You Worked Hard To Build Wealth — Use This 3-Step Checklist To Protect It
You Worked Hard To Build Wealth — Use This 3-Step Checklist To Protect It
June 13, 2025 by Laura Bogart GoBankingRates
To say you’ve worked hard would be an understatement. You’re no stranger to pulling a 5 to 9 after your 9 to 5 ends. You’ve met with financial advisors and investment professionals to figure out how to stretch your money and grow it through passive income. What you’ve accomplished at this point in your life is impressive — and now, you’re starting to think about what the next phase might look like.
That next chapter should start with protecting what you’ve built. Just as you mapped a master plan to build your wealth, you’ll need a strategy to safeguard it. While personalized advice from your financial advisor is always smart, these three essential steps can help you prepare now.
Create an Estate Plan
An estate plan is a cornerstone of protecting your financial legacy — helping ensure the hard work you’ve put in today will continue to bear fruit long after you’re gone. One of the most powerful ways to protect your assets is to keep them in the family and make sure your loved ones can access them easily and responsibly.
Start by working with a trusted financial and legal team to create a will or a revocable living trust. A revocable trust allows you to manage your assets while you’re still around and to lay out clear instructions for how those assets should be distributed after your death. It can be changed or revoked at any time, as long as you’re making competent, voluntary decisions. It also spares your heirs the time and expense of probate.
To reduce the emotional and financial burden on your family in a crisis, you should also set up an advance healthcare directive and designate durable powers of attorney for both medical and financial matters. These documents ensure your wishes are honored and take difficult decisions off your family’s shoulders.
Make Sure You Have the Right Life Insurance
At a minimum, life insurance is designed to protect your family’s financial future if something happens to you unexpectedly. A policy can help them pay off debts, cover day-to-day living expenses and continue pursuing long-term goals like college or retirement savings.