Is Your Estate Plan Up To Date?
Estate plans need to be carefully reviewed and updated at least every 3-5 years, and more frequently if life is bringing changes. For example, do the people you designated for key roles like power of…
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ERISA: Know the Rules, Avoid the Risks
ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, doesn’t require employers to offer a retirement plan, but it does set strict rules for those that do. Given the responsibility of safeguarding employee retirement…
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Going The Extra Mile?
To say that a retirement plan sponsor must take fiduciary obligations seriously is to state the obvious. Here’s the thing though: we can’t stop at mere compliance. Longer lives and higher costs of living…
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Prized Possessions and Estate Plans
With good reason, major assets, like bank and investment accounts, as well as real estate, tend to get lots of attention during estate planning, but it’s wise to think about accumulated personal possessions too….
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IRA Trust?
As the name implies, an IRA trust is an estate planning option for individuals who have saved money through a company sponsored retirement plan. For lots of people, retirement plan assets are among the most…
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Good To Know: Plan Terms
The terms associated with employer sponsored retirement plans can be confusing, causing fuzzy understandings to be passed around in the course of overseeing the plan. Be careful, though: the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)…
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401k Committee Member Vs Bump On The Log?
There’s no such thing as merely sitting in on meetings when it comes to the high standards of ERISA. Each member of a retirement plan committee can be held personally responsible–financially–for errors and oversights….
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Understanding Trustee Responsibilities
When setting up a trust as part of an estate plan, do not underestimate the responsibilities that will fall to the trustee designated to administer the trust. Serving as a trustee is not an…
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Is a Life Estate A Good Idea?
A life estate is an estate planning tactic that allows real estate to bypass the public process of probate. Essentially, the real estate is gifted directly to a “remainderman” after the “life tenant” dies….
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