On September 4, 2014, comedy icon Joan Rivers passed away. It's no secret that Rivers hoped for a funeral that rivaled her lifestyle: big and over the top. Craft services. Paparazzi. Meryl Streep crying in five different accents. These are just a few of the wishes the late Joan Rivers…
The most important thing for any patient with a long-term illness is to focus on his overall health and mental outlook. Having financial plans in place allows a patient to set other worries aside. How do you plan for future illnesses or tragedies? The "what ifs" of life are all…
David Cutner, partner at Lamson & Cutner, attorneys for the elderly and disabled offered the following tips for both estate planning and long-term care for boomers. A recent Fox Business article reported that the majority of seniors are completely in the dark on one of the biggest financial risks they are…
Today, ordinary income plus various other taxes could boost the effective tax rate on those second-level RMDs well over 40%. Who knows what tax rates might be in effect when current clients eventually pass their IRAs to future generations? Some individuals choose to have partial Roth IRA conversions so they…
After traveling to Mexico for spring break, Alex developed a severe intestinal bug that landed him in the college infirmary. Franc rushed to visit him there, only to find that doctors refused to discuss his son’s condition, citing privacy concerns. If you have a college-aged child, you may need to…
Your first step? Take stock of all your assets. These include your investments, retirement accounts, insurance policies, real estate and any business interests. According to CNN Money's "Identifying your assets" (i.e., part of its Money Essentials Series), a good first step for estate planning is to review and inventory all…
As we age, we begin to reflect on where we've been and what we've accomplished. Do we leave an imprint on our family's lives? Do we live life to the fullest? What is our purpose in life? Results of several studies indicate that a sense of living a purposeful life…
You may have made a giant estate planning mistake without even knowing it — forgetting to update the names of your beneficiaries for your employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance policies, mutual funds, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, annuities and 529 college savings plans. The recent MarketWatch article, titled “Don’t make…
Your plan is only as good as the people who implement it. When they aren’t competent, don’t pay attention to details, or decide to pursue their own interests, disaster can ensue. The latest case involves the Walt Disney estate. "If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney…
When people die, their assets (cash, real property, investments, savings, car and so on) become the property of their estates. And each estate is obliged to pay all debts, costs, taxes and other liabilities due before it distributes what's left over, according to the deceased's wishes, to the beneficiary or…