Let’s Play Ball!

Fans in Red Hats watching the Ball GameSpringtime always reminds me of baseball. The local ball field was about a half-mile from my house where I grew up. Every Saturday morning in the spring and early summer I woke up to the sounds of the announcer over the PA system.

I love baseball. I love the sights and the sounds of the game. My favorite is the crack of a wood bat. I love that sound. I was lucky enough to work for the Cleveland Indians during my career. That was an amazing work experience that allowed me to watch batting practice whenever I wanted. I also knew the secret identity of the team mascot “Slider.” But I especially loved the media team digging through statistics books in my office to find that quirky stat that an announcer could use in a game. “Well, Matt, the person batting third in every Saturday road game in odd years when it was raining has struck out 88% of the time.” How can you not love that?

Statistics —never my favorite subject in school— are fascinating when applied to baseball, or real life. Stats can be interesting, surprising, or even sad. For example, depending on the source, between 55-75% of Americans have never created their will. Because of the lack of any type of planning, millions of families will have to go through the costly and emotionally exhaustive probate process.

Here are a few more stats from the 2015 Estate Planning Industry Trends survey conducted by WealthCounsel.

The top three reasons people chose to create their estate plan:

  • 67% to avoid Probate
  • 65% to avoid chaos/discord among family/beneficiaries
  • 38% to protect children from mismanaging their inheritance
  • 73% of people who created their estate plan were married with children
  • 56% of people who created their plan had a net worth of $1 million or more
  • 52% of people who planned were between the ages of 50-69

Where do you fall among these statistics? Are you in the group of Americans who have created a plan to avoid probate and take care of their family to the best of their ability? Or are you still one of the 55-75% of Americans who haven’t even picked up the bat yet to take a swing.

A final statistic to remember…

  • 100% of people will die


Are you ready to play ball?

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