Vineyard Columbus has a free gift for you; one with no strings attached. We believe in estate planning stewardship so strongly that we provide a way for you to obtain wills, trusts, and healthcare documents at no cost to you. Usually the fee could easily be $2,500, but through our sponsored service, they can be prepared for you for $0.
Estate Planning Stewardship is the process of planning your estate, things like your investments, personal belongings, and home when you die. If you do not have documents, dying without them is called intestate. It means that you surrendered your rights to have any say in how these things are distributed. The state of Ohio, or whatever is your state of residency, now has the right to determine what is appropriate.
The number one most important thing is to take care of your dependents. Dependents are those who depend upon you financially, like spouse, minor children, disabled family members. It may also mean institutions that you care about, like a business that you own, or a non-profit that you invest in.
You provide for dependents through three things:
- Legal documents that distribute assets to care for them appropriately.
- Life insurance, if there aren’t sufficient reserves.
- Legal guardian designation, if both parents unfortunately die at the same time.
If your beneficiaries are adults, it is likely they do not depend upon you for financial support. Therefore, estate planning takes on a different twist. The goals here are fairness, promoting maturity, avoiding family fights, and limited cost. If you do not have good up-to-date documents, family members often fight over inheritances. Time and time again, I have seen brothers and sisters never speaking to each other ever again. Another danger is, if someone inherits a large amount of money but hasn’t developed skills and maturity to manage a large amount, it can ruin them. For example, a high percentage of large lottery winners get divorced, become broke, lose their job and develop chemical addictions. This is poor estate planning stewardship.
Good estate planning makes sure that you take care of your family and other beneficiaries, in a manner that cares well for them. It passes on your values, cares for those you care about, while minimizing legal and court costs. Good planning provides for dependents in a timely way, without lengthy drawn-out probate process.
Stewardship is an uncommon word today, but I believe it should be more common in our speech and minds. An easy definition is the management of something we do not own. Psalms tells us that “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Estate planning is that final act of stewardship, but we have a responsibility to act today.
Scripture advises us to carefully manage the resources God trusts us with. In Proverbs 27 we read: “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever.” A modern phrasing would be to plan well, because you can’t take it with you.
Jesus speaks to eternal implications of how we invest our money. The parable of the talents, the good managers are told, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Surely investing to grow wealth is good, but Jesus is talking about something more. The indications are, how we invest our time, resources, and energy in the Kingdom, directly impacts how we live in eternity there. In terms of return, it is the highest imaginable, how we invest the short breath of our lives has implications forever.