Estate Planning

Estate Planning 101

Estate Planning 101

You are never too young to think about estate planning. I know that even the term estate planning can feel touchy. Let’s be real: Estate Planning is a polite way of saying death and incapacity planning. No one WANTS to talk about it (well maybe estate planning attorneys do). While talking about death is a tough topic, it will occur. It’s worth planning what will happen to your assets after you pass away (or become unable to manage them – incapacity). Now, we are not estate planning attorneys, and we encourage you to seek out advice from one. But there are estate planning elements to everyone’s financial plan. There are easy steps many people can take to improve this overall plan.  

Business Exit Strategy Series – Private Annuity

Business Exit Strategy Series – Private Annuity

An annuity!? I’ll be honest, as an independent financial planner without any affiliation or incentive to sell particular products, I despise annuities (generally speaking). This is because you give up so much chance for asset growth for a guaranteed income stream. The fees are high, and the commissions taken by annuity sales-reps are typically very high. Why? Because they are so profitable for the annuity seller. I’ll go one step further to say that annuities prey on retired, older women. I’ll leave it at that. I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. But I run into people all the time that have an annuity, either through work, personal purchase, or another means. For example, sometimes it’s a provided work benefit that your employer pays into, but you don’t. Then that annuity will be free money when paying out. So having an annuity isn’t necessarily bad. However, please reach out to us if you are thinking of purchasing an annuity. We really want to prove our point that annuities should only be acquired in rare circumstances.

Thanksgiving Special - Financial Conversations with Family

Thanksgiving Special - Financial Conversations with Family

With Thanksgiving approaching, many people will see their families. When we love our family, we want what’s best for them. Sometimes this involves conversations about money. However, money can be a taboo topic in American society, just as health and politics can create “awkwardness” at the dinner table. We all know that feeling when someone brings up a political conversation at a family dinner (advocating for either left or right views) and their deep intent is just to spout their viewpoint with the goal of asserting their viewpoint’s supposed superiority. We internally cringe. We can get the same feeling when someone brings up health or criticizes some else’s weight. We lump this into either someone trying to elevate themselves above everyone else or denigrate others below them. The position of our heart is very important before bringing up “touchy” subjects. Money is no different.

Here are 6 tips for talking about money with family

Business Exit Strategies Series - Self-Cancelling Installment Notes (SCIN)

Business Exit Strategies Series - Self-Cancelling Installment Notes (SCIN)

Do you own a business but have significant estate planning tax considerations? Do you need to generate income from the business to fund retirement? A SCIN might be right for you.

A SCIN is a variation of the installment sale. Recall an installment sale spreads out the capital gain of a business over multiple annual payments rather than recognizing it all at once. SCINs add a little twist to the usual installment sale.

Business Exit Strategy Series - Installment Sale

Business Exit Strategy Series - Installment Sale

Are you a business owner looking to exit your business? Do you need income from the business sale? Would you like to spread that income out over multiple years to reduce tax burden? An installment sale might be the best fit.