New Year Estate Planning Resolutions
Money Matters Radio – Estate Planning Checklist
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Introduction/Overview: Clients rarely listen. Let’s pretend you’ll actually heed an estate planners advice. Here’s a series of New Year’s resolutions that will really improve your security, save you taxes, provide better protection from lawsuits and more.
Consider the following items?
√ Get a Checkup: An annual review of your overall planning once a year is essential. It’s cheaper than dealing with problems exacerbated by waiting years between appointments.
√ Advisers Must Coordinate: Call your accountant, investment manager, insurance consultant, and anyone else important to your overall financial picture and arrange for them to have 15 minutes of availability when you meet with your estate planner. Tell your estate planner to arrange a conference call during the meeting to coordinate everyone.
√ Skip Supermarket Advice: If you heard great estate planning advice on the golf course, at a free seminar at the supermarket, or something just as absurd, forget it. Talk to your pros. Don’t waste their time and your money explaining what are often nonsensical planning ideas.
√ Suzy Orman Advice May Not Be For You: If your net worth is $1M+ you cannot use the same advice directed towards the average American family. Some of it will work, a lot of it won’t. If you have a complex or large estate you cannot expect the mass of books, cable TV shows, even Oprah’s fav Suzy, to be giving you the advice you need.
√ Hug Your CPA: Most folks never use their CPAs intelligently. Meet after your return is done. Pay for an hour or two consult. Ask questions. But mostly ask your CPA to review your return and file and give you any ideas that they can have about anything that you should consider.
√ Rebalance Your Portfolio: You cannot hope to achieve investment goals if you don’t’ have an investment plan, stick with it and rebalance. Ask your investment guru whether you need to meet annually, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly, then do it.
√ Insurance is About more than Life: Too many folk ignore the host of risks out their. Evaluate all your coverage. Get a summary of everything from your agent and ask their advice. Have your CPA review it at the meeting you have with him/her (see above).
√ Credit Check: Review your free on line report form one of the three agencies every four months. That will help you keep tabs on your credit at no cost.