The San Diego Source has a report helping readers digest the “2011 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth" conducted on behalf of U.S. Trust.

Some good news came out of the report, including the fact that many of the respondents recognize that their legacy is more than their money.  But the report also contains some disturbing statistics, including:

" 91 percent of those surveyed have a will and 88 percent "an estate plan", 40 percent reported that they don’t have a comprehensive estate plan; moreover, of those who have an estate plan, nearly 50 percent don’t understand all parts of their estate plan."

Now, I don't know what the Source or the report considered the difference between an estate plan and a comprehensive estate plan, but the following statistic might explain why many of the estate plans are considered incomplete.

"Only one in five has directives to physicians, and 31 percent have not named a durable financial power of attorney."

Oh boy.  Sounds like many of the respondents planned better for their death than for their disability, yet the latter is more likely to occur in any given year.

The statistic I think makes most advisors cringe is that "only 3 percent of business owners in this group have a business succession plan in place."

That means 97 percent of the business owners have not planned for an orderly transition out of their business, whether as a result of retirement, illness or death.  I know I'm preaching to the choir in writing this blog, but that means a lot of heartbreak, lost value (and lost values) and a lot of money for the lawyers later.