This past Thursday, I spent the day in Livonia teaching a continuing professional education class about estate administration for the Michigan Association of CPA’s. One of the topics I discussed with a room full of CPA’s was the transfer of …
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Will or Trust – Which is Best?
Last week, one of the questions we discussed that I and my partner Buzz Suuppi get all the time is: How much assets do I need for a trust? What we are really being asked is: Should my estate plan …
Top Five Estate Planning Questions
Because of all the estate planning that we do, we get a lot of estate planning questions on a daily basis. In today’s column we are going to discuss the top five estate planning questions that we regularly get in …
How Long Do You Keep Financial Records?
We regularly get the question of “How long should I keep my _____ records?” The _____ can be tax, estate, trust, bank, etc. The answer to that question is not always so simple, because it depends upon the type of …
New Rules Take Bite Out of Annuity Peddlers’ Income
There has been an epidemic in the United States of inappropriate high-fee financial products being sold to unsuspecting investors. These financial products, mostly annuities, are being pushed by financial services companies and their annuity peddlers, who are not looking out …
Choose the Right Entity for your Business
You have worked for someone else all your life up to this point. You are very good at what you do. Going at it alone is what you always wanted to do. You have decided to work for yourself and …
Saving For College with 529 Plans
You want the best for your children or grandchildren. Helping them to cover the cost of a college degree is often a priority. A college degree can be a great start in life to help them to be successful and …
Why Would You Want to Get Life Insurance?
You see lots of advertisements for life insurance, on television, billboards and flyers in the mail. Life insurance sales are down. According to industry statistics, 57% of Americans have life insurance. But that means 43% of Americans have no life …
Financially Train Your Spouse
You are married. Marriage is a partnership between you and your spouse. And to be efficient, you, as partners, divide and conquer. Like most married couples, you and your spouse have probably divvied up the household duties. Often times, you …
You May Own Life Insurance Company Stock and Not Know It
Are you receiving annual or quarterly dividends from an insurance company? You have one or more life insurance policies with that company. Those life insurance policies have cash value that has built up over the years. Those dividends that you …