Estate Planning

The cumulative wealth and assets of a client is known as their estate. A sizable estate can be hard to manage, as there are many factors to take into consideration, as each asset may have different legal and contractual obligations attached to it. Estate planning is a means to control your estate to provide for you during life, and to keep it in tact after your death, so that it can continue to provide for your family. Wealth managers can help you ensure that your wealth is secure enough to last longer than your lifetime.

What Estate Planning Covers

A will

What happens to your wealth when you die? That is the million dollar question of estate planning (or in many cases, the several million dollar question)! Without a clear directive for the transference of your wealth, your assets can get tied up in all sorts of ways, from tax withholdings to family in-fighting. This is why a will is so important, as it provides a clear directive of where your assets are meant to go. When it comes to estate planning, a good wealth manager can set up a rock-solid will that covers all of your bases.

Establishing trusts

Oftentimes, it is beneficial to put parts of your estate in control of a third-party with a directive on how it is to be used. These arrangements are called “trusts.” When it comes to estate planning, trusts are an absolutely essential tool that can be used to distribute wealth to the rest of your family as assets in a trust are usually more accessible than those that come directly from your estate. This is because many laws and regulations allow a trust to be separate from the taxes that are incurred on the rest of your estate. This also gives trusts the added benefit of minimizing the taxes that are levied against your wealth when you try to pass it on to your loved ones.