The popular handbook to estate planning, now updated for 2018
Since its first publication in 2002, New Rules for Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning has sold more than 40,000 copies, providing a solid, accessible introduction to estate planning for any age or income bracket. Now in its sixth edition, Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning continues this tradition, covering such topics as trusts, donations, life insurance, and wills in easy-to-understand language that offers valuable insights and solid strategies to help you preserve your wealth and plan your estate so that your assets go where you want with a minimum of taxes and government interference. This comprehensive guide answers such common questions as: How much do I need to retire comfortably? How do I protect my children’s inheritance? How do I ensure planned donations are made after I’m gone? And many more.
The Sixth Edition is also fully updated to reflect changes following the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, so that you can learn how new regulations could impact your inheritance and trusts. Other notable features include advice on working with elderly parents and introducing financial planning to children and teenagers, in addition to a list of professional advisers and a glossary of estate planning terms.
- Understand estate planning and obtain solid strategies for growing your wealth
- Explore asset protection and succession planning strategies
- Discover how recent updates to the tax code could affect you and your heirs
- Stay informed of any relevant law changes with an author-managed web site
Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning contains a wealth of valuable information for any adult who needs help planning their financial future, from the established professional heading toward retirement, to the young adult looking to understand the basics. Wherever you are in your journey, use Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning to ensure your legacy is protected.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xv
1 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 1
Ordinary Income Tax Rates 2
Capital Gains Tax Rates and Qualified Dividends 2
Educational Provisions 2
Business and Corporate Tax Relief 5
Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfers 6
Dangers of Relying on Portability 9
Limitations on Deductions 11
2 Estate Planning 15
What Is Estate Planning? 15
The Benefits of Estate Planning 16
The Nightmares of Poor Planning 18
The Myths of Estate Planning 19
Guidelines for Successful Estate Planning 20
3 The Estate Tax System 23
Determining Your Estate Net Worth 23
Your Estate Tax Picture 29
Your Future Estate 33
Overview of Estate-Planning Strategies 35
4 Investment Strategies for Maximizing Estate Growth 37
Growth Strategy with a Safety Net® 38
Prioritizing Your Investment Dollars 43
Retirement Planning: Choosing the Best Investment
Environments 43
Roth Conversions 46
Some Final Thoughts on Investing 53
5 Retirement Planning: Living Your Dream 55
Your Retirement Requirements 56
Best Retirement Strategies 61
Reverse Mortgages 67
Social Security Strategies 70
Customizing Your Health Care Plan 75
6 You Don’t Have a Will? Big Trouble! 79
Property Transfers at Death 80
Transfers via Probate 81
Direct Transfers by Title 84
Other Methods of Property Ownership 88
Choosing the Best Methods of Ownership 90
Setting Estate-Planning Goals 91
7 Where There’s a Will, There’s Your Way! 93
What Is a Will? 93
Types of Wills 93
Advantages and Disadvantages of Wills 95
Intelligent Decisions Concerning Your Will’s Basic Provisions 97
Executing Your Will 110
Where to Store Your Will 111
Other Important Documents 111
Working with Your Attorney 115
When to Review Your Estate Plan 121
8 Using Trusts in Your Estate Plan 125
The Credit Shelter Trust Will 126
Disclaimers 131
Marital Trusts 132
Spendthrift Trust 136
Standby Trust 137
Other Trusts 137
9 Understanding the Living Trust 139
Advantages of Living Trusts 139
Disadvantages of Living Trusts 141
How a Living Trust Operates 142
Transferring Property into Your Living Trust 145
Types of Property Likely to Be Transferred 148
Living Trust Myths 150
Transacting Business with Your Trust 152
10 Using Insurance in Your Estate Plan 153
Life Insurance 153
Using Life Insurance to Replace Income 156
How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? 157
What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for You? 160
Insurance on a Homemaker 161
Insurance on Adult Children 161
How to Get the Best Deal on Term Life Insurance 161
What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for Estate Liquidity? 164
The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust 166
Getting Your Life Insurance into Your Trust 167
Using Life Insurance to Leverage Your Estate 170
About Your Cash Values 173
11 Smart Strategies for Gifting Assets to Family Members 179
The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion 179
Unintended Gifts 181
Filing a Gift Tax Return 182
The Lifetime Applicable Exclusion Amount 182
Outright Gifts 183
When the Donee Is a Minor 185
Other Tax-Free Gifts 194
Family Gifts Utilizing Trusts 195
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust 195
Grantor Retained Unitrust 197
Qualified Personal Residence Trust 197
Taking Advantage of Generation-Skipping Transfers 201
Sales to Family Members 204
Loans to Family Members 207
Sales to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts 208
The Legacy Trust 208
12 Strategic Planning with Charities 219
Outright Gifts to Charities 220
Testamentary Gifts to Charities 223
Gifts Using Charitable Trusts 223
Using Your Charitable Trust for Retirement Planning 227
The Private Foundation 230
13 Family Limited Partnerships 235
General Structure of the Family Limited Partnership 235
Family Limited Partnership Rules 240
14 Succession Planning for the Family Business or Farm 249
Special Estate Tax Benefits for Farmers and Closely Held Business
Owners 251
Valuing Your Business or Farm 253
Succession or Sale? 253
Succession Planning: Keeping the Family Business in the Family 254
Maximizing Your Business’s Value through a Sale 255
Structuring Your Buy-Sell Agreement 256
Types of Buy-Sell Agreements 257
Funding the Buy-Sell Agreement 258
One Final Strategy - The Employee Stock Ownership Plan 260
15 Asset Protection Strategies 263
The Concept of Fraudulent Transfers 263
A Word about Jointly Held Property 267
Retirement Plans 267
Life Insurance 269
Using Trusts to Protect Assets 270
Using Limited Liability Entities to Protect Assets 271
Use of Multiple Limited Liability Entities 274
Foreign Asset Protection Trusts 275
Domestic Asset Protection Trusts 277
16 Personal Business Planning Issues 281
Choosing the Right Entity for Your Business 281
Closing Thoughts 293
Importance of a Business Plan 295
Epilogue - Dealing with Parents and Their Money 297
Appendix A - Professional Advisers 299
Appendix B - Estate Planning Terms 303
Appendix C - IRS Life Expectancy Table 309
About the Authors 313
Index 315
