January 23, 2012 | When we review estate plans, there are some common mistakes we come across. You may think some of these are obvious, but we have seen them enough to assure you that they are not. Here is our list of the 10 mistakes we see most often.
December 21, 2011 | Let’s give health care reform a short rest. I’ll talk about something more exciting that needs to have its simplicity restored – end of life. This will lay the groundwork for future posts on how health care reform deals with this touchy subject. For today, I want to set the tone for how we talk about death.
July 21, 2011 | “Round-and-round she goes – where she stops, nobody knows!” Some people feel like the estate tax system is more like a carnival game of chance than a predictable landscape that can be planned around these days, and with the way the rules have shifted recently, it is hard to blame them.
March 4, 2010 | Unfortunately, with health care reform dominating much of the 2009 legislative agenda, Congress could manage little more than light banter regarding the final stages of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA). As the ball dropped to close out 2009, the estate tax was repealed ... at least for the time being. Estate planning attorneys, clients, and their advisors are now left to examine three questions previously thought to be moot, given the anticipation of pre-2010 estate tax reform: (1) Where are we now (what rules govern 2010)? (2) Where might we go from here (what directions may the estate tax system take as we draw near, and enter, 2011)? and (3) How does this picture affect existing estate tax planning arrangements?
May 3, 2009 | As financial planners, we are sometimes asked to make assumptions about clients’ life expectancies. To assist us with that process, we can turn to generic data provided by the federal government: IRS Rule 2002-62 provides a life expectancy table used to determine annual required distributions; IRS Table CM90 (1999) provides actuarial values relating to estate, gift, and charitable issues; and Treasury Regulation Subchapter A, Sec. 1.72-16 provides the life expectancy table used for annuities and life insurance contracts purchased under qualified employee plans.
December 12, 2008 | In the July edition of FJY's Quarterly Newsletter, asset protection was defined and the need for asset protection by those of modest wealth - not just high rollers and bankrupt deadbeats - was discussed. Despite claims to the contrary, asset protection strategies can not guarantee that all of one's property will be completely removed from the reach of creditors. Rather, the goal of asset protection is to create as much distance as is reasonably (and legally) possible between one's assets and his or her creditors or potential creditors. The importance of timing in structuring and implementing an asset protection plan was also addressed. We will now explore several fundamental considerations of effective asset protection.
December 12, 2008 | The term asset protection often evokes visions of high rollers and Swiss bank accounts or, on the other end of the spectrum, bankrupt deadbeats trying to avoid their just debts and obligations. While asset protection may, for some, involve off-shore accounts or trusts and other more exotic means of removing assets from the reach of creditors, such approaches are often well beyond what is typically required to achieve a reasonable level of security. Likewise, asset protection is largely ineffective (and in some cases illegal) for those teetering on the banks of or already in insolvency. Instead, asset protection is most appropriate for individuals who have achieved or are in the process of achieving some degree of financial success and who are accumulating assets with which they would prefer not to part in the event of some unforeseen future financial setback, lawsuit or liability.
How to Die Like a Doctor
March 28, 2012 | Here's a painful, and sometimes funny, look at how key legislative decisions are made in Washington, D.C., which you are encouraged to share with your friends: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/03/how-lobbyists-run-washington/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter If you want to fix the problem of rising costs in the U.S. healthcare system, or at least reduce the looming Medicare/Medicaid entitlement burden, there's a surprisingly easy solution. In Washington policy circles, it has been estimated that more than 80% of all the dollars spent on healthcare in the U.S. are incurred in the last nine days of a person's life. Many times, the money is spent keeping a person alive in a vegetative state, prolonging an incurable illness or painful conditions where there is little to no chance of recovery. The money is not just wasted; it may actually be used to prolong suffering when recovery is not an option.