Estate Planning Strategies

  • Everyone could use an estate plan – not just the wealthy.
  • 5 documents are essential for many estate plans.
  • An estate planning attorney and your accountant will work with your Financial Advisor.

Estate planning: a matter of control 

You might associate estate planning with famous people you see in the news. In fact, estate planning could be appropriate for everyone. 

Consider your assets: bank accounts, investment accounts, 401(k) or 403(b) plan accounts, house, cars, jewelry, and heirlooms. This is your estate and your estate plan can define what you would like to happen to these assets when you die. 

An estate plan can also take care of you as you get older or if you become ill or incapacitated. Being wealthy has little to do with it. 

If you don’t make your own plan, your family may be left scrambling at an already difficult time. Bottom line: If you don’t decide, someone will decide for you.  


Five essential documents 

These five documents are often essential to an estate plan: 

  • Will - Instructions for distributing your assets when you die. You will name a personal representative (executor) to pay final expenses and taxes and distribute remaining assets. Name a guardian to raise your minor children if both parents die. 
  • Durable power of attorney – You give a trusted individual management power over your assets if you can’t manage them yourself. This document is effective only while you’re alive. 
  • Health care power of attorney - You choose someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if something were to happen and you can’t make them yourself. 
  • Living will – Shares your intentions about life-sustaining medical measures if you are terminally ill. No one is given authority to speak for you. 
  • Revocable living trust - You can provide for continued management of your financial matters while you are alive, after your death, and even for generations after. 


Why beneficiary designations are important

Beneficiary designations can be an easy way to transfer an account or insurance policy when you die. But if you didn’t complete beneficiary designations, or haven’t updated them, they can cause issues with your estate plan. 

Designations on forms are often filled out without much thought – but they’re important and deserve your attention. Beneficiary designations on forms like your insurance policy and 401(k) take priority over other estate planning documents, like your will or trust. 

Let’s say you specify in your will you want everything to go to your spouse after your death. But you never changed the beneficiary designation on your life insurance policy and it names your ex-spouse. Your ex may end up getting the proceeds. 



Turn to a team of professionals 

Making the decisions involved with estate planning may seem overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be. You can start by organizing your important documents. 

Turn to a team of trusted professionals, including your financial advisor, an estate planning attorney, and your accountant. They know the questions to ask and can help you avoid potential pitfalls. 

If you currently don’t have relationships with an attorney and an accountant, we can make some recommendations. We can also discuss our role in the planning process and how you can get started. 


Next steps 

  • Make an appointment with us to talk about your estate planning goals.
  • Start gathering your financial documents.
  • Check the beneficiary designations on your financial and investment accounts.


Trust services available through banking and trust affiliates in addition to non-affiliated companies of Wells Fargo Advisors. 

Wells Fargo Advisors and its affiliate do not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult with your tax and/or legal advisors before taking any action that may have tax and/or legal consequences.  Any estate plan should be reviewed by an attorney who specializes in estate planning and is licensed to practice law in your state.

Intentional giving vs. checkbook philanthropy


Two people in a garden

Philanthropic Services offered by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Key points to consider:

  • Philanthropy begins with a belief that we can help make a difference or make a change.
  • Many individuals engage in checkbook philanthropy, where they simply write checks whenever asked or to various charities on an annual basis.
  • We believe that becoming intentional with your giving may offer additional benefits. With intentional giving, your goals drive the discussion and help connect your philanthropic motivations with actionable strategies.

To be critical of checkbook philanthropy is somewhat unfair though, as again, philanthropy is highly personal and may serve as an engaging activity for some. Furthermore, we should be wary of being dismissive of a practice that provides huge value to a large number of charities. Many charities rely heavily upon the annual relatively small donations they receive from thousands of donors, as these add up and can be the cornerstone of a charitable organization’s budget.
So, philanthropists hold power and influence. As such, it’s important that philanthropists are armed with adequate information and tools so they can make choices that make optimal sense for them. In the interest of helping philanthropists better achieve their goals, we may suggest an alternative to checkbook philanthropy which we call “intentional giving.” We believe that getting intentional about your philanthropy may give you a sense of purpose, and help serve as a constant motivational reminder of what you are working toward. With intentional giving, your goals drive the discussion and help to connect your philanthropic motivations with actionable strategies.

Characteristics of intentional giving may include:


  • Engaging in a thorough process that begins with a vision.
  • Thinking about the impact you want and expect your giving to make.
  • Identifying a problem and evaluating approaches to attack the problem.
  • Employing research. Especially with the tools that technology currently offers, there are many ways to gather information about charitable organizations including tax returns, financials, and data on results.


As individuals, we can all engage in philanthropy. We can. I emphasize the words “we can” as philanthropy begins with belief—the belief that we can help make a difference or make a change. Of course, there are countless differences by which individuals can engage in philanthropy, either measured by amount or scale or perhaps by approach or method. The nuances as to the “how” of philanthropy are endless and while philanthropy is highly personal, the choices available are often far too many.		 For purposes of this discussion, we will operate on the premise that our reader has sufficient resources (presumably financial but this could include resources such as expertise or time) to commit to charitable endeavors either during his or her lifetime and/or at death.

Checkbook philanthropy is often defined as the practice of “giving without thinking” or simply writing checks as a matter of practice to various charities on an annual basis. The notion of checkbook philanthropy is often described with parallel terms such as “peanut butter” or “splatter” philanthropy, meaning that the philanthropist is spreading their giving evenly across a bunch of charities or just dropping random checks in a haphazard way. Fundraisers have learned to cater to the habits of checkbook philanthropists as evidenced by regular mailings and email blasts. Fundraisers know that there are many individuals out there who may wait until the end of the year to conduct their charitable giving, which involves sifting through a pile of annual appeals and sending donations in a reactive way.
  • Catering to passion vs. giving per familial obligation.
  • Strategic planning – collaborating with advisors to look for efficiencies in the context of your broader tax and estate plans.
  • Thinking outside the box, such as gifting unique or specialty assets.

We believe that an intentional giving approach can help you get clarity around your philanthropic motivations, your goals and vision for the future, how you define success, and determine next steps for putting your ideas into action. It’s important to consider the following four questions to assess your philanthropic objectives:

  1. Consider your values and vision for the future. What’s important to you and your family?
  2. Conduct a giving review. How are your charitable gifts aligned with your values and priorities?
  3. Evaluate resources. What assets or other resources are most appropriate to support your philanthropic objectives?
  4. Set strategies. What charitable vehicles are most appropriate to accomplish your giving, wealth, and estate planning objectives? And how can your giving create the impact you want to see?


A well-thought-out giving plan lets you know that the legacy you leave behind matches your values. It can help you articulate your mission and lay out a roadmap for future gifts. Talk to us about how we can help you put an intentional giving plan together.

Discover more

To learn more about how Wells Fargo Bank Philanthropic Services can help you achieve your philanthropic goals, please contact your advisor or philanthropic specialist.

Wells Fargo and Company and its Affiliates do not provide tax or legal advice. This communication cannot be relied upon to avoid tax penalties. Please consult your tax and legal advisors to determine how this information may apply to your own situation. Whether any planned tax result is realized by you depends on the specific facts of your own situation at the time your tax return is filed.

Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management (WIM) is a division within Wells Fargo & Company. WIM provides financial products and services through various bank and brokerage affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company. Bank products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Member FDIC.

Trust Services are available through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Member FDIC and Wells Fargo Delaware Trust Company, N.A.

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (“the Bank”) offers various banking, advisory, fiduciary and custody products and services, including discretionary portfolio management. Wells Fargo affiliates, including Financial Advisors of Wells Fargo Advisors, may be paid an ongoing or one-time referral fee in relation to clients referred to the Bank. In these instances, the Bank is responsible for the day-to-day management of any referred accounts.