Trusts

58% of Baby Boomers (ages 53-71,) and 81% of those 72 or older have a living will or trust. They already see how smart it is to begin planning for the fact they will not be around forever.
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Trusts are valuable tools if you want to ensure your children or other relatives receive their share of your estate.

Trusts can be independent from a last will and testament but often work hand-in-hand with them.

Often, trusts are used to ensure that children or grandchildren have the funds they need to go to college, or to fund a local charity, provide a down payment on a business or home, or event to provide a safety net for your assets as you age.  And this is not nearly all the ways a trust can be used.  Trusts are incredibly versatile financial tools that will offer long-term benefits to those who receive them.

Estate planning is the processes of anticipating and arranging for the distribution of an Estate. Your estate is anything you own including: physical assets, intellectual property, investments, vehicles, business interests, real estate, and more.

The estate planning process is how we help clients minimize or plan for various uncertainties over the administration of their estate while maximizing the of what they will be able to pass on to their heirs.  Essentially, reducing potential taxes, court costs, and many other foreseeable expenses. 

Planning ahead for how to manage your estate in life, and in passing has several benefits.

If you choose not to make any plans to transfer your assets prior to your own death or incapacitation, you are essentially giving up control of who will inherit your estate and making them pay for it from their inheritance.

There are a lot of ways to avoid this very common situation.  However, avoidance tomorrow requires a planning today.  One critical part of that (estate) plan is establishing a trust.

In this article we cover the general information you’ll want to know about trusts, and we provide you a couple next steps you can take to start incorporating them into your estate plan.

Although death is a difficult subject to discuss, it's also a part of your financial planning obligations. 

You must prepare for the inevitable. Part of planning for the future means having a proper estate plan in place.

Planning for death or incapacitation can be a difficult subject to discuss. If you have young children or a non-traditional family, it's one conversation you can't afford to avoid.

A will or living trust makes arrangements for your estate and medical concerns in the event you cannot manage them yourself (death or incapacity). 

So, which do you need?  Can they work together?  Is one better than another for your situation?

Complexity

Living trusts and wills do not have to be terribly complicated. In many states, 

Are you thinking of signing over money or assets to a loved one with special needs? 

People often choose to do this by naming them as beneficiaries in a will. While this may seem like a good idea, it can have financially devastating consequences.

In fact, it can disqualify them from government programs, meaning they lose the financial and medical support they previously relied on. 

Special needs trusts provide a way around this.

In this post, we'll tell you how they work.