First, what is an estate?
Your estate is simply everything you own -- your home, other real estate, bank accounts, investments, retirement benefits from your employer, IRAs, your insurance policies, collectibles, and personal belongings.
When you start adding it up -- especially when you add in the death benefits from your insurance policies -- you may find, like most people do, that you actually own a lot more than you think.
Now, why do people do estate planning?
