Estate Planning

Getting to Know Morningstar’s Christine Benz

May 13, 2021 by Trevor Baker

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we interview Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz. Recently, Christine Benz was named in Barron’s Top 100 Influential Women for her dedication and impact in the financial industry. During this episode, we take a moment to learn more about who Christine is and what she loves to do in her spare time. Often, we can forget that these thought leaders and innovators are people too. Amidst all the prestigious accolades, Christine Benz is a renowned author, avid traveler (pre-covid), and risotto master. We hope you enjoy getting to know Christine Benz more on this more casual episode of Intelligent Money Minute. I don’t know about you, but after this episode I was hungry for some risotto. We like to get to know our guests and hope you do as well. Christine has a wealth of financial knowledge and we’ll be sharing more episodes with her in the near future. We also like to get to know our clients on a personal level, and if you are interested in becoming the next intelligent investor, please visit our website, investedwithyou.com and click on “Get Started.” Schedule a short discovery call or meeting We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Christine Benz is Morningstar’s director of personal finance and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Russian/East European studies from the University of Illinois. Christine lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg. She is an avid cook, a political junkie, and a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan. Follow Christine on Twitter.

The Value of a Written Financial Plan

May 6, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we interview Larry Swedroe on the value of having a written financial plan. A written financial plan helps one avoid glaring holes that may not be apparent before writing it down. Also, studies show that those with a written financial plan tend to stick it far more than those who don’t. During this episode, Larry gives multiple examples of how some avoided financial disaster with a written financial plan and some who experienced financial disaster due to not having one. Many people plan more for their summer vacations and weddings than then do their retirement. Studies have shown that people are more committed to a written financial plan. At Intelligent Investing, we guide our retirees into and through retirement, and one of the ways we do that is through creating a comprehensive written financial plan. We review your retirement concerns and risks, and we dive deep into your spending needs, wants, and wishes. Typically, we review the financial plan annually with you and update it as needed for life events as life changes. If you are interested in having an independent professional guide you in creating a comprehensive written plan, please go to “Get Started.” Schedule a short discovery call or meeting We’ll be interviewing Larry on several podcasts regarding markets, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts. Larry was among the first authors to publish a book that explained the science of investing in layman’s terms, “The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You’ll Ever Need.” He has since authored seven more books.

Larry Swedroe Bio

Since joining the Buckingham Strategic Wealth in 1996, Chief Research Officer Larry Swedroe has spent his time and energy educating investors on the benefits of evidence-based investing. In his role as chief research officer and as a member of the firm’s Investment Policy Committee and Board of Directors, Larry regularly reviews the findings published in dozens of peer-reviewed financial journals, evaluates the outcomes and uses the result to inform the firm’s formal investment strategy recommendations. Larry’s dedication to helping others has made him a sought-after national speaker. He has made appearances on national television shows airing on NBC, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg Personal Finance. Larry is a prolific writer, contributing regularly to multiple outlets, including Advisor Perspectives and ETF.com. Before joining Buckingham, Larry was vice chairman of Prudential Home Mortgage and senior vice president at Citicorp. Larry holds an MBA in finance and investment from NYU and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Baruch College.

March 1, 2019- FFN@N (Charitable Giving in Retirement)

February 18, 2019 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Topic

On March 1st, Brandon Davis, the Executive Operations Director for NCF Carolinas, an affiliate of the National Christian Foundation presented at the Intelligent Investing First Friday Networking at Noon event. Brandon discussed charitable giving as part of a financial plan, and explained the function of donor-advised funds. He also spoke on complex giving strategies using non-cash assets like a business and real estate. Here are some photos from the event.

Brandon Davis Bio

Brandon Davis, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER TM professional, serves as the Executive Operations Director for NCF Carolinas, an affiliate of the National Christian Foundation. NCF is the 8th largest U.S. charity in contributions and is the 3rd largest provider of Donor Advised Funds. They have received over $12 billion in gifts and completed $11 billion in grants to more than 55,000 charities.

Brandon’s professional background includes 20 years of charitable giving, finance, insurance and wealth management experience. Prior to joining NCF, Brandon served as a wealth advisor providing comprehensive financial planning services and as an insurance specialist collaborating with affluent families and their professional advisors to structure, implement and administer comprehensive life insurance plans. He began his career in banking as a corporate financial analyst and institutional investor management associate.

Originally from Hickory, North Carolina, Brandon graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He was the Past President of the Financial Planning Association of Charlotte and is a member of the Charlotte Estate Planning Council as well as Kingdom Advisors. He is an active member of Uptown Church where he also serves as a Finance Deacon. Brandon and his wife Teresa were married in 2003 and have two children.

Estate Administration Procedures: Why Each Step is Important

July 27, 2018 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Hans Blake, CFA, CPA will be presenting at the National Business Institute on “Estate Administration Procedures: Why Each Step Is Important” on October 16, 2018 in Greenville, SC. He will be discussing the following topics:

Considerations for Collecting the Assets, Preparing the Inventory and Handling Claims Against the Estate; and
Being Thorough to Close the Estate Without a Hitch

To learn more and to register, click here.

Program Description

Properly Administer Your Client’s Estate

Do you have a solid understanding of proper procedures surrounding estate administration? Do you feel confident that you can overcome the wide array of challenges you may face while working with each estate’s unique requirements? Join us and gain a comprehensive understanding of the estate planning process so you can easily organize and manage your responsibilities. Register today!

Weigh the pros and cons of informal administration and learn how it can be advantageously used.
Make the entire process as efficient as possible when working with the personal representative.
Determine the survivors’ immediate needs – and ensure they’re met.
Know your options: take a look at alternative methods to closing the estate.
Competently file federal and state estate tax returns and know exactly what is required.
Learn how to handle the most common issues in probate litigation.

Who Should Attend

This basic level seminar will provide fundamental estate administration topics for:

Attorneys
Accountants
Paralegals
Trust Officers
Estate Planners
Tax Professionals
Financial Planners

Course Content

Foundations of Estate Administration Defined
Preparing to Begin the Administration Process
Considerations for Collecting the Assets, Preparing the Inventory and Handling Claims Against the Estate
Being Thorough to Close the Estate Without a Hitch
Understanding Tax Procedures to Avoid Problems Later
Ethical Challenges in Estate Administration
Common Issues To Be Prepared for in Litigation and Probate

Continuing Education Credit

Continuing Legal Education

Credit Hrs State
CLE 6.50 – NC*
CLE 6.67 – SC*

Financial Planners – Financial Planners: 8.00

International Association for Continuing Education Training – IACET: 0.70

National Association of State Boards of Accountancy – CPE for Accountants/NASBA: 8.00 *

Professional Achievement in Continuing Education – PACE: 8.00

How to Have an End-of-Life Family Meeting

June 7, 2018 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Over the next several decades, the biggest and wealthiest generation in U.S. history will transfer roughly $30 trillion in assets to their Gen X and millennial children. At Intelligent Investing, one of our four unique factors is to improve financial communication between families. We do that by being a communication bridge between generations. Every generation thinks differently than other generations. Knowing how to communicate with multiple generations is vital. Many families do not want to discuss this topic because of blended families or past bad experiences. However, here are some helpful considerations for creating a family meeting that will allow you to talk to your heirs about your end-of-life decisions.

Discuss your Family Legacy

One of Intelligent Investing’s Core Values is Legacy. We believe it is more important to pass on family values than it is to pass on valuables. The head of the family should take some time in recounting stories of your family history. Perhaps you can share what values are important to you, and a time in your life when those values were challenged. By sharing your values with your children and grandchildren, you are setting them up to be better managers of the resources you may be entrusting to them. What better time to impart nuggets of wisdom you have attained over the years. Perhaps you want to instill a sense of hard work, persistence, patience, or other virtues into the younger generations. Perhaps you could write down, “Five lessons I’ve learned over the years related to money.”

We believe it is more important to pass on family values than it is to pass on valuables. Share on X

Create Proper Expectations.

The key to any communication is to set proper and transparent expectations. It is important to address preconceived expectations as well. Once you have found a neutral private location for the meeting, you may want to begin with two questions:

The family head answers, “Why are we doing this?”
He asks the family members, “What would you like to get out of this meeting?”

By setting the right expectations for the meeting and allowing time to listen to everyone’s responses, you will set the right tone.

Answer Heirs’ Questions

As the family head learns what the others would like to get out of the meeting, he can address them specifically. Many times family members will have been contemplating questions or issues but will not have addressed them in the past. Perhaps they have addressed them with other heirs or siblings, but not with the family head. This is a great time to get the questions on the table to hear the family head answer them directly.

Wealth Transfer Process and Plans

A primary goal of the family meeting should be to clearly communicate the family head’s intentions regarding his or her estate plan. Be sure to clarify important details, such as who is the executor (personal representative) of your estate, where your will and important information is stored, and, of course, who will get what. You don’t want families to split and siblings not speak to each other after mom and dad pass away due to missed expectations. Explain the process you have gone through in order to arrive at the decisions you are sharing. Explaining the “Why’s” behind the decisions can be valuable as sharing the “What’s” and “How’s.” How do you hope the estate resources will provide new opportunities for the family members?

If there are some financial complexities, such as trusts, insurance policies, beneficiary IRAs, or other accounts that have tax ramifications, we can bridge the gap and explain how these various accounts affect the next generation and ways to mitigate potential traps.

Healthcare

This meeting may be a time for the patriarch or matriarch to share his or her end-of-life desires. Perhaps he wants family members to know that he has a do not resuscitate (DNR) clause. A DNR also known as no code or allow natural death, is a legal order written either in the hospital or on a legal form to withhold cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), in respect of the wishes of a patient in case his heart was to stop or he was to stop breathing. The DNR request is usually made by the patient or health care power of attorney and allows the medical teams taking care of them to respect his or her wishes. The head of the family may want to discuss his or her long-term care insurance policies, whom he has appointed as health care power of attorney, or his nursing home preferences and wishes.

Lifetime (Current) Giving

There is nothing wrong with making inter vivos (Latin, “between the living”- a legal term referring to a transfer or gift made during one’s lifetime) gifts. In fact, it can be very satisfying seeing your children and grandchildren using the resources you have given them to make financial decisions where you see the fruit of those decisions. Some families make giving a family affair, choosing the charities collectively. If your children are involved in the decision making, they will gain firsthand exposure to your generosity, and may be more apt to continue the generosity you have established. At Intelligent Investing, we can setup a Donor Advised Fund or Foundation and let all family members participate in choosing which charities and non-profit ministries are important.

Next Steps

Our clients can host a multi-generational family meeting in which Intelligent Investing bridges the potential awkwardness while addressing specific financial questions and emotional topics. We can assist the family head in creating an agenda for the meeting but may take a back seat when the discussions begin. We think this is a vital meeting to have before a family crisis forces the conversation at a more awkward time with higher emotions present.

We work predominantly with high net worth individuals and institutions who have between $500k to $5M of investable assets. If you’d like to learn more about becoming an Intelligent Investor, click here to call or set an appointment.

Complex Charitable Giving Strategies

If you are interested in learning more about various charitable giving strategies, consider downloading our Charitable Giving article below.

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What are the Differences between a Revocable and Irrevocable Trust

February 26, 2018 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

Ever wonder what are the differences between a revocable trust and an irrevocable trust? Listen to Chad Groover, elder law attorney from Upstate Elder Law, talk about the differences between a revocable and irrevocable trust on our latest podcast. Consider joining us at our next First Friday Networking at Noon event (FFN@N) to hear Chad speak on this and other topics.

You may have seen our prior article and podcast about the probate process. Or perhaps you read our post and heard our podcast on ways to avoid probate. Whether you’re seeking to manage your own assets, control how your assets are distributed after your death, or plan for incapacity, trusts can help you accomplish your estate planning goals. Their power is in their versatility–many types of trusts exist, each designed for a specific purpose. Although trust law is complex and establishing a trust requires the services of an experienced attorney, mastering the basics isn’t hard.

What is a trust?

A trust is a legal entity that holds assets for the benefit of another. Basically, it’s like a container that holds money or property for somebody else. You can put practically any kind of asset into a trust, including cash, stocks, bonds, insurance policies, real estate, and artwork. The assets you choose to put in a trust depend largely on your goals. For example, if you want the trust to generate income, you may want to put income-producing securities, such as bonds, in your trust. Or, if you want your trust to create a pool of cash that may be accessible to pay any estate taxes due at your death or to provide for your family, you might want to fund your trust with a life insurance policy.

When you create and fund a trust, you are known as the grantor (or sometimes, the settlor or trustor). The grantor names people, known as beneficiaries, who will benefit from the trust. Beneficiaries are usually your family and loved ones but can be anyone, even a charity. Beneficiaries may receive income from the trust or may have access to the principal of the trust either during your lifetime or after you die. The trustee is responsible for administering the trust, managing the assets, and distributing income and/or principal according to the terms of the trust. Depending on the purpose of the trust, you can name yourself, another person, or an institution, such as a bank, to be the trustee. You can even name more than one trustee if you like.

To learn more, consider downloading our Trust Basics Article

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Intelligent Investing does not provide any tax, legal, or accounting advice. Any material in the email or attachments has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.

3 Ways to Avoid Probate

February 16, 2018 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: < 1 minute

Listen to Chad Groover, elder law attorney from Upstate Elder Law, talk about ways to avoid probate on our latest podcast. Be sure to also listen and read our prior blog and podcast on how the probate process works.

You may have heard about the horrors of the court proceedings after death, but in truth, probate has gotten an undeservedly bad reputation, especially in recent years. If you bypass probate, your estate will go to your beneficiaries without any court proceeding, and you may save a certain amount of time and expenses. However, there is usually little reason for most people to avoid probate today. States continue to revise their probate laws, making them more consumer friendly, particularly for small estates. In fact, there are some good reasons to distribute your property by will. Decisions are binding and have legal finality once your will is probated. Creditors who fail to file claims against your estate within a specific amount of time — usually six months after receiving notice — are out of luck.

However, some major drawbacks to probate do exist, including the time it can take. The process averages six to nine months to complete but may take up to two years or more for some complex estates, tying up the assets that your family may need immediately. Also, for a larger estate, the cost may be as high as 5 percent of the estate’s value.

To learn more, consider downloading our Bypassing Probate Article

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How the Probate Process Works

February 13, 2018 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: < 1 minute

Listen to Chad Groover, elder law attorney from Upstate Elder Law, talk about how the probate process works on our latest podcast. In case you missed it, We heard Chad Groover speak at our First Friday Networking at Noon event.