Category Archives: Estate Planning
Establishing A Trust When The Beneficiary Is A Minor
Trusts are a popular estate planning tool, and not just for wealthy people. By placing assets in a trust, you can keep them from being part of your estate that goes through probate; therefore, the beneficiaries can inherit them more quickly and more easily. You can even set up a living trust with yourself… Read More »
True Or False: The Early Bird Gets The Estate
Technically, you don’t have to go through probate after a family member dies. Even if the decedent was a stickler for punctuality, he or she is not there to complain about you being late in administering the estate. Some families open a deceased family member’s estate for probate years after the decedent’s death. It… Read More »
Retirement For Debtors
If you take a personal finance class in high school, your teacher will probably tell you that paying for purchases in cash should be your default option; you should only borrow money in order to build your credit, a credit card to qualify you for a car loan, and a car loan to qualify… Read More »
Can You And Your Spouse Write A Joint Will?
If you are in the mood for some negativity but do not want to end up doom scrolling through endless think pieces that offer terrifying predictions about the future, Google the name of a movie where a love relationship is the main theme or a major subplot. You are sure to find an essay… Read More »
Can The State Really Inherit Your Property After You Die?
Everyone knows that they should write a will, but most of us keep putting it off until the next year. The thing that motivates most of us to put our last will and testament into writing is a sudden jolt of fear about something that might happen if we don’t write a will. For… Read More »
Financial Exploitation Of The Elderly Is A Crime
One of the goals of your estate plan should be to protect you from elder abuse. Elderly people who are socially isolated and in poor health are vulnerable to abuse by professional caregivers, family members, and fraudsters who come into the senior’s life pretending to have friendly intentions. The abuse can be emotional, financial,… Read More »
Medicaid Nursing Home Planning: Be Careful What You Wish For
You are never going to be wealthy enough to spend half of the year in a mansion in Florida and the other half traveling the world. You also cannot afford to move into one of those fancy Old Boomers’ Homes in New York City that go out of their way to make residents feel… Read More »
Listen To Your Conscience When It Comes To Leaving Money To Your Children
Children don’t come with an instruction manual. There is plenty of advice available about how to behave toward your children, but it only serves to make you feel more insecure and confused; therefore, it is the opposite of helpful when it comes to decision making. This is true when you are trying to get… Read More »
Protecting Your Elderly Family Members From Romance Scams
Finding a friend or a romantic partner late in life can be a beautiful thing, especially when you consider how detrimental loneliness is to the physical and mental health of seniors. Unfortunately, scammers realize that there are plenty of lonely seniors out there and are willing to give them the illusion of friendship or… Read More »
Health Is More Important Than Money In Determining When You Should Retire
Financial planners are fond of saying that you are ready to retire when your retirement savings balance is such that four percent of it will cover your expenses for a year. Anyone who has seen the price of a dozen eggs since the omicron wave subsided knows that most of us will never reach… Read More »