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If you don't like how the government spends your money, estate planning will redirect how your money is spent, based on your desires. Therefore, estate planning is about taking maximum control of your money to be directed based on your desires, not the government's desires. Other reasons that investors fail to do estate planning include just plain ignorance or mistakes in their knowledge. Some investors still think that if they have a living trust, they'll pay no estate taxes. This is a widely held misconception. Other investors hate talking about estate planning because they'll have to confront mortality. And as mentioned before, some investors think that estate planning means giving money away. In fact, good estate planning starts with making sure you have ample resources for yourself. Only when that is ascertained, can estate planning begin. Others think their estate planning problem will go away because the government is raising the level on the estate tax exemption. But they forget that as the government raises this level over the next 8 years, their estate will also rise in value. So, there is really no savings gained.Americans over the age of 65 automatically qualify for the health insurance plan known as Medicare, which is a government-sponsored program that provides health care options with any participating doctor or hospital. When a spouse in a married couple has to enter a nursing home, the other spouse can keep their home and financial assets up to a specific amount, which changes from year to year. The spouse staying at home can receive the other spouse's income if the monthly amount received is less than a specific number, which also changes from year to year.Wills and living trusts perform almost the same function: specifying who gets each of your assets when you die. Just about everyone will benefit by having one or the other. If you have neither when you die, your assets will be distributed to your family according to the laws of the state you live in, which quite possibly won't be the way you want them divided up. That distribution would be performed without regard to each beneficiary's financial situation or ability to manage the assets. Furthermore, if the state can't find your relatives, the assets could end up going straight to the government. Additionally, if you have children, you'll want a will, because that's the only legal way to transfer guardianship of minors.With a living trust, some or all of your assets are transferred to the trust. The management of the trust is handled by a trustee that you designate. If you designate yourself as trustee (as is typically done), then you continue to own the assets (and pay any appropriate taxes on them) until you die. This is why a living trust is sometimes called a revocable trust, or an inter vivos (Latin for "between the living") trust. You also designate a successor to act as trustee when you die. As mentioned above, a living trust is also called a revocable trust, because it enables the person who sets up the trust to subsequently make changes to it, including revoking it. This section discusses irrevocable trusts, which are similar in that they're also legal entities that hold assets for its beneficiaries and act as instructed by their grantors, but different in that the contributions are irrevocable and therefore cannot be taken out of the trust by the grantor. Given this downside, why would anyone opt for an irrevocable trust rather than a revocable trust? Because they offer tax advantages that revocable trusts don't, for example by enabling you to give money and assets away even before you die.When it comes to any type of insurance, you should consider how much of the risk you can afford to pay on your own and how much you want to pass off to the insurance company. The more you’re willing to pay out-of-pocket, the lower the insurance premiums. Pretty simple concept—except in the case of long-term care. The problem with planning for long-term care is that you don’t know how incapacitated you’re going to be and how long you’ll need the care. Every case is different. Therefore, you should do an analysis of your financial and personal situation that includes the cost of long-term care in your state, your life expectancy, and what tradeoffs you are willing to make.
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