| |
| |
|
Personal Finance Information |
|
|
|
Estate Planning Basics
You have probably accomplished a great deal with your life. Over the years you have worked, planned and saved. Perhaps you have even made some sacrifices to achieve your current level of success. It's a sure bet that you will want to pass along your accumulated assets rather than hand them over for court costs, taxes or attorney fees. Estate planning is the relatively simple process by which you prepare legal documents outlining your wishes for your estate upon your death. It can be difficult to plan for the end of your life, but this planning is necessary to protect your family and your assets. What is your estate? Your estate refers to your property, those things you own, including your total assets and liabilities. Your property includes your home, car, accounts (i.e. bank, retirement, and brokerage), jewelry, insurance policies and so forth. The language of estate planning It is understandable that the idea of planning for your family after die can be a little frightening. Familiarity with the terms used in estate planning will help you begin to develop some comfort with the process. Estate: Refers to your property or those things that you own. Property: Includes two categories, real (as in real estate/your home(s) and personal, which includes everything else such as stocks, bank accounts, car(s), jewelry, and so forth. Intestate: Is a pre, or non-planning state. Dying intestate means that you have died without creating a will or trust to outline your desires for distribution of your estate. Trust: Eliminates many of the financial risks in planning for the transfer of your estate from you to your heirs upon your death. Risks include taxes, probate, lawyers, creditors, judgments, etc. A trust can provide for the management of your estate if you become incapacitated as well reduce death taxes and assure a smooth transfer of your property according to your wishes. Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable. Talk with your tax or legal advisor about the benefits of each. Probate: The process by which your personal property is legally transferred to your heirs upon your death. The probate process also identifies rightful heirs and determines how your assets will be distributed among them. Probate can be quite expensive (up to 10% of the net worth of your estate) but the expense can be avoided with estate planning. Will: A written, legal document outlining your wishes for your real and personal property upon your death. You can also appoint a guardian for any minor children. Beneficiaries: These are the people you assign to benefit with distribution of your real and personal property upon your death. Your will can be an important tool of your estate plan. The goal of the estate plan is to allow you, rather than probate court and attorney, to maintain control of your assets. Planning allows you the opportunity to set forth clear directions and desires for your assets in the event of your death or physical or mental incapacitation. Estate planning is a necessary and painless process. You will afford yourself peace of mind and you will smooth the road for your heirs in terms of property transfer upon your death. Amy Nichols is a freelance writer and contributing author to http://www.howtowriteawill.com, a site providing free estate planning tips and information.
MORE RESOURCES:
Personal-Finance - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
10 Steps to Take if You Are a Victim of Identity Theft There have been an estimated 9.9 million victims on America and over 40% of all consumer complaints in the U. Banks Are More Than Just A Place To Park Your Money If you've been to a shopping mall lately, you've probably discovered two different banks within a few feet of each other. Go inside the food store in that shopping plaza and you'll see yet another one, just waiting to offer their services to you. Healthy Eating On A Budget It is possible to eat a healthy, balanced diet without breaking the bank! Here are some suggestions:-Eliminate junk food. You may have to do your grocery shopping alone, since children (and sometimes spouses!) are often the ones who request the junk foods. Save Money on your Clothing Budget. Tame the Closet Monster! Reducing the clothing budget was a serious challenge for me. Two pre-teen girls and a teenage girl certainly didn't make life any easier. How to Attain Your Dreams on a Single Income If you recently became a single parent and see your dreams being washed away because you feel all alone, you aren't alone. There are single parents that face future endeavors alone like dating again, living on one income, and buying the home they've always imagined. Make or Break Your Retirement! The Prudential has dubbed those who refuse to leave home as "kippers" or "kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings". Recent research concludes 6. More Money? My Cup Runneth Over...But Im Still Thirsty Most of us, especially those of us who have debtor's disease (if you have it you know what it is!), have commented or at least thought, "If I could just win the lottery, or sweepstakes, everything would be better." Unfortunately, even if that big dream did come true things probably would get worse instead of better. Saving Money - The Magic 20 Percent Saving money is not easy and is made more difficult if you have a short-term outlook regarding your personal finances. If, like many people, you are living from one pay cheque to the next, it is difficult to put some money aside for a rainy day or for a summer holiday. I Want to Buy a Home - Now What? If you were to ask 100 women "What would you like to achieve financially?" Buying a home or apartment is usually one of the answers. Some women think that they can never own a home - which is not true! In fact, there are so many success stories of home buyers who never thought they would get there. Creating A Household Budget Creating a budget can be a very difficult task. Although we as consumers know that we need to pay our bills, buy our necessities, and put money away for savings, we don't really know how to start. Check Fraud and Verification Before buying personal or business checks you should inform yourself of the best ways to protect yourself from check fraud. Since man has written checks check fraud has existed. Budgeting Tips to Save Real Money Sticking to a budget can be difficult, but with so many demands on your finances you have to be extra cautious. TV ads are constantly bombarding the airwaves with messages that you need to buy this or you must have that. What Are We Teaching our 2005 Graduates about Money? Now that we are in the month of June I can't help but wonder if we have prepared our new graduates for the responsibility of managing and budgeting their money.I had a very interesting conversation with my God-son, a recent graduate from a local Los Angeles high school. Succession Planning Have you ever thought about what you are going to leave your children when you pass from this earth? Wouldn't it be a great feeling to be able to give them a really good head start in life - without actually spoiling them?It really doesn't matter how old you are, it's something that you need to be thinking about and planning for now. In the process of planning your inheritance and blessing your children, you are really making YOUR life better and more financially secure because you'll enjoy these benefits before you pass them on. What is ChexSystems? Commonly referred to as the first of the three major "Check Systems" in the U.S. Do You Know What Tomorrow Will Bring? I've been sharing the following idea with people for a few years now, and realized recently that I had never written specifically about it. So here it is:"I cannot predict the future. Honor Those Who Serve with Checking Account Supplies Our global society has had a wake up call in the last five years regarding our safety. But there are those in our communities that fight to keep us safe from day to day. Saving Money On Gasoline For Your Automobile The gas that we fill our tanks with every week adds up to be quite an expensive bill over the months and years. Thirty dollars a week in gas adds up to over $1500 a year. Ways to Save Energy and Slash Electricity Bills 1. Lighting & Light Bulbs Install low energy light bulbs in rooms you use regularly - they last up to 15 times longer than a normal light bulb and provide the same lighting for a quarter of the running cost. The World is Not Enough - Calling for a More Ethical Approach to Personal Finance At a time when the entire world's attention is focused on the problems of world debt, with the Live 8 concerts, the G8 summit in Scotland, the Make Poverty History Campaign (MPH) and the various anti-poverty marches, it seems that everyone wants the world's governments to behave more ethically towards the manner in which international finance is conducted. This is obviously a laudable attitude to take, and has gained immense momentum with such a groundswell of public opinion that even the UK Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has stated he is planning to participate in the Make Poverty History demonstration in Edinburgh during the G8 summit.
|
| home | site map |
| Web Site Development - Search Engine Marketing: Dream Team Media |
