Whether you have your family in mind, or lifelong friends, you want their futures to be safe and secure. You want the people you love to prosper in life. And what better way to show your devotion and appreciation than by ensuring your hard-earned money and investments go to them—after your passing?
So, how do you keep your money in your family or within your circle of closest friends rather than lost to legal fees or government portions?
For many Americans, the assets in their Individual Retirement Account represent a significant portion of the wealth they hope to leave to their loved ones. You may have heard that creating a trust and naming it as the beneficiary of your IRA is a good way to direct how your assets are distributed after your death and force your heirs to “stretch” the IRA for generations.
However, trusts and inherited IRAs are complex vehicles that have a lot of details to get right. Here are some of the pros and factors to consider regarding naming a trust as a beneficiary of your IRA:
By Jessica Searcy Kmetty
Millions of cancer patients are left to fend for themselves during this turning point in their lives. The Joy Bus will relieve the burden put on families during this time by providing healthy meals specified to meet our patron’s needs. The Joy Bus delivers not only quality meals to your doorstep but compassion and a smiling face. – The Joy Bus
The Joy Bus is a non-profit that partners with the Phoenix community to deliver high quality, chef inspired, medically tailored meals each Friday to homebound cancer patients.
By Marc C. Shaffer
Americans take wellness pretty seriously.
We’re tracking our steps, sleep and health patterns on wearable devices to make sure we stay on track daily. We’re getting our social fix in healthy ways such as group fitness classes, fun runs and endurance obstacle course events. We’re getting organic ingredients delivered to our homes to make meals as a family and taking customized mixes of health supplements. We’re even planning our vacations around a mix of relaxation and athletic opportunities. According to a 2018 MyProtein study, we’re spending more on fitness over a lifetime than we pay for college tuition.
By Jessica Searcy Kmetty
In Part I of this blog series, we introduced you to Meredith, a self-described community creator, home curator, minimalist, hipster mama who is raising 3 “wonderful wilds” in NYC. We talked about how she manages finances for her family, how she and her husband discuss their money scripts, and her philosophy on debt and spending. In Part II, we’re going to dive deeper into something she has been trying out with her family – no spend months.
They are hard pressed on both sides. They manage the needs and challenges of several households. They firmly occupy the middle ground between two generations.
They are members of the sandwich generation. Typically middle-aged, they often help support parents 65 or older and children under the age of 18.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines “prepare” as making or getting ready for something that will happen in the future. It also states: “to expect that something will happen and to be ready for it.”
A capricious planet Earth makes natural disasters inevitable. Some years are worse than others, and relatively brief stretches of recorded history demonstrate the ferocity nature can superimpose on unsuspecting civilizations.
Three generations. That’s all you have. And then you’ll be forgotten. Completely. Only your name may remain. Memories of you will have long since passed into the annals of parochial history.
“There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance,” wrote Solomon thousands of years ago.
By Jessica Searcy Kmetty
It’s always interesting to hear how other people approach life and finances, especially when they have a strong philosophy to share. A Midwest gal living and raising a family in NYC? Debt avoidance? No-spending months? Children who earn livings by modeling? Sounds like an interesting story to me!
Our guest Meredith is a self-described community creator, home curator, minimalist, hipster mama who is raising 3 “wonderful wilds” in NYC.
When I sat down to introduce you readers to Meredith and share some of her stories and philosophies about money and life, many ideas came to mind. But in the end, I decided she told her story better than anyone and there wasn’t much you needed to hear from me. So, enjoy this peek into our conversation:
By John C. Fales and Ryan W. Brooke
Student loans are as American as apple pie, yet many people are embarrassed to ask for help with learning about and taking care of their student loans.
Why? They may believe their loans are too high, think they should be more knowledgeable on their own, or don’t want to show how desperate they feel about their situation.
The first thing to recognize when it comes to student loans is just how common they are and how getting help can save a lot of frustration in your future.
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