WrapManager's Wealth Management Blog
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It’s a Family Affair: Talking to Your Family about Financial Planning

Posted by Katie O'Connor | Director of Client Services

August 15, 2018

The “Godfather of Soul,” James Brown, had a noble vision for how he wanted his assets distributed after his passing. His will had set aside $2 million for his grandchildren’s education, and he would also set aside millions of dollars for the education of underprivileged children in Georgia and South Carolina.

Eleven years after his passing, not a penny has gone to these beneficiaries of his will.

The reason: ongoing legal battles, as family members challenge Mr. Brown’s will in court and multiple parties argue over the assets in his estate. More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed since Mr. Brown passed away in 2006, and one of them involves nine of Mr. Brown’s children and grandchildren suing the estate’s administrator as well as Mr. Brown’s widow, Tommie Rae Hynie.[1]

James Brown carefully crafted his estate plan to focus on education and his community, yet his wishes are arguably yet to be fulfilled. It leaves one to wonder: what if Mr. Brown had gathered his entire family together, had very frank and candid discussions about his estate plan, and told his family explicitly that they were not to challenge his wishes. Where would his estate be today?

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Estate Planning Financial Planning

Writing Your Will – Ensuring Your Wishes are Known and Followed

August 1, 2018
Our estate planning hats are on this week, and we have two fundamental but essential questions for readers: (1) Do you have a will? and (2) If you do, have you updated it in the last year? If the answer to either of those questions is no, we have five reasons it should be yes: Don’t Let State Laws Determine Who Gets Your Assets – when a person passes, and it is determined that he/she did not have a written will, then state laws will usually determine how the person’s property will be distributed. Though the state will generally opt to distribute property amongst family and close relatives, the fact that the state is making the decisions is problem enough. You work hard for the assets you accumulate over a lifetime. It should be up to you how those assets are distributed. [+] Read More

What’s the Best Way to Make Tax Efficient Gifts to Adult Children? – Doug’s Quiz Corner

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Quizmaster, Doug Hutchinson, presents his quiz for the month. Here, Doug helps you navigate tax efficient gifting strategies to help a friend transfer wealth to his adult son for school tuition and a future home purchase. Consider this Scenario: Your friend Gus is considering helping his son, Walter, with the cost of paying tuition and purchasing a new home over the next couple of years. Walter has two years of school left (including this year) and he is planning to purchase a home next year. [+] Read More

Why High Income Earners Can Still Benefit from a Budget

January 23, 2018
A high-income earner can benefit from a having a budget much like a professional athlete can benefit from having a personal trainer – even though the extra help and attention may not be completely necessary, it can serve to make a good situation even better. Much better. Consider that, simply put, two goals of closely maintaining a budget are to: Minimize waste Maximize efficiency Isn’t that what everyone wants when it comes to your hard-earned dollars? Let’s start with minimizing waste. One of the first steps in creating a budget is to itemize each and every monthly expense you incur. Mortgage payments, insurance, cable and internet, phones, memberships, subscriptions, utilities, food, entertainment, and so on. When was the last time you sat down and closely scrutinized all of these expenses? Doing so could very well reveal fat that needs trimming. [+] Read More

Tax Prep: Gifting Strategies

November 1, 2017
With less than two months left in the year, time is running out to take actions that will apply to the 2017 tax year. By ‘actions’ we mean things like charitable giving, tax loss harvesting, and in the case of this post, gifting. Gifting and estate planning can be complex undertakings, due to the myriad of rules, strategies, and even loopholes involved. But the concept of gifting by itself can be rather simple: in 2017, you can give any number of people (it doesn’t matter how many) up to $14,000 in cash or other property without triggering any gift tax. If you include your spouse in the gift, that number jumps to $28,000. An example with actual numbers should underscore just how impactful gifting can be. Say for example that you and your spouse make annual gifts of $28,000 to each of your three children and seven grandchildren. Over a period of 5 years, you will have gifted $1,400,000 – which also reduces the value of your estate for tax planning purposes by $1,400,000. Assuming the federal estate tax rate of 40%, that could mean saving $560,000 in estate taxes (40% x $1,400,000). [+] Read More

The Financial Risks of Cognitive Decline

September 20, 2017
When it comes to investment planning and setting up plans for life in retirement, it would be wonderful if we could just focus on growth, investment, spending, and financial security for you and your family. Those are the exciting features of planning that – while not always easy to work through – are challenges that are rewarding to solve. But proper investment planning should also include addressing issues that are often difficult for families to discuss. One of those issues is cognitive decline. According to State Street Global Advisors, only about 39% of investors believe they have a suitable plan if their decision-making ability becomes diminished. That number may be low because of the following statistic: while 85% of advisors report encouraging their clients to have a plan in case of cognitive decline, only 41% of investors think they actually need one. [+] Read More

What is Probate? Why & How to Avoid It

June 22, 2017
Back in mid-May, I wrote an estate planning article about the late artist and global music phenomenon, Prince. The objective of the piece, amongst other things, was to bring to light the problems, expenses, and hardships that can result when a high net worth individual does not adequately prepare an estate plan. In Prince’s case, he did not even have a last will. What followed in Prince’s case was nothing short of troubling. More than 45 people came forward to the court claiming to be related to Prince as a spouse, child, sibling, or some other relative. Prince’s estate then spent over a year in probate court, and at the end of the day it has been reported that his $200 million estate is expected to be cut in half by federal and estate taxes. Can you imagine paying $100 million in taxes? It’s unfathomable! In all likelihood, this outcome could have largely been avoided with some sound financial and legal advice during Prince’s lifetime. [+] Read More

Leaving a Legacy That Spans Generations

May 16, 2017
When most people think of the late artist Prince, they think about a global music phenomenon with unforgettable pop hits and an unforgettable persona. That’s how he should be remembered. But what many people do not realize is that Prince’s fortune – the estate he worked tirelessly to create over time – is currently being battled out in the courts amongst a slew of relatives, “alleged heirs,” lawyers and advisors. Prince passed away over a year ago (April 21, 2016), yet his estate is still very much unsettled.1 The reason for the ongoing court battles and legal headaches? Prince didn’t have a will. [+] Read More

The Beneficiary Designation that Many Investors Forget

November 9, 2016
In a recent post, we reminded investors of the importance of naming and reviewing beneficiaries – especially as the holidays approach. The end of the year is filled with (good) distractions, so now is a great time to double check your investment accounts. It can give you one more thing to be thankful for – that your hard earned assets will be distributed to your family, consistent with your wishes. In our previous post, we mainly focused on retirement accounts, like 401(k)s and IRAs. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities all have beneficiary designations. You can just fill out a form to indicate how and to whom you want your assets dispersed, in a fairly straightforward and easy process. But what about taxable accounts like a brokerage account or joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) accounts? These types of accounts are common amongst investors, yet there is no beneficiary designation attached to them. That’s where establishing a “transfer on death” (TOD) registration comes into play. [+] Read More

How Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust Can Fit into Your Estate Plan

November 2, 2016
At WrapManager, our focus is on helping you build an investment plan that can provide for you and your family—hopefully for generations to come. That means part of our work focuses on estate planning, and making sure our clients are thinking about what strategies are needed to plan for the distant future. For 2016, if your value of your estate is less than $5,545,000, then your estate tax planning process may consist of mostly fundamental estate planning—having a will, making sure your beneficiaries are in order, and maybe setting up trusts so you can control how your assets are distributed after death. WrapManager has put together this estate planning guide to help you get started.1 [+] Read More