Estate planning is essential for anyone with a family, regardless of age. While no one looks forward to estate planning, it is important to establish your goals and set yourself up with the right team to help ensure they are met.
An accountant, attorney, and financial planner all play important roles in any estate plan. Our team is proud to be trusted by people across the East Bay as their go-to financial ally, and we have a great deal of experience with estate planning.
In this article, we will talk about our role as a financial planner in the estate planning process. Read on to learn about the tasks we take on and the value we can add to your estate planning team.
Assess Current Financial Position
When we begin the estate planning process with any client, we start by assessing their financial position and creating a clear outline of where their investments lie, how these investments are performing, the person’s overall financial strength, and their potential tax burden. These puzzle pieces are the foundation of an estate plan, and through the years we help track your finances to ensure you are progressing toward your goals.
Manage and Direct Trust Accounts
With a clear picture of your current financial situation, we can begin to advise on your estate plan. An attorney will draft instructions on how trust accounts are to be divided, but it’s our role as a financial planner to ensure trust accounts are in the names of desired heirs, advise on investment strategies, and monitor investment strategies to ensure they perform as intended. Along the way, we openly communicate about potential changes to maximize gains in trust accounts.
Advise on Insurance Needs
While many people think about stocks, real estate, and savings from a financial planning standpoint, estate planning brings in another area of focus: insurance. Managing risk and planning for unforeseen circumstances are key when it comes to estate planning, thus the importance of the right insurance coverage. Financial planners will discuss the benefits and make recommendations on different insurance coverages to help reach your goals.
Limit Tax Burden
One of the most valuable roles a financial planner can play in estate planning is to minimize the tax burden on a person and their heirs. Inheritance tax can take a tremendous amount of assets away from a person’s heirs, and a smart financial planner can work in conjunction with a CPA to keep taxes as low as possible. The last thing you want is for your heirs to be forced to liquidate assets just to pay taxes upon your death, and an experienced financial planner can help avoid this outcome.
No matter where you are in your financial planning process, it’s important to have an estate plan in place if you have people who depend on you. To learn more about our estate planning services, please contact us today.
