Estate Planning
Estate Planning is the process of determining how your wealth and assets should be transferred to the heirs of your choice: your children, grandchildren, friends, families, charitable causes, etc. and then deciding which legal tools and structures to use to best meet your estate planning goals.
Estate planning is not simply reducing or eliminating taxes and avoiding probate. Only after establishing how you want your estate’s assets to be distributed should you consider ways to reduce taxes and avoid probate. From there, good estate plans deal with a host of other issues. Now, with all but a few estates exempt from the federal estate tax, those other issues are, or should be, at the forefront of estate planning.
An estate plan is to ensure that you are taken care of the rest of your life and that your wealth is transferred to the people you want to have it. A good estate plan ensures these goals are accomplished with as much efficiency and as little cost as possible. An estate plan addresses the management and distribution of an individual’s property and financial obligations after he or she dies with financial tools such as wills, revocable living trusts and power of attorney.
For a comprehensive overview of Estate Planning, please start with our article:
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How to Have The Penalty For RMD Mistakes Waived
One of the stiffest penalties in the tax code is the one for not taking the correct required minimum distribution (RMD) from an IRA or other qualified retirement plan. You pay a whopping 50% of the amount that was supposed to be distributed but wasn’t. This penalty is in addition to paying income taxes on […]
Don’t Leave an Estate Planning Mess for Your Children to Fix
The best description for the legacy plans of most Americans ages 55 and over is NOGO. The acronym stands for “not in good order” or simply “not good.” It is a phrase often used by estate and financial planners to summarize the state of the financial and estate plans of new clients. Most people know […]
Bob’s Journal for 3/14/19
How much should we rely on recent economic data? I say, “Not much.” There are major anomalies in recent data, creating more noise than usual. Two major reports from last Friday are prime examples. Retail sales for December declined sharply, yet January’s sales increased briskly, especially after excluding autos and gas. But as I explain […]
10 Questions You Must Answer Before And During Retirement
Every retirement is unique. Yet, there are universal issues that concern almost every retirement. Most of these questions apply to pre-retirees, retirees and those who have reached the traditional retirement years but are still in the labor force. In this month’s Retirement Watch Spotlight Series online seminar, we discuss the 10 questions that should be […]
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Bob’s Journal for 3/7/2019
While the headlines focus on how the major stock indexes are doing, it’s important to examine the details of what’s happening within the indexes from time to time as well. Looking under the hood of an index is important because a few stocks can lead the index higher or lower and hide what is happening […]
7 Key Mistakes People Make When Retiring Abroad
Retirement abroad is enticing to more and more Americans, but many of them make key mistakes that spoil their plans for a foreign retirement haven. The Social Security Administration reports it sends benefits to more than half a million U.S. retirees living overseas. The number increased substantially over the last 10 years. But it significantly […]
How to Use Your IRA To Fund Your HSA
Health savings accounts (HSAs) are the best retirement planning tool available, but some people don’t know a legal trick to fully funding their HSAs. An HSA has three powerful tax benefits. Contributions to the account are tax deductible or excluded from gross income when an employer makes them. The account can be invested, and income […]
How to Keep the Wrong People From Getting Their Hands On Your Estate
There’s an important gap in many estate plans. The oversight can cause a large portion of your estate to end up with people other than your loved ones. The Estate Planning goal many people overlook is to ensure that a large portion of the estate doesn’t end up in the hands of people you never […]
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Estate Planning Basics
Estate Planning Checklist
Estate Planning for Singles
Estate Planning Forms and Documents
Estate Planning Mistakes
Estate Planning Strategies
Estate Tax
Executors and Trustees
Family Limited Partnerships
Gifts and Gift Giving
Grandchildren
Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Children
IRAs & Your Estate
Power of Attorney
Probate
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Wills and Estate Planning
