Commentary on Anna Nicole Smith Lessons

Smith’s story may be sensational, but it shouldn’t be used as something more. Sure if you are wealthy and intend to bequeath amounts that will change people’s lives you should properly plan. Or if you are just an average Joe and don’t want hullabaloo amongst your relatives when you’re gone, you should be clear in delineating who gets what and how much of your assets.
   

But I can’t think of anyone who is even close to being in, never mind putting themselves in, the same predicament as Anna Nicole Smith did. The financial-services industry is doing a disservice to people by hopping on the hype and using it as a tool to spin clients ’round on estate-planning education.
   

If it’s celebrity and fanfare that are needed to get clients’ attention, how about looking at Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the richest men in the world. They are models of a different sort that we should be looking to for insight. And their estate plans are notable, not notorious.