Knowledge helps take the fear and unease out of your financial health. We have created this repository of helpful guides, videos and articles for those who are serious about empowering themselves to make better financial descisions.
Estate Planning and Legacy Planning:
One of the most cumbersome aspects of an estate settlement process is going through probate. It is public record, can be expensive, and can be a long process. An easy way to avoid probate is to create and transfer assets into a revocable living trust. Here is a good summary of how a revocable living trust will avoid probate and provide several other benefits.
Estate Planning and Legacy Planning:
When developing your estate plan it can be important to take full advantage of the marital deduction that allows property to transfer between spouse without triggering and estate or gift tax. However, it is very common to see “mixed” families these days where spouses have children from prior languages. This piece walks you through how using a QTIP trust takes advantage of the marital deduction while keeping assets in trust for your children from a prior marriage.
Estate Planning and Legacy Planning:
Families with special needs children can have complex financial and emotional challenges. While Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are often times crucial to help support a special needs child, these benefits are based available assets. If your special needs child will receive an inheritance, they may no longer qualify for this critical assistance. Learn how creating a special needs trust can provide support without disqualifying your child from these programs.
Tax Planning and Charitable Giving:
Do you own a highly appreciated asset that you would like to sell but are holding off due to the large capital gains tax bill? There is a way to avoid the large capital gain, potentially receive a large tax deduction, and convert that asset into a stream of income. This can be accomplished by utilizing a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT). Learn how about the different structures of CRTs, the tax benefits, and the advantages and disadvantages.
Tax Planning and Charitable Giving: Do you own a highly appreciated asset that you would like to sell but are holding off due to the large capital gains tax bill? There is a way to avoid the large capital gain, potentially receive a large tax deduction, and convert that asset into a stream of income. This can be accomplished by utilizing a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT). Learn how about the different structures of CRTs, the tax benefits, and the advantages and disadvantages.
Retirement Planning and/or Tax Planning:
If you have company stock in your 401(k) plan and have left your job, don’t be so fast to complete a rollover of the full account. Depending on your tax situation, the fair market value of the stock, and the cost basis of the stock, it may make sense to take advantage of the Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) tax rule. This piece explains how the NUA tax rule works and important considerations to analyze.
Business Planning:
A sole business owner faces a predicament that businesses with multiple owners don’t. What happens to the business, it’s employees, and the owner’s family if something were to suddenly happen to the owner? A one-way-buy-sell agreement may be the solution to protect all the relevant parties. Here is how a one-way-buy-sell agreement can work.
