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We do an evaluation of your living trust, irrevocable trust, life
insurance and other estate planning documents to update your
estate plan to current law.
The Modern Dilemma of Creating an Estate Plan
In present day America everyone must deal with two primary
problems: The high Cost of Living (Inflation) and Tax Erosion.
Regardless of your station in life, you need to have an estate plan.
If you own real estate or own a business you must have a plan in
order to secure yourself and your family from the big two
destructive factors mentioned above. The primary ideas in this
article come from a wonderful book, The Complete Estate Planning
Guide.
Classic estate planning was based on thrift and sound investment.
While a modern estate plan takes into account these classic
principles and weaves you through our tax saturated modern
society. The alternative to structuring your estate plan is the
default method. The default method of estate planning represents
a failure to take advantage of the opportunities that exist for estate
building. Surprisingly, young professionals, corporate executives,
doctors, lawyers, and otherwise successful entrepreneurs
everywhere fall into this default method for failing to plan ahead.
Like a ship captain sailing blindly sailing into the night and with no
destination in mind, you cannot reach your goals without an estate
plan. This plan should be made as soon as one starts upon a
career. For if one plots his course at the beginning he will arrive
long before, perhaps decades before, those who fail to plan early.
What is Estate Planning?
It is the creation, preservation, and utilization of family resources to
obtain the maximum support and security of the family both
during the lifetime and after the death of the planner. Therefore, a
good estate plan takes into account both short and long term
objectives for estate building. The immediate elements of your
plan must include a home, an income, savings, and life insurance.
Not only will your goals establish an estate, but a standard of
living. Establishing an estate plan will enable you to avoid the
modern syndrome of "keeping up with the Joneses" while
sacrificing estate building.
The Primary Factor in Building an Estate
Believe it or not, the single most important factor in estate building
is determination. Without the conscious decision and active desire
to make estate building an integral part of your financial planning
from now until the day you die, you will not reach either your short
or long term financial goals. If you've ever read The Millionaire
Next Door, you know that it is often not the family with the nicest
car or largest house that is the multi-millionaire on your street.
Questions you must ask in Creating an Estate Plan
When do you plan to retire? What income will you, your spouse,
and your family need when you retire? What income will your
spouse or loved ones have should you die or become disabled?
What standard of living do you want to maintain? Will a college
fund be set up for your children or grandchildren to allow them to
attend a university and graduate school? Do you want to leave an
inheritance or leave money to charity? It should be evident from
the scope of these questions that in order to reach these goals,
these questions need to me addressed as early in one's career as
possible. Asking these questions early will allow you to scrutinize
your standard of living carefully, before you get so caught up in
everyday life that you fail to maximize every opportunity you had to
build a personal legacy.
The First Step
Inventory your assets. For those early in their careers this may
consist of the money in your wallet or the savings in your bank
account. For those in their middle earning years this may consist
of a house, some investments, a bank account, and life insurance.
Whatever your assets: How much annual income do they produce?
This answer may well be nothing even for most highly paid
professional. You must seek to change this now and begin
building an estate. This number gives an accurate picture of the
ability of your estate to provide security for you and your family in
the event of your retirement, disability, and death. The capital in
your estate should never be encroached upon. The instant you are
forced to dip into your capital, it loses a portion of its income
producing capacity. The production of income and the inviolability
of capital are paramount objectives of your estate plan.
If you've read the foregoing, we hope you will be inspired enough
to get going with your estate planning. We are here to help.
What is a Trust?
A trust is a legal relationship in which one or more persons (the
trustee or trustees) hold legal title to property and manage it for
the benefit of one or more people (the beneficiary or beneficiaries).
On creating a trust, the grantor has the power to include any lawful
provisions he or she wishes to govern the trust relationship. Since
tax considerations are usually important in the creation and
management of a trust, the powers, rights, and duties of a trustee
are often limited by the tax results desired by the grantor.
A trustee is generally required to keep trust property separate
from the trustee's own property, and the property of each separate
trust usually must be identified as the property of the individual
trust; however, these requirements may be modified by the trust
instrument under which you are acting. Even if you are allowed to
hold trust property in your own name or commingle it with other
property, separate records and separate tax returns are needed for
every trust.
Modern trust instruments often contain provisions allowing
trustees to make whatever types of investments are deemed to be
in the best interest of the trust and the beneficiaries. Even though
broad powers are granted to you, these powers must always be
exercised for the best interest of the trust and the beneficiaries.
insurance and other estate planning documents to update your
estate plan to current law.
The Modern Dilemma of Creating an Estate Plan
In present day America everyone must deal with two primary
problems: The high Cost of Living (Inflation) and Tax Erosion.
Regardless of your station in life, you need to have an estate plan.
If you own real estate or own a business you must have a plan in
order to secure yourself and your family from the big two
destructive factors mentioned above. The primary ideas in this
article come from a wonderful book, The Complete Estate Planning
Guide.
Classic estate planning was based on thrift and sound investment.
While a modern estate plan takes into account these classic
principles and weaves you through our tax saturated modern
society. The alternative to structuring your estate plan is the
default method. The default method of estate planning represents
a failure to take advantage of the opportunities that exist for estate
building. Surprisingly, young professionals, corporate executives,
doctors, lawyers, and otherwise successful entrepreneurs
everywhere fall into this default method for failing to plan ahead.
Like a ship captain sailing blindly sailing into the night and with no
destination in mind, you cannot reach your goals without an estate
plan. This plan should be made as soon as one starts upon a
career. For if one plots his course at the beginning he will arrive
long before, perhaps decades before, those who fail to plan early.
What is Estate Planning?
It is the creation, preservation, and utilization of family resources to
obtain the maximum support and security of the family both
during the lifetime and after the death of the planner. Therefore, a
good estate plan takes into account both short and long term
objectives for estate building. The immediate elements of your
plan must include a home, an income, savings, and life insurance.
Not only will your goals establish an estate, but a standard of
living. Establishing an estate plan will enable you to avoid the
modern syndrome of "keeping up with the Joneses" while
sacrificing estate building.
The Primary Factor in Building an Estate
Believe it or not, the single most important factor in estate building
is determination. Without the conscious decision and active desire
to make estate building an integral part of your financial planning
from now until the day you die, you will not reach either your short
or long term financial goals. If you've ever read The Millionaire
Next Door, you know that it is often not the family with the nicest
car or largest house that is the multi-millionaire on your street.
Questions you must ask in Creating an Estate Plan
When do you plan to retire? What income will you, your spouse,
and your family need when you retire? What income will your
spouse or loved ones have should you die or become disabled?
What standard of living do you want to maintain? Will a college
fund be set up for your children or grandchildren to allow them to
attend a university and graduate school? Do you want to leave an
inheritance or leave money to charity? It should be evident from
the scope of these questions that in order to reach these goals,
these questions need to me addressed as early in one's career as
possible. Asking these questions early will allow you to scrutinize
your standard of living carefully, before you get so caught up in
everyday life that you fail to maximize every opportunity you had to
build a personal legacy.
The First Step
Inventory your assets. For those early in their careers this may
consist of the money in your wallet or the savings in your bank
account. For those in their middle earning years this may consist
of a house, some investments, a bank account, and life insurance.
Whatever your assets: How much annual income do they produce?
This answer may well be nothing even for most highly paid
professional. You must seek to change this now and begin
building an estate. This number gives an accurate picture of the
ability of your estate to provide security for you and your family in
the event of your retirement, disability, and death. The capital in
your estate should never be encroached upon. The instant you are
forced to dip into your capital, it loses a portion of its income
producing capacity. The production of income and the inviolability
of capital are paramount objectives of your estate plan.
If you've read the foregoing, we hope you will be inspired enough
to get going with your estate planning. We are here to help.
What is a Trust?
A trust is a legal relationship in which one or more persons (the
trustee or trustees) hold legal title to property and manage it for
the benefit of one or more people (the beneficiary or beneficiaries).
On creating a trust, the grantor has the power to include any lawful
provisions he or she wishes to govern the trust relationship. Since
tax considerations are usually important in the creation and
management of a trust, the powers, rights, and duties of a trustee
are often limited by the tax results desired by the grantor.
A trustee is generally required to keep trust property separate
from the trustee's own property, and the property of each separate
trust usually must be identified as the property of the individual
trust; however, these requirements may be modified by the trust
instrument under which you are acting. Even if you are allowed to
hold trust property in your own name or commingle it with other
property, separate records and separate tax returns are needed for
every trust.
Modern trust instruments often contain provisions allowing
trustees to make whatever types of investments are deemed to be
in the best interest of the trust and the beneficiaries. Even though
broad powers are granted to you, these powers must always be
exercised for the best interest of the trust and the beneficiaries.
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