Operating in the "What-Ifs"

The title of this blog entry isn't original to me, and I don't recall where I read it, but it was during this 2020 of not knowing what tomorrow will bring.  The person wrote that we're all "operating in the 'what-ifs'", meaning it's anybody's guess what will happen next and yours may be as good as mine.  "Change the facts, change the answer" - my Torts professor at St Mary's University Law School used to say this every time some young, idealistic skull full of mush (hat tip to Rush and John Guilgud)  wasn't happy with the result of a case and tried to argue a different result by saying, "What if the person [fill in the righteously indignant blank]?"  He generally followed with some version of, "If those facts had existed, we wouldn't be talking about this case".

One thing about the "what-ifs" - the more thought you put into developing a plan, the more likely that plan is to have contingencies built into it.  Notwithstanding Von Clausewitz' "No plan survives first contact with the enemy" (Squadron Officer School, 1988), there are things you can do, both personally and in your business planning, to be prepared for emergencies and avoid having to (my least favorite overused word of 2020, barely beating out "systemic racism"), pivot your personal life or business blindly.  And even in the midst of viruses and riots and politics and lies (but I repeat myself), sitting down with your cadre of professionals (paid or unpaid, we all have 'em) and talking through your circumstances can help you gain perspective and focus, and let you put together a strategy that takes most things into account.

From the legal side, talking with an experienced estate planning and/or business attorney to get your plan established is a worthwhile investment of time and/or money.  Likewise, your CPA and financial advisor are probably right on top of all that's going on in this season, so reach out to those people.  There's no need to handle this stuff on your own.

As always, the above is legal information, not legal advice, and it's based on Texas law because I'm a Texas lawyer.  By the way, stay tuned for our new look on the Jacobson Law Firm, PC's new website!  We hope it will be up and running within the next 30 days.

---