Make-a-Will Month is a timely reminder: a strong financial plan is not complete until the people you love can carry it forward.
For professionals in the oil and gas industry, wealth is often built through years of disciplined saving and valuable employer benefits. Your financial life may include a 401(k), pension benefits, company stock, RSUs or stock options, deferred compensation, life insurance, health savings accounts, real estate, and taxable investment accounts.
At Saxon Financial Group, we view estate planning as an important part of organizing your financial life. It is not only about what happens after death; it is also about creating a framework for decisions if illness, an accident, or incapacity prevents you from managing your own affairs.
Here are five foundational planning areas to review during Make-a-Will Month.
1. Create or Update Your Will
A will is a legal document that communicates who should receive certain property, who should serve as executor, and—critically for parents—who you would want to serve as guardian for minor children.
Without a valid will, state law generally determines how probate assets are distributed. That default process may not reflect your family’s intentions, particularly for blended families, unmarried partners, children from prior relationships, or families with specific wishes around heirlooms, charitable gifts, or personal property.
A will is important, but it is not a complete estate plan and does not, by itself, avoid probate. It can serve as a key foundation and, when a trust is appropriate, may function as a “pour-over” will to direct remaining probate assets into the trust.
Oil & gas professional consideration: Your will should work alongside your employer benefits and personal financial accounts. Keep an organized record of retirement plans, company stock or equity awards, life insurance, deferred-compensation arrangements, and key contacts so your family and professional team can identify the full picture when it matters.
2. Put Financial and Healthcare Powers of Attorney in Place
Estate planning is also incapacity planning. A financial power of attorney allows a person you select to handle financial matters on your behalf if you cannot do so yourself. Depending on its terms, that authority may include paying bills, working with financial institutions, managing property, and handling certain business or tax matters.
A healthcare power of attorney appoints someone to make medical decisions if you are unable to communicate. An advance directive can also express preferences regarding medical treatment and end-of-life care.
These documents should be coordinated carefully. Naming the right person matters, but so does making sure that person understands where important records are located and knows how to contact your financial, legal, insurance, and tax professionals.
3. Determine Whether a Trust Fits Your Family
A revocable living trust can be useful for families seeking greater continuity, privacy, and control over how assets are managed and distributed. When properly drafted and funded, it may help assets held by the trust pass outside of probate and allow a successor trustee to step in if the grantor becomes incapacitated.
Trust planning can be worth discussing when a family has:
- Multiple properties or property in more than one state
- Minor children or beneficiaries who may not be ready to manage an inheritance outright
- Blended-family dynamics
- Significant retirement assets, company stock, deferred compensation, or other concentrated holdings
- Privacy concerns or a desire to structure distributions over time
- A need for greater continuity if a family member becomes incapacitated
A trust document alone does not accomplish its intended purpose. Assets generally need to be retitled, assigned, or otherwise coordinated with the trust plan. From a financial-planning perspective, that includes confirming how investment accounts, cash accounts, real estate, insurance, and employer benefits fit into the overall strategy. Additionally, trust funding is critical: an unfunded trust may not provide the intended planning benefits.
4. Review Beneficiary Designations and Account Titling
Beneficiary forms can override a will or trust for many assets. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer-on-death investment accounts, and certain employer benefits may pass directly to the named beneficiary.
For oil and gas professionals, this makes beneficiary reviews especially important. A designation made before a marriage, divorce, death in the family, birth of a child, employer change, or trust update may no longer reflect current goals.
Review these items at least annually and after major life changes:
- 401(k), pension, IRA, and other retirement-plan beneficiaries
- Company stock-plan, RSU, stock-option, and deferred-compensation elections
- Life insurance and annuity beneficiaries
- Health savings account beneficiaries
- Primary and contingent beneficiaries
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations
- Account titles, including joint ownership arrangements
- Whether a trust should be named as beneficiary, or whether doing so could create unintended tax or distribution consequences
Beneficiary designations should be coordinated with the broader plan, particularly for retirement accounts and equity compensation. A will may not control assets that already have a valid beneficiary designation.
5. Build a Digital Account and Legacy Plan
Today, much of a family’s financial life is online. Digital planning means creating an organized, secure inventory of accounts and information your loved ones may need—from email, cloud storage, password managers, and social-media accounts to online banking, investment platforms, subscriptions, and digital photo libraries.
For oil and gas professionals, this can also include employer-benefits portals, retirement-plan accounts, equity-compensation platforms, HSA and insurance portals, company stock-plan records, and secure copies of important employment and compensation documents.
Your plan should identify:
- Important digital accounts and what each is used for
- Where passwords and recovery information are securely stored
- Whether you want accounts preserved, transferred, memorialized, or closed
- The person authorized to work with your digital assets
- Current estate documents and contact information for your attorney, CPA, advisor, insurance professional, and key family members
Avoid putting passwords directly in a will. Instead, use a secure password manager or protected digital vault, and coordinate legal authority with an estate-planning attorney.
A Financial View of Estate Planning
Estate planning is not simply a legal-document project. It is a financial coordination process.
For an oil and gas professional or family, a thoughtful review can help uncover questions such as:
- Are retirement-account beneficiaries consistent with the overall legacy plan?
- Are company stock, RSUs, stock options, or deferred-compensation benefits documented and understood by the appropriate people?
- Could a family face avoidable delays or unintended tax consequences when handling retirement accounts, company stock, life insurance proceeds, real estate, or other investments?
- Does a trust own—or have a plan to receive—the assets it is intended to manage?
- Do estate documents reflect your current family, benefits package, assets, goals, and state of residence?
The appropriate strategy depends on your circumstances. Wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, insurance, charitable planning, and tax-aware retirement-account planning can each play a role—but none should be selected in isolation.
Take the Next Step with Saxon Financial Group
This August, give your estate plan the same thoughtful attention you give your investments, retirement income, and tax strategy. If you do not have estate-planning documents, have not reviewed them in several years, or have experienced a major life change, now may be the right time for an update.
Saxon Financial Group’s estate-planning process, powered by Vanilla, helps clients organize their financial picture, identify planning gaps, and visualize how assets may transfer. Where appropriate, clients can use guided tools to create foundational, state-specific documents, including wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives. For personalized legal advice or complex planning needs, Vanilla can connect clients with attorneys through its Attorney Network.
Give yourself and your family greater clarity and confidence for the future—reach out to the Mud & Money Crew at Saxon Financial Group to discuss and schedule your Estate Planning Check-Up.
Important Disclaimers:
Saxon Interests, Inc. (“Saxon Financial Group”) is a Registered Investment Adviser.
This article is provided for general educational purposes only and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Saxon Financial Group does not provide legal advice or prepare legal documents. Estate planning laws and outcomes vary by state and individual circumstances. Please consult a qualified estate planning attorney and tax professional regarding your specific situation.
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