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April | 2009 | Wealth Enhancement Group
Incentive Trusts — Keeping a Steady Hand on the Tiller Part 2
How far can you go in using your estate to provide rewards for appropriate actions by your heirs? You’ll probably find yourself limited more by your imagination and ability to foresee circumstances than by legal constraints. Some common themes contained in incentive trusts involve education, moral and family values, business and vocational choices, charitable giving, and religious participation.
Business and vocational choices: Entrepreneurs can use trusts to provide incentives to those heirs who commit to helping carry on a family business. Trusts can be designed to encourage or discourage career choices specified by the trust creator. Trusts can also be used to offer focused financial support to those beneficiaries who opt to follow paths that are personally and socially rewarding yet generally less lucrative.
Charitable and religious opportunities: Some trusts are designed to encourage religious behavior by requiring specific observances. Some trusts provide funds for dues or other costs associated with religious participation. Some subsidize those heirs who choose missionary work or other religious vocations. Some provide matching funds for heirs’ contributions to favored organizations.
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Leave a Comment »	| Advanced Personal Medical Care, Estate Planning, Financial Planning Tips, retirement, Trusts	| Tagged: advanced age planning, financial advice, Financial Advisers, Financial Planning Tips, Financial Professionals, financial security, financial services, incentive trusts, Investment Strategy, legacy planning, MN financial advice, providing income support, retirement planning, risk management, securities, Trusts, Wealth Enhancement, wills	| Permalink
One of the biggest worries of those caring for an aging parent is how to pay for the care needed. If you provide more than half of a parent’s support and his or her gross income is less than $3,400 in 2007 ($3,500 in 2008), you can claim your parent as your dependent, giving you a tax exemption for each parent so cared for and allowing you to write off much of the medical expenses. (Note: The dependent exemption phases out at higher income levels. Check with your tax advisor.) You may also be able to claim a federal tax credit that will enable you to take up to $3,000 off the cost of in-home care or day care. Another option is the flexible spending account (FSA), which lets you pay for a certain amount of care each year with pretax dollars.
If sending your parent to a nursing home is inevitable, make sure you research each home extensively. Reservations at the home selected should be made at least a year ahead of the time that you expect your parent will need it, as waiting lists are typically long at well-respected facilities.
Keep in mind, too, that the government offers limited financial help for those families paying for nursing home care. Medicare will only pay for care on a short-term basis, and Medicaid only offers benefits to low income individuals with limited assets. And, with the average nursing home stay costing upwards of $6,266 per month, financial planning has become even more crucial to the economic well-being of adult children responsible for the care of their elderly parents. Don’t wait until the last minute — start planning now to ensure the future care of your parents.
1 Comment	| Advanced Personal Medical Care, Estate Planning, Financial Planning Tips, retirement	| Tagged: aging parent care, diversified stock portfolios, Estate Planning, financial advice, financial advisor, Financial Goals, financial institutions, financial parental care, Financial Planning, Financial Professionals, financial security, Financial Strategies, investment advisor, investment specialists, Investment Strategy, Minnesota, nursing home financing, planning for retirement, Wealth Enhancement	| Permalink
Helping to Care for Aging Parents – Research Your Options
If your parents are healthy seniors who can look after themselves, they generally are eligible to enter a continuing-care retirement community that allows them to buy or rent an apartment and ensures them lifetime nursing care when it is necessary. Another option for healthy seniors is private long-term care insurance, which can help cover nursing-home costs or the cost of an in-home aide.
There are a wide range of services and options available if your parent needs more substantial assistance and is not eligible for the above-mentioned services. Many families opt for moving an aging parent into their own home. If you are able to peacefully coexist with your parent, this may be a good idea because the arrangement frees you from worry about the upkeep of a second home, and you and your children can have valuable time to spend with your loved one.
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Bring this checklist to a qualified legal professional to discuss how to make your plan comprehensive and up-to-date.
Part 1 – Communicating Your Wishes
•	Do you have a will?
•	Are you comfortable with the executor(s) and trustee(s) you have selected?
•	Have you executed a living will or health care proxy in the event of catastrophic illness or disability?
•	Have you considered a living trust to avoid probate?
•	If you have a living trust, have you titled your assets in the name of the trust?
Part 2 – Protecting Your Family
•	Does your will name a guardian for your children if both you and your spouse are deceased?
•	If you want to limit your spouse’s flexibility regarding the inheritance, have you created a Q-TIP trust?
•	Are you sure you have the right amount and type of life insurance for survivor income, loan repayment, capital needs and all estate settlement expenses?
•	Have you considered an irrevocable life insurance trust to exclude the insurance proceeds from being taxed as part of your estate?
•	Have you considered creating trusts for family gift giving?
Part 3 – Reducing Your Taxes
•	If you are married, are you taking full advantage of the marital deduction?
•	Are both your estate plan and your spouse’s plan designed to take advantage of each of your $2.0 million applicable exclusion amounts?
•	Do you and your spouse each individually own enough assets for each of you to qualify for $2.0 million applicable exclusion amounts?
•	Are you making gifts to family members that take advantage of the $12,000 annual gift tax exclusion?
•	Have you gifted assets with a strong probability of future appreciation in order to maximize future estate tax savings?
•	Have you considered charitable trusts that could provide you with both estate and income tax benefits?
Part 4 – Protecting Your Business
•	If you own a business, do you have a management succession plan?
•	Do you have a buy/sell agreement for your family business interests?
•	Have you considered a gift program that involves your family owned business, especially in light of “estate freeze” rules? (These rules were enacted by Congress to prevent people from artificially freezing their estate values for tax purposes.)
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A Needs Evaluation
A Minnesota Financial Advisor Service
Leave a Comment »	| Estate Planning, Financial Planning Tips, Invesment Management and Market Updates	| Tagged: basic estate planning tools, Estate Planning, Financial Advisers, Financial Goals, Financial Planning, Financial Professionals, financial services, Financial Strategies, investment advisor, investment specialists, Investment Strategy, Minnesota, MN financial advice, planning for retirement, retirement accounts, retirement planning, savings or investments, Smart Investing, stock portfolio, Wealth Enhancement	| Permalink
Five Points to Remember – Part 5 in Our Series
Portfolio Points To Remember
1.	Both a living will and a health care proxy are advance directives, allowing you to put in writing how you want medical decisions made when you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself. However, a health care proxy has the added advantage of permitting you to designate someone to make medical decisions for you when you cannot speak for yourself.
2.	Legal safeguards exist to ensure that health care proxies are not misused. Hospitals and nursing homes are required to ask if you have an advance directive and you can always override, change, or cancel your proxy.
3.	Having a health care proxy can be a wise step. If you do not have a health care proxy, many states will appoint a decision maker for you if you can no longer make your own medical decisions.
4.	Advance directives are not financial documents. However, it is quite possible that during a visit with an attorney to discuss financial and estate planning affairs, advance directives may be packaged together with other estate planning documents.
5.	Before setting up any advance directive, review your current health and future wishes in as much detail as possible with family, legal counsel, and a chosen proxy. Once a document has been executed, store the document in a safe and known place and give all involved parties a copy.
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