“Get Your Ducks in a Row” by Harry S Margolis is an enormous book on estate planning. I knew it would be a challenging book to read because of the subject matter, but it proved to be an exciting read.
The book was engaging because I learned much more than I thought. Estate planning covers many facets, including wills, trusts, taxes, health care, and charity. To be honest, I was on the edge of my seat most of the time because I was learning so much new information.
Most people don’t conduct estate planning because they feel that they don’t have an estate. However, many people have something of value that they can leave to someone else. I truly need to write my 30 takeaways from this book because of the pure amount of teaching points that stuck with me. With that, let’s get into my five takeaways.
1) Wills only affect items that don’t have a natural order of succession—this includes things like tangible property (i.e., furniture, gold). Things like real estate and investment accounts flow directly to the named beneficiary.
2) Irrevocable trusts are invaluable for the family to keep access to income while having an individual remain eligible for long-term care assistance from the government. If someone has too many resources, they would have to liquidate their assets and suffer a waiting period to qualify for Medicaid.
3) Estate taxes are currently set for roughly $11 million per person and $22 million per couple. Over 99% of residents will not qualify to pay these estate taxes. However, states can have much lower thresholds. Knowing your estate taxes and planning accordingly can affect how much you give throughout your lifetime.
4) You can give an individual $15,000 per year without reporting your taxes. However, if you go over $15,000, you won’t have to pay taxes. That excess amount then goes into your $11 million estate number. So most of us can give as much as we want because we won’t reach that $11 million limit. This is an excellent way to transfer items while we are still living.
5) Charity is also a great way to reduce estate taxes and give towards your legacy. You can also work with institutions to transfer assets like stocks to not trigger a capital gains tax upon transfer.
Estate planning can seem complex, but it’s an attempt to do right by your family. The stories in the book are heart-wrenching because some people can become greedy when it comes to money.
My biggest takeaway is to talk to your family. There should be no surprises when the executor reads the will and transfers assets. The family should discuss the plan at least every couple of years to ensure things have not changed too much.
An irrevocable trust is a great way to ensure the family legacy remains intact for a long time to come. You can set the trust only to allow dividends and interest to flow out of the account, leaving the principle safe and growing.
If you are growing your wealth (as you should), this book is what you need. I am 40, but I need to begin to put these plans in place because I am building a growing number of assets. For being 456 pages, it was a fast, easy read. Time flies when you are learning. I highly recommend this book.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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