Use Estate Planning To Avoid Conservatorships and Protect Against Elder Abuse – Part 2 of 2

As our senior population continues to expand, an increasing number of elder abuse cases involving professional guardians have made headlines. The New Yorker exposed one of the most shocking accounts of elder abuse by professional guardians, which took place in Nevada and saw more than 150 seniors swindled out of their life savings by a corrupt Las Vegas guardianship agency.

The Las Vegas case and others like it have shed light on a disturbing new phenomenon — individuals who seek conservatorship to take control of the lives of vulnerable seniors and use their money and other assets for personal gain. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of such abuse is that many seniors who fall prey to these unscrupulous guardians have loving and caring family members who are unable to protect them.

In the first part of this series, we detailed how criminally minded individuals can take advantage of an overloaded court system and seize total control of seniors’ lives and financial assets by gaining court-ordered conservatorship. Here we’ll discuss how seniors and their adult children can use proactive estate planning to prevent this from happening.

What the National Debt Ceiling Extension Means for Your Family

You’ve probably heard about the national debt ceiling and its recent extension, but you might wonder what it has to do with your everyday life as a family. While it may seem like a distant matter, the national debt ceiling extension can have a significant impact on your family's financial well-being and future planning.

So what exactly is the national debt ceiling extension?

The national debt ceiling is a legal limit set on the amount of money the government can borrow to finance its operations and meet its financial obligations domestically and around the globe. When the government reaches this limit, it cannot borrow more money unless Congress raises or extends the country’s debt ceiling. If the ceiling isn’t raised and the United States can’t pay back its debts, the country’s global creditworthiness is affected as well as financial security abroad and at home.

The National Debt is currently at the tune of $32 trillion with no current substantive or reasonable plan of paying it back. Instead, Congress raised the national debt ceiling on June 3, 2023, which means the United States will not default on its loans. This is good news in one sense but bad news in another. It’s certainly important to understand how the extension of the debt ceiling can still affect the economy and your family.

Here’s how the national debt ceiling extension can affect the economy, and your family, and what you can do to mitigate the impacts.

Economics, Finance, Estate PlanningStephen PennerJuly 14, 2023Debt, Family Governance, Recession, Taxes

Awakened Planning: How to Talk About Estate Planning at Your Family Reunion

July is National Family Reunion Month and the perfect time to reconnect with family from near and far, share life’s updates, and reminisce about the wonderful memories you share together. If you’re getting together with family this month, it’s also a perfect time to talk to your loved ones about your shared goals, family resources and the legacy you want to leave behind for the next generation.

You might think that estate planning is too somber a topic for a happy family reunion, but it can actually be an opportunity to bring you closer to your loved ones by giving everyone time to speak openly about their wishes for the family and can help everyone feel unified by working together toward the family’s future wellbeing.

Not sure how to bring up estate planning in a way that makes your family feel empowered? Keep reading to learn how to navigate the conversation without scaring away party guests!

Seven Important Things To Do With Your Parents Before They Die

Time is fleeting and life is short. You have only one life. It is far far too easy to forget the important things, and to miss opportunities in the short moments that they appear before slipping away. In the context of estate planning, it is our privilege and honor to help families establish the legal planning area of their lives for the good of their loved ones. But, in doing so, it is very frequent that we speak to children after their parents have passed away, and we hear regrets about their not having spent time or commitment with their parents.

Those we love are only with us for a short time. We all too often allow many petty grievances or personality conflicts to distract us. In his Facebook post “Processes to go through with your parents before they die,” Daniel Schmachtenberger, founder of the Critical Path Institute, outlined seven simple exercises to use with your parents that can offer significant healing and completion for their life and yours.

While Daniel shared these processes in the context of the impending death of a parent, the reality is that your parents are heading toward death, even if there is no official diagnosis. And starting these processes when mortality isn’t immediately on the table is even better. Here are the six processes that Daniel outlined, along with our commentary and suggestions:

Want to Grow Wealth? Warren Buffet's Unexpected Investment Advice

If you are going to take investment and estate planning advice from anyone, Warren Buffett is likely one you want to consider. As one of the most successful investors in history, his track record speaks for itself. However, his wisdom goes beyond picking stocks and making money.

At this year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, Buffett shared several pieces of financial advice but also provided insights on the importance of personal growth and estate planning when seeking to grow wealth. While many of us may feel overwhelmed by the thought of estate planning or building our wealth, Buffett's advice reminds us of two key but simple steps we can take to create financial and generational wealth.

Three Unique Ways to Handle the Guilt Inherent to Being a Parent

If you’re a parent, you may have many reasons for feeling guilt. Many of those reasons may be good ones. Being a parent means holding an obligation, and in the grand scheme of themes, it’s a sacred one. So, if you feel guilt for not measuring up to the standards that you ought to be measuring up to as a parent, you are definitely not alone.

Currently, the burden is on you to provide for your child’s full-time care, your child’s education, and your child’s formation as a healthy human being. These are multiple full-time jobs, and in our current culture, these are jobs that many parents do alone without the cultural, familial, and institutional supports that used to exist for families with children.

If you are like most parents, you were probably struggling with guilt even before the corona virus shutdowns began in early 2020. Even now, you simply cannot make it to every award ceremony or recital, and you likely do not have as much time to play with your kids or help them with their homework as you’d like.

Will The Coming Wealth Transfer Be A Blessing Or A Curse For Your Family?

Whether it’s called “The Great Wealth Transfer,” “The Silver Tsunami,” or some other catchy sounding name, it’s a fact that a tremendous amount of wealth will pass from Baby Boomers to younger generations in the next few decades. In fact, it’s said to be the largest transfer of intergenerational wealth in history.

Because no one knows exactly how long aging Boomers will live or how much money they’ll spend before they pass on, it’s impossible to accurately predict just how much wealth will be transferred. However, studies suggest it’s somewhere between $30 and $90 trillion. Yes, that’s “trillion” with a “t.”

A Blessing or a Curse?

While most are talking about the many benefits the wealth transfer might have for younger generations and the economy, fewer are talking about the potential negative ramifications. Yet there’s plenty of evidence suggesting that many people, especially younger generations, are woefully unprepared to handle such an inheritance.

In fact, an Ohio State University study found that one third of people who received an inheritance had a negative savings within two years of getting the money. Another study by The Williams Group found that intergenerational wealth transfers often become a source of tension and conflict among family members, and 70% of such transfers fail by the time they reach the second generation.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerFebruary 17, 2023Family Governance, Affluenza, Trust Fund Babies

How Will A Recession Affect Your Family?

As you’ve surely heard by now, we’re in the midst of great economic shifts. The collapse of the crypto market, the roller coaster that is the stock market, rising interest rates, dropping home values, and inflation through the roof — it’s enough to make you sick. And it can make you sick, unless you take the actions we are sharing here.

During every economic shift, whether it’s the Great Depression, the last Great Recession, or even during the pandemic, some people get rich, while others lose everything. Whether your family got rich, lost it all, or just hung on by their toes, you can learn from what happened and create the exact future reality you want for yourself and the people you love.

But to do that, you need to get into action now. In service to that, here are 4 steps you can take right away to change your family’s future and ensure you have the stability you need to sail through the economic shifts in the best way possible.

On that note, whether you’ll be passing on wealth or inheriting it, it’s crucial to have a plan in place to reduce the massive loss that will occur IF YOU WAIT to start the estate planning conversation. Whether you have a little or a lot, not getting clear on what you do have (or will receive) can cause major upsets that can cost you far more than just money.

A Blessing or a Curse?

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A Blessing or a Curse?

(805) 965-0085