Integrity Estate Advisors

Taxes

'There are two systems of taxation in our country:
one for the informed and one for the uninformed.'

-- Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961)

Most seniors, especially those who have not taken the time to sit with a qualified Estate or Financial Planner, pay too much in Income tax and will ultimately pay to much in taxes and expenses whey they die. Almost every client we sit with has too much taxable income that they aren’t spending!

Why pay tax on money you aren’t spending?

While there are many ways to save on taxes, one of the best and safest ways is to place the money that you don’t spend or are just using the income from, into tax deferred or tax free investments.

Annuities usually pay more than CD’s and Money Markets with the added benefit of tax deferral. YOU have control over when the taxes get paid. This also allows your money to grow faster because the interest you would have normally paid taxes on, collects more interest, which allows your savings to grow faster. (Triple compounding)

Annuities usually avoid PROBATE. This means that your heirs will receive their money faster, usually within weeks, instead of 9 months to 2 years with 13-15 months being average in Pennsylvania.

Annuities can have more flexibility than CD’s.

Annuities can lower your taxable income, reducing or eliminating the taxes on your Social Security Income. Tax Free Bonds don’t.

Certain Annuities can have special benefits in regard to Medicaid Planning and the recovery laws

There are also Immediate annuities that allow you to create an income stream that you can never outlive. The tax benefits of an Immediate annuity can have a significant impact on lowering your taxable income, thus increasing your spendable income!

A 70 year old with a $24,000 per year interest income could reduce their tax burden (from this income) by 50%-75%.

So, why not call Integrity Estate Advisors today to see how you may benefit from these fantastic Estate Planning tools.

Many people decide to procrastinate and call us in “CRISIS MANAGEMENT MODE.” Usually this limits the amount of help anyone can offer. Act now…. Don’t procrastinate.

Estates over $2 million

Everyone is entitled to a Unified Credit of $2 million dollars for 2007. The only problem is that when a spouse dies and passes their estate or their portion of the estate to their living spouse, the 2nd Unified Credit is lost.

Example: Fred and Wilma had an estate valued at $3.2 million dollars. The way most people have set up their estate is with a simple will, powers of attorney, and a living will. This ‘Traditional’ method will cost the heirs over $550,000 in Federal Estate Taxes that could have been avoided with taking the time to create a proper plan and a $1000 - $2000 set of documents. This situation is more common than not!

Is a Doctor a Doctor or would you go to a specialist for a cardiac problem? The same holds true with your estate planning needs. There are insurance agents, stock brokers, product pushers, Attorneys, CPA’s, etc., who may be nice people and really great at what they do, but unless they specialize in the area of estate planning, you may not have the tools, documents, and information needed to achieve your desired results. In most cases we have encountered, the people have either tried to take the “SELF SERVE” approach or had their generalist attorney, CPA, Insurance agent, offer their advice and in those same instances, we found many changes that had to be made to achieve the desired results. Unless the professional has abundant information and education on both sides of an issue, you will get a biased view. (ie: Trust vs. Will, Permanent Insurance or Term, etc.)

We have met with many attorneys, asked specific questions to find out their areas of knowledge. We found that many, who advertise estate planning, are not trained in any estate planning techniques but a simple will, power of attorney, and living wills. They are basically looking to gather as many wills as possible to probate at a later date...possibly for retirement. The average fees we have seen charged is 5%, meaning a $10,000 attorney fee for a $200,000 gross estate.

Yes, there are attorneys who do know how to do estate planning, but how do you know who they are? We recommend first talking with a competent Estate Planning Advisor, who may have working relationships with local attorneys.

Integrity Estate Advisors work with several local attorneys who have experience in planning minimal estates to large $100,000,000 estates. We earn no fees from these attorneys and offer the qualified referrals as part of our comprehensive estate planning service

Because Elvis Presley lived for the day and didn’t plan for his future, his estate lost 73% to taxes, leaving only $2.8 million of his $10.2 million dollar estate to his beneficiaries. This was a voluntary loss!

Bing Crosby, on the other hand, planned and no one knows what his worth was and who got how much. It’s YOUR choice.

To View more celebrity estates CLICK HERE