Great Grades and Great Planning Equally Needed for a College Education
The cost of higher education is growing so rapidly, that students and families are finding it a huge financial challenge. Succeed by starting savings and planning as early as possible. Here’s a scary number: the cost of a college education is growing faster than inflation. Tuition increased by approximately 9% from 2012 to 2017. Figuring…
Read MoreFor A Comfortable Retirement, Start Planning Early
For a healthy nest egg that will provide you with an enjoyable, worry-free retirement, you’ll need to start saving and investing now. It takes time and smart planning. Working hard on building your retirement nest egg right now? That’s excellent! Here are five key elements of successfully growing wealth from Nasdaq’s recent post, “5 Considerations…
Read MoreWhen Bitcoin and Digital Assets are Part of the Estate
Because they are relatively new, dealing with digital currency and other digital assets requires a little extra care in estate planning. Whether you think bitcoins are the global currency of the future or a financial disaster, many Americans have bitcoins, and practically all Americans have digital assets of some kind. Estate planning today needs to…
Read MoreSteps Seniors Need to Take for Their Estate Plan and Their Loved Ones
Distributing assets is only one part of an estate plan’s purpose. The other is to provide clear direction to family members concerning aspects of aging, including illness and end-of-life decisions. The word “estate” may bring to mind a large home on a sweeping piece of property, but it also refers to any person’s possessions—including regular…
Read MoreConverting a Traditional IRA to a Roth May Benefit Your Heirs
Converting sooner than later, could yield a bigger account to your heirs; do the math first Deciding whether or not to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth requires crunching the numbers. If your plan is to leave the IRA to an heir, you’ll want to work with an estate planning attorney to make sure…
Read MoreWhat Happens When the Executor and Heirs Disagree?
There are rules that govern what the executor can and cannot pay themselves, but often the only way to resolve a dispute between the executor and heirs is litigation. Here’s an example of what happens when things don’t go as planned in estate planning. A parent dies, and has left everything to his two children,…
Read MoreOften Overlooked, at a High Cost: Portability Election
Portability is not as well-known as other estate planning tools, like wills or trusts. But overlooking electing portability can become a costly mistake. Fortunately, there are some remedies. Given the size of the federal estate tax exemption, it’s not unusual for most people in the middle income tax brackets to forget to make a portability…
Read MoreWill You Be Responsible for Your Parent’s Debt? It Depends
Children worry about their aging parent’s ability to manage money and are often concerned about what happens when their parent passes away and leaves a substantial amount of debt behind. Kids know their parents all too well. So when your questions about credit card debt go unanswered, or if you get a vague “don’t worry,…
Read MoreProtecting Your Legacy and Their Inheritance
Conversations between estate planning attorneys and clients are as much about how to talk with children about the intentions behind inheritances, as about the legal means of distributing assets. A lifetime spent creating a family and an accumulation of wealth is an admirable accomplishment. The final note—an estate plan to distribute that wealth—can alleviate the…
Read MoreHow Charitable Giving Works for Estate Plans Today
As the discussion in Washington concerning repealing the federal estate tax heats up, some are wondering what the impact will be on charitable giving as part of estate plans. But according to an article in Financial Planning, “Charitable giving: It’s not just about taxes,” charitable giving has never been solely about tax planning. By donating…
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