Estate planning is all about arranging your financial affairs while you're alive so that, when you die, your assets pass

• to the people you want to receive them,
• the way you intend them to,
• as quickly and simply as possible, and
• with the minimum of tax payable.

Make a start: The starting point for any plan is to work out what you're trying to achieve. That means sitting down with your partner and working out what you would want to happen if one of you were to die.

Rather than think about what to do with each asset you own, the important thing at this stage is to set some basic objectives. You need to focus on what the immediate and future needs of the family would be. What sort of income would they need to live on? Are there mortgages or other debts that would need to be paid off? Or children whose education would need to be paid for?

Once you've agreed on those basic objectives, you can begin to formulate a strategy to achieve them.

Now's the time to bring in your professional advisers, because there are many complications to work through and it's so important to get it right.

Don't wait until it's too late: Anyone who has superannuation should also have some sort of estate plan. It doesn't need to be complex. Just a few simple preparations now, can eliminate uncertainty and possible hardship for those you leave behind, as well as avoiding unnecessary tax.

Reproduced with the kind permission of Macquarie Investment Management Ltd