Pooh and Piglet can teach us all a lesson about making sure we don’t let the tools we use dictate the things we really want to do. (With special thanks to all the fans of Winnie the Pooh!)
Pooh Bear was talking with his friend Piglet in the hundred acre wood.
“Piglet, I am so excited. I just back from meeting with the people in the big offices. You should see the wonderful estate plan they prepared for me! There are so many pieces of paper!”
“But Pooh, why do you need such a fancy plan?”
“Piglet, successful bears with lots of copyrights need much planning. I now have a QPRT to own my home in the woods and a family lim-i-ted part-ner-ship to own my interest in the honey tree. And there are a whole lot of other pieces of paper they have given me!”
Piglet didn’t say anything for a few seconds – like he was trying to think of what to say. “Why Pooh, that sounds wonderfully complicated. But are you sure that a bear in the woods really needs such complicated things?”
“Piglet, the people in the big offices told me about other people. Bad people. People who want me to pay them a lot of money just to give things to the people I care about – people like you and Christopher Robin.”
“Oh Pooh. That’s terrible!”
“Yes it is Piglet. But with these pieces of paper, they say the people at the taxing place won’t bother me anymore.”
“Pooh, that’s wonderful!”
Pooh became distracted as he began to think about the honey tree.
“Pooh?”
“Yes?” responded the fluffy little bear thoughtfully.
“Pooh, you were saying the people at the taxing place won’t bother you anymore.”
“Yes. That’s what I’m told. The people in the big offices said they were the bad guys,” Pooh said.
“Who are the good guys?”
“Why Piglet, the good guys are my friends – people like you and Tigger and Kanga and Roo and all my other fiends in the hundred acre woods!” And then be let out a long sigh and then an “Oh bother!”
“Oh bother what?” asked Pooh’s little friend.
“Oh bother to keep the taxing people away from my honey tree I had to agree that the honey wouldn’t be just mine anymore. I had to give some of it to people called ‘lim-i-ted part-ners.’ That’s a very big word for such a little brain as mine.”
Piglet looked sad. “Pooh, what’s a lim-i-ted part-ner?”
“Oh, Piglet. Don’t worry. The people in the big offices told me that all the successful bears have one. It’s okay, I can still go to the honey tree anytime I want. And they even let me name the good guys as my lim-i-ted part-ners! You and Kanga and Tigger are my lim-i-ted part-ners!”
And with that, Piglet’s face brightened perceptibly. “Then it’s okay! Isn’t it?”
“Yes, certainly! Well, I think certainly.”
“Pooh?”
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Pooh, what do I get to do as a lim-i-ted part-ner?”
“I’m not exactly sure, Piglet. But it must be good! We’re partners now!”
“Oh, that sounds very wonderful, doesn’t it Pooh?”
“Yes it does.”
“Pooh?”
“What’s a part-ner?”
“It’s a very big word, Piglet. I think it means you and I have to agree before I do anything really important with the honey tree.”
Piglet was now the one who looked thoughtful. “Pooh?”
“Yes, Piglet.”
“Does that mean you gave up some control over the honey tree?”
“Why, I think it does, doesn’t it?”
“Pooh, can you tell me again why you did that?”
“Piglet, these are very complicated thoughts, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they certainly seem to be.”
“Well, Piglet, the people in the big offices told me I had to give up a little to keep the honey from falling into the hands of the people at the taxing place.”
“Oh.”
“But they said it was only a very little bit I was giving up.” All this talk about the honey tree was making Pooh very, very hungry. “In fact, I think it’s time to go get some honey right now. It has to be just about time for lunch, doesn’t it Piglet?”
“Yes, I suppose it does. But Pooh?”
“Yes, Piglet?” Pooh said, his mind now far away, thinking intently on how good the honey would taste.
“Pooh, are you sure those pieces of paper are really good?”
“Hmmm. What’s that Piglet?”
“Pooh, I was asking if those pieces of paper are really the best thing for you. Don’t they mean you have to give up control now so that later you can give things to the people you care about?”
“Yes. I think that’s exactly what the people in the big offices said I have to do. You’re very smart, Piglet! It took me a lot longer to understand.”
Piglet wasn’t sure he wanted to say what he was thinking. After all, the people in the great big offices had to be very smart.
“Pooh?”
“Yes?”
“Pooh, does that mean you let the bad guys determine how you’re going to treat the good guys?”
Life insurance can help provide the cash your customer’s family needs to satisfy the “people at the taxing place.” Sometimes those ‘wonderfully complicated’ tools that are a traditional part of estate and tax planning take care of your needs perfectly – as long as you understand they all require that we give up some degree of control now in order to keep them out of our estate later. Life insurance, on the other hand, can help provide cash to pay the tax to satisfy the ‘bad guys’ so we don’t have to give up any control now.
Ultimately the question may be as simple as this – is it worth it to pay the cost of the life insurance so you can keep 100% control?
Disclaimer: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Chrisopher Robin, Kanga and Roo are fictional characters based on the original works of A. A. Milne and Ernest H. Shepard. The characters and their names are registered trademarks.
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