Wealth Beyond Riches: Building Prosperity With Purpose, Values, and Impact
Welcome to Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson, CFP®, CEO, Wealth Advisor and Coach at Abaris Financial Group. In this podcast, we help generous, fun, and passionate professionals overcome their biggest financial concerns while leveling up their lifestyles based on their values and vision.
We do this by exploring 'The Five Levers,' which represent the diverse resources each person possesses throughout their lifetime. These levers encompass finances, health, mindset, relationships, and time, offering a holistic approach to personal development and growth.
Join us on this transformative journey as Abbey and her guests draw from years of experience to guide you in achieving your life goals while staying true to your values… but that’s not all. This podcast will equip you not just to build personal wealth, but also to understand how your prosperity can contribute to the betterment of the world around you. By exploring strategies for giving back and making a positive impact, we'll empower you to create a life of significance and leave a lasting legacy of positive change.
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Advisory services provided by NewEdge Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser doing business as Abaris Financial Group LLC.
Wealth Beyond Riches: Building Prosperity With Purpose, Values, and Impact
The New Parents’ Guide to Estate Planning with Nina Dow (Ep. 36)
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When you're sleep-deprived and juggling diaper duty, estate planning might not be the first thing on your mind, but it should be.
In this candid and empowering episode, Abbey sits down with Nina Dow, estate attorney and partner at Bowditch, to unpack what every new parent needs to know about planning for the unthinkable, so they can focus on building a joyful life.
Nina’s warm, no-nonsense style makes the intimidating process feel doable. From naming guardians to deciding whether you need a trust, this episode is full of practical advice that could make all the difference for your children if the unexpected ever happens.
Here’s what to expect from this episode:
- Why new parents need more than just a will—and what a trust can do
- How to choose guardians (and what happens if you don’t)
- The surprising power of a “side letter” to share your values and wishes
- Tips for starting these tough conversations with your spouse
- And more!
Connect with Abbey Henderson:
- LinkedIn: Abbey Henderson
- Abbey@AbarisFinancialGroup.com
- Website: Abaris Financial Group
- Facebook: Abaris Financial Group
- Facebook: Abbey Henderson: Trusted Financial Advisor & Coach
- Instagram: @trustedadvisor_coach
- LinkedIn: Abaris Financial Group
- X (Twitter): Abaris Financial Group
Connect with Nina Dow:
About Nina Dow:
Nina Dow is a Partner in the firm’s Estate, Financial & Tax Planning practice area. Extremely passionate about her work, she strives to empower clients by helping them understand the law. Nina is a practical minded problem solver with a preference for simplicity whenever feasible. She focuses her practice on planning to minimize transfer taxes, including estate and tax planning that involves charitable giving, business succession planning, the representation of corporate and individual fiduciaries, and planning for individuals with special needs.
In addition to helping clients create an estate plan, Nina’s tax practice involves working closely with families to prepare state and federal estate tax returns following the death of a loved one. Her creative and strategic approach to estate taxation brings the best results possible for estate and trust beneficiaries. Nina also thrives on handling the complexity of estate administration in a timely fashion. Sensitive to the experience related to the loss of a family member, she settles the deceased’s affairs in a way that prevents added stress for clients.
Outside of the office, Nina is active in leadership roles in the legal profession. She is a co-founder and board member of the Arab American Bar Association of Massachusetts and serves on the organization’s Mentorship Committee. She is also co-chair of the Tax, Trusts and Estates Section of the Worcester County Bar Association and serves on the Executive Committee of the Estate and Business Planning Council of Worcester County.
For her dedication to mentoring younger attorneys, especially women, the Women’s Bar Association named Nina an Emerging Women Leaders in the Law Honoree in 2024.
Voiceover: [00:00:00] Welcome to Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson, CEO Wealth advisor and coach at Abaris Financial Group. In this podcast, we help generous, fun, and passionate professionals overcome their biggest financial concerns while leveling up their lifestyles based on their values. We do this by exploring the five levers, which represent the diverse resources each person possesses throughout their lifetime.
These levers encompass finances, health, mindset, relationships, and time offering a holistic approach to personal development and growth. Join us on this transformative journey as Abbey and her guests draw from years of experience to guide you in achieving your life goals while staying true to your values.
But that's not all. This podcast will equip you not just to build personal wealth, but also to understand how your prosperity can contribute to the betterment of the world around you. By exploring strategies for giving back and making a positive impact, [00:01:00] we'll empower you to create a life of significance and leave a lasting legacy of.
Positive change.
Wendy McConnell: Hello and welcome to the Wealth Beyond Riches Podcast with your host, Abbey Henderson, where we talk about enriching your life in every way. I'm Wendy McConnell. Well, hello, Abbey. How are you? I am so well. How are you? I'm good. It's the midst of summer and I'm trying to get out there and enjoy as much as I can.
Right. You've gotta grasp the moment while we have it. Yes, exactly. For sure. So we have a guest today. We're very excited.
Nina Dow: I am too. Hi Abbey. Hi, Wendy. We're all gonna go to the beach after this. Oh,
Abbey Henderson: wouldn't that be awesome. Perfect. Midsummer. So we're super spoiled today to have Nina Dow.
Nina Dow: Thank you for having me.
Thank you both. Yeah. This is super exciting. Sure.
Abbey Henderson: So I'll, I'll just give the quick your quick spiel of how wonderful you are and what you do, and then we are off to the [00:02:00] races to talk about what new parents need to know about estate planning.
Nina Dow: Of course. Keep going. Don't stop with all the good things. Okay, keep going.
Abbey Henderson: So, uh, Nina is a partner at Bowditch in the estate, financial and tax planning practice areas. She focuses on empowering clients, and boy do we love that through the creation of estate plans, estate administration, special needs, and disability planning, as well as charitable giving and business succession and planning.
She does it all. We're so excited to have you
Nina Dow: all of it, all of the time. That's how it works.
Abbey Henderson: So I always like to start by because I'm always so curious how people have ended up where they are. Right. So tell us a little bit about how you became an attorney and why you decided on this specialty.
Nina Dow: Well, I think I'm the only lawyer you'll ever meet who went to Emerson College, which if you're not familiar with it, is a totally an art school.
[00:03:00] Uh, where, you know, Henry Winkler went and I was a film major for two weeks, and then my immigrant parents, uh, they're Lebanese. They're like, we're not gonna pay for a film degree. What are you doing? Be a doctor, be a lawyer, be an engineer, you know, do something. So I said, well, then I'll go into marketing.
So I, I did that for most of my twenties. And then, um, by the time the third boyfriend told me that I think too much, I thought, you know, I think law school would be good for me 'cause I love thinking. And then I went to law school and then my last year in law school, law school was three years. My very last year I took a trust in estates class and I was like, this is what I've been looking for for my career.
Oh,
Abbey Henderson: how cool. What was gonna be the backup contender? If you waited all the way until the end. Oh, that's, that's a good question.
Nina Dow: I, so I knew that I needed a practice area that was very people-centric.
Abbey Henderson: Yeah.
Nina Dow: And uh, you know, a practice area, I could build relationships with people. Mm-hmm. So divorce was [00:04:00] the first.
Okay. And I worked at that probate court and I had lawyers coming up to me just coming out of court, sweating. And they would say, don't do this. You know, you're gonna burn out. Do you wanna, you know, argue about a lampshade? So luckily right after that, I took the Trusted Estates class and I was like, well, I can work with people closely.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: I love the subject matter and it's not. You know, dramatic. As dramatic as divorce can be, you know? So I feel like I get the best of both worlds.
Abbey Henderson: Yeah. Yeah. And our backgrounds are a little similar that way. I thought I wanted to be a CPA and then realized there are no people in this. There's counting pencils and warehouse.
Nina Dow: Love people. Totally
Abbey Henderson: understand that somebody please
Nina Dow: talk to me. And it really is a practice area where you are. You know, like maintaining and creating and maintaining relationships. I'll be sitting there educating clients on how trusts work, and then they'll say to me, Nina, I don't get [00:05:00] it. And I'll say, oh, I, we can go over it again.
No, no, no, you, I don't. Why aren't you married? Why don't you have kids? Did you freeze your eggs? Did you do, you know, so they start, it's like a double caring thing, you know, it's, if God did not invent estate planning, I wouldn't be a lawyer. Hands
Wendy McConnell: down. Love it.
Abbey Henderson: And so I is the first interaction with many of your clients when they do become new parents.
Does that tend to be one of the sort of entry points for estate planning?
Nina Dow: Absolutely. And it can be. It can be even, um, people at different ages in their lives, let's say they, they're older, they lost a parent and they saw what the probate process is like. Probate is, someone dies and you have to, depending on the plan, wind up the affairs.
Then they very quickly come to me and say, please do what mom and dad refuse to do. Yeah. And make it easier for me young parents if they or, or newlyweds. This comes up a lot. They [00:06:00] don't have children yet. They don't have any type of estate plan, not even a will. Well, when I tell them that Massachusetts law says If you die without a will, that's fine, but if you're married and you don't have kids, you'd better like your in-laws because you have to.
Let's say, you know, one spouse dies, the survivor has to share with the in-laws, hi, his or her parents, um, in the estate very, very quickly. People wanna get a will in place. Yeah. When they hear that. Um, young married couples with kids, uh, I had this the whole month of July, the destination wedding concern for them, it's, we're traveling without the kids.
We need something in place. They wanna name primarily who's gonna take care of the kids if we both go
Abbey Henderson: mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: Guardians. That's very important. Both sides of the family wanna have a say in that. If you put it in writing, there's very little room to argue about that later. [00:07:00] So that comes up a lot.
Abbey Henderson: So you've started mentioning some of the reasons why it's so important, um, for new parents to.
To either update what they created pre-children or Right. You know, finally get their act together and, and do something once they have kids. Is there anything else you wanna say, uh, about why it's really important before we get to the, what can go wrong if you don't, part of that question, I think, you know,
Nina Dow: parents should agree on who the guardians should be because there could be a lot of good candidates.
Oftentimes they choose their own parents. Then, you know, none of us are getting younger. Grandparents can be getting older. Okay. Siblings who are married and then some of them will tell me with a little bit of prodding, but you know, their marriage is kind of on the rocks. Okay. No, you don't wanna name guardians and then possibly have your kid go through a divorce after the death of their parents.
So that's, and that can take a long time to actually decide to have [00:08:00] both parties agree on who the guardians are gonna be.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: Also, what you do wealth planning. Life insurance for these, you know, younger, there's gonna be a lot of, what if one of them is the sole breadwinner?
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: And the other's a stay at home.
That was my situation. My dad never got life insurance and my mom was a stay at home mom and he, we got lucky, you know, their mortgages to pay, um, future college expenses that could go on and on.
Abbey Henderson: And the irony there too is that, you know, getting sufficient life insurance for young parents is, is a relatively inexpensive mm-hmm.
Uh, thing to do. So the, the barriers to entry for that are low. I think people just don't think about it or they don't really wanna talk about the fact that. Could be needed down the road, but it's, it's really is an important thing. And it's, it's not a painful or expensive, relatively expensive [00:09:00] process either.
Nina Dow: You are right. Abbey and I see the, it's always an extreme with life insurance. Either they don't wanna get it or they go overboard and have five or six policies. Yeah.
Abbey Henderson: I don't see that as much. I'm usually trying to drag my clients, uh, to getting it and getting there. Their estate planning done? I would say for younger families, most of the time it is the, the guardian conversation that is the, the holdup.
Um, right. Do you see the same thing or do you see other things that are sort of, your clients are saying are obstacles to getting to the finish line?
Nina Dow: They always ask me, well, do I need, um, a trust? At this point in time, that's something that they also can, um, decide on. When you have young children, and this is, this is big.
If I just stick them with wills and something happens and the kids are under 18, the guardians will step in. [00:10:00] And however, and this is a tough pill to swallow for a lot of parents, when kids become 18, what happens to them? They're legal adults, which is like, it's hard to believe at that point the guardianship falls away and the guardian has to fork over the inheritance to the child.
'cause until that point it's being managed by the guardian. And um, in Massachusetts we actually also have a conservator. I dunno if you remember Britney Spears in that whole, she had a conservatorship. So Guardian is we're gonna decide, you know, what sweater you're gonna wear for the holidays, what school you're going to, where, where are you gonna live?
Conservator is the money person. They can be the same person, but at 18, those both fall away. And that's a lot of money for the prom potentially because life insurance policies a house, I mean, we live in Massachusetts. It's not hard to, uh, accumulate assets if you want to. [00:11:00] Especially with Abbey's help. So the next best, best option is to get a trust where if that were to happen, you have a vessel for which you can control how the kids get their inheritance.
It could be staggered over time and managed by someone else. The key is they're not gonna get it all at once at age 18 if they don't want that result. So wills are great. That's definitely where you name guardians. But the will is like, you know, a Toyota Corolla. It's very basic. A trust is like a Lexus SUV.
You get a lot more options and control. Right.
Abbey Henderson: What happens? Out of curiosity, say there is no will. I actually don't know this. What is the Massachusetts default to for guardianship?
Nina Dow: Well, I think that. Family dynamics all have rights. And that's when you maybe get the grandparents on both sides coming in and arguing why they should be.
Abbey Henderson: So it comes down to a judge. [00:12:00]
Nina Dow: Yes. At the probate court. And probate court really is, is a four letter word. You wanna try to stay away from probate court because anytime you go it's gonna be expensive and it's not gonna be automatic. They have a lot of cases ahead of you. So unless you can argue there's some sort of emergency, which I've had to do, it's hard to get in.
Abbey Henderson: Yeah. All right. So you've, you've decided you're gonna do your estate planning. You've maybe even made it to the, I've decided on My Guardian or my trustees. What is your advice to people in terms of sort of having a conversation with those potential? Uh. Uh, appointees for your various estate planning roles.
Nina Dow: Always a fun conversation. I they always ask, should I tell so and so? Yes, you should. I can't remember the name of the movie, but, um, I think Ben Affleck's brother was in it and it was based in Boston [00:13:00] and he became a guardian suddenly when the brother died of his nephew.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: I can't remember the name of the movie, but, um.
I actually used to write blogs that would tie in estate planning concepts to pop culture. Mm-hmm. I, I, from what I recall in the movie, he was really shocked. He found out in the lawyer's office, he, you know, you don't wanna, because if you have that conversation, they may say to you, oh, I, I can't, I won't be able to.
I've got this and that going on. You try, you wanna be as prepared as you can, uh, for those things. So I'm a big fan of having conversations. Hopefully the people you name get along with your kids, you know? Yep. That would help.
Abbey Henderson: And none of this is set in stone. Uh, these documents are all revocable as time changes or, you know.
Oh, absolutely. Evolve. Yeah.
Nina Dow: And they, they should, I mean, all, all the stuff you put in place, you can amend it, even trust. Trust you can, and you should because I, I tell my [00:14:00] clients I wish I had a crystal ball, believe me. But I don't. We can only plan from now to five years. And you know, at that time, things change with your kids or what have you.
Dust it off, look at it, ask me questions. Tell me what's going on in your life. The, the other reason for trust is children may have special needs. And they may be on, you know, programs or they get benefits where they look at how much money the child or the parent has. You don't wanna give them an inheritance that kicks 'em off.
Those programs trust can help with that.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: By, by teen years, parents seem to think how their kids will handle money. You know, if you give them their allowance, do they come, is it gone in a day?
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: Are they putting it in the piggy bank? You know, how are they. Those are all things, so you should definitely look at your plan as you get older, and then when you're, you know, a baby boomer, your priorities are a lot different.
Abbey Henderson: [00:15:00] Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: At that point with your estate plan, older parents say, my children are married, and my son-in-law, that SOB, if they get a divorce, I know they're going to, he's not touching. What we have in our, you know, daughter or son in our trust. How do we protect it? It becomes creditor protection now too, at that point.
Mm-hmm. So trust have, like I said, it's the Lexus SUV of options and it can mold with your, with your life and the needs that you have at that time.
Abbey Henderson: All right. So you've convinced our listeners that they should do trust. What are some of the other provisions they might be wanting to think about, sort of in anticipation of their meeting with their.
Fabulous estate planning attorney.
Nina Dow: Well, as you, as you said, you know, trustees. Mm-hmm. You know, executor goes with a will, trustee goes with a trust. If you have a trust, who's gonna manage the property in the trust when you're [00:16:00] gone? A trust, they're like, they're recipes. And when you're gone, you need to name someone who's gonna follow the recipe of what you said goes, manage whatever's in there properly.
For your children who would be the beneficiaries? So they have to think about that. It's not an easy decision. They should also think about, well, for the kids, depending on their wealth picture, right? I give clients a questionnaire, it's confidential if everything's confidential. When you talk with an attorney, whether or not you officially hire them, listing your assets so that we can talk about how much would be going to these children.
Based on that, are you gonna hold it in, in trust for their lifetimes? 'cause it's so much, are you going to, to give it to them over time? If so, what ages?
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: All questions that you can, and like I said, as, as you pointed out, as long as you're living and breathing and competent, you can change whatever you, it's not set in stone.
Abbey Henderson: Right. [00:17:00] And do you, what, what advice do you give to your clients in terms of like, what. Qualities you would want in a trustee, and then maybe how that also fits with the guardianship thing. And then also there are individuals and they're not always my favorite, but also professional trustees.
Nina Dow: Can you say a little bit about that?
Professional is, you know, you know, you know they're gonna be charging fees and that varies. So there, there's an issue there. But depending on the size of the estate, it might be worth it. I think that. You don't wanna appoint someone who thinks that just because there's checks in the checkbook, there's money in the account.
You know someone who's responsible with funds, someone who knows your kids, someone who the kids are comfortable reaching out to them if they need money. Those are all things you need to take into consideration. That's why I think Massachusetts, when it comes to guardians, also have conservators 'cause they realize [00:18:00] you may be a great babysitter.
But are you good with money? Right? That's really key. Are you gonna know to hire people like you and other advisors to help with, well, I've got $5 million for these kids. How do we invest it so that we get growth?
Abbey Henderson: All right, so someone ideally would come into your office, have an idea who they're gonna appoint, be ready to have a conversation about.
As best they know today. And that can be hard when you're talking about babies, but as best they know today, like what they might want to see, um, sort of potential distribution. Is it forever? Mm-hmm. Is it
Nina Dow: right
Abbey Henderson: to uh, through a certain time period? A lot of people will ask me, is there a way for me to explain what my wishes would be about?
What colleges they go to or you know, sort of more, I think of the nuts and bolts of sort of parenting and money uses. [00:19:00] Do you recommend that some of that gets put in the trust or is it a side letter? That's a good question. I
Nina Dow: love the side letter. I really do, and I have a lot of colleagues who, I never reused it that much until coming to BWI when it was more often than not on the table.
Because you don't wanna tie if you put it in the trust and then you pass. That thing becomes irrevocable and locked up. And what it says, says, you know,
Abbey Henderson: right.
Nina Dow: So you don't want, what if your kid doesn't wanna go to college? I mean, look at the kids today. They're making millions, you know, selling products on Instagram.
You know, maybe they're not gonna, maybe it's better they keep doing that and start a business then, then if they're not interested in going to school. So you don't want it to be, I think the side letter creates more flexibility. Here are my wishes, but you're not found. And
Abbey Henderson: maybe say a quick word. Say a quick word about what that is.
A side letter. Because I just threw it there without explaining it.
Nina Dow: It's simply, that's exactly what it is. It's a [00:20:00] letter on the side, not in your trust where you're saying, this is what I hope you would use the money for. And you would sign it and it's kept in your, you know, with your estate plan. If you've got it, we want a copy of it for our files.
Mm-hmm. And you know, just like anything that can also be amended as time goes on. And it is not legally binding. Is that right? You wouldn't want it to be, you know, otherwise we could put it in the, in the trust. In the trust. Got it. It's simply stating wishes and intentions. And we have found that family members are, do trustees.
They do feel, you know, a moral obligation to follow to the best they can. You know what the wishes are right.
Abbey Henderson: Um, and this might be a good segue to talk a little bit about the importance of beneficiary designations.
Nina Dow: So important,
Abbey Henderson: the, the part that almost, it doesn't always get finished, uh, once you have signed documents.
Nina Dow: Well, so describing the full engagement, you know, you're meeting and talking with clients. You [00:21:00] know what they want. You, you draft it up, they review it, they come in, they sign it. Everyone drops their pens, big sigh of relief. Everyone's sleeping well that night, but wait, there's more. You are not done. At that point then I, I write a letter or an email with trust if they have one funding instructions.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm. And
Nina Dow: that's again why that questionnaire is so important when they list their assets. Uh, life insurance, we'll take that. If you've got small kids. You've got trust, that's perfect. Designate the trust as the primary beneficiary of the policy. Mm-hmm. That way, if there's a common death, all that money just goes right to the trust for the kids.
You are skipping the probate line. If you don't have that beneficiary name, do you know what's gonna happen? C-O-U-R-T. Right? There's, you could simply avoid that. Just call up the. [00:22:00] The insurance company and ask for a beneficiary designation form. That's why they have them.
Abbey Henderson: And in theory, if you've, if you've done your estate plan correctly, the assets will eventually get back to the trust.
Yes. But it took an awfully long, expensive detour to get there.
Nina Dow: Takes a little bit longer. That's, that's right. It's a detour. You retirement accounts really important if you're married, surviving spouses get income tax benefits if they're named first as the primary. If the kids are little, the trust can be the, the backup beneficiary.
Mm-hmm. If you, if you were single before and you named on a life insurance policy or a sibling, and then you get married and you want the spouse to now get the policy, you better run back and change that beneficiary designation because that's a contract. Right. And that could be a lucky sibling with the spouse.
I'm not too happy with that result. So always look at beneficiary [00:23:00] designations, and that's something we talk about
Abbey Henderson: every now and then. I have, I have a client or a prospect who's like, well, what do you, what do you mean it does? Right? My cross says this, my will says this. I'm like, yes, but your beneficiary de designation does not.
And that's gonna trump the, the other documents that you have.
Nina Dow: And I think that's why client education is so crucial to walk through each asset and say, oh, you own this jointly. That means the sur joint, uh, survivor will get it. Oh, do you have beneficiaries on this? Yes. Well, you do understand that's not gonna go through the will or the trust, right?
It's gonna go straight to that beneficiary. So, um, and asset by asset conversation helps a lot.
Abbey Henderson: For sure,
Nina Dow: and Wendy agrees.
Wendy McConnell: Yeah.
Abbey Henderson: You've been so quiet,
Wendy McConnell: Wendy. Well, I just like, you know, Abbey's the boss. She just takes off. I quietly observe.
Abbey Henderson: Yes. But when I was asking for clarification, she's like nodding her head.
I was like, that side letter, I had no idea.
Nina Dow: I love [00:24:00] it. You know, I bet it could be a cocktail napkin. No one does that anymore. No one writes on those things anymore. Of course, I'm dating myself.
Abbey Henderson: I'm right there with you. Don't worry.
Nina Dow: All of us are.
Abbey Henderson: I love it. So, um, I know we can do an entirely separate podcast on these topics, but, and we should.
And maybe we should. Um, but is there any sort of tidbits or, or cliff notes that you would wanna touch on for special considerations for single parents, blended families? Oh yes. Special needs, all of those sort of very common, but not necessarily standard family, uh, situations.
Nina Dow: And you know, too, Abbey, the, the other thing with assets, Massachusetts has a $2 million.
I'll call it an inheritance tax threshold to, to simplify it, but, um, trust can, can help with minimizing taxes. If you are in a blended family situation, [00:25:00] you have to be really careful with is there a tax due and who's gonna pay it? Children from a first marriage, the second, you know, that has to all be considered.
I, I think with all the issues you stated, um, you just have to talk to a lawyer.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm.
Nina Dow: I never think that anyone should go online, but especially if you've got special circumstances like the the Brady Bunch case. Yep. That really needs an estate plan. If you want things to go a certain way. Special needs, that's another one.
Charitable giving.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I suppose these are all situations where the risk of unintended consequences, right, goes up dramatically.
Nina Dow: It's definitely warrants to sit down and we have to look at the whole picture. We can't just give off the cuff, you know, responses to things, right?
Abbey Henderson: Um, we believe it or not, have almost run out of time, but I wanna, uh, before I give my [00:26:00] last question on important takeaways, is there anything, any sort of topic that we missed that you really wanna make sure new parents, uh, think about?
Nina Dow: Try to call your lawyer, um, way before your vacation because I've had to do some 24 hour. It's not, I, it's not ideal. Greet by you? Some, some people had No, I said there's no time for a will. Here's a standalone guardianship nomination that, you know, there's no time. So, um, just to tie them over. So give, give us some time and that would be great.
And you can see just how much estate planning encompasses, right? It's everything. It's real estate, it's contract law, it's wills and trusts. It's tax. Uh, that's why I got a master's of laws and tax.
Abbey Henderson: That's before you even get to the psychology part of it.
Nina Dow: Oh, absolutely. And, and then the toughest question I need to answer is what my clients keep asking me.
All those personal ones I mentioned before. Yeah. That I don't, I don't have the answer to those, [00:27:00] but estate planning, I can do.
Abbey Henderson: Yeah. Yeah. If you tell me your goals and what you're trying to accomplish, I can deliver something that will get as close to that as possible.
Nina Dow: It's always, well, you know, what about you?
I'm like, oh, enough about me. Let's get back to your wills.
Abbey Henderson: Well, you know, that must be the degree to which your clients love you because I assume you charge by the hour, as most attorneys do, and so they are paying to hear your answers.
Nina Dow: Yes. And I always try to ballpark, I don't like to surprise clients with a bill like my dentist does to me, so Oh,
Abbey Henderson: yes.
Nina Dow: It was so great. Thank you for having me on.
Abbey Henderson: Yeah. Is there, really appreciate it. Aside from start early, is there any other takeaway, uh, important takeaway you want people to remember? If they could remember like one or two things?
Nina Dow: Uh, married couples, you have to both agree. Mm. I represent a lot of married couples together.
I cannot do only what one tells me to do.
Abbey Henderson: Mm-hmm. And
Nina Dow: there [00:28:00] can be no secrets among the three of us. So that's very important to remember, and that's why this talk is important because you both have to agree on so many things.
Abbey Henderson: Yep. All right. Start early. It's team effort.
Nina Dow: Mm-hmm.
Abbey Henderson: Anything else?
Nina Dow: I also be open to any, uh, romantic advice from clients.
That's fine. If they can't help themselves,
Abbey Henderson: I'll charge '
Wendy McConnell: em for that
Abbey Henderson: and give your attorney romantic advice. I love it. Alright, that's the best death and taxes. It's
Nina Dow: all fun.
Abbey Henderson: Well, this has been awesome and I do think that you should come back and we can talk about other one of any number of interesting topics that you've come across in your career and that are important.
But in the meantime, where can our listeners learn more about you?
Nina Dow: I think the best place is, um, Googling me and finding me on our firm website. [00:29:00] Okay. Where, you know, you have my bio and my contact information. Okay. And, and you're on LinkedIn, hear from them. Love LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the new Instagram for professionals.
That's another place too. Thank you so much, Wendy. Thank you. Wonderful.
Wendy McConnell: Thank you Nina And Abbey, you're on LinkedIn as well. Where else can people can find, where else can people find you?
Abbey Henderson: Oh yes, all the places. And I love to hear from people as well. So our website and the new one is up, so please go check out the new website.
It's abarisfinancial group.com. Uh, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. A little bit on Twitter, all the places, and I'm always available by email as well.
Wendy McConnell: And I just got your email newsletter. It is very pretty.
Abbey Henderson: Oh, thank you. Very pretty.
Nina Dow: I wanna see it. I'm gonna sign up for that. It's a good book
Wendy McConnell: recommendation there.
So maybe you know that's a little bit of a teaser to go to the website All. Well, thank you both and thank you for [00:30:00] listening today. Please like, follow and share this podcast with your friends. Until next time, I'm Wendy McConnell.
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And be sure to visit our website at www.arisfinancialgroup.com. Don't forget to click the follow button to be notified when new episodes become available. The information covered in posted represents views and opinions of the guest. And does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Abaris Financial Group.
The opinions voiced in Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual to determine what may be appropriate for you. Consult with your attorney. Accountant, financial or tax advisor prior to investing.
Guests on Wealth Beyond Riches are not affiliated with Abaris Financial Group or New Edge Advisors. LLC. Advisory Services offered through New Edge Advisors, LLCA, registered [00:31:00] Investment Advisor.