Why is Life Changing Experiences Planning Important?

 

Regardless of age or health, everyone needs to do Life Changing Experiences Planning.  Why?  Because everyone eventually dies.  And, any one of us can find ourselves in a medical crisis where we can’t communicate our care wishes and desires.  Life Changing Experiences mean dramatic and thorough change, TRANSFORMATION, and that change is better dealt with proactively versus reactively.

 

But why spend time planning now for the inevitable when we don’t know if Life Changing Experiences are going to happen tomorrow or not for a long time?  Because there are many decisions that must be made within a short period of time when Life Changing Experiences do occur and waiting until they happen to plan for them, means we likely won’t have much control over those decisions, and/or be able to affect, our outcomes and results.

 

 

Decisions - Who Makes Them?

 

Who makes decisions for us when we can’t communicate our wishes and/or when we don’t have the required state specific forms and documents in place and available when Life Changing Experiences do occur?  Will caregivers and authorities know and honor our wishes and the decisions we want made at the time?  If they know our wishes, will they have immediate access to the necessary forms and documents, and funds, required to carry out our wishes?  Have we given our loved ones what they need to make decisions for us when we can’t make them ourselves at the onset of a medical crisis or when they are grieving our death?

 

According to a Caring.com survey, only 42 percent of U.S. adults currently have estate planning documents such as a will or living trust.  For those with children under the age of 18, the figure is even lower, with just 36 percent having an End-Of-Life Plan in place.

 

As this survey, and others, demonstrate, most of us have not thought through our care wishes, don’t have state approved, current forms and documents in place and readily available, have not communicated our care wishes to our loved ones, and have not assigned healthcare & financial proxies to act on our behalf when Life Changing Experiences do occur.

 

The alternative to this reality is to do the due diligence required to put in place and make available a Life Changing Experiences Plan, including Medical Emergencies Plans & End-Of-Life Plans, that ensures our wishes are carried out when Life Changing Experiences do occur.  Further, this due diligence and the process to complete it does not have to be intimidating, if we know what to do, how to do it, and are committed to do it!

 

 

Life Changing Experiences Planning Due Diligence – A 12-Step Process...

 

Step One: Acknowledge the importance of it, understanding the planning process, and take an introspective look at where we are in all that today.

 

Step Two: Discover what we don’t know and need to know about Life Changing Experiences, especially Life Changing Experiences such as graduation, marriage, birth, medical crises, and an end-of-life events.

 

Step Three: Develop a list of Life Changing Experiences that will likely occur in our lives and prioritize them.  Rome was not built in a day, and we will not be able to complete a comprehensive plan for all our possible Life Changing Experiences (Healthcare, Financial, Legal, Lifestyle, Spirituality, Vocation & End-of-Life) at one time.  However, we should start the process today!

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Step Four: Be purposely introspective about these Life Changing Experiences and decide what wishes we want carried out and what decisions we want made before, during & after them.

 

Step Five: Dialogue with our loved ones about our wishes and desired decisions around Life Changing Experiences and define the foundation elements of our Life Changing Experiences Plan.

 

Step Six: Complete the state approved forms and documents that ensure our wishes and decisions are carried out before, during & after these Life Changing Experiences.

 

Step Seven: Ensure that we have agreed upon and assigned healthcare, financial, and estate proxies in place that are empowered to act on our behalf, based on our wishes before, during & after these Life Changing Experiences.

 

Step Eight: Ensure that we have Life Changing Experiences Plans, including Medical Emergencies Plans and End-of-Life Plans, files and instruction letters in place and available for our loved ones, caregivers, and authorities to carry out our wishes and instructions when these Life Changing Experiences occur.

 

Step Nine: Commit to, and follow through on, ongoing Life Changing Experiences planning checkpoints and continuous improvement to ensure that our wishes and instructions meet our needs and are current based upon our family situations and state requirements.

 

Step Ten: Establish a Support Circle, those people involved in our lives that we can turn to before, during & after Life Changing Experiences that will support us, encourage us, listen to us, and give us feedback.

 

Step Eleven: Discover the great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, and healing power of knowing that we are preparing and maintaining a wonderful gift for our loved ones who will be with us before, during & after our Life Changing Experiences!

 

Step Twelve: Live life to its fullest knowing that we have a Life Changing Experiences Plan in place to ensure our desires and wishes are followed before, during & after our Life Changing Experiences.

 

 

The Bottom Line – What Now?

 

Want to learn more about required due diligence around Life Changing Experiences (LCEs) Planning?  If so, we would be honored to assist you!  Call an Advisor from TRANSFORMATION Advisory, LLC today at 469-645-8906 or Contact Us and we will get in touch with you to begin the discussion.

 

Find out why we are the go-to source for Life Changing Experiences (LCEs) Planning & Management!