Nope...not even close.

Living will states your desires regarding medical treatment/life extending measures when you are unable to express such wishes (i.e., you are in a coma, do you want feeding tubes?)

A living (inter vivos) trust is a vehicle for holding assets and, more importantly for many, transferring those assets outside of probate.

 

Gotcha, thanks. I'd never heard of a living will, at least not under its proper name, seems like a necessity.

It was suggested to me that a conventional will is only so effective, and a trust is a much better thing to have pertaining to money, but that they're much more expensive. Not surprised a trust isn't covered for free if that's indeed the case, wonder if they'd give a good rate on one?

 

I've thought the same thing, though I have some hesitation give the monikers "you wouldn't perform your own surgery"...etc.

However money management fascinates me, and I think I've got an elementary understanding. Would it be fair to say that there's basically (and this is very basic) 401k's, IRA's for retirement, 529's for college, and general brokerage accounts for all else? The former three having various rules/tax breaks/penalties, and the latter simply being taxed on gains?

Further, when it comes to those accounts, you diversify with various stocks, mutual funds, etc. Choosing risk, cost ratio, so on and so forth? I've dabbled with my wife and I's 401k's...instead of just doing the "Target Retirement 20xx" fund, I looked at others available and grabbed a few with low costs and high returns over 3, 5, and 10 year histories. It's easy to look at past/present performance, and I assume that a fund averaging 10% over the past 10 years is probably likely to be a solid bet moving forward, but I have no idea how to pick something before it takes off...aside from perhaps being excited about a given company.

So if that's pretty much all a financial advisor does, perhaps I should consider self management?

 

Under the current rules, your heirs will be taxed (estate tax) at anything over $5.49M and that tax rate is 40%. While it might seem unlikely that you'll ever achieve that, with our current rates, retirements and length of service; one could easily bump up and over the $5.49 million especially if parents leave behind a sizeable estate.

The Will describes how your assets and belongings are to be handled and distributed after your death. A trust only details who is in charge of your trust upon your death (the Trustee). All assets are owned by the trust. The Trustee manages the assets. So in effect, one is able to bypass the estate tax. Because there are many types of trusts and people have different needs, you need to see a professional who is very good at the type of trust you need. I really think you get what you pay for in this deal.

Trump wants to introduce legislation removing the estate tax. His view is that the money was taxed at one point and doesn't need to be taxed again and that its onerous for a lot of people. Where I live, if a parent who owns a farm and dies with only a will, the value of the land, water and minerals can easily exceed $5.5M and the family can't pay the tax and loses the family farm. That's the big topic for today's farmers.

Our free service handles the will easily but for a trust, you need a professional to walk you thru it. If you know exactly what you want/need, you can also do it yourself but you need to do your homework.

 

It's a fake comparison. I feel like any money manager I could hire with my meager funds only knows the rudimentary basics. If he could pick stocks worth a damn then he would be working for himself or multi-millionaires -- not me. From all my anecdotal evidence of watching the market for over 20 years, most experts aren't. They just use that saying to scare people into paying them to lose your money. They get a cut either way.

 

Yup. Any low-fee mutual fund can beat most "highly talented" hedge fund managers.

Max the 401k.*
$10000/kid/yr into a 529.*
Max out the HSA.*

Stay away from toys.
Don't get divorced.
Pay off your debt.
Keep your FO house.
Spend money on experiences, they're proven to have a higher ROI than "stuff."

*All in plain vanilla low-fee funds.

That will be $99. Thank you.

 

Great advice!

I would add that the kid(s) only get that 529 money when and if they present a viable business plan for the specific degree they intend to pursue, fact based and realistic ROI research to back it up and a viable plan B with a solid ROI as well. Otherwise said monies revert back to the ones who earned them in the first place, for aforementioned toys and experiences. #getajob

 

You guys should have made your money in investments over the last 7 years already. I'm in bonds waiting for the next buying opportunity. Today's market is in fantasy P/E land, where airlines are the most stable investment.

 

Guys,

Deviating on a front end DH. I am staying downtown and considering options to get there if there is not a convenient pickup.

Is the light rail a viable option? Uber?

Thanks Scoop

 

Aren't the bid packages due out by 1600 Mecca time? I tried the .zip file to no avail. Is there NOTHING IT related that Delta can do well??

Edit: 4:24, they're out now.