Moynihan Lyons PC

Should Your Retirement Money Go to You or the Children?

Options for retirees are often to enjoy retirement, pursue passions or leave inheritance.

The growing cost of retirement that can sometimes be three decades long, brings some difficult questions for retirees: spend it or save it, according to the Warwick Advertiser in “Will You Spend Your Retirement Savings or Leave It Behind? The Answer May Surprise You.”

For many people, the goal of retirement is to do all the things that had to be put off while working. That might include a hobby that requires time and resources, travelling, purchasing a vacation home, or fulfilling a dream of going back to school. If that’s your retirement dream, bear in mind that these dreams all come with costs. Spending in the early stages of retirement often goes up, as retirees are still healthy enough to do everything on their bucket lists.

Given the reality of longer life expectancies, it’s important for retirees to understand that they may be living from their retirement investments for three or more decades. That means that you’ll need to have enough money to cover routine expenses plus health care and most likely, long-term health care services. Make sure your financial planning takes these factors into account.

Once you know how much money you’ll need for your costs of living and health care, plus inflation, then what’s left behind is your retirement fun money.

Knowing how to work within the constraints of a budget is actually more important during retirement. You can’t just go back to work for a few decades, if you find yourself running short. You still may need to pick up a part-time gig on the side.

What if leaving a legacy is more important to you than buying a second home? Just like the plan for retirement fun, you’ll need to do some financial planning to make this goal come to fruition. Remember that your legacy will include whatever is left at the time of your death, as well as what you may give while you are living.

Giving your children or grandchildren their inheritance while you are alive, is a way to enjoy the gift twice — once when you give and a second time when you see what they do with your gift. You might want to help the family reach their own financial milestone, like covering the cost of a college degree, helping with a deposit on a home or helping to pay off a mortgage.

Charitable giving may also be part of your legacy. If there is a charity, foundation, or alma mater that aligns with your values, you may choose to set aside a portion of your estate for a donation.

Regardless of whether you are planning on spending everything, giving away your assets to family members, or to a preferred charity, an estate plan is necessary.

An estate planning attorney can advise you on creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances.

Reference: Warwick Advertiser (April 18, 2019) “Will You Spend Your Retirement Savings or Leave It Behind? The Answer May Surprise You”

Where Do You Want Your Assets to End Up?

Meeting with an estate planning attorney is a good way to get started and meet your goals.

The size of the estate really doesn’t matter. If you have assets, you really do need to have an estate plan, according to the Observer-Reporter in “Set up an estate plan so your assets go where you want.” If you don’t have an estate plan? It is unlikely your assets will end up where you want them to go, as state law takes over.

If your will was done more than four years ago and was never updated, it may lead to some unwanted results. If people you named as beneficiaries or executors have died, or if there were divorces in your family, these are examples of changes that should be addressed in the estate plan.

Many people don’t know that insurance policies, annuities, 401(k), or IRA accounts that have a designated beneficiary are going to the designated beneficiary, regardless of what is in the will. If the will says everything in the estate should be divided equally between children, but one child was named the beneficiary on the life insurance policy, then only the named child will inherit the insurance policy.

Another part of an estate plan that is needed to ensure that your wishes are followed, is a financial power of attorney and a health care power of attorney. The financial power of attorney gives the person you name the legal ability to make financial decisions for you if you are incapacitated. The health care power of attorney, similarly, gives the person you name the power to make health care decisions for you if you cannot do so for yourself. A living will is another part of planning for incapacity that is a part of a comprehensive estate plan. The living will lets your wishes for end of life care be known to others.

Assets that pass to heirs through beneficiary designations do not go through the probate process. However, assets distributed through your will do so. Probate administration of an estate takes some time to complete, depending upon where you live. In some states, probate is more involved and time consuming than in others.

Another reason why people like to avoid probate is that documents, including your will, are filed with the court and become part of the public record. That’s why many people who lose a family member find themselves receiving direct mail and phone calls about buying an insurance policy or selling their home.

There are ways to minimize the number of assets that pass through probate, which your estate planning attorney will be able to explain. Trusts are used for this purpose. There are a variety of trusts that can be used, depending upon your circumstances. Some are used to protect inheritances if a person has an opiate addiction or cannot manage her own affairs. Others are used, so individuals with special needs do not receive inheritances that would make them ineligible for government benefits.

Reference: Observer-Reporter (April 19, 2019) “Set up an estate plan so your assets go where you want”

Big Mistakes in Estate Planning That You Can Avoid

It is important to have a plan and important to keep it up to date.

If you don’t have an estate plan, your family can face some really difficult times and find themselves in a disagreement that can cause harm, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune in “6 estate-planning mistakes to avoid.”

Even attorneys run into problems with their family estate plans. One attorney was devastated when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. As the mounting costs continued for 10 years, and tragedy struck again when her two older brothers died just before her mother passed away, she learned first hand just how important having a plan in place can be for the family. Without a plan, everything is more challenging and costly. Here are the top six mistakes that people make:

Not having a plan. No one wants to think about death, dying or incapacity, especially when they are relatively young and healthy. However, that is the best time to put a plan in place. Start by making sure you have powers of attorney for both health care and finances. Otherwise, you risk having the court making decisions on your behalf, instead of a trusted family member.

Not communicating your plan or wishes. Make sure that your loved ones know what your plan is. The people who have been chosen as your financial power of attorney and health care power of attorney need to know that they have been named and what your wishes are. Having a plan is step one. Communicating its wishes and its location is step two. Miss one step and the plan is worthless.

Doing estate planning only with taxes in mind. A comprehensive estate plan addresses much more than tax planning. It includes charitable giving, planning for a family member with special needs, succession planning, planning for children from a prior marriage, planning for your pets and more.

Leaving assets directly to minors. Giving assets to a minor will lead to the necessity of the court appointing a custodian or guardian if one is not named in your will. There may be problems with a court-appointed guardian, who may have a different idea of how the money should be used, not to mention associated costs.

Neglecting to update how assets are titled. Today’s family often means a blended family. Therefore, how assets are titled can have a big impact. If one spouse purchased a home long before the second spouse and their children joined the household, who inherits the house? There are tax consequences and control issues that arise in a blended family that requires advance planning and a lot of communication. In community property states, this can become particularly messy.

Failing to fund or update trusts. If a trust is not funded, it will not achieve its desired outcome. Assets that are not retitled when trusts are created, will not avoid probate. These are the details that make or break an estate plan.

An estate planning attorney can advise you in creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances, as well as keeping it up to date as changes occur in your life.

Reference: The San Diego Union-Tribune (April 18, 2019) “6 estate-planning mistakes to avoid”

Supporting Favorite Causes in Your Will or Trust - (Endangered Species Day)

Today, May 17, is Endangered Species Day.  It is incredible to reflect on the fact that so many species of animals are so close to becoming extinct particularly when the causes involve purely selfish human activities such as poaching, trafficking in animal body parts, the ruination of habitat, and the broader impact of climate change.

This Newsweek article provides a list of critically endangered species and suggestions for what we can do to protect them compiled from information gathered by WWF and the Endangered Species Coalition. ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY 2019: LIST OF MOST THREATENED ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN THE U.S. AND WORLD.

The list of endangered species most affected by short term climate change includes almost two dozen species including certain elephants, gorillas, orangutans, tigers, leopards, rhinos, turtles, and other sea life.

Suggestions include direct actions regarding recycling and choosing to use alternatives to herbicides and pesticides.  But of course, another option is to provide financial support.

Clients often express their wish that they could support their favorites causes followed by comments indicating their concern that they can’t give right now. They are afraid of running out of money later or of depriving their kids of their inheritance.

This is when we talk to them about how they can provide for charities in their estate plan.  Gifts can be structured in a variety of ways.  If an outright gift of a specific amount doesn’t appeal to them, they might consider whether they have highly appreciated assets or IRAs that might be left to charity in order to avoid some significant tax hits.  Or, they can specify a percentage of the trust or estate that should be distributed to the charity.  They can even make the gift contingent on whether the total value of their trust or estate exceeds a certain amount.

 

Not everyone has a favorite cause that they would love to support.  But if they do, there is probably a good way to make it happen.

Reference: Newsweek (May 17, 2019) ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY 2019: LIST OF MOST THREATENED ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN THE U.S. AND WORLD.

Single Women often Need to Play Catchup in Retirement

 
Retirement can be a challenging time for unmarried women.

The retirement savings for single women can be lower than married, or even widowed, women. That should be taken into consideration, when planning retirement, according to Barron’s in “The Single Woman’s Guide to Retirement Planning.” Married women may face a steep decline in income when their spouses dies. However, their single peers don’t have the opportunity to inherit a partner’s assets and spousal benefits from Social Security.  

Most retirement advice is geared toward couples. There needs to be a different plan for singles, because no one is going to save with them. They need to save and plan more.

Retirement security for Gen Xers was the topic of a study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. This is the generation that was born between 1961-1981. The study found that only in one group of Gen Xers — single women — were 50% at risk of not having enough money to cover retirement basics. The average expected shortfall was as high as $73,000. That’s twice the estimated average shortfall for single men and more than triple that of widows. The gap continues into the highest income levels.

Americans are staying single longer and marriage rates are declining. Those trends, and the relatively new phenomenon of “gray divorce,” points to more women facing this scenario in the near and distant future. A little more than half of millennials, have never been married. When today’s older retirees were the age of today’s millennials, they were mostly married — only 17% were single.

Because the risk of running out of funds is higher for women, some advisors favor a more conservative approach, with lower expected returns on an investment portfolio. Add to that, the fact that women provide much of the caregiving to others and afterwards end up having to look after themselves. Perhaps that’s why so many occupants of nursing homes are women.

Advisors to women also recommend that they purchase insurance to help with the cost of long-term care. The first phase tends to come from family members. However, if you don’t have children or family living nearby, you have to be more careful about planning for long-term care costs.

About two thirds of people living alone at home over age 85 are women, according to a 2017 study from the Society of Actuaries. Living at home brings its own challenges and costs. Advisors tell single women that they should consider continuing-care retirement housing earlier than married couples.

Estate planning is especially important for single women. It’s crucial to be sure that documents, including a will, possibly a revocable trust, powers of attorney for both finance and health, and a HIPAA waiver, are in place, while they are well. For those who have trouble naming a proxy (substitute decision-maker)  due to a lack of family, an estate planning attorney can help to identify a private professional fiduciary or financial institution that can serve as a proxy and act as a co-trustee.

Finally, single women need to check on the beneficiary designations on their accounts. Some pensions do not allow for non-spousal beneficiaries, so it might be better to roll the pension into an IRA.

Reference: Barron’s (March 4, 2019) “The Single Woman’s Guide to Retirement Planning”

What If the Children are Not Independent – Yet?

At what point does asking for loans, become elder financial abuse?

It is often a challenge for a child to grow up and become an adult. Perhaps more importantly, for the child to become independent from the parents, according to Newsday in “Good to Know: Are your grown-up children taking advantage of you?”

Plenty of parents don’t know what to do when they are asked too many times for too many financial favors. They may feel pressured to agree, worried that they may see their grandchildren or their children less, if they say no. That’s a bad reason for generosity. If the parent is asked to co-sign for a large purchase, like a home or a car, they need to put the brakes on and discuss this thoroughly with their child. It may also be a good idea to speak with an estate planning attorney, for an objective viewpoint.

There needs to be recognition of the child’s creditworthiness. Have they borrowed money from their parents or other family members and failed to pay it back completely, or made only partial payments, and only after being reminded repeatedly? Don’t expect behavior to change. Parents facing this example also need to discuss this between themselves. They should only “lend” money that they can afford to lose.

If the child has been turned down for credit through regular financial channels and the bank of Mom and Dad is the only option, find out why. Ask them for a credit report and be transparent about your concerns. Can you afford to pick up the mortgage payments, if the child fails to make them? What about car loan payments?

Taking advantage of parents can extend past money. Some families welcome their grandchildren with open arms for unlimited times. However, if you find yourself babysitting on weekends and several week nights during the week, it’s time for a discussion. For one family, whose son was interested in spending time with a new fiancé more than with his two toddlers, the situation went on for nearly a year, until the parents gathered the courage to speak up.

They added up all the time they were spending each week taking care of the children. It has turned out that they were watching the children for fifteen hours or more each week. This was discussed calmly. They then made it clear that they were happy to continue caring for the children, but for a far more reasonable period of time.

If you feel that your children are taking advantage of you, you’ll need to have a discussion in a calm and reasonable manner. If there are financial matters that are spinning out of control, speak with your estate planning attorney about how to create a plan to stop the flow of money.

Reference: Newsday (April 14, 2019) “Good to Know: Are your grown-up children taking advantage of you?”

A Health Care Directive Can Become Real Important, Real Fast

What happens if you suddenly cannot make your own decisions?

A health care directive can become very important, if you should find yourself incapacitated. That is why it is part of a comprehensive estate plan, according to the McPherson Sentinel in “Advance health care directives important to all adults.”

Documenting your wishes about future health care lets a cognitively healthy person express their wishes with a clear perspective. Unfortunately, only one in four American adults has their advance health care directive in place. Many wait to begin the planning process, until they are in their 50s or 60s. The problem is, life doesn’t have a plan. At any time in life, tragedy can strike. A serious illness or an accident can occur, and leave the family wondering what the person would have wanted.

The most common advance directives including a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, Living Will, and pre-hospital do not resuscitate directive, known also as a “DNR.”  California also recognizes a POLST (Physicians Order for Life Sustaining Treatment) which, because it is a medical order, must be signed by the doctor to be valid.

The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care allows you to name a person to make medical decisions for you, in the event you cannot. They are also referred to as a “Medical Power of Attorney” or “Health Care Agent.”

This is different than a Durable Power of Attorney, which gives a person the right to act as another person’s agent and conduct all business and financial matters on their behalf.

It’s very important that the people you name to fulfill these roles are told that they have been named. They need to fully understand what your wishes are, what kinds of treatments are and are not acceptable for you, your preferences for doctors and where you would like the treatment to take place.

The person selected will need to be trustworthy and have the ability and willingness to communicate your wishes, even if family members don’t agree with your choices. They will need to follow your wishes, even if they are not the same as their own.

Keep family dynamics in mind. If a younger sibling is selected to be your health care agent and they have been dominated throughout their life by an older sibling, will your wishes be honored, or will they become the subject of an extended argument?

A Living Will is a document that details the type of care you want to receive at the end of life. It explains your wishes about accepting life-sustaining procedures, like being placed on a ventilator, receiving artificial nutrition and hydration, if at least two physicians deem your condition to be terminal.

These documents should be prepared for you as part of your overall estate plan, with the guidance of an estate planning attorney. Be aware that the laws vary from state to state, so you’ll want to work with an attorney who knows your state’s laws. If you relocate to another state, you will need to have your estate plan updated to ensure that it is still valid.

Reference: McPherson Sentinel (April 17, 2019) “Advance health care directives important to all adults”

Thinking of Passing on the Family Business?

Who will work in the business? Who will control the business? There are many, many more questions.

Passing on a family business isn’t as simple as selling your business, because it isn’t just financials and operations that must be considered. It would be very wise to consider the family dynamics in order for the situations to proceed as peacefully as possible, according to the North Bay Business Journal in “How to plan for a smooth transition of your family business.”

Estate planning attorneys can serve as sounding boards in creating a balance between what will be best for the business and what will work to maintain peace and cohesiveness in the family. With experience in guiding families through this process, they are able to provide an unbiased view and can be helpful, when hard decisions need to be made.

Another part of the plan is having the family and the estate planning attorney meet with other professionals, such as a wealth manager and CPAs. This is especially helpful when the owners are reluctant to talk about what is happening in the business with their children, before clarifying their own thoughts about the business.

Taking time to step back and gain some perspective before holding a family meeting where decisions are made, will give the owners more clarity.

A succession plan often starts a business plan. Once there is a plan for the future of the business, it’s an easier transition to financial and estate planning. Taking these steps can help the business’ success. Any business will run better when the numbers and projections for future growth are in place. Banks and other lenders look favorably on a company that has its financial reports in place.

This also permits tax planning to be done properly. In some cases, transferring a business or other asset, while the owner is still living can be beneficial in the long run, even with today’s higher federal estate tax exemptions.

Lifetime gifts can be a way to reduce estate taxes because making a gift today before there has been substantial appreciation, is one way to leverage the gift and estate tax exemption. Let’s say an asset is valued at $1 million, but at the time of your death it may be valued at $8 million. By giving it today, you can use less of your lifetime exemption.

To transfer the business to one or more children and give them an opportunity to succeed on their own, through their own efforts, consider bringing them in as a responsible manager with some ownership.

A gradual approach in transferring control of a business is a wise move, experts say.

An estate planning attorney can advise you in creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances and may include passing on a family business.

Reference: North Bay Business Journal (April 9, 2019) “How to plan for a smooth transition of your family business”

The Amount of the Retirement Check Is?

You have heard of various retirement strategies. It might be time to take a closer look.

You spend years saving and planning for your retirement, but it can often turn out that you don’t know how big the retirement check will be. It’s time to take a closer look, according to CNBC in “You probably don’t know how much your retirement paycheck will be. New technology is working to change that.”

Unless you are a trained professional, like a financial advisor or a CPA, chances are good that you have no idea how to transform a lifetime of savings into a steady, tax-efficient income stream. A study for the Alliance for Lifetime Income asked pre-retirees, if they have done the math to figure out how much money they’ll need for retirement. About 66% say they haven’t done the calculations. Just 38% of households can count on having a pension or an annuity to provide a steady stream of cash.

In response to this common question, one company has launched a feature that was created to help you create a steady paycheck in retirement. The company, Kindur, was founded by a woman whose career included nearly two-decades in asset management at J.P. Morgan. She was inspired by her own experience helping her father decide how to draw down his assets. After devoting hours to Social Security books, she realized that technology could solve this problem. Throughout her career, she saw how financial institutions used technology to present and manage complex information. The goal of her company was to take this complexity out of retirement income planning.

Kindur, however, is not alone in this space. The founder of Social Security Solutions and Income Strategy found himself wishing there was a way to coordinate retirement income some ten years ago. He teamed up with the investment strategy chair at Baylor University for what he thought would be a short project. In the end, it took years to sort through all the rules of Social Security. However, a platform was created to help people figure out claiming strategies. His second company analyzes accounts from which they should withdraw and when.

Another company, Income Strategy, provides users with help to figure out how to withdraw money and provides the option of how that transaction will be executed.

The future will likely hold more of these kinds of platforms, as the next generation becomes more comfortable with allowing AI (Artificial Intelligence) to manage their money and their withdrawals. For now, most people are still more comfortable with a person providing financial guidance, although that guidance is often helped by AI. Together, AI and an experienced professional make the best advisors.

An estate planning attorney can advise you on creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances.

Reference: CNBC (April 7, 2019) “You probably don’t know how much your retirement paycheck will be. New technology is working to change that.”

Tax Planning Is Only a Part of Estate Planning

The tax codes change, and the estate plans need a fresh look.

The new tax laws have not made estate planning simpler. They have created a situation where it would be wise to take a fresh look at estate, retirement and disability planning, because those plans work together in one package, according to the Daily Times in “Planning Ahead: Estate planning is not just tax planning.”

Wills have often been drafted for people in upper tax brackets concerning assets and what belongings should be passed to children and grandchildren. However, because federal estate exemptions are now very different, the question arises on whether the estate plan achieve the goals desired?

Here are some of the questions to ask:

• What do I own?
• Can I maximize what I own?
• Where will my assets go upon my death?
• Who will care for minor children or disabled relatives, if I die?
• What will happen if I become disabled?
• Will I have enough to pay for my children’s education, my retirement, or for even my potential disability or that of my spouse?

Estate planning goes beyond drafting a simple will, or even a complex trust. Wills and trusts are personal documents. Sometimes people decide that other things are more important than taxes. That’s why a simple online form does not answer all the questions when creating a will.

An unmarried couple may decide there are more tax benefits to being married, if a state has an inheritance tax that is higher for people who are not related.

It makes the most sense to name a young person as a beneficiary of an IRA, so the asset can grow (“stretch”) over the years. However, you may have someone else in mind for the IRA.

Decision making in estate planning is not something that happens instantly, and it does change over time. That is why it is important to review an estate plan every few years.

The critical thing is to have an estate plan in place. You can adjust it as time goes by, but without one your family faces many added difficulties and costs.

An estate planning attorney can advise you on creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances.

Reference: Daily Times (April 9, 2019) “Planning Ahead: Estate planning is not just tax planning”