One aspect of your estate plan that you may not yet have taken into consideration is your digital legacy. Arranging what happens to your digital assets and information when you pass away has become an increasingly essential component of financial literacy — and comprehensive estate planning. According to Pew Research, the number of adults in the United States who say they use the internet has grown from 52 percent in 2000 to 93 percent in
Allocating your personal possessions can be one of the most difficult tasks when creating an estate plan. To avoid family feuds after you are gone, it is important to have a plan and make your wishes clear. When passing on possessions to your heirs, savings and investments are easy to divide up, since they can be turned into cash. Real estate can also be turned into cash or co-owners can share it. Sometimes the most
Although I am an Estate Planner, I don’t like the term Estate. It makes many people think that estate plans are for someone else, not them. They may rationalize that they are too young or don’t have enough money to reap the tax benefits of a plan. But as the following list makes clear, estate planning is for everyone, regardless of age or net worth. Loss of Capacity. What if you become incompetent and unable
How frequently you should review your estate plan depends on how old you are and whether there has been a significant change in your circumstances. If you are over age 60 and you haven’t updated your estate plan in many decades, it’s almost certain that you need to update your documents. After that, you should review your plan every five years or so. But if you’re younger, you don’t need to do so nearly as
Everyone has heard the terms “will” and “trust,” but not everyone knows the differences between the two. Both are useful estate planning devices that serve different purposes, and both can work together to create a complete estate plan. One main difference between a will and a trust is that a will goes into effect only after you die, while a trust takes effect as soon as you create it. A will is a document that