Category: Estate Planning

Vanilla

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May 25, 2022

How millennials think about wealth management—including estate planning Millennials take their financial lives seriously—and they’re ready to enlist the experts to help. The past few years have seen a lot of change in the financial lives of millennials. The generation born between 1981 and 1996 is approaching their peak earning years and hitting major milestones from having kids to buying houses to starting businesses. According to one report, there are more than 618,000 millennial millionaires in the United States. And with the Great Wealth Transfer on the horizon, millennials are poised to inherit another $68 trillion from their Baby Boomer...

Vanilla

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Aug 13, 2021

Ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals’ estates are inherently complex and far-reaching, so having a comprehensive estate plan is vital to ensure a smooth transfer of wealth between generations and avoid expensive legal battles at death. But that doesn’t guarantee that these UHNW individuals are any more educated on estate planning processes and pitfalls. Even though 64% of wealthy individuals place a high value on the legacy they can pass on to the next generation, a full 39% do not have a comprehensive estate plan, according to the U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth. As their trusted financial advisor with...

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Jul 19, 2021

Deciding who gets what after one’s passing is tough. According to a survey by Caring.com, only 42% of American adults have essential estate planning documents, such as a will or a living trust. People avoid planning for the inevitable for many reasons. But for blended families, a major reason is that estate planning requires more than a simple will. Many difficult questions come up: How do I ensure everyone is well taken care of after I am gone? Should I leave everything to my spouse and hope they take care of my children? How do I avoid disinheriting my children?...

Vanilla

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Jul 08, 2021

You’ve built a solid financial foundation for your client, made investments with an eye on the future, and helped them strive toward making their financial goals a reality—but what happens once they pass on? Without preparation, the months following a client’s death can be a chaotic mess for a financial advisor. Assets need to be found, collected, and handed over to whoever is handling the estate. You put in hours of work, and in the end, you are left clientless, watching the assets you carefully tended for your client in life tangled in probate court and wasted on fees and...

Vanilla

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Apr 22, 2021

One of the biggest estate planning mistakes people make is placing the power and responsibilities of a trustee in the wrong hands. Poor fiduciary selection can lead to family in-fighting, lengthy legal disputes, and a substantial loss of assets due to mismanagement. As a relationship-driven financial advisor, it’s essential that you understand the role of a fiduciary trustee and that you help your client select the right individuals or corporations to act as fiduciaries for their estate. A trustworthy, knowledgeable trustee helps safeguard the estate plan from mishandling and assures that beneficiaries get the full value of the assets. What...

Vanilla

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Mar 26, 2021

Most ghost stories are about unfinished business. Whether it’s a spooky campfire tale or a literary classic from the dark imagination of Edgar Allen Poe, a horror story plotline remains the same: the spirits of the departed haunt the living because there’s an unresolved matter preventing the deceased from moving on. So what does all of this have to do with estate planning? A poorly made or forgotten-about estate plan is like a ghost: It leaves your client and their loved ones vulnerable to hauntings of the financial kind. When people in mourning have to deal with their deceased relative’s...

Vanilla

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Feb 02, 2021

Tempted to give your clients free estate planning documents to create a will, trust, or other after-death protections? Think again. Free estate planning documents come with risks that may ultimately cost clients and their heirs more than they saved in legal fees. Let’s take a look at some of the significant — and expensive — problems that using free estate planning documents could cause. 1. Excluding family members from a will Free DIY wills don’t always tailor an estate plan to an individual’s circumstances and goals. This is particularly the case for blended families and new additions when it's easy...

Vanilla

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Dec 11, 2020

Imagine that you're having your first consultation with a new client. You ask them whether they have an estate plan in place. They proudly tell you that they drew up a will and assigned guardianship as soon as their first child was born — 25 years ago. Job well done, next question — right? Not quite! Let's examine why treating an estate plan as a one-off task comes with significant risks that could end in nightmare scenarios for your client and their family. 1: Beneficiaries and fiduciaries are often temporary While your client may express a desire to designate loved...

Vanilla

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Dec 02, 2020

  With more young adults living with their parents now since the Great Depression, families with college-age children need questions answered about where parents’ legal rights begin and end. As a financial advisor, you should be ready to answer the questions your clients have, such as “how do I get a medical power of attorney?” and connect them with the documents they and their adult children need to protect their families. This concise guide will help you point your clients in the right direction. [embed]https://justvanilla.wistia.com/medias/mzm95qqia5[/embed] “What are the legal realities of my child turning 18?” When a young adult turns...