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Trusts

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How to Use a FLIP Trust for 2 Key Retirement Planning Goals

July 12, 2021

Many people wish to save income taxes today, and create a stream of retirement income in the future. The FLIP trust, especially the FLIP-CRUT (charitable remainder unitrust), is a venerable way to accomplish both goals. The FLIP-CRUT strategy begins with a charitable remainder trust (CRT). An individual (known as the grantor) executes a trust agreement […]

The Inheritor’s Trust: An Often-Overlooked Estate Planning Strategy

June 13, 2021

The Inheritor’s Trust is dramatically under used as an estate planning strategy, which is remarkable considering its significant benefits. Estate planning usually is done one generation at a time. The oldest members, for example, decide how they want to disburse their assets among their children and perhaps their grandchildren. Their adult children do their own […]

private-annuity-trusts-new-rules

How To Create a Trust for Your Heirs (Part 2)

August 3, 2020

In last week’s edition of Retirement Watch Weekly, I presented How To Create a Trust for Your Heirs. There are a few more important provisions and clauses for setting up beneficiary trusts, so let’s get right to it. Matching Trust: This is another clause designed to pay out trust principal only when the beneficiary has […]

Estate Planning

Will vs. Trust: Which is Better?

July 27, 2020

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” said inventor, diplomat and founding father Benjamin Franklin in describing the importance of planning for the future. It is only natural for people to want to maintain some level of control over the assets that they worked so hard to accumulate throughout their life. Creating a […]

types-of-trusts-and-reasons-for-using-them

How To Create a Trust for Your Heirs

July 27, 2020

“Great Fortunes Lost” was an article in Fortune magazine years ago. It described how various individuals, usually heirs, lost or squandered very large fortunes. Some of the individuals lost more than money. They lost their health or wasted their lives because of the effects wealth had on them. It’s nice to leave enough to make […]

trustee-strategies-for-the-21st-century

What is a Grantor Trust?

July 21, 2020

A grantor trust is one in which the grantor retains control of its income and assets. Grantor trusts are a type of living trust that is created during the lifetime of the individual who creates it. The grantor typically is self-appointed as the trustee to maintain control over the assets. The grantor can then name […]

trusts-that-save-taxes-and-families

At What Net Worth Do You Need a Trust?

July 20, 2020

Trusts are typically thought of as tools for the wealthy, however, affluence is not a prerequisite to reap the benefits of owning a trust. Trusts can be useful estate planning tools for many people, but it may not be worth the expense for people who do not have many assets. Background: What is a Trust? […]

Estate Planning

Key Changes in Estate Tax, Bypass Trusts and Tax Free Gifts

June 16, 2020

There are four basic strategies for reducing estate taxes: Reducing assets from the gross estate Removing future appreciation from the gross estate Increasing deductions, and Buying life insurance Within those four strategies are many options. Not all will be appropriate for you. But there are quite a few strategies – and it’s always good to […]

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