Statistics show us that approximately 70% of all Americans don’t have a valid will. Are you one of them? With that statistic, chances are that you don’t. This means that in a circle of four people, three probably don’t have a will. This situation begs an obvious question: Do I need a will? One simple way to determine if you need a will is if you can’t truthfully answer “No” to both of the following questions: Do you care who gets your money and property when you die? Do you care who is appointed guardian of your minor children if you die? If you answered “Yes” to either or both of those questions, you need a will! Otherwise, state laws will determine the outcome of those situations – and it’s not likely that you would have made the same decisions that the state would. Why should you have a will? A will […]
estate tax
Annual Gift Tax Exclusion Amount Remains the Same for 2014
All individuals have the opportunity to give gifts annually to any person, and as many persons as they wish, without having to file a gift tax return. For 2013, the amount of the annual exclusion is $14,000; it remains the same for 2014. This means that anyone can give a gift of up to $14,000 to any person for any reason without worrying about possible gift tax implications. A married couple can double this amount to $28,000. In 2014, this annual exclusion amount will remain the same at $14,000 ($28,000 for couples). For amounts given in excess of the annual exclusion amount, every individual has a lifetime exclusion amount, against which the excess gifts are credited. For 2013, the lifetime exclusion amount is $5,250,000. For 2014, the lifetime exclusion amount for giving is increased to $5,340,000. These are the same exclusion amounts as for estates in 2014.
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Pre-Death Planning: Roth Conversion
Image via Wikipedia Financial planning often requires us to face our own certain demise – something that we often don’t want to do, but still a certainty that we all must face. Among the things that we want to do when planning for the inevitable would be to make certain that our surviving loved ones have access to adequate monetary resources to support themselves, in the most cost-effective manner. Another thing that we hope to accomplish is to make the transition as easy as possible for our loved ones. One way to do this is to convert a good portion of your IRA or other tax-deferred funds to a Roth IRA account. Here’s why: By converting to a Roth account, you will make the funds in that account available to your heirs totally tax free. Granted, your estate will also be smaller by the amount of tax that you paid […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
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