting raisins and stuff. But I'm like, I find that very funny. And I will say that I can't think of anything we've ever put raisins in. But I also don't think I'm the type of white people they're referring to.
00:38:29
Speaker
Oh. Oh.
00:38:34
Speaker
All right. And finally, get your family the great long lasting, fantastic legacy lasting gift of estate planning by birch law, P LLC. Only if you're an excellent Sarah. Nice to see you Sam. Thank you. Did you use chat GPT to come up with the great long lasting fantastic like his lasting gift? It was on my brain. Did you know you put lasting twice?
00:39:04
Speaker
No, that's why it's out of my brain. I thought that was on purpose whenever I saw long lasting. i thought was um yeah yeah Okay. If we thought it was on, yeah, it was on purpose. Yeah. and well Yeah. The great long lasting, fantastic legacy, lasting gift of estate planning. Please save that. We've got to use that. Okay. Let's get a clip of everybody. Just start with a great. Okay. So Sarah, your turn.
Episode Wrap-up and Call to Action
00:39:34
Speaker
The great, long-lasting, fantastic, legacy-lasting gift of estate planning. Sam. Okay. The great, long-lasting, fantastic, legacy-lasting gift of estate planning. Actually, that was really good. You made it through. That was good. It was like a stabilization hole. It was really hard.
00:40:00
Speaker
The great, long-lasting, fantastic, legacy-lasting gift of estate planning.
00:40:07
Speaker
I love it more every time I hear it. I need, and we're going to cut off this podcast. And then Sarah, I need you to go to everybody in the office and get a quick recording of them for me saying the great long lasting, fantastic, nasty, lasting gift of the estate planning. Okay. So we're going to end this now so that you can go do this for me. Okay. I'll come with you. Okay.
00:40:34
Speaker
All right, sounds good. Okay, that's a wrap. Thanks for listening. And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry, and you're welcome. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us. We do webinars and live events.
00:40:53
Speaker
The best way to stay up to date is to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Links are in the show notes. If there's a topic you'd like us to cover, maybe you have a question you'd like us to answer, or maybe you just wanna say hi, hit the link in the show notes or go to birch-law.com forward slash podcast and fill out the contact form.
00:41:23
Speaker
much better. Yeah I thought that had a lot of energy.