Estate planning is important to ensure all your wishes and plans for the distribution of your assets are carried out in the event of your death. But it is also important for other reasons. What if you should become mentally incapacitated due to accident, stroke or dementia in the future? Imagine what a burden this would place on family members as they struggle to make decisions for you without your input.

Proper estate planning will include what to do in this possibility. You can have your wishes carried out even though you may be unable to tell your family what you want. Estate planning is the one sure way of making sure your goals for the distribution of all your assets are achieved in the way you wish.

Estate planning comprises a will - if you die intestate (without a will) then the laws of the land will govern what happens to all your assets. This means that if you wanted any part of your assets to go to another source apart from your family, it probably won’t happen. It also means that it will take a long time and probably cost a lot of money for lawyer’s fees, to get your estate settled. A trust may also be used as part of estate planning.

Young people rarely think about retirement; to them it is a time of life in the far distant future - and they are not even sure they’ll live long enough to retire. However, the years do pass quickly and it will seem no time at all before retirement looms ever closer. And it’s a bit late to start retirement planning then.

While you don’t have to constantly think about retirement planning while you are young, you do need to plan for it. Find out how much you will need per year to live on after you retire and multiply it by 25, which is the average length of retirement. Allow for things you might want to do, such as travel. Then find out how much money you will need to have saved up to give you a comfortable retirement.

If you have been actively working for many years, you might find retirement just plain boring; so planning is also needed to make that transition - not just in the financial area. It’s not that easy to suddenly lose contact with all your work colleagues and the stimulus of the working environment, especially if you were happy in your job. You might want to ease into it gradually by working part time. Or you could have many activities planned to keep you busy.

Many people believe it is impossible to build wealth unless you have a well-paid job and no debt, but that is not so. Almost anyone can start building wealth with a little discipline and lots of motivation. There is nearly always some way of saving an extra few dollars, even if it means we go without something we really want. Before purchasing the next item you want, ask yourself if you really need it. Is it necessary for life? If it’s not, maybe you could save the money instead - or use it to pay off that credit card debt.

While no one wants to go back to the days when life was a great deal simpler - no TV, cell phones computers, iPods or MP3 players - it is still possible to have an enjoyable life without most of these things. And the kids would certainly learn to read a lot better. Remember that you usually have to choose between having extra possessions and creating wealth for yourself.

So before you buy that latest gadget or upgrade something that still works perfectly well, think about building wealth instead. Placing that money in a high-interest savings account until you have enough money to invest will certainly begin your wealth creation path. And one day, you’ll be glad you did it.

For those people who are disappointed at the returns their investments are making, there are structured investments to consider. Structured investments are products that are assembled by a team of experts for those who specialize in High Net Wealth and SMSF investments. It is an individual approach to investment creating specialized services for each individual investor. Formerly offered only to top-notch financial planners, the service is now being offered to individual investors.

The components for each product are sourced from the top wholesale financial firms worldwide. The products designed are transparent with the fee structure being reasonable, thus they can easily fit into the client’s day-to-day business.

When you realise that an analysis of traditional managed funds returns has seen the median Australian equity fund under perform its benchmark for 11 out of 15 years, you will see the benefit of structured investments. Structured investments provide total return no matter what returns other managed funds are bringing in. This is because they use structuring techniques and derivatives that provide yield enhancement and capital protection.

Since the whole idea of investing is to gain money, it makes sense to use those types of investments that will give you the best return.