Posts Tagged Estate Planning

When Should You Start Taking Your Social Security Benefits, continued

On April 14, 2020   /   Blog  
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When Should You Start Taking Your Social Security Benefits, continued

What if you don’t start taking Social Security benefits until after your full retirement age? As you would expect, you’ll be rewarded for this. For example, if your full retirement age is 66, you’ll receive 108 percent of your monthly benefit by waiting until age 67. Wait until the age of 70 and your monthly benefit rises to 132 percent. So, based purely on the numbers, you can see why many advisors recommend waiting. Your benefit is significantly reduced the earlier you start taking it and considerably higher the longer you wait. Now, many people will say, understandably, that they worked long and hard to earn their benefit and want to start enjoying it as soon as possible. There are also certain situations where taking your benefit early makes financial sense. An article on bankrate.com points out that if you are in poor health, with a lower than average life

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When Should You Start Taking Your Social Security Benefits?

On April 7, 2020   /   Blog  
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When Should You Start Taking Your Social Security Benefits?

Most advisors recommend waiting as long as possible to begin collecting Social Security benefits. Suze Orman, a contributor to AARP Magazine, makes a strong case for this approach. She argues that with people living longer than ever before, 70 is the new 65. What concerns her the most is not funding the first 10 to 15 years of retirement but rather the 10 to 15 years after that. You can read her entire article here. What do the numbers have to say? Of course, every situation is unique. The best time to take Social Security benefits is not the same for everyone. You must consider your particular financial needs, health, post-retirement plans and more in deciding when to take your benefit. Here are some statistics to help you make an informed decision. The first number you need to know is your full retirement age—the age at which you can collect

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Now is a Good Time to Make Sure Your Plan is Up-To-Date

On March 31, 2020   /   Blog  
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Now is a Good Time to Make Sure Your Plan is Up-To-Date

Has your financial or medical situation changed since your plan was created? Have any of your children or grandchildren gotten divorced and remarried, or started families of their own? Do your beneficiary designations continue to reflect your wishes? What about the people you have chosen to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf—are they still willing and able to do so? Are all of your trusts properly funded? Your plan must take all of these issues, and more, into account for it to accomplish your goals. The fact is, an outdated or improperly designed plan is often worse than having no plan at all. We hope you’ll also take time to review your plan and update it to take into account any changes in your financial, medical and family situation. If you have any questions about your plan, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

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The Importance of Choosing the Right Business Entity

On March 24, 2020   /   Blog  
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The Importance of Choosing the Right Business Entity

If you want to start a business of your own, or are in the early stages of doing so, you are no doubt feeling a certain amount of stress about how to set it up. Your formation strategy must take into account the possibility of rapid growth while at the same time provide protection against potential short and long-term losses. It must also shield personal and family assets from any losses associated with the business itself. Finally, your plan must protect your business from a wide range of potential threats, including lawsuits, the inability of loved ones to access assets if you become incapacitated, the manner and timing of your exit from the business, tax minimization, and problematic partners and employees. All of this makes choosing the right business entity extremely important. What is the ideal entity for you? Here is a short introduction to some of the most common

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Estate Planning and Digital Assets

On March 17, 2020   /   Blog  
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Estate Planning and Digital Assets

What happens to a person’s Facebook account when he or she passes away? What about the photos you share on social media, the documents you’ve stored in the cloud, your texts to family and friends? While the law is clear about how to handle physical property when a person dies, it is only now beginning to address the management of digital assets. An article in The Conversation discusses this issue. Here are some of the highlights. Privacy concerns. While many legal issues surrounding digital assets remain undecided, people should still consider including them in their estate planning. Access to a decedent’s email is an important consideration. Such messages can be highly personal in nature. What is more, bank accounts, utilities and other accounts may be linked to certain email addresses and messages. Access to this information can help administer a decedent’s estate. Meanwhile, limiting who can access it can protect

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Involve Your Children in Your Parents’ Care

On March 10, 2020   /   Blog  
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Involve Your Children in Your Parents’ Care

The last thing anyone wants in an emergency is to run around hysterically searching for important medical and financial information. You should have all of the following information readily available: Copies of the front and back of insurance cards, prescription cards, and, if applicable, military IDs Names and contact information of primary care physicians and specialists Basic medical history, such as medications, previous surgeries, and allergies A current list of medications and dosage Contact information for banks, financial advisors, insurance agents, attorneys, and other key advisors A list of financial accounts and safe deposit boxes, as well as the institutions where they are held The location of all estate planning documents, including Power of Attorney, Living Will/Healthcare Proxy, Will, HIPAA Medical Release, and, if applicable, trusts Involve Your Children in Your Parents’ Care One advantage of being in the sandwich generation is that you have help at hand—your kids. Maybe

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Planning Tips for the Sandwich Generation, continued

On March 3, 2020   /   Blog  
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Planning Tips for the Sandwich Generation, continued

For adult children raising kids of their own, assuming the role of caregiver for one’s parents can be extraordinarily difficult without the help of proper legal documents. We have discussed the importance of The Talk. The information gleaned from this discussion provides a foundation for the creation of effective legal documents that express and protect your parents’ wishes. These documents include a Will, a Power of Attorney, a Living Will/Healthcare Proxy, and a HIPAA Medical Release. Let’s take a quick look at these documents. A Will directs how a person’s estate is to be administered and how his or her assets will be distributed after death. The person who creates the Will is called the Testator while the individual who settles the estate is known as the Executor. Naming the Executor and specifying “who gets what” in advance can help eliminate family infighting. A Power of Attorney allows an individual

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Planning Tips for the Sandwich Generation

On February 25, 2020   /   Blog  
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Planning Tips for the Sandwich Generation

The term “sandwich generation” refers to people who are raising their own children while simultaneously trying to care for aging parents. If you are “sandwiched” between these two roles, the stress can seem overwhelming. Here are some tips for managing the challenge. Have “The Talk” with Your Parents as Soon as Possible. “The Talk” involves speaking with your parents about their wishes regarding long-term care and who will be able to make decisions on their behalf in the event of incapacity. By addressing these issues early and openly, you can then take steps to create legal documents to ensure your parents’ care will reflect their wishes (more about these documents later). Be sure to include your siblings and other members of your extended family in these conversations so that everyone is on the same page. This will help eliminate disagreements, which can quickly turn ugly, about what mom and dad

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Protecting Inheritances For and From Your Heirs

On February 18, 2020   /   Blog  
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Protecting Inheritances For and From Your Heirs

Our clients often express concern about protecting the inheritances of their children. Sometimes, parents worry about the security of a child’s job and what will happen if he or she loses that job, cannot pay bills, and subsequently loses the inheritance to creditors. Other times, parents worry about the influence a child’s spouse has over their child’s money management decisions. A child embroiled in a “bad marriage” frequently leads to parental concerns over an inheritance being diminished or lost through divorce. Finally, parents often wonder whether their children are mature enough to handle an inheritance on their own. Fortunately, there are a number of ways for you to leave an inheritance to your children and protect that inheritance against threats such as these and more. Certain types of trusts, for example, have the power to accomplish this goal, with the added benefit of avoiding probate. Here are a few examples.

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The Biggest Mistakes People Make When Probating an Estate, continued

On February 11, 2020   /   Blog  
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The Biggest Mistakes People Make When Probating an Estate, continued

In our last post, we discussed some of the mistakes to avoid when settling an estate through probate. Here are some others: Handling creditors improperly Every potential creditor of the estate must be notified about the estate going into probate. If the creditor is known, he or she can be notified personally. Unknown creditors, on the other hand, must also be notified. How? Through a notice published in a local newspaper. The probate must be kept open for a period of time mandated by state statute to allow creditors to file claims against the decedent’s estate. Failing to communicate effectively with estate beneficiaries Working closely with beneficiaries is not a legal requirement, but failing to keep them abreast of developments can be a big mistake. In fact, poor communication sometimes leads to unnecessary, and expensive, litigation. Remember: You are not the only one dealing with the loss of a loved

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