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:

• What is Estate Planning – A Comprehensive Overview

Grandchildren

How to Help Grandkids Stay Solvent

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

In last month’s visit we discussed how to educate children and grandchildren to start them on the road toward financial independence. This month, let’s discuss how to help youngsters who already are in the working world and perhaps have started to dig themselves into that financial hole of high debt in which so many people […]

Trusts

Types of Trusts and Reasons for Using Them

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Trusts are not used primarily for reducing taxes any more. And trusts are not only for the wealthy. The non-wealthy are more financially sophisticated and have more wealth than in the past. The non-wealthy turned to trusts in recent years and for reasons other than tax reduction. In this part of the visit, we’ll review […]

Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Children

Estate Planning Mistakes – How to Avoid Mismanagement of Inheritance by Heirs and Beneficiaries

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Many estate plans ultimately fail. The problems are not with the plans. The owners spent a fair amount of time and money preparing and executing the plans. The problem with many estate plans is the final stage. The heirs are not prepared to receive the wealth. So they mishandle it. Or they did not know […]

Estate Planning Forms and Documents

How to Put Together a Disaster Recovery Document Kit for your Estate Plan

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

The 2005 hurricane season caused many people to focus on an issue that had seemed remote. But millions of people realize they are more vulnerable to disasters than they had thought. A surprise to many people is that the potential damage to their persons and property is not the only concern. Personal information and documents […]

Estate Tax, Income Tax Planning in Retirement

How Planned Disclaimers Can Improve an Estate Plan

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

A key to successful Estate Planning these days is flexibility. Scheduled changes in the federal estate tax, and the possibility of additional changes, make flexibility essential. In past visits we have discussed language that can be included in wills to increase flexibility. Another tool to make available to your heirs is the disclaimer. Normally, disclaimers […]

Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Children

Estate Planning for Pets

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Often a pet is a cherished member of the household. If that is the case, you might want to include the pet in the estate plan. This is particularly true of single people or owners of unusual or exotic pets that the heirs of the property estate are unable or do not wish to care […]

Grandchildren

Investing Education for Grandkids

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Recently, when I was the guest on a radio show, the host asked where young people learn about money, investments, and personal finance. Schools are too busy with diversity training and sex education to teach personal finance. Even at the college level practical money management is scarce. Many parents, especially, the Boomers, try to keep […]

Asset Protection

6 Easy and Legitimate Ways to Protect Assets

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Many people consider asset protection to be part of an estate plan. Protecting wealth from creditors, lawsuits, and other claims during life can be just as important as protecting it from taxes. A good plan also can protect assets from claims against your heirs. Assets can be protected without elaborate schemes that involve multiple levels […]