Without a plan in place, you risk burying your family in red tape as they try to get access to and deal with your online accounts that may have sentimental, practical or monetary value. Just when you think you've covered all your bases when planning for your estate, the issue…
Conversions from regular IRAs to Roth retirement accounts increased more than nine times in 2010, rising to $64.8 billion from $6.8 billion in 2009, according to data released [January 3rd] by the Internal Revenue Service. As reported in Bloomberg on the day of an IRS announcement, conversions from traditional to…
Estate planning is a difficult topic to address because it requires you to think about a world without you in it. No one likes to reflect on their own demise, which is why many people simply put estate planning off for another day and only get around to it when…
If your beneficiaries are out-of-date, when you die, your assets could go [to] the wrong people – a former spouse, for example – no matter what your will says. Often, the biggest mistakes we can make when it comes to our estate planning are also some of the easiest to…
While your goal might be to attract the most qualified buyer that will pay the asking price and lead the company on a path of continued success, it is what you expect of your life post-sale that should constitute how you execute the deal. Done right, a business succession or…
Aging parents need to establish a plan and communicate it with their adult kids — and adult kids need to ask their parents about their finances. In our own lives, our parents start and run the money conversations from that first allowance to gearing up for those college loans and…
Here are the must-do estate-plan tasks you should get done now. What's on your list of New Year's resolutions? Yes, it's that time of year yet again. In addition to the normal list of diet, exercise and the sort — did "estate planning" make the list for 2014? We all…
"You cannot predict what may happen between now and receiving an inheritance," said Ireland. "The earlier you start preparing, the more financially secure your own retirement is likely to be." Planning for an inheritance can be a tricky endeavor, for both givers and receivers. On one side, the giver has…
For many people, estate planning is both a private matter and morbid topic – not something that parents want to discuss with their adult children. While having such conversations takes a lot of courage, families that speak freely about these delicate issues can avoid problems down the line. Thinking about…
A comprehensive estate plan ensures that wills, trusts, ownership forms and beneficiary designations are in sync with your wishes. Is your plan up-to-date? As the old adage puts it, most folks do not “plan to fail, they just fail to plan.” In this sense, leaving an inheritance behind can get…