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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Checklist: Wills and Estate Planning Update
If there has been a change in any one or more of the factors listed since the last review of your estate plan, then it is time to get in touch with your estate planner and update the plan. The marital status of you or any of your family members The birth or adoption of […]
Estate Planning Strategies for Navigating the Kiddie Tax
Shifting assets and income to your children and grandchildren can provide many benefits, including tax benefits must be past of your estate planning. That’s why Congress set up hurdles to keep you from enjoying all the potential tax benefits. When planning gifts of investments to your loved ones, be aware of the kiddie tax. This […]
Helping Your Executor Fulfill Your Estate Planning Strategy
Too many estate planning strategies ignore one of the keys to their success. An important driver of a plan’s outcome is the job performed by your executor or administrator. You appoint this person, or several persons in your estate planing strategy, but you won’t be around to oversee or guide. Yet, there are steps you […]
How Interest Rates Affect Your Estate Planning
Interest rates were expected to rise the last couple of years. Instead, rates declined. They declined again to open 2016. Interest rate changes matter to your estate plan. Some strategies are better when rates are low and others when rates are higher. Especially when your estate might be taxable or you don’t want to shelter […]
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Building Wealth for Grandkids with Roth IRA Investments
There are many tools and strategies available to provide financial help for the grandkids, especially education expenses. Perhaps the best available for many people is the Roth IRA. There are several ways to include a Roth IRA in your plan to help the grandkids, and the Roth IRA can help in a wide range of […]
Starting the New Year with Good Estate Planning Gift Giving Strategy
Most people wait until late in the year to focus on the gift giving that’s part of their financial and Estate Planning. It’s smarter and shrewder to think about their estate planning giving strategies early in the year and execute gifts through the year to maximize the benefits. The federal estate tax used to drive […]
Estate Planning Gaps Can Be Fixed
Is your estate plan good enough to get the job done? Odds are it isn’t. Many estate plans have gaps and deficiencies, even plans that are developed by wealthy people in consultation with high-priced lawyers and other experts. When you’ve taken the time and gone to the expense of working on an estate plan, you […]
Leaving Unequal Inheritances to Heirs and Beneficiaries
Many people don’t even want to talk about leaving unequal inheritances to the younger generation, but a recent paper found that unequal inheritances occur more often than most people think. The paper identified the situations when unequal inheritances are most likely and even has some advice for members of the younger generation who want to […]
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Wills and Estate Planning
