Most parents come into our office with one concern on their minds: protecting and providing for their children. We help these parents select loving guardians and set up solid trust or inheritance plans to ensure that their children will have everything they need. But parents often have another concern as well—how to keep their children [...]
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Wealthy grandparents have a unique opportunity this year to give their grandchildren gifts of substantial value without incurring any gift tax. This is a huge savings opportunity!—so why aren’t more people taking advantage of it? Part of the reason may be lack of awareness. Everyone knows about the Bush administration’s year-long repeal of the estate [...]
If you have a favorite cause or charity you have probably considered leaving some money to that charity in your will. Perhaps you’ve even taken it a step further and toyed with the idea of specifying that the executor of your will set up a trust in the name of your favorite charity, rather than [...]
Shakespeare said that old age is a return to childhood; without teeth, without voice… and in the case of Alzheimer’s patients, without memories. But if the elderly have to endure the drawbacks of childhood, shouldn’t they get some of the benefits too? The Family Caregiver Alliance must have thought so too, because a few times [...]
In spite of all the advice you see out there to start saving early for your eventual retirement, we’re realistic. We know that many people—either out of choice, neglect or necessity—put off saving for their retirement, only to find themselves up against a wall of anxiety when they realize that retirement isn’t very far away. [...]
There has been lot of hullabaloo in the news recently about Do-It-Yourself Wills and Estate Planning, most notably a debate on Forbes.com with articles presenting The Case For Do-It-Yourself Wills and The Case Against Do-It-Yourself Wills. Well, the state of Washington just weighed in on the subject with a settlement between the Washington Office of [...]
This may seem like we’re listening to a broken record, but once again Congress’ inability to act is creating uncertainty in the estate-tax-planning world. We’re little over 3 months away from a major upheaval in the estate tax, and according to the New York Times the upcoming law is likely to cause a lot of [...]
You have a longer life expectancy than a man, different ideas about what constitutes risk, often work for a different pay-scale… and if you’re a woman, you likely need a different kind of retirement plan as well. You may think that the financial advisor recommended by your husband/father/brother will suit you just fine, but this [...]
One of the most important estate planning decisions you can make, or help your clients make, is choosing an executor for your will. As succinctly put in an ABA article (.pdf): “The most important thing is that you pick someone who is financially responsible, stable, and trustworthy.” In most cases, the person named as executor in the will is [...]
Most people don’t think about visiting a financial planner until they’re old enough to have some money to manage, but if your child is a recent college graduate, or in his or her final year, you may want to consider a joint trip to your financial planner. A recent article in the Boston Globe lists [...]