I recently had an e-mail crisis both at home and in the office. I use SBC  for dsl service and I could not send an outgoing email to anyone. It just stopped cold. Incoming email was fine. It drove me nuts.

First, I (wrongly) blamed hostway an otherwise excellent host for my web site. They said "call SBC" and I did. I know enough about technology to get by, but I was really confused by the terms they used like "ISP" and "SMTP server." I finally connected with a great technical service rep (in India) and she helped me get it all straightened out. She kept it very simple. I trusted that she knew what she was doing (and she did).

The email adventure made me relate to many of my clients who come in to talk about wills and trusts. They are usually confused, afraid of being overcharged and don’t understand the jargon. Estate planning is really confusing and I have found that I have to remind myself to stay really basic about things — what is joint tenancy, what does a will affect, what are the benefits/downsides of a trust. 

In an effort to keep it simple, I put together a powerpoint presentation on the difference between wills and trusts. I use this when I meet with clients and it’s a good reminder to me that to keep things simple.