Overcoming Estate Planning Hesitancy: How Financial Advisors Can Guide Clients Toward Action
Shelitha Smodic, CFP® shares insights from the latest research on why people hesitate to plan for their estate. This session explores the psychological and practical barriers that lead to estate planning hesitancy and provides tools advisors can use to help guide clients through these challenges. Attendees will learn how factors like mortality salience, life transitions, and even travel can create windows of opportunity for engagement in estate planning. Advisors will learn how to:
- Discuss the financial and non-financial benefits of estate planning for families.
- Recognize psychological and practical reasons clients avoid estate planning.
- Identify opportunities for engagement in estate planning when clients are most open to progression in their estate planning.
- Implement strategies to guide clients through estate planning hesitancy based on phase of life.
- Frame conversations about estate planning in ways that engage clients based on their unique personalities and cultural backgrounds.

Shelitha Smodic, CFP®, CE Nerd Writer for Kitces.com
Shelitha is pursuing a doctorate in personal financial planning from Kansas State University with a research focus on family financial well-being and estate planning. Prior to pursuing her PhD full-time, she worked as the Associate Curriculum DesigNerd at Kitces.com, designing, researching, and writing content for courses. In addition to supporting the Kitces education team, Shelitha speaks, teaches, and writes about personal finance through Meaning of Money, her financial education platform.