Skilled estate planning is essential to the tax-efficient transfer of the family business across the generations. While the majority of family business owners have estate plans, the majority of these plans can be considered dated. Family businesses are responsible for more than 70% of global production and are one of the principal creators of private […]
Read More »Which Type of Trust is Right for Me?
Trusts can be a great way to update an estate plan, whether within a will or as a separate estate-planning tool. Trusts have a reputation for being something that most people don’t have to worry about, with most seeing a trust as a vehicle for the ultra-rich to protect their assets from taxes and other […]
Read More »Estate Planning for the Farm
Estate planning doesn’t concern itself only with financial savings or your home. It can also include your property and land. And in no other industry is land more valuable than farming. By building and implementing an airtight estate plan, farmers and ranchers can ensure a smooth transition of land ownership and management when the time […]
Read More »Talk About End-of-Life Planning Now!
When you dare to think ahead to the last days of your life (if you dare to think about that), what do you imagine? If you are like 70 percent of Americans, you dream of spending your final days at home, in peace and comfort, surrounded by loved ones who care for you compassionately until […]
Read More »The Lowdown on IRAs
Self-employed people need to save for retirement, and a tax-advantaged retirement plan is the best way to accomplish this. Designed for the self-employed, the Simplified Employee Pension (SEP-IRA) and the Solo 401(k) are relatively easy to set up. Both plans offer tax-deductible contributions, enabling you to cut your taxes and get tax-deferred growth. Another plus: […]
Read More »Say “I Do” to Estate Planning Before the Wedding Ceremony
As the fall wedding season begins, advisers should make sure they have a comprehensive plan to help clients who are getting married. Advisers need to look at the big picture, like if the couple’s retirement goals align, and the nitty gritty, such as insurance policies and estate plans that need updating. The process should start […]
Read More »Planning for Giving Your Assets to Your Children
Call it the triple-whammy: An elderly parent, a new significant other and an aging bull market. A reader recently shared his frustrations over watching his elderly father gift a large portion of his assets to a new girlfriend. He is his father’s designated power of attorney, but there’s not a lot he can do about […]
Read More »Answers about the Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) Trust
The facts of life include remarriage. Almost 42 million adults in the U.S. have been married more than once, up from 22 million in 1980, according to the Pew Research Center. For older Americans, remarriage can pose estate planning problems. Even for couples who share children, potential remarriage might be a concern. And even if […]
Read More »What’s that Document Called Again?
“Mistitling of assets is one of the prominent causes of failed estate plans,” asserts Avani Ramnani, CFP®, director of financial planning and wealth management at Francis Financial, a wealth management firm in New York. What might go wrong? As an example, Daniel Timins, CFP®, an estate planning attorney in New York, says that one critical […]
Read More »Special-Purpose Trusts for the Mentally Ill and Those Suffering from Addiction
It was the summer between her sophomore and junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when Patti Sacher’s daughter Keisha had a breakdown. She had taken LSD at a Grateful Dead concert one weekend in 1989. When Mrs. Sacher called to check on her that Monday, Keisha wasn’t making sense. “She was hearing voices after […]
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