Family Pulling Party Favors During Christmas Dinner

“Once you’ve bought an annuity or a life insurance policy and named your beneficiaries, you may never think about those beneficiary designations again. However, that could be a big mistake.” Let’s say you divorce and remarry and forget to change your beneficiary from your ex-spouse. Your ex-spouse will be smiling all the way to the […]

Doctor Examining an Elderly Patient

“If you’re helping an aging parent navigate Medicaid because they don’t have long-term care insurance or you think you’ll need it yourself someday, it’s important to understand how the program works.” Medicaid is a government program used by Americans to pay for nursing home and long-term care. The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) is used […]

Husband And Wife Affectionately Exchanging Christmas Gifts

“Beneficiary designations, tying up loose ends, reporting last wishes—here’s what you can do now.” The COVID pandemic has become a painful lesson in how important it is to having estate plans in order, especially when a spouse becomes sick, incapacitated, or dies unexpectedly. With more than 400,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus, not every one […]

Pad of Paper & Pen on a wood background

“Early in 2021, you should communicate with your advisers and review several items about your 2020 planning, if that planning is to have any likelihood of succeeding.” If you reviewed or created your estate plan in 2020, you are ahead of most Americans, but you’re not done yet. If you created a trust, gave gifts […]

Giving to charity

While direct giving has an immediate impact, some individuals may be considering charitable planning strategies that will have a larger and longer-lasting impact not only on charities, but on their own lives or that of their families. A charitable trust can provide an alternative to meeting your wishes for charities and your loved ones, while […]