Episode 64

full
Published on:

2nd Apr 2025

Love & Order, with David Edey

Certified Executor Advisor and author David Edey addresses the personal experience that led him to helping others, the 3 types of families, managing your digital estate assets, the worst job you can ask of someone you love, and why legacy isn't what you leave people, but how you leave them.

Transcript
Gary Michels:

Welcome to Let's Talk Legacy, and we're excited

Gary Michels:

today to have our guest David Edey. David Edey is a certified

Gary Michels:

executor advisor and author based in Montreal, Canada,

Gary Michels:

specializing in estate and legacy planning with over 35

Gary Michels:

years of experience. So welcome to the show.

David Edey:

Thanks for having me. Really appreciate having

David Edey:

this conversation, looking forward to it.

Gary Michels:

Absolutely. So let's dig right in here. Now

Gary Michels:

your main goal is to make estate and legacy planning simple, but

Gary Michels:

you say that you've learned firsthand the kind of mess that

Gary Michels:

can happen with these pieces not being in place. So share that

Gary Michels:

first hand experience with us, if you don't mind, and share

Gary Michels:

what happened for you to make a statement like that.

David Edey:

Well, it all started for me when I was sitting on a

David Edey:

cold courtroom bench. My heart was starting to sink because I

David Edey:

was sitting listening to two lawyers and a judge determined

David Edey:

the fate of my parents assets, assets that we didn't end up

David Edey:

holding on to, and and that was because I lost both my parents

David Edey:

to cancer within a year of each other, and I didn't know that

David Edey:

losing them was going to be so difficult. It wasn't so much of

David Edey:

the loss of both of them, but it was the staggering toll to

David Edey:

settle their estate. It took seven years, 10 court

David Edey:

appearances and $50,000 of lawyers fees to settle their

David Edey:

estate, and they had a will, and during that tough time, it ended

David Edey:

up me having a life and health crisis, where it culminated in

David Edey:

me having triple bypass surgery. And it was during the turmoil

David Edey:

the court cases and everything, that I came to the realization

David Edey:

that in our family, we were so utterly unprepared, not only

David Edey:

unprepared for losing my parents and the grief that goes with it,

David Edey:

but it was also the inevitability of death and

David Edey:

having that conversation. So during COVID, I wrote the book,

David Edey:

executor help how to settle an estate, pick an exec and avoid

David Edey:

family fights, because I didn't want people to have to go

David Edey:

through what I went through.

Gary Michels:

Wow. When that happened and you were on that

Gary Michels:

bench and you decided, I'm going to make a difference here.

Gary Michels:

What's your ultimate goal with that, is it to take an industry

Gary Michels:

or something that's not there, that people don't know anything

Gary Michels:

about? Is there a little bit of knowledge?

David Edey:

It's to get people to have the conversations. And

David Edey:

that's what I'm about because, you know, it's probably the a

David Edey:

dirty little secret in a lot of families. A lot of families will

David Edey:

either avoid, they'll procrastinate, or they'll be

David Edey:

apathetic and say, Well, I'm going to be dead. What

David Edey:

difference will it make? Well, it will make a difference,

David Edey:

because now what you're leaving behind is disorganization and

David Edey:

chaos in your family. And if that's what you you hope to

David Edey:

leave behind, and that's how you want to be, that's a legacy that

David Edey:

you want to leave behind is for things that you didn't do, then

David Edey:

you're setting yourself, your family, up for failure, and not

David Edey:

only for the the next generation, but for generations

David Edey:

after that. Through my research and talking to people, is that I

David Edey:

see that there's three types of families. There's a family

David Edey:

that's going to avoid talking about it, because if they they

David Edey:

talk about they feel that death or something bad is going to

David Edey:

happen, or there's a family that they're going to do something,

David Edey:

but they're going to have a will, but they're not going

David Edey:

anybody know about it. They're going to let the paperwork do

David Edey:

all the talking. So there's going to be surprises, surprises

David Edey:

in terms of, you know, how the estate is going to be. So

David Edey:

surprises that who's going to be the executor? All of a sudden

David Edey:

they find out that, you know, I have a friend that she was asked

David Edey:

to be an executor by her uncle, and didn't know that she was

David Edey:

going to be the executor. She got a phone call from a lawyer

David Edey:

one day and say, Well, you're a you're the executor, and she

David Edey:

knew the family history between her cousins, and she said, No, I

David Edey:

don't want to be part of this, part of this mess, so that's

David Edey:

where you laying the paperwork, doing the talking, and don't

David Edey:

have those conversations, and then there's a family that's

David Edey:

going to be prepared, but you're preparing the next generation.

David Edey:

You're having open conversations. You realize what

David Edey:

could happen if we don't have open conversations.

Gary Michels:

I love it. Planning to you comes down to

Gary Michels:

two big ideas, and I love this thought here, love and order.

Gary Michels:

Why each of those?

David Edey:

Because everything that we're going to do is the

David Edey:

biggest, is this, the greatest gift of love that you can give

David Edey:

your family, that you're going to take the time to, you know,

David Edey:

majority of Americans and Canadians is, you know, it's

David Edey:

about 150 million Americans and 15 million Canadians don't have

David Edey:

a will or an estate plan. If you could just take that first step

David Edey:

to first get a will and then prepare your executor so that

David Edey:

you don't, you know, leave any messes or chaos, and then have

David Edey:

the conversations with your family. You're leaving love and

David Edey:

order. You're not leaving them to be, you know, lost,

David Edey:

disorganized, because when you're gone, there's going to be

David Edey:

an immense amount of grief, and they're not going to know where

David Edey:

to go, where to start. And if you can just give them a little

David Edey:

bit of a road map and prepare them for if something was to

David Edey:

happen, to be prepared, it's going to make their lives a lot

David Edey:

more easier, because they're going to be grieving the loss of

David Edey:

the individual view. So that's why I'm trying to make sure

David Edey:

that. People leave a legacy of love and order.

Gary Michels:

What to you, David, is the difference between

Gary Michels:

legacy and estate planning? Is there a difference between the

Gary Michels:

two?

David Edey:

Estate Planning is more the technical thing, the

David Edey:

I'd say the tax planning, the investments, making sure things

David Edey:

are in order, making sure you're having the will a legacy where

David Edey:

we're doing legacy planning, everything that I went through,

David Edey:

and when I talk about my journey of loss, the one thing that's

David Edey:

taught me about will be profound about a legacy is that we we're

David Edey:

not going to remember for the money or the possessions that we

David Edey:

leave, but rather, what we can do is instill in the people that

David Edey:

we love so much, is to have conversations that we dread, and

David Edey:

have those conversations now. So I also like to say a legacy

David Edey:

isn't what you leave people, but how you leave them. So again,

David Edey:

you know, one of the things I like to do is I started is write

David Edey:

a legacy letter. Wrote it to my son last Christmas, and now I

David Edey:

just have a new granddaughter. I want to write letters, letters

David Edey:

to her. So there's going to be something. It's not, yes,

David Edey:

there's the material things in the possessions, but that's not

David Edey:

what we're going to remember. We're going to remember for the

David Edey:

values, our thoughts and things that who we are, so that they

David Edey:

can, we can instill something in them going forward, and that

David Edey:

will always be in their memories, not just, you know, a

David Edey:

collection of stuff or money, because that's going to fade

David Edey:

away. How you leave the legacy of being remembered and the

David Edey:

values that you you want to pass on to the next generation,

David Edey:

that's what's important.

Gary Michels:

So there's a few key areas where you often find

Gary Michels:

trouble and need to step in. So we'd like to address a few of

Gary Michels:

those now, starting with preventing conflicts. Can you

Gary Michels:

share a little bit about the importance of communication and

Gary Michels:

some strategies and how to deal with inheritance and how to do

Gary Michels:

the whole thing without conflict? Is that, is that even

Gary Michels:

possible?

David Edey:

No, because I like to say now, if you know, you

David Edey:

know more than 35 years in the industry, and we've seen

David Edey:

stories, and I've come to the conclusion is that all families

David Edey:

are messy. You know, we might think that, Oh, we're a great

David Edey:

family, you know, we tell jokes, and we've got our favorite meals

David Edey:

and that sort of stuff, and we laugh and joke and stuff like

David Edey:

that. All of that doesn't really matter. All it takes is a death

David Edey:

in the family to change the projectory of how the family,

David Edey:

you know, if it's a matriarch or a patriarch, you know, mom and

David Edey:

dad are gone. They were always probably the guiding light, the

David Edey:

beacon that held the family together. They're gone. And the

David Edey:

turmoil, the the jealousy, all of that sort of stuff, starts to

David Edey:

come out. Because you really don't know about somebody until

David Edey:

you have to share an inheritance with them. Believe me, I know

David Edey:

those deep rooted family problems are always there, but

David Edey:

they seem to bubble to the top, because when it becomes an

David Edey:

estate, or there's money involved, so the only way that

David Edey:

you can do that is to have open conversations. So you know what?

David Edey:

I've decided that I've put even together my estate. I'm done

David Edey:

some things with my will. I'm, you know, if you whoever your

David Edey:

executors, I have a separate conversation with them and prep

David Edey:

them, but I would also let the family know this is what my

David Edey:

wishes are. You may not like them, but this is what I want

David Edey:

going forward, because I don't want any family feuds. Even

David Edey:

though you do have those conversations, there's always

David Edey:

going to be one covert narcissist in the family that's

David Edey:

always going to be, you know, who's always been trouble.

David Edey:

There's always one sibling or a cousin who's going to speak up

David Edey:

and make things difficult. And if you identify who those people

David Edey:

are, and you've already had those open conversations, when

David Edey:

something does happen, they can't come back and say, well,

David Edey:

we should be doing this. We should be doing there's no

David Edey:

ambiguity of what should be going on. So it's all about

David Edey:

open, honest conversations. At least it's all out and open.

David Edey:

It's not going to be secrecy, secrecy and surprises.

Gary Michels:

Do you have any suggestions on how a person

Gary Michels:

brings it up?

David Edey:

Well the first thing is that you want to have, like,

David Edey:

again, like I say at the holiday time, that's a lot of times when

David Edey:

people get together. I like to sit down, sit with everybody. I

David Edey:

just a couple of things I like to bring up. Now a lot of

David Edey:

people, they might, you know, if you say I'm going to talk about

David Edey:

my estate plan or will or some of that, they're like, Oh, are

David Edey:

you sick? Are you? Is something? Are you dying? No, you just want

David Edey:

to put them to rest. You want to put their mind at ease. Say, No,

David Edey:

I'm not. But again, there's still probably going to be some

David Edey:

people, maybe some of the children. So I don't want to

David Edey:

hear this. I don't want to hear I don't know why you're bringing

David Edey:

this up. It doesn't matter. You have to sit them down, let them

David Edey:

understand. This is what's important. Spoiler alert, we're

David Edey:

all going to die. So why not prepare for the inevitable at

David Edey:

some point and prepare the family for, you know, what's

David Edey:

going to happen in life? So I would again, start the

David Edey:

situations. You know, I recently met with a financial advisor or

David Edey:

a state lawyer, and I'm putting my things together because I

David Edey:

want things to be organized while I still have my faculties

David Edey:

about me. And you know, you might explain decisions why

David Edey:

you're doing them again. People may not like it, but it doesn't

David Edey:

matter. It's your state. There's no law that you have to leave

David Edey:

somebody a certain percentage or they're entitled to any. Because

David Edey:

that's the problem where beneficiaries start to have that

David Edey:

feeling of entitlement, that they're entitled to something

David Edey:

equal doesn't always mean fair in some people's eyes. So you

David Edey:

want to try and quash those, those feelings, those thoughts,

David Edey:

because people are going to conjure up in their mind what's

David Edey:

in what they're entitled to if you're no longer here. So be

David Edey:

open and have those open conversations and let people

David Edey:

know where you stand.

Gary Michels:

Do you recommend those conversations are made

Gary Michels:

without lawyers there or lawyers?

David Edey:

If you want to bring that third party in and say, you

David Edey:

know, let's have a family meeting. That's done a lot, a

David Edey:

lot of high net worth individuals do have consistent

David Edey:

family meetings. You know? Maybe they do it on vacations, they

David Edey:

have a retreat or something, and they're teaching the generation

David Edey:

what's coming next. It's just passed on from generation to

David Edey:

generation. So, you know, you you might have a family meeting,

David Edey:

you might have a lawyer or a financial advisor explain the

David Edey:

estate plan. But again, you need to be present for it, so that

David Edey:

you can have those, you know, answer any questions and be open

David Edey:

to listen to people's viewpoints, but at the end of

David Edey:

the day, you have to have a plan in terms of what you want to

David Edey:

accomplish in that family meeting.

Gary Michels:

So today people digital legacies are now much

Gary Michels:

more of a thing. Can we discuss strategies of handling digital

Gary Michels:

assets and ensuring their managed according to people's

Gary Michels:

wishes?

David Edey:

Yeah. Well, that's an important part of estate

David Edey:

planning. And legacy planning is digital estate your digital

David Edey:

estate assets. A lot of people don't really think about it, but

David Edey:

you know, for every one email address, there's at least 160

David Edey:

email addresses related to that email address. So you've got

David Edey:

YouTube, your social media, your Netflix, Amazon, all of those

David Edey:

things. And people don't take any consideration that that's

David Edey:

important, that there's a some sort of record of where it's

David Edey:

going to be all kept, you know, to apprise your your your

David Edey:

executor or some family member, because each social media

David Edey:

company has its own protocol to shut things down. So like for

David Edey:

Facebook, there's memorializing or you might shut down the

David Edey:

account altogether. So each area you need to be concerned about.

David Edey:

So digital estate, your digital assets, are very important. And

David Edey:

when I say digital assets, it's anything you've ever created or

David Edey:

done online that's out there. And we spend so much time on the

David Edey:

internet and online that we need to be cognizant of it, because

David Edey:

if we're not, it also lends itself to for frauds and scams

David Edey:

going forward.

Gary Michels:

Let's talk about the executor a little bit, the

Gary Michels:

person who makes sure your wishes are fulfilled. What are

Gary Michels:

some tips and insights on how to choose and prepare the right

Gary Michels:

executor, or maybe some common misconceptions around what

Gary Michels:

exactly an executor can and can do. And how do you deal with all

Gary Michels:

that?

David Edey:

Well, first off, let me say it's the worst job that

David Edey:

you could ask somebody to do for you, because nobody wants to be

David Edey:

an executor. But on the other hand, you have to take in

David Edey:

consideration, if you're the testator, someone's you know,

David Edey:

the person who's writing the will, is that you realize that

David Edey:

this is also a big favor, a big ask you're asking of somebody.

David Edey:

Now, when people are asked to be executors, 99% of the time, they

David Edey:

have no idea what's involved with the job, and they're taking

David Edey:

the job because they feel it's a sense of duty. They're honored

David Edey:

by it, but they don't realize that they're looking at anywhere

David Edey:

from 100 hours or 18 to 24 months to settle out of state.

David Edey:

And a lot of the times, they're going to have to do that during

David Edey:

working hours. And not only do they have to, you know, deal

David Edey:

with the tax department and lawyers, they also have to deal

David Edey:

with ungrateful beneficiaries. So and you've got that family

David Edey:

drama in there because of the work that's involved. For an

David Edey:

executor, the beneficiary is not interested in that. They're only

David Edey:

interested in their check. When am I going to get paid? And you

David Edey:

know you've got as an executor, you have to make sure that go

David Edey:

through probate the taxes are going to be paid because you as

David Edey:

the executor, you're being legally held liable for the

David Edey:

estate, because you're the you're seen as the

David Edey:

administrator, but the beneficiary doesn't see that. So

David Edey:

one of the tips and strategies, I would say, is, first, if

David Edey:

you're going to take on the job as an executor, you have to ask

David Edey:

the testator, how are you going to prepare me for this job? You

David Edey:

know, who is the lawyer, who is your financial advisor, who's

David Edey:

your accountant? Have you got that in place? So if something

David Edey:

was to happen, I know where to contact them, where's the will

David Edey:

going to be kept? Where are your digital assets going to be kept?

David Edey:

And then also the beneficiaries. As the executor, I would say,

David Edey:

keep them informed, so that you send them off, maybe an email,

David Edey:

or have a zoom call every two weeks or so and say, hey, just

David Edey:

to keep you abreast of what's going on. You know what's going

David Edey:

on in the estate? Because once you are there's radio silence

David Edey:

from the executor. Beneficiaries start to think that you're up to

David Edey:

something, you're stealing, you're doing something. And it

David Edey:

doesn't take much running for a beneficiary to want to haul you

David Edey:

into court, which means takes you away from your not only your

David Edey:

work, but also takes time. Away from settling, helping to settle

David Edey:

the estate, which also that money is going to have to come

David Edey:

from somewhere. Where's that going to come from the estate?

David Edey:

What about the person who has no idea who you know works in, in a

David Edey:

different industry altogether, who knows not, who's not good

David Edey:

with finances, or, you know, legal or who to talk to, you

David Edey:

know? And that's a majority of us, most people, they don't take

David Edey:

the time to think about, okay, what? How can I prepare my

David Edey:

executor? How can I make it easier on them? You know, have a

David Edey:

list of, you know, the executor, the insurance agent. There's so

David Edey:

many people that are going to come involved. You got to deal

David Edey:

with a real estate agent. In my book, I say there's probably

David Edey:

your baseline of a team that you need is the lawyer, the

David Edey:

accountant and the financial advisor, but there's probably

David Edey:

going to be maybe even 16 more professionals that you're gonna

David Edey:

have to deal with. You're gonna have to deal with someone. Maybe

David Edey:

it's gonna have to, you know, do an estate sale. You're gonna

David Edey:

have to do, we deal with a real estate agent there. You know,

David Edey:

there's so many people that you're gonna have to deal with,

David Edey:

and they're all you're responsible for, orchestrating

David Edey:

all this. Now you're over here on the left hand side,

David Edey:

orchestrating everything, and you've got the benefit for She's

David Edey:

over here on the right hand side. All they're interested in

David Edey:

is, when am I getting my money? But you've got all this other

David Edey:

these other balls that you have to be juggling, like you're in

David Edey:

Cirque du Soleil. So you need to figure out, how am I going to

David Edey:

get what I've got to get done? But also, how do I keep them

David Edey:

abreast of what's going on so you can get through it with, you

David Edey:

know, some sort of semblance of peace of mind that you at least

David Edey:

can go to sleep at night.

Gary Michels:

So being that we're a national insurance

Gary Michels:

agency with hundreds of Agents around the country, we deal

Gary Michels:

every day with people making that decision on buying a term

Gary Michels:

policy or an index Universal Life or or a final expense

Gary Michels:

policy to cover some of these expenses, and you're right there

Gary Michels:

in the thick of it. Why is it important and critical that

Gary Michels:

people have these things in place? How does a person go

Gary Michels:

about looking for insurance and finding the right insurance for

Gary Michels:

them, in your opinion?

David Edey:

It would come down to the individual that you're

David Edey:

dealing with, and what kind of report do are they taking the

David Edey:

time to understand your needs, taking a look at your situation

David Edey:

from 40,000 feet up, and looking down, seeing the the problems 10

David Edey:

steps ahead of you that you don't even think about with the

David Edey:

right insurance in place, that's going to also that's Another

David Edey:

part of that gift of love that you are making sure that your

David Edey:

family is going to be taken care of. So, you know, you want to

David Edey:

talk to an agent that's going to take the time to truly

David Edey:

understand what your needs are, but also ask you questions that

David Edey:

you hadn't, don't even think about related to your personal

David Edey:

situation. I mean, you can, anybody can go buy insurance off

David Edey:

the street, and you know that's that's off the rack. But if you

David Edey:

have a true professional that's going to take the time to

David Edey:

understand your needs and what makes sense for your family, so

David Edey:

you don't leave them disorganized in chaos, then you

David Edey:

need to have a made to measure, plan, to make sure that the

David Edey:

dollars are being spent properly, that you again,

David Edey:

prepare your family for the future. So you leave a legacy,

David Edey:

and not a legacy and a mess.

Gary Michels:

Absolutely, I've seen too many people call me and

Gary Michels:

say they didn't want to put their children through the mess

Gary Michels:

that their sister put their kids through, or their husband put

Gary Michels:

them through. And it's interesting to me, because it

Gary Michels:

surprises me, and I'm not sure what the numbers are in Canada,

Gary Michels:

but in in America, over 100 million people don't have any

Gary Michels:

life insurance that are eligible for it, and another 100 million

Gary Michels:

don't have enough. It blows my mind, because that is part of

Gary Michels:

the leaving a legacy, part of the estate planning. It's part

Gary Michels:

of of everything. And if you do it right these days, so if you,

Gary Michels:

especially if you do it while you're still healthy. That I

Gary Michels:

wanted to talk about that a little bit. There's so many

Gary Michels:

programs out there, especially in the index universal life, in

Gary Michels:

the annuity space, that are no risk, only have an upside with

Gary Michels:

living benefits. I think people look at life insurance and they

Gary Michels:

don't pay as much attention to it as they should, but it is

Gary Michels:

such a big part of that whole planning.

David Edey:

Absolutely. But you see it comes back to, I mean,

David Edey:

the numbers, I don't know the numbers in Canada, but it'll be

David Edey:

the same thing what you said there in the US, that either

David Edey:

they don't have life insurance or they don't have enough it

David Edey:

comes back to they don't have a will, or they haven't properly

David Edey:

addressed the problem of estate planning and a will. And it

David Edey:

comes back down to what I had said before, people want to

David Edey:

avoid they're going to procrastinate. Oh, I've got

David Edey:

plenty of time, but you don't know what's going to happen in

David Edey:

life. So why wait? Why take for chance in terms of your life

David Edey:

insurance coverage and making sure that your estate plan and

David Edey:

your estate is in order, your affairs are in order? Or there's

David Edey:

the people that do have the conversations with you, and you

David Edey:

know your agents is that I need to make sure that if something

David Edey:

was to happen, I'm going to make sure that my family isn't left

David Edey:

disorganizing chaos. It's a choice. It's a choice that

David Edey:

people have to make. Again, spoiler alert, we're all going

David Edey:

to die. So how do you want to be remembered? You You want to just

David Edey:

leave a legacy, or you want to leave a mess?

Gary Michels:

Yeah, I'm loving hearing what you're saying,

Gary Michels:

David, that's all about accountability and

Gary Michels:

responsibility for your life.

David Edey:

That's the love and order that I'm talking about. I

David Edey:

should also mention one thing, for a lot of people, they see

David Edey:

the messes that people have, you know, in other families, and

David Edey:

there's damaging family fights because of it. And a lot of

David Edey:

people are also opting for having banks or trust companies

David Edey:

or as corporate trustees. So they bring in a third person to

David Edey:

be the executive, and they take the burden away from the family.

David Edey:

That's also becoming very popular. But you also, I would

David Edey:

add, if you do go that route, it's going to be a little bit

David Edey:

more costly. But you have to make the decisions in terms of,

David Edey:

don't think about the cost it. Think about what is, what is the

David Edey:

return on investment in terms of my family going forward? What's

David Edey:

the return on investment if I choose somebody to spend those

David Edey:

100 hours to be my executor? So either way, do something, you

David Edey:

have to make a decision what you're going to do.

Gary Michels:

Do you have any success stories that are on the

Gary Michels:

tip of your tongue? You you putting this plan in place? And

Gary Michels:

my god, I'm so the story touches my heart. Is there anything on

Gary Michels:

in your mind right now that you can think of?

David Edey:

A friend of mine when I was we're going through

David Edey:

their estate plan and getting things organized. She started to

David Edey:

tell me about when her her dad passed away. She was nine years

David Edey:

old. He passed away without a will, so her mother was already

David Edey:

gone. Her dad passed away without a will, and he was still

David Edey:

going through his dad, so which would be his her grandfather, he

David Edey:

had no will. So we had two generations of no wills, and the

David Edey:

father was still starting through his father's estate.

David Edey:

Then he passes away, but the point she remembers and why she

David Edey:

was doing what she was doing to get her estate plan in order for

David Edey:

her and her family, because she's a successful business

David Edey:

owner, she remembers in the funeral home parking lot her

David Edey:

brother. She remembers her aunt taking her and another and

David Edey:

taking her brother, because there was no estate plan in

David Edey:

place. There was no what's going to happen to the kids. And she

David Edey:

remembers, even though she's become successful, and it stayed

David Edey:

with her, she remembers, over the years, having to her her

David Edey:

aunt, having to petition the court to get you know, because

David Edey:

the court takes over in terms of the dispensing of money to the

David Edey:

to the kids, so her mom, her aunt, would always have to go to

David Edey:

court to get extras for her, for her school and everything like

David Edey:

that. And that stayed with her, and that's why she didn't want

David Edey:

to have that problem for her kids going forward. And so, you

David Edey:

know, put together an estate plan so that she's organized as

David Edey:

a business owner. She's also got a succession plan in place, and

David Edey:

she's organized, and that's, that's one of them that it

David Edey:

sticks out to me in terms of, she remembers distinctly being

David Edey:

separated from her brother at in the parking lot her funeral of

David Edey:

her father.

Gary Michels:

that's just, that's a great story. So what

Gary Michels:

does word legacy mean to you in general?

David Edey:

Again, I said it before. It's not about money or

David Edey:

possessions. It's about having the tough conversations, the

David Edey:

ones that we dread, with the people that we love, and having

David Edey:

those conversations now don't wait. Think about what kind of

David Edey:

legacy that you want to leave behind.

Gary Michels:

What legacy Do you want to leave through your work

Gary Michels:

and business you serve, as opposed to a legacy you just

Gary Michels:

want to leave as a human being?

David Edey:

As a work, it's just to get more people to have the

David Edey:

conversation. I was on the phone this morning with a client at 78

David Edey:

years old, and I keep talking to him, and he had a copy of my

David Edey:

book. I had this conversation about two hours ago, and I said,

David Edey:

I said, George. I said, where are we at with the will? He

David Edey:

says, I don't have one. I said, we had he goes. I know we

David Edey:

brought up you brought up the conversation. So we I set goals

David Edey:

for him. I says, I'm going to follow up with you and I'm going

David Edey:

to make the appointment for you with the notary so that you get

David Edey:

this stuff in place. I said, you have no will. You've got sizable

David Edey:

assets. And I said, What would happen to you? Forget the dying

David Edey:

part supposed to become incapacitated. You can't speak

David Edey:

for yourself. What's going to happen? Dead silence on the

David Edey:

phone. So it's my mission through, you know, having

David Edey:

conversations with you and people like you is that people

David Edey:

realize that they need to do something. Don't keep thinking,

David Edey:

Oh, I've got, I've got another five years, or I don't need to

David Edey:

think about that. You know, I don't need the life insurance. I

David Edey:

don't need all those things I need. You need to take

David Edey:

accountability and do things now I hear people saying, you know,

David Edey:

once we get go through the exercise and they've got things

David Edey:

in place, they feel a burden off of their shoulders. They feel better.

Gary Michels:

You do, you do. Now you've got a podcast of your

Gary Michels:

own as well. Tell us about where people can have a listen.

David Edey:

It's called Executor Help, and I just have

David Edey:

conversations like we're having here. It's all stories about

David Edey:

life, Death and legacy. I've had some amazing conversations, and

David Edey:

it's amazing since I launched the podcast the week the book

David Edey:

came out in 2021 I met some interesting people. They all

David Edey:

have the same sort of thought that we need to be organized. We

David Edey:

need to. Have conversations. You know, I've had widows talking

David Edey:

about the grief of losing their parents. I had hospice nurse

David Edey:

talk about what it's like, you know, when they're there with

David Edey:

with families and people at the end. And I also have people

David Edey:

talking about life, what makes living to 100 what's that,

David Edey:

what's that could be like, and what you need to do. So again,

David Edey:

it's all stories about life, Death and legacy.

Gary Michels:

That's awesome. If someone wants to get in touch

Gary Michels:

with you to hear more about what you do and your services. How

Gary Michels:

can they reach you?

David Edey:

Just go to Davidedey.com I've got on there.

David Edey:

There's plenty of stuff. You can take the legacy readiness quiz.

David Edey:

See where you where you stand. You can get a chapter of a

David Edey:

chapter on my book, so you can get it digitally, or for your

David Edey:

listening pleasure, you can have me read the book to you the

David Edey:

first chapter. And I've also got the 50 questions that executors

David Edey:

need answered plenty of there's videos on there. There's a free

David Edey:

checklist of resources of what you need to be an executor, or

David Edey:

if you're a testator, you want to put that checklist in with

David Edey:

your will so the executor knows exactly what needs to be done.

David Edey:

There's a version for the US listeners, and there's a version

David Edey:

for Canadian listeners.

Gary Michels:

And if you're looking David up, it's David

Gary Michels:

Edey, E, D, E, y.com, and I thank you so much for joining

Gary Michels:

our podcast.

David Edey:

Thank you.

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About the Podcast

Let's Talk Legacy
Presented by Southwestern Legacy Insurance Group
What does it mean to build and maintain a legacy, either in business, or for your loved ones? What tools and resources are available to help? Join the discussion along with exciting guests and real listeners just like you, to tackle the answers to these questions, and learn how to grow today, for a better tomorrow.



Southwestern/Great American, Inc., dba Southwestern Family of Companies, for itself and its related entities and their assigns, reserves and retains all rights to their copyrighted materials and trademarks contained in this podcast. Southwestern Legacy Insurance Group is an affiliate of Family First Life.
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