Estate Planner Ohio - Your Ohio Financial Advisor and Retirement Wealth Consultant

Estate planning is more than a method to avoid. Many young families might be surprised to learn that they should think of estate planning. Nowadays, there is an effort to eliminate or confine estate taxes to the rich only. Congress changes the tax laws constantly. By that, there is no guarantee that the trend will continue.

Estate planning is less involved with taxes and more with who inherits the estate; those who cares for your minor children, how you feel about life support measures, or who will control your affairs if you are unable to. Your estate is your possessions. If you have a will, your estate will be distributed in accordance to your wishes. If you don’t, they will be distributed under state intestate laws.

You are to check the laws in your state. There could be cases that if you die without a will, your parents would inherit your property instead of your wife or the money could go to distant cousins instead of your lifelong companion. The first reason for a will is to have the properties distributed according to your wishes.

Many parents use estate planning to try to rein in their out-of-control children. They may provide a bequest that starts when the child is matured. Grandparents use estate planning tools to provide for all or only part of their grandchildren’s college education. They may choose to bypass their family and leave their money to their favorite charity. A business owner could pass his business to his partners or employees in order to keep the business running.

Naming subsequent beneficiaries is a common use of estate planning. It appoints guardians for minor children or disabled relatives you are caring for. When leaving a bequest, you need to appoint someone who will take good care of the money of the minor person.

If you are ill or facing the prospect of unable to take control of your affairs, estate planning techniques like the power of attorney, property transfers or a relative as a joint owner of your property and bank accounts can be used providing a living will directing how far you want life support measures when terminally ill.

The proceeds of most life insurance policies and jointly held property with rights of survivorship are not generally part of the probate state. Many believe that they can use these instead of a will but only the specific property held jointly is to be transferred.

The method of estate planning is leaving it in the hands of a professional. Simple wills are not expensive, but if you have to go beyond simple, hire the right professionals. Estate planning is a complex field; therefore, you should consult a qualified  estate planning firm.

Multi-Generational IRA is a wealth-transfer strategy, passing assets to younger beneficiaries, to extend the period of tax-deferred earnings on IRA assets. Individual Retirement Arrangements or IRAs serve two primary functions in retirement planning: income or legacy. One may contribute to an IRA over lifetime with intention of deriving income in retirement; a supplement to Social Security or other investments. Other investors may be able to sustain their lifestyles and meet obligations without needing their IRAs. For those who have heirs, the unused portion of the IRA could be passed to their spouses, children, or grandchildren; that is a legacy strategy.

Multi-Generational IRA is a strategy designed for investors who won’t need money in account for their own retirement needs. A multi-generational IRA strategy allows you to pass your IRA to a beneficiary down one or several generations.

Illustrating how multi-generational IRA works, let’s consider Mary, a 60-year old woman who’s ready to retire. She has $300,000 worth of retirement assets in three employer-sponsored retirement plans and two IRAs. Two of these accounts were inherited from her deceased husband. She wanted to leave some of these to her favorite charity and the rest to her children, Patty and John. Here’s how she can use the multi-generational IRA strategy in her state planning. When she retires, she’ll roll over her retirement plan benefits into traditional IRAs, consolidating her assets so that she has three IRAs of $100,000 each. For as long as she has the plan trustees transferred to the new IRAs, there will be no tax consequences. The three IRAs are named to Patty, John, and the charity respectively. She decides to postpone distributions from the accounts having all three IRAs continue to grow tax deferred until she reached 70 ½ of age. Tax law requires traditional IRA owners to begin receiving required minimum distributions based on the life expectancy by April 1 of the year after they turned 70 ½. By the time the distributions began, the IRAs have grown to $250,000 each, $750,000 in total for the three.

Based on her life expectancy, Mary would have to withdraw $27,000 in minimum required distributions at 70 ½ from the three IRAs. The custodian of her IRAs will determine for the minimum required distribution needed to be taken from the IRA annually. After her death, her children could continue to receive annual distributions from the IRAs based on their life expectancy. They shall pay income tax on the payments but those taxes would be spread out over the years the payments are received. The charity then can withdraw all of the assets from the IRA without paying income tax. Most charities are tax exempt having them free of any tax on the distributions received from the donor’s retirement plan.

One important piece of advice I can give you about Estate Planning, whether you are in Ohio or in any other state, is to make sure you work with an estate planning adviser that knows how to work with you at your current stage in life.

For example, some estate planners only works with people over 50 because he knows how to serve people in that age bracket well.  He knows what their concerns are and how to conserve wealth that guarantees future income in retirement.

If you are not as young as you once were, you really need to think about working with someone that has a long, distinguished track record with people in your age bracket.

If you are in Akron, Cleveland of the surrounding areas, visit several estate planner Website and read the many testimonials of people just like you that trust estate planners to help them live a better life in retirement.  Find a a Certified Estate Planner and an advocate for wealthy retirement.

Ultimately you are the only one who can answer this question but it is a good idea to have some knowledge about these plans in order to get exactly what you need. Annuities are another aspect of some retirement plans that can be better than traditional retirement products.

If you are not familiar with an annuity it is essentially an insurance policy or other product that will pay you an income after retirement. Many people use annuities as part of their strategy to have retirement funds available. The way it works is that you make payments into it an then you get payments from it in the future. You can receive monthly, quarterly or annual payments when you need it or you can request one lump sum payment.

The amount of money you pay into an annuity will depend on many factors and whether you have a fixed annuity where you receive a guaranteed payout or a variable annuity which means you will get payments at different times.

Advantages of a retirement annuity fund
One of the biggest advantages of retirement annuity funds and the reason why many people use them is that you can put a lot of money away and defer paying taxes on it. Another reason people like them is because you can put as much money as you want into them each year. In a traditional 401(k) as an example,  you have a limit of the amount that you can put in each year.

For most people this means that you can put money into a retirement fund without worry and your money compounds each year without getting a tax bill from the IRS. This means that your money continues as an investment to work for you. You also have a choice of taking a lump sum or taking payments over your lifetime.
Disadvantages of a retirement annuity fund

Just like any form of investment, there are a few disadvantages to an annuity retirement plan. You must understand that most of the time your retirement income planner may charge a commission of up to 10% when they sell this policy to you. There may be penalties for taking your money out ahead of time especially if you need to take the money out within the first few years after your purchase. These may be steep for the average person using them.

You also may have high expenses in the beginning, especially when you have a variable annuity. Although this may only be 1.25% or higher you will have other types of annual fees that you will want to know about before you purchase an annuity. The bottom line is that you will want to be sure that when you pick an annuity that you have the time and the money to invest over time.

What happens to your annuity when you die?
This is a question that many people ask and this is one of the reasons to talk to a certified estate planner. The annuity will be a part of the total plan. If you have named a beneficiary in the process of purchasing your annuity your beneficiary may get your payments depending on the type of annuity you chose.

You may not think about it but when you are planning for retirement it is a good idea to check into estate planning at the same time. You never know what will happen before or after retirement and you will want to make sure that your estate is settled.

Many people have some combination of retirement funds. You may have a life insurance IRA, an Ohio Roth or Ohio IRA and these are large portions of your assets. On each of these you have declared a beneficiary and you understand that in the event of your death, this money would go to your beneficiary.

The challenge with this is that it is only one part of your estate. You will want to make sure that whatever assets you have are protected together. One aspect of this is your will but there are other things to take into consideration. It is a good idea to make sure that you have everything you need in one place.

Depending on the size of your estate, you will also want to understand that when you die these financial assets may be subjected to taxes. You may have inheritance estate tax or other income taxes that will have to be paid. A certified financial retirement planner can help you make sure that all your bases are covered.

There are many things to take into consideration when planning for retirement. Here are a few:

Make realistic goals.
You are the best judge of what you need for retirement and you should always make your decisions based on your needs. Be honest with yourself about what you want to do in retirement and what it will cost you. You will want to look at what you will get from Social Security and how much you will need to make over that amount in order to live well.

Start an Ira or a Roth to Supplement Your Retirement Costs
Retirement income is easy to save under these types of programs and they are tax deferred. Talk to your estate planner about which products are best for you because there are many factors about them to take into consideration. A certified financial retirement planner will be able to guide your specific needs.

Create a Portfolio
Although many people think that they do not make enough money to start a portfolio that may include stocks and bonds it is important to look at many different ways to spread your money. You will want to look at long-term returns and it is important to talk with a planner in order to do your best planning. Although the economic crisis has wiped out a lot of stocks or bonds, your financial planner can make sure that you still get what you need.

When you are planning you will want someone who is knowledgeable in the field of estate planning and financial planning who can give you a variety of opportunities for saving money. This will help you create the best plan for you and your family.