“Every holiday we spend with our kids we have ‘The Death Talk,’ updating them on all things financial, medical and so on. The first year our new daughter-in-law experienced our frank discussion, she was shocked. Now, talking about death is a part of life –just how it should be. We will be having that discussion again on Thursday.”

My brother and I used to laugh when we received the updated emails entitled ‘What to do when I Die’ from our dad. He had his estate planning organized in exactly 8 file folders. Each folder contained detailed instructions on how to end his pension, Social Security, etc. File folder seven explained how to transfer his investments to us. The first instruction was to call his broker. When I did, he responded, ‘I see you have opened file folder #7.’ RIP, Dad. You were a remarkable man.”