Category: Blog 2019

In a blog that I wrote a few months ago regarding asset protection, I mentioned that a generally efficient and expedient way for many people to protect their assets is by having an appropriate umbrella liability policy in place. However, this is a part of a comprehensive financial plan and strategy that is often either overlooked or not kept current by many people, so I wanted to follow up with some more detail on the importance of umbrella liability insurance policies. Why do you need an umbrella insurance policy? How would you answer the following questions?

Recently, my wife and I bought a new house.  She fell in love with it immediately and could see us raising our girls in the house, how could I say no?  But of course, there were financial matters to consider.  So, the planner in me immediately went to my budget spreadsheet to “crunch the numbers” and determine if we could afford it.  We have both been blessed in our careers and while this new home is a stretch to the budget, the answer is yes, we can afford our dream home.  So we decided to move forward. Now just the minor details of negotiating the purchase of the new home and selling our old home.

One of the most emotional decisions you may face following your divorce is whether to stay in your current home or not. When confronted with so many other changes, many people going through divorce decide NOT to change their housing, since it seems like one of the few things they can still control. For some, that can be a big mistake. Since housing costs may be your single largest expense, getting this decision “right” can have a huge impact on you and your family’s financial well-being in this next phase of your life. How can you decide if hanging on to the marital home is a mistake?

What is a Living Will & Power of Attorney?What is a living will and a power of attorney? And why do you need these documents? It is important to have a plan in place in case of an emergency or a medical situation where you are unable to make decisions about your medical treatment and financial affairs. If you do not have a plan in place, others will have to make these decisions for you, which may or may not coincide with your wishes. These difficult decisions are often left to family members, which can be gut-wrenching and stressful for them. To make sure your wishes are met, a living will and a power of attorney are important documents to have in place ahead of time.

It is always a relief to get your tax return filed and satisfy Uncle Sam for another year. But what about all of the tax documents and records you painstakingly pulled together to prepare the return? And what about all of the other “financial stuff” you have been keeping. Do you really need to keep all of that? The answer is “yes” and “no”… There are two things to consider when determining what to save and what can be discarded. The first is whether or not you will ever need that information in the future (and for how long). The second thing to consider is how to securely store what needs to be retained and dispose of what you can toss. A good organizational system will tackle the first issue (what to save and for how long) in a very systematic way. It may seem painful to set up this system initially, but once it is done and if maintained regularly, you can rest assured that whatever you need will be readily and easily accessible.

No one enjoys thinking about what will happen after they’re gone, but we all want our families to be well cared for. Many people set up trusts to provide for their loved ones, but the trust is only as good as its trustee.Choosing a trustee is one of the more difficult decisions in creating your estate plan. Some attorneys suggest choosing several trustees to promote checks and balances, but sometimes choosing just one trustee can be difficult in light of family relationships and other factors. Choosing a trustee is a very personal and complex decision, but there are some basic guidelines one should consider.