Category Archives: Estate Planning
2022 Is The Perfect Year To Benefit From The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion
When your kids were younger, this time of year was when you would take them shopping to buy clothes and school supplies for the upcoming school year, and they would daydream about which Halloween costumes they wanted to wear that year and which presents they hoped to find under the Christmas tree. Life was… Read More »
Hybrid Life Insurance Could Be Just What You Need
If you have managed to save any money for retirement, you must know enough about personal finance to know that being insurance poor is a mistake. If you have not retired yet, then the biggest decisions about how to spend your retirement, such as whether to stay in the Washington DC area or move… Read More »
Annuities As A Source Of Retirement Income: Friend Or Foe?
Annuities are one of the most boring sources of retirement income. Far from giving you the thrill you get from investing in the newest kind of cryptocurrency or buying stock in a startup that promises to change the world for the better, annuities have been around since the Roman Empire, when they acted as… Read More »
Choosing A Brain Trust For Your Estate Plan
Even now, nearly a century after it formed, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Brain Trust” still gets the occasional shout out in journalistic think pieces. President Roosevelt’s Brain Trust was a group of legal and economic scholars from whom Roosevelt sought advice on policy, and some of whom held positions in his cabinet; one of… Read More »
These Elder Care Apps May Leave Extra Room In Your Estate Planning Budget
No matter the size of your estate, the biggest concern on your mind as you begin your estate plan is not being a burden to your family. You may have read the New York Times article several months ago about high end assisted living facilities that make aging Baby Boomers feel like they are… Read More »
Researchers Develop Assessment Tool To Protect Seniors From Abusive Guardianships
Some estate planning lawyers start discussions by talking about all the fun you can have with your money in retirement, while others play on your wishes to help your family be financially stable after you die. Not all of the important estate planning decisions are about money, though. You will also have to decide… Read More »
Long-Term Care Insurance Can Be Your Best Protection Against Financial Catastrophe In Retirement
Wishing that you will never need to use a certain type of insurance is a terrible reason not to buy it. It is true that you do not need to buy homeowners’ insurance if you rent your house, and you probably do not need flood insurance if you live on an upper floor of… Read More »
Save Money Now, And Plan For Retirement Later
Social Security is set to run out in 2035. The gig economy accounts for a greater and greater share of jobs. Will hepatitis or monkeypox be the next pandemic, or will it be something even scarier? Will we even be alive when millennials reach the current age of today’s Baby Boomers? How do you… Read More »
Unmarried Couples Can Never Be Too Specific About Bequeathing Assets To Each Other
In many regards, marriage is just a piece of paper. Married couples and unmarried couples are more alike than different. You live together and share life experiences, manage finances together and build relationships with each other’s family of origin, and perhaps even have children of your own together. Most of the time, society treats… Read More »
Maryland Laws About Cremation And Burial
You might have opinions about how you want people to remember you after you die, but the way to achieve most of these wishes is through your conduct when you are alive, not through the perfect funeral. Perhaps you have songs or hymns that you would like the people in attendance to hear at… Read More »
