Wealth Planning Preparation
We engage in wealth planning by integrating tax and estate planning goals. Part of that process includes a review of your current estate planning documents. It’s a good idea to go through this process every three to five years, and especially after a big life event. Here are some big life goals and events that require an immediate trip to your financial, tax and estate planner’s office:
- New child or grandchild
- Marriage or divorce, and death or estrangement of a family member
- Major purchase, like a home or business
- Inheritance
- Change of residency
- Retirement
- Business sale or transfer
- Gift planning, either charitable or generational
- Child attains adulthood
- Asset protection
Be prepared with this information in order to ensure your estate planner can assist you in accomplishing your goals and wishes.
- Legal names, addresses, emails, and ages of all immediate family members
- Social security numbers for you and your spouse
- Tax identification numbers for any trust or business interest
- Net worth statement for you, net worth statement for your spouse (if applicable), and net worth statement for any joint assets, including account numbers for any investment account and beneficiary designations for all life insurance and retirement assets
- Copies of existing estate planning documents
- Copy of most recent tax return
- Thoughts about who is most capable of serving in important fiduciary roles, like executor/personal representative, trustee, guardian, conservator, financial and medical powers of attorney, and business manager or successor
- Thoughts about who you want to inherit what assets
- Thoughts about timing and ages for beneficiaries to receive inherited assets
- Thoughts about any end of life decisions, including funeral and burial wishes, and end of life care
A comprehensive estate planning update includes:
- Review of existing documents for required updates
- Draft updated estate planning documents, including will, revocable and irrevocable trusts (as desired and advisable), medical and financial powers of attorney, HIPPA paperwork, and living will
- Review asset titling and beneficiary designations
- Flowchart or summarize the terms of your estate planning documents
- Tax and estate flow projection, including impact of income and estate taxes on your net worth and amounts to intended beneficiaries
- Fiduciary guidance and selection
- Funding instructions for any trusts established
- Development of planning binder for family members with copies of estate planning documents, and information on the location and identity of assets, physicians, medication, trusted advisors, lists of personal property gifts, and other important financial and nonfinancial information
Optional additional planning, depending on applicability
- Business succession planning, including buy/sell clauses and funding mechanisms
- Consideration of educational funding and planning tools
- Consideration of disability and medicaid planning tools
- Retirement planning and projections
- Financial risk assessment and planning recommendations, including asset protection vehicles and insurance
Wealth planning is an important step in the direction of ensuring your goals and wishes are met. The more information you can convey to your professional advisors about your current situation, the better prepared your tax, financial and estate planning advisors will be to assist you in accomplishing those goals and wishes.
This information is provided for educational purposes only.
