Every time you make a decision in life, you’re choosing to say “yes” to one thing and “no” to all the other options available to you. That’s known as opportunity cost. There’s an opportunity cost with how you structure your financial and estate plan, too! With limited resources, you have to make judgment calls about what you do and who gets what. 
A comprehensive financial and estate plan includes many different components, including cash flow management, insurance, long term care considerations, retirement and investments. Unfortunately, there are many different concepts in this process that can get overlooked.
Recognizing the value of opportunity costs and understanding how these factor into making your various decisions is extremely important. Every dollar that is not being effectively used in your individual financial plan could have been used in another way to advance progress in that respect. For example, a dollar that is not being put to effective use could have assisted with debt reduction.
These lost opportunities represent the opportunity cost of failing to maximize the impact of each individual component of your estate plan. There are areas within your estate and financial life that could be showing inefficiencies and this opportunity cost could end up making things more difficult for you in the future or for the beneficiaries that you wish to pass on your assets to.
Scheduling a consultation with a trusted estate planning lawyer is often the first step in recognizing these opportunity costs and doing everything possible to redirect funds to the right place. For more information about aligning this with your individual estate plan, set up a time today to speak with a trusted attorney.