…There are a few important questions many of us don’t think about. They’re the often overlooked issues of estate planning that could make all the difference for your relatives and heirs after you pass. Estate planning encompasses so many areas of your life. For starters, you'll likely consider your values…
Ultimately, the decision about whether to leave your children money now or later depends entirely on your financial and family circumstances. Deciding whether or not to leave an inheritance is only part of the equation. When should you give it – now or later? Forbes recently tackled this difficult issue…
“Young people may be eager to marry for love, but older couples are more practical and worry about paying the bills,” says Pepper Schwartz, professor of sociology at the University of Washington. These days, more and more Americans are meeting new loves or (finally) their true loves later in life.…
Remember that any mistakes in your estate plan will live long after you. Follow these rules and you’ll end up with an estate plan that works well for you and your heirs. Planning for the estate is really an ongoing activity. Accordingly, estate planning is not a “one-and-done” event, but…
Picking the right charity can be so complicated that it makes picking stocks look easy. When you give to charity, do you ever wonder if your donation is really going where it's intended? Or if your gift is doing the work you intended? If you are wrestling with these and…
Worried about your adult children blowing through their inheritance? Two strategies can help holders of individual retirement accounts curb an heir’s impulse to “cash out.” You may have many assets to leave behind for your heirs. However, an IRA is unique enough to be easily squandered in taxes, as MarketWatch…
“I don’t believe in inheriting money,” CNN host Anderson Cooper recently told Howard Stern on Stern’s radio show. Added Cooper, a son of designer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt: “I think it’s an initiative sucker. I think it’s a curse.” American attitudes toward inheritance seem to be shifting, partly by fiscal…
Many of us want to get going but don't know where to start. So, here are eight documents that can help you get your affairs in order. If that sounds like a lot of paperwork, don't worry: You probably won't need every one of them. A properly planned and executed…
[Donor-advised funds] promise a number of advantages over foundations, such as lower annual costs, more privacy and no required minimum payout each year. A big difference between the two is control. Running a charitable foundation can be richly rewarding, yet exhausting. Now there is a popular alternative to a full…
A spouse who inherits an IRA has a choice. The surviving spouse can move the account into an inherited IRA to keep the tax shelter. Or she can choose to roll the account into her own IRA. There are some unique rules that go into effect when an IRA is…