Digital Assets: Why They Need to Be Part of Your Estate Plan

What’s going to happen to your Facebook account when you die? Or all the songs you’ve downloaded from iTunes?

As digital assets become more common for all of us, it’s important to incorporate them into estate plans. Unfortunately, as was recently explored in a Denver Business Journal article featuring WealthCounsel, that’s not always easy to do. 

According to a 2013 McAfee study, the average person has roughly $35,000 worth of assets stored on digital devices. That value includes purchased movies, books, music and games as well as personal memories, communications, personal records, hobbies and career information. Of those surveyed by the study, 55 percent said they store assets that would be impossible to recreate, re-download or repurchase.

Read more @ EstatePlannin.com

 

5 Estate Planning Strategies to Keep Your Money in the Family

The inheritance you leave could still be eaten away by taxes and expenses. Here are five strategies to avoid that.

If you’re single, you can have up to $5.45 million in assets before your heirs have to worry about paying a penny in estate taxes.

Knowing that, you might assume only the super wealthy need to worry about estate planning. However, financial planners say you’d be wrong to think planning is only necessary for the 1 percent.

Read more @ USNews.com

No Kids? You Still Need an Estate Plan

As the adage goes, you can’t take it with you. Whether you want to spend your last dime or leave it all behind when you go, creating a comprehensive plan for your estate begins earlier than you might think. If you don’t have children or obvious heirs, documenting your wishes and making them accessible will help ensure those wishes are fulfilled should something happen to you. 

“If today were your last day on earth, who would get your stuff?” says Jean-Luc Bourdon, a certified public accountant in Santa Barbara, California, and a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ personal financial planning executive committee. It’s a question he poses to all of his clients, especially those without kids. While parents may think their children are the answer, Bourdon says people without children need to plan more carefully.

 

Read more @ USNews.com

 

 

Five Steps To Create An Estate Plan

For many people, creating an estate plan is a task that routinely gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. Some assume that estate plans are only for the wealthy. Others may simply want to avoid thinking about some of the tough topics estate planning entails. Whatever the reason, the majority of Americans—some 64 percent—don’t even have a basic will.

Yet, most everyone should have an estate plan.

Read more @ Forbes.com