New Year's Resolution: Estate Plan And Prosper

Resolutions fade; stress lingers. We chose a different start to the year by focusing on the one move that reliably lowers anxiety and protects what matters: a practical estate plan that actually works when life gets messy. From the gym to the law office, we connect the dots between lower cortisol, clearer thinking, and the documents that keep your family out of court and your assets out of harm’s way.

We break down the essentials in plain language. You will hear why a general durable power of attorney and a health care power of attorney are the bedrock of real-world preparedness, and what happens when they are missing—delays, court-driven guardianship, and bills piling up when a spouse or child is locked out of decisions. Then we widen the lens to tackle the cost of long-term care, the quiet threat that can drain retirement accounts after a stroke, a fall, or a dementia diagnosis. Our approach centers on options: how targeted trusts can position savings for benefits eligibility without surrendering your values or your voice.

For homeowners, we spotlight the Lady Bird deed—especially effective in North Carolina—which protects the primary residence, avoids probate, and has been strengthened under current Medicaid rules. It is a simple, reversible step that keeps you in control during life and guides the house to your chosen heirs later. Along the way, we share mindset shifts that make planning feel less like paperwork and more like freedom: tidy decisions, clear roles, and a cleaner slate for 2026.

If you are ready to trade vague resolutions for real peace of mind, this conversation gives you a precise checklist and the confidence to act. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review to tell us the first step you are taking toward an Estate Plan and Prosper year.

Chapters

• 0:16 Ditching New Year Clichés
• 1:11 Fitness, Stress, And Clear Thinking
• 2:57 Peace Of Mind Through Planning
• 4:15 When Documents Are Missing
• 6:12 Protecting Home And Savings
• 7:20 Lady Bird Deeds And Medicaid
• 8:38 Plan Max: Less Stress In 2026

Transcript

Greg McIntyre 0:08

Happy New Year. New Year, New Plan. Your hair looks great, attorney Matson. How's it going?

Haley Matson 0:15

Thanks. It's going well.

Greg McIntyre 0:17

New Year. It's my first day I've seen you this year.

Haley Matson 0:19

I know. It's the first day, isn't it?

Greg McIntyre 0:21

It is. It is. So so it's good to see you. Um, you know, new year, new plan. Guys, that's such a cliche, overused, beat down topic in the area of financial planning, yeah, estate planning on the legal side, elderly.

Haley Matson 0:40

Exercise, you know, all the new year's resolutions.

Greg McIntyre 0:43

Man, I'm gonna go to the gym every day this year.

Haley Matson 0:48

I believe it.

Fitness, Stress, And Clear Thinking

Greg McIntyre 0:50

I'll tell no, no, I need rest days. I would tell you, yes, I am fairly disciplined. And by fairly, I mean very. Okay. However, there's a reason for that. And let's talk about what I'm really talking about when I say new year, new plan, because again, that's overused. Let's just throw that out. That's butkassed, that's overused, it has no meaning anymore. Therefore, I really want to extend your life in 2026. Okay. And let me tell you what I mean. It's the same reason I'm going to the gym. Why do I go to the gym?

Haley Matson 1:26

Live long, live healthy.

Greg McIntyre 1:28

Live long, live healthy. What is going to the gym do for me? I think it's good blood flow, right? What is another thing when I leave when I'm stressed at the end of the day because uh you've stressed me out, Matt? And I'm just I'm at the end of my rope. My clients, everything else, the job, you know, uh I got to take the dog to the vet. All these things are on my mind. And I go to the gym and I get my stress out. I lift it, I take it out on the weights. Jordan, my son, said he wanted really a home gym to work at at home, but he wanted a full gym because he works out. He's an emotional workout person. Like he's an emotional lifter. Like when he's angry, you know, he's like throwing weights around, things like that. And he's like, People look at me weird in the gym, dad, right? And I hate to tell on you, Jordan, but you know, um, I can totally see that too, right?

Haley Matson 2:20

So like it brings him peace of mind to like be able to do it.

Peace Of Mind Through Planning

Greg McIntyre 2:22

It does, man. You're all I'm doing is just listen to the music. I sometimes I have the things in my mind and I work through those. Sometimes I make calls. Some of the best work I do or thoughts that I have are after I've gotten my my heart rate up and I've cleared out, you know, my blood's flowing in the gym. It is proven that you are smarter after a workout or run. No, no kidding. Google it, google it. Anybody watching this, Google it. Which is why I say what an estate plan does, what getting your affairs order in in order does, getting your affairs in order, it gives you peace of mind. It takes one less piece of stress off of your heart and your mind. And yet what what is the one of the biggest reasons why people have strokes, heart attacks, high cortisol levels? What's cortisol? What is cortisol? Stress. What does it make you do?

Haley Matson 3:24

Makes you unhealthy, retain weight, yeah.

When Documents Are Missing

Greg McIntyre 3:29

Not good for your heart, bad sleep. A lot of things. Bad sleep. So the more peace of mind, the less stress we can have, the more longevity we're going to have. Okay. It's just, you know, or at least that's not gonna be that's gonna be less likely to likely to take us out of here, okay? I'm not a medical doctor, okay? But I am a practical attorney. And really, I'm being a little jokey jokey with all this, okay, a little bit, but not really. There's a tinge of seriousness here, too, okay. It is if something happens to you, Matson, what happens if our potential client has a fall, a head injury, a stroke, you know, um, some kind of malady of aging, develops Alzheimer's, dementia. What happens to them if that happens and they don't have just the basics in place? Foundation work, general durable power of attorney, which takes care of legal and financial, you appointing an agent handling legal and financial issues, healthcare power of attorney, where you appoint an agent to make your health care decisions if you are unable to.

Haley Matson 4:48

They're gonna be in a jam. I mean, we've seen it happen before, but kids or spouse tries to come in, tries to help them out, tries to get them into you know a hospital facility, physical therapy, and they just they can't because that person didn't get any of their documents done, no powers of attorney, no healthcare power of attorney, they didn't put everything in place, and so the kids are kind of stuck.

Greg McIntyre 5:11

So, what what are the what are the options of the spouse, the healthy spouse or the children at that point?

Haley Matson 5:18

Man, if there's nothing in place, the only thing they can do is go for guardianship, which is the court proceeding, which takes a while.

Greg McIntyre 5:26

You're gonna have to hire an attorney like us. Like we actually benefit if you don't do those things, okay? Because we handle the guardianship. That's why it's counterintuitive, probably, for me to argue for this. But I just want my clients to be taken care of and squared away early on. It's very inexpensive, it's very easy if you have trusted individuals in your life, like a spouse or children, yeah, to appoint them in the order you want them to serve, to handle the legal and financial side of your life and the healthcare side of your life and avoid guardianship proceedings later on. Agreed.

Haley Matson 6:01

Agreed, agreed.

Protecting Home And Savings

Greg McIntyre 6:02

So that's the basics. Now we get into the bigger stuff. You know, what I'm sweating, if I'm aging without any estate plan in place, without a thought about long-term care and what how it's going to be paid paid for, uh what I'm gonna actually worry about is losing my home, losing my retirement, my savings, losing all my money in property because of the high cost of long-term care. If something happens to me health-wise, that may be outside of my control and no fault of mine. Yeah, that's the big worry.

Haley Matson 6:43

Yeah, we see that a lot.

Greg McIntyre 6:46

So, you know, getting trust put in place with real property, businesses there, savings there that can be irrevocable if you need a long-term care situation or stay. So you can have access and options to benefits to pay for that care.

Haley Matson 7:07

Yeah, ladybird deed on the house, too.

Greg McIntyre 7:12

Yeah, it's such an easy solution that has been strengthened this year by being codified in the rules for long-term care Medicaid. You know, ladybird deed on the home. Such such a sweet tool just for that purpose of protecting the primary residents, staying in control of it, even doing it during the look back period, it's okay. Yeah, North Carolina allows that. So that's that's what we mean. That's there's gotta be a better term that we can come up with than new year new plan. I'm thinking of Mr. Spock, like some Star Trek stuff, but that's just me because I'm a little bit of a nerd. Estate plan and prosper.

Haley Matson 7:55

Estate plan and prosper is pretty good.

Greg McIntyre 7:58

Estate plan and prosper. No, estate plan and prosper.

Haley Matson 8:02

Yeah, I like it.

Greg McIntyre 8:03

I like that. Something like that. Less estate plan and prosper in 2026. I agree, less less stress, more love in 2026, less stress, more peace of mind in 2026.

Haley Matson 8:17

Okay, yeah, so you guys are kids or grandkids, you can estate plan max.

Greg McIntyre 8:23

Estate plan max, not looks max.

Haley Matson 8:26

Oh, estate plan max.

Plan Max: Less Stress In 2026

Greg McIntyre 8:27

You can wealth max. Oh, true, wealth max, stress men, wealth max, stress men, plan max. Right? So that's what you can do in 2026. I like all those terms, love them, and I appreciate you, attorney Matson. Thank you for doing this short New Year's video with us. Hey, we were here on the day after New Year's Day this Friday. My my firm thinks some of them that I'm nuts that we had to come in today just on a Friday because we were off yesterday and now it's going into the weekend. But you know what? I've really cleaned my office today, cleaned out the loose ends that were hanging out there on my calendar because I want to go into 2026 with a clean slate and peace of mind and a plan and do better this year than we did last year. I mean, that's literally my goal, and that's why we're here today. So thanks for being here and thanks for doing the video. Any any any parting words, Matson?

Haley Matson 9:35

No, but you reminded me I need to clean off my desk too.

Greg McIntyre 9:39

Caden here today helped me. It was like the biggest help just to have somebody helping out, you know? All right, thanks. All right, bye.

Haley Matson 9:48

Bye.