Estate Planning Conversation Starters and Jokes to Help Clients Get Their Estate Plans Done

Here are conversation starters and jokes that advisors and financial planners can use when bringing up estate planning with their clients (source: advisors who shared them in the EncorEstate Plans x Money Quotient webinar "How To Get Clients to Stop Procrastinating on Estate Plans):

On the topic of advisors getting their own estate plans done:

"Just do it. I use my estate plan as an example to help many clients relate to unique situations to plan for."
- Matt Clay, Managing Director, Partner, Wealth Advisor at Steward Partners

Download: Proven Estate Planning Conversation Starters from Advisors

Conversation starters advisors can use to prompt estate planning with clients:

"I don't say die or death; we use the word 'graduation'
- Matt Clay, Managing Director, Partner, Wealth Advisor at Steward Partners

"No jokes, but I do have a great Death Cookbook with recipes to take to grieving families."
- Pam Horack, CFP®, Founder and Your Financial Mom at Pathfinder Planning

"I say, 'Let’s face it - there is a 100% mortality rate for all of us.' I also say, listen, let’s do this now: once it’s done, you don’t ever have to think about it again, unless you want to!"
- Ann Harbin, Senior Officer, Estate Planning and Administration at 5280 Associates

"For my clients that like Star Wars: 'Estate planning is like being a Jedi—if you don’t train your Padawans and leave a holocron of instructions, the Sith (a.k.a. probate court) takes over your legacy.'"
- Daniel Kopp, CFP®, Founder and Lead Financial Planner at Wise Stewardship Financial Planning

"I love to say, 'We are going to make this an easy process and our goal is to get our clients in the elite group that has completed their estate plan. This is one of the biggest way of showing your family that you love them. This will be your final act of showing love to your family.'"
- David Saunders, Partner, Senior Relationship Builder at Legacy Advisor Group

"'Mr. Client, when you grow wings and fly to heaven, how do you want to handle X?'"
- Jake Robinson, Founder at Roy Matlock, Jr. Advisory

Jokes advisors can use to smoothly bring up estate planning with clients:

"What’s the difference between in-laws and outlaws? Outlaws are actually wanted. That's why you need estate planning!"
- Eric Negron, CEO at Forefront Wealth Partners

"When there's a will, there's relatives."
- Eric Negron, CEO at Forefront Wealth Partners

"I say, 'Let’s face it - there is a 100% mortality rate for all of us.'"
- Ann Harbin, Senior Officer, Estate Planning and Administration at 5280 Associates

"'3 guarantees in life: death, taxes, and farts' are always funny - always lightens the mood."
- Omen Quelvog, Financial Advisor at Formynder Wealth Management

"I'll joke with clients that if they don't want their kids to fight like maybe they did when they were little, they better have a well-written trust"
- Matt Clay, Managing Director, Partner, Wealth Advisor at Steward Partners

"You can avoid estate planning all you want…but so far, the success rate for immortality is still stuck at zero."
- Daniel Kopp, CFP®, Founder and Lead Financial Planner at Wise Stewardship Financial Planning

"This is cheesy, but, 'What’s an estate planner’s favorite dance move? The step-up in basis!' Last bad joke: 'You can ghost a bad date, but not a good estate plan.'"
- Marla Landa, Financial Planner

Download: Checklist for When to Check Clients' Estate Plans

Action Items and Parting Thoughts

Having reviewed and QAd tens of thousands of estate plans over the years, one thing we can't stress enough:

Make sure your clients' estate plans are funded, especially through retitling real estate into the living trust.

Which is why we leave you with this pun:

When your clients are ready to do the deed, make sure you work with EncorEstate's deed filing service.

Encore will ensure your clients' estate plans are funded by:

• Pulling the last recorded deed.
• Preparing the deed
• Preparing all county-specific documents.

You nor your clients need to lift a finger! No visits to the county assessor's office, no calling the assessor's office to figure out the process, and no need to guess and pray that the correct forms are filled out correctly.

And if you're evaluating estate planning software providers, get a personalized deep-dive of the Encore platform: