Flexible Planning

Here is a great article on why "Flexible" Estate Planning is so important. The old A-B Trust planning just does not work any longer. Congress keeps changing the rules so now we have to be more flexible in our planning. Two things, planning review and update and plan review annually. I can help you with both.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/business/10TAX.html?_r=1&src=busln

Estate and Business Planning

Well, 2010 is well upon us and the news from Washington is not encouraging. Their priorities seem to be in areas other than helping families protect their wealth. The Federal Estate tax is repealed but only for 2010. In its place we have the capital gains tax. This all means that if you have not done your estate planning, you must deal with it now. If you have done some estate planning you need to have it reviewed by a QUALIFIED Estate Planning Attorney. Plans that were done by "trust mills" or done through an online document service, could be more dangerous than having done nothing. In these changing times flexibility is the key. Check out my web site for a "Trust Troubleshooter" checklist. Use it to check your own estate plan.

25 Ways to mess up an estate plan.

These are some ways that well meaning people create problems for their Families because they did not seek the counsel of a qualified estate planning Attorney.
Download this, study it and pass it on. Your Family is too valuable to take the "easy way out".

25 ways

Workshop

I will be doing an Estate Planning Workshop on Saturday Oct 31, 2009 at 9:00am at Adventure Christian Church in Roseville. You can sign up at http://adventurechurch.org or contact me.

Good news and Bad news

First the good news: You probably won’t get hit by a bus tomorrow. In fact, the odds are quite low. The bad news is that you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. What’s more, actuarial tables don’t lie: Someday, your proverbial bus will come. So from an estate planning standpoint, you have only two options. You can leave a tangled mess for your loved ones to sort through, or you can take a few simple steps that will make a difficult time easier. You can set up your finances so your wealth goes to your spouse and children, or you can procrastinate, increasing the risk that your cash ends up in the hands of the taxman, the lawyers or the evil husband of your ex-wife.

Estate taxes

My associates in Washington tell me that Congress will be extending the $3.5 Million exemption from federal estate taxes into 2010. Remember 2010 is when the tax was to be repealed. We all know that Congress will not let anything go without taxes. They also want to change the exemption to $1 Million and that will happen automatically in 2011.

What does this mean? If you have not done your estate planning and tax planning, you need to do it now. It's just that simple.

For all of the Financial Professionals and Life Insurance Professionals, now is the time to talk to each of your clients and tell them what is coming. This is a great opportunity to sell Life Insurance in an ILIT.

Great estate planning articles

Good morning, everyone. Yesterday was a busy day for online articles about estate planning. CBS MarketWatch.com posted a “Feature Package” of articles titled Keep the Money in the Family - short, simple articles that are an excellent reminder for all of us about the need to do planning. Available online at

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/feature/keep-the-money-in-the-family/338108/?tag=content;col1

and Forbes.com posted an article titled You Go-To Guide to Estate Planning, available online at

http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/02/estate-financial-planning-forbes-woman-net-worth-guide.html

Directed at women, this is another simple explanation as to why people should plan, with links to related articles.

I encourage you to read these articles as a reminder as to why you should plan your estate now.