Estate Planning
 
 
 
Polaris Advisors, the website, the worksheets and the seminars are not endorsed, reviewed or approved by either Gillette or Procter and Gamble.  Polaris Advisors is an independent Financial Planning Firm and prospective clients must make their own assessments of the accuracy and validity of the material presented
 
 
 
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did in his sleep — and not screaming like the passengers in his car.
 
If talking about Old Age is difficult, try talking about dying!  A client once told me that if he sat down and wrote a Will, it would shorten his life!  I tried to counter that the best way to keep dry at a picnic was to bring an umbrella because forgetting it was the surest way to make it rain.
 
If Estate Planning is a gift you give your children, then avoiding Estate Planning is a gift you give to Probate Lawyers, Courts, Governments and anyone who could make the case that you owe them something after your death.
 
The worksheet attached depicts the basic Trust structure used to minimize death taxes.  But the purpose of Estate Planning is about more than taxes.  It’s about protecting your assets from creditors and lawsuits, providing a mechanism to care for you when you are too old to care for yourself, ensuring that the next generation treats any inheritance they might receive responsibly, and getting the lawyers, courts and publicity out of your heir’s private financial affairs when you’re gone.
 
Take, for example, a child who receives a Life Insurance payout on his parent’s death.  What happens if he’s only 16 years old?  Wouldn’t it be better to have the money go into a Trust administered by a trusted Uncle or Grandparent with instructions that it be used for College?  What a shame to buy life insurance to protect your children’s higher education only to have it squandered on cars or drugs or rock and roll because you never set up the Trust.
 
So, download your worksheet and take a look.  If you have questions, or would like to attend one of our workshops on this and the other “12 Steps to Retirement” please don’t hesitate to give us a call or contact us by email.  We’ll be glad to hear form you.
 
 
·          These worksheets alone do not constitute a complete Financial Plan.  Please consider all aspects of your situation with competent tax, financial and legal counsel before making any decision to leave employment.  Polaris Advisors, LLC is not responsible for any use or misuse of these tools by persons who have not contracted with Polaris Advisors, LLC for Financial Planning Services
 
Adobe Acrobat (pdf)Adobe Acrobat Reader Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Excel Viewer
Microsoft WordMicrosoft Word Viewer Microsoft PowerPointMicrosoft PowerPoint Viewer

With the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® software, you can view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. If you do not already have Microsoft® Word®, Excel® or Power Point® installed on your computer, the viewers enable you to view and print Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Power Point presentations. If you already have Word, Excel or Power Point installed on your computer, you do not need to download these viewers. To download any of these free programs, click a link above.
©2010 Polaris Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved.