Thank you to all of you who joined our webinar last week.   We want to share a few highlights about what we heard and how we are going to guide this process with all of you, whether you were able to join us last week or not.

  • Our most important insight:  EVERYONE ALREADY HAS A PLAN….  If it’s a plan that if we as family members haven’t written ourselves, the state has written it for us.  So, the question isn’t whether there is a plan; it’s whether it’s the plan we want.  And when life changes, the plan probably needs to change too.

 Other insights:

  • There are four common documents which define estate planning. 
    • Last will and testament
    • Revocable trust (may not be required)
    • Financial power of attorney (ends at death when executor takes over)
    • Advance healthcare directive/healthcare power of attorney (may also require HIPAA authorization)
  • We should have beneficiary designations for our investment accounts and annuities.  These designations often supersede our wills, so they need to be correct and updated as needed.
  • Moving real property (your house)  into a Trust can be useful in some situations.  This can be a complicated process.  Laws vary by state.
  • Taxes matter.  And holding assets in a trust does not make income, estate or gift taxes go away.  The type and structure of the trust determine the tax treatment.
  • The tool we use helps facilitate the preparation of documents and can help you create estate planning documents from scratch or build on what you already have.   A pre-meeting worksheet is used to establish your goals (the hard part) before the tool is even accessed.
  • There are times when an attorney is needed and we can help connect you at a pre-negotiated rate when appropriate.
  • We are here to guide you through this process.  There is no additional fee from us to do this.
  • We are ready to begin this work with you and those you care about!

Linder Financial Services is a dba of Thayer Partners LLC, (“Thayer”).  Thayer is an SEC registered investment adviser.   SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of Thayer by the SEC nor does it indicate that Thayer has attained a particular level of skill or ability.  This material prepared by Thayer is for informational purposes only.  It is not intended to serve as a substitute for personalized investment advice or as a recommendation or solicitation of any particular security, strategy or investment product.  Opinions expressed by Thayer are based on economic or market conditions at the time this material was written.  Economies and markets fluctuate.  Actual economic or market events may turn out differently than anticipated.  Facts presented have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable.  Thayer, however, cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information, and certain information presented here may have been condensed or summarized from its original source.  Thayer does not provide tax or legal advice, and nothing contained in these materials should be taken as tax or legal advice.