Title: Are You Ready Yet? Protecting and Preparing Your Family for Estate Issues Before and After Death
Author: Michael C Wittenberg
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-7960-4708-0
Genre: Self-Help
Pages: 189
Reviewed by: Allison Walker

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As a Certified Financial Planner, author Michael C Wittenberg has seen firsthand how lack of preparedness can wreak havoc on a family after the loss of a relative, sometimes in unexpected ways. His book, Are You Ready Yet? Protecting and Preparing Your Family for Estate Issues Before and After Death, aims to help you become better prepared to protect your family and belongings after your death. Preparing for your death well in advance can save your already distraught family from worry, confusion and conflict.

Are You Ready Yet? covers securing your family and estate from start to finish, without skipping the sometimes-messy details. Wittenberg prepares you for your initial meeting with a financial planner, all the way to discussing the need for estate planning with aging family members. When it comes to having difficult conversations, Wittenberg assures his readers, it’s all about empathy and expression. Although some discussions can be painful to both parties, they may be necessary, like the situation one woman found herself in after her husband was suddenly and unexpectedly hospitalized. Though she
previously urged him to seek professional assistance regarding his estate and power of attorney, he resisted, and by the time he was incapacitated in the hospital, his error was irreparable. Unable to access funds her husband had secured away; the distraught wife was forced to petition court for access to money which would pay for his care and her survival.

Wittenberg also has tips for gaining the respect of your financial planner, with which you can be reasonably certain their work for you will be above average. Besides being likable, professional, and prepared, Wittenberg suggests ways to ask questions without seeming imprudent. For example, the question “Why?” can turn a listener into a defender, Wittenberg explains. Instead of asking your agent why you should take their advice, try “So that I am sure I understand your advice, please review the reasons for your recommendation.” ‘“What is the reason,” is the same as asking why, without any bite to it, he advises.

In retrospect, Are You Ready Yet? is a simple and straightforward book, but mired deep into its chapters can feel anything but. There seems to be an overload of minute steps, unfamiliar legalese and morbidity to prepare for. There are times when reading this book, you will feel less prepared for death, not more so, and certain that the only way to lay in serenity for eternity is to secure a financial adviser and planner immediately. There are a lot of ways this book could be made more user manual-friendly. For example, most of the book is written in block paragraphs. If a reader were writing questions for their retained question list, in preparation for an initial meeting with their adviser, it would be inconvenient to find what they needed by referencing Wittenberg’s book. While the index helps, it’s still challenging to find the information you need among case stories, how-to tips, and reassurances all mixed together.

“I see your effort to become prepared for death as being a generous, prudent, caring gift to those you love,” Wittenberg writes. When it comes to preparing this gift, Wittenberg is an expert. By the time you finish his book, you will feel prepared to tackle this impending and important job. Are You Ready Yet? is a detail-oriented startup guide embracing the inevitability of difficult decisions, and making them feel much less daunting.