or many of us, the words "estate planning" have about as much appeal as a root canal. They both sound like procedures to avoid at all costs.

The problem is, with a root canal, avoidance leads to additional pain and suffering that you feel. With estate planning, avoidance leads to pain and suffering your loved ones bear. The grief of having lost you is mixed with the anger of untangling a mountain of legal and administrative red tape dumped in their laps. Don't give your family a root canal.

You may think you don't have enough money to worry about estate planning. You're wrong. Proper planning begins the moment you become an adult with your first bank accounts and student loans. The need grows as your assets grow and your family relationships become more complex.

Think of your reputation after your death. Have you ever been to a funeral where people whispered that the deceased person didn't leave a will or how his or her affairs were left in a mess to be sorted out by the grieving relatives? Is this your legacy?

Here's a quick quiz to see if you shouldn't worry about estate planning:

There are not many people who fall into any of those categories.

What is estate planning after all? It's an overall strategy that coordinates the disposition of everything you own - house, bank accounts, investment portfolios, life insurance and retirement plans.

You probably already have the genesis of an estate plan and don't even know it. If you have a life insurance policy or a retirement account like a 401(k) or an Individual Retirement Account, you probably named your beneficiaries in those documents. The problem is that in doing only a part of the process you may have disinherited someone who is depending on you - usually your children.

When you think of estate planning, you probably just think of a will, and you're right to an extent. A proper will is the cornerstone of a good plan.

But estate planning is much more than a will. It lays out a roadmap for coordinating your trusts, joint property, insurance policies and retirement plans. That's because these assets are outside the jurisdiction of most wills. Known as "probate," these assets can take on lives of their own, depending on what each document says. Maybe your will specifically said that you "leave everything to my dear daughter Samantha," but the beneficiary of your life insurance is your ex-husband, while your house is jointly owned by your mother and the retirement plan names a trust to control those monies. Your dear daughter Samantha gets nothing.

Proper estate planning also includes signing some other key documents - a durable power of attorney and a "living will" that coordinates these aspects of your life with all of your other financial holdings. It's easy to see how important proper estate planning is if you want as much of your money as possible to go to the people or organizations you want to benefit.

Chances are you may already have drawn up a will or taken some or all of the other steps outlined here. Even so, life rarely stays the same, and there are a number of important "life events" that should send you running, not walking, you to a competent estate attorney.

If you marry, you will probably want to change your beneficiary on various assets to your new spouse. If you then get divorced, you'll probably want to change the will again, although it probably would become automatically invalid. You may disinherit a child by not including language in your will providing for any "living or future children" or by listing children by name so that a new sibling arriving later would not be named, or by listing children by name as insurance policy or retirement plan beneficiaries. If your will provides for "naturally born children," you have disinherited any current or future adopted ones.

Some states do not recognize wills drafted and signed in other states, and if you move from a community property state to a non-community property state, your entire estate planning needs to be rethought.

If you are fortunate enough to inherit or otherwise receive a sizable sum of money, your current (or non-existing) estate plan may leave your assets prey to every possible dollar of estate and inheritance taxes imaginable. Finally, your parents may have finally broken down and admitted to you that they are going to need your help at retirement. You will no doubt want to make some provision for them instead of leaving it up to the charitable urges of an irresponsible sibling or to your spouse.

Life would be much simpler and more pleasant if you didn't have to think about death. If you take that route, however, it is at the future peril of your loved ones and the emotional and financial legacy you leave them. When you consider the alternatives, a few hours spent getting your estate affairs in order becomes a huge financial bargain in the long run.