Estate Planning Strategies
Found 73 Articles.
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How to Build the Family Venture Capital and Loan Fund
Most people want to help their children and grandchildren, but they want to provide more than money. One goal is to ensure the future generations are hard-working and productive citizens who have initiative. Another goal is to perpetuate the family’s values. One of the values in some families is entrepreneurship. By encouraging entrepreneurial activities in […]
Essential Tips and Strategies for Family Businesses
Business owners have unique concerns along with the usual estate planning issues. Business owners fear that the heirs might have to sell or dismantle the business and that the wrong people might run it. Those results can be avoided, but the owner must plan carefully and implement the plan. The first major estate planning issue […]
Estate Planning Strategies to Give and Protect Wealth
Many people know why making gifts is part of most estate plans. Yet, they hesitate to make the gifts, because they see potential pitfalls. They fear that the gifts might be spent unwisely or wasted. The donee could squander the assets on gambling, substance abuse, or other activities. Or the wealth could be well-managed for […]
Popular Strategy Ruins Estate Planning
Many people naively subvert their estate plans, creating nightmares for their heirs and bonuses for the taxman. The situation is easy to cause, but also is easy to fix. The problem is that few people realize the importance of the wording of the legal title to their assets. Yet, this simple decision, often made without […]
Best Estate Planning Strategies to Help with Education
Numerous vehicles are available to help prepare for education expenses. Parents and grandparents need to compare carefully to choose right vehicle for them. The Section 529 college savings plan gets the most attention. It is open to anyone regardless of income level. The investment earnings compound tax-free and can be withdrawn tax free if used […]
Tapping that New Real Estate Wealth for Estate Planning
Managing the equity in appreciated homes and second homes has become a pleasant and unexpected challenge for many. Especially on the coasts, residential real estate values soared the last five years. Suddenly owners, especially long-time owners, have properties that are more valuable than they imagined. For many families, real estate wealth exceeds the value of […]
Estate Planning Protection Package
The most unexpected events can cause a will to be challenged. A carefully planned estate becomes a mess as legal fees lay waste to the family wealth and acrimony drives members apart. It doesn’t have to happen. In most cases, a will contest and related lawsuits could have been avoided with a few preventive steps. […]
HIPAA-compliant Estate Planning
The law of unintended consequences has struck again. Because of it, some standard Estate Planning tools need to be reworked, and existing plans might need some revisions in the next few years. Congress decided Americans’ medical privacy needed more protection, so in 1996 it passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA. […]
