Estate planning is one of those unpleasant but really important tasks. Unfortunately, the process is not only hard to get started, it is then easy to make mistakes. Even the most careful and well-intentioned person can slip up along the way. Avoid the pitfalls! The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes outlines the major mistakes and their consequences in an entertaining way-and then proceeds to tell you exactly how to avoid these mistakes.

Delivering practical and helpful information in a light tone, the authors help to make these sometimes difficult conversations a little easier. The book's fifty concise chapters are filled with real-life examples, organized under four key areas of mistakes:

• The biggest mistake of not planning at all
• Failing to plan for the possibility of mental incompetency
• Mistakes made during the estate planning process itself
• And common mistakes made by executors

Written by personal finance and estate planning experts, Jean Blacklock and Sarah Kruger, The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes and How To Avoid Them is an essential guide for Canadians interested in planning their estates effectively, with minimal stress on their loved ones.

Praise for The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

"Quite simply the best estate-planning book I've read in 30 years. Outstanding!" 

— David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber.

"It's a rare occasion when I read a self-help book-because this class of literature is overpopulated with hucksters, snake oil peddlers and semi-literates. It's an even rarer occasion when I read one all the way through and end up recommending it to friends.

This book is, quite simply, the best I've seen in its field. It is sound, comprehensive, helpful, and-most importantly-readable. Its authors know their business, and they know how to explain what you need to know to make intelligent plans for your estate. Unless you are one of those enthusiasts who believe that, through diet, drugs, and denial, you can endure for centuries, you should read this book and use it as a basis for discussions with your family and your professionals. If so, your funeral need not-like so many-be the day your heirs start fighting with each other, and your estate begins to bleed."
—Donald Coxe, Chairman of Coxe Advisors LLP, has been a columnist with the Globe & Mail, the National Post, Maclean's and is the author of The New Reality of Wall Street

"A sensible, sound and savvy guide for everyone who is not immortal-that is, all of us. Thoroughly enjoyable and insightful. A must-read for all those thinking about estate planning-which, too, should be all of us."
—Michael Gordon, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Geriatrician and author of Moments that Matter: Cases in Ethical Eldercare

"In a very readable and easy to understand manner, this book hits all of the common estate planning mistakes head on. I highly recommend it."
—Ian Hull, LL.B., Hull & Hull LLP

"This book is must-read to understand how to protect your hard-won assets and assure a smooth transition for your family when you are gone. It also explains how best to ensure that your wishes are met and without making the mistakes common to do-it-yourself estate planners. While most of us don't want think about our mortality, planning ahead is essential. This easy-to-read guide explains the documentation necessary in the event you are unable to make your own health care decisions. The thoughtful preparation for delegation of personal care and financial decisions is essential to leaving a legacy that does not include hard feelings and family feuds. This book stresses the need for specificity, clarity and regular updating as your life change. The...]]> http://www.banks.ca/retirement/the-50-biggest-estate-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them-canadian-guides/feed/ 0 http://www.banks.ca/retirement/the-50-biggest-estate-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/ http://www.banks.ca/retirement/the-50-biggest-estate-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/#comments Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:56:40 +0000 http://www.banks.ca/retirement/the-50-biggest-estate-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/ http://www.banks.ca/retirement/the-50-biggest-estate-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/feed/ 0 http://www.banks.ca/banks/the-lost-bank-the-story-of-washington-mutual-the-biggest-bank-failure-in-american-history/ http://www.banks.ca/banks/the-lost-bank-the-story-of-washington-mutual-the-biggest-bank-failure-in-american-history/#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 04:53:20 +0000 http://www.banks.ca/banks/the-lost-bank-the-story-of-washington-mutual-the-biggest-bank-failure-in-american-history/ Kirsten Grind’s The Lost Bank is a magisterial and gripping account of these events, tracing the cultural shifts, the cockamamie financial engineering, and the hubris and avarice that made this incredible story possible. The men and women who become the central players in this tragedy— the regulators and the bankers, the home buyers and the lenders, the number crunchers and the shareholders—are heroes and villains, perpetrators and victims, often switching roles with one another as the drama unfolds.

As a reporter at the time for the Puget Sound Business Journal, Grind covered a story set far from the epicenters of finance and media. It happened largely in places such as the suburban homes of central California and the office buildings of Seattle, but Grind covered the story from the beginning, and the clarity and persistence of her reporting earned her many awards, including being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Gerald Loeb Award. She takes readers into boardrooms and bedrooms, revealing the power struggles that pitted regulators at the Office of Thrift Supervision and the FDIC against one another and the predatory negotiations of investment bankers and lawyers who enriched themselves during the bank’s rise and then devoured the decimated bank in its final days.

Written as compellingly as the finest fiction, The Lost Bank makes it clear that the collapse of Washington Mutual was not just the largest bank failure in American history. It is a story of talismanic qualities, reflecting the incredible rise and the precipitous collapse of not only an institution but of trust, fortunes, and the marketplaces for risk across the world.]]> http://www.banks.ca/banks/the-lost-bank-the-story-of-washington-mutual-the-biggest-bank-failure-in-american-history/feed/ 0