Fraser Allport – Fiduciary
Owner of The Total Advisor, LLC
For All Your Financial Needs
Fraser Allport is a Fiduciary and Certified Estate Planner ™ with 42 Years of Experience.
Fraser can help answer your DROP, Def. Comp.,
403b, Social Security and Medicare questions.
Fraser Allport, a Fiduciary and Certified Estate Planner ™
with 42 Years of Experience, specializes inSocial Security
claiming strategies.
8 Simple Tips for Estate Planning
Helping people make smart Financial decisions
Fraser Allport is a Fiduciary and Certified Estate Planner ™
with 42 Years of Experience. And Experience Matters.
Beyond Retirement Planning, Estate planning is one of the most important (and complicated) financial decisions a person can make. This is made even more difficult by the emotions driven by contemplating one’s own mortality.
A Google search for “Estate Planning” results in more than five billion entries, while “Estate Planning services” populates another three billion. As the search results indicate, knowing where to start is often the toughest task of all.
Before sitting down on your own to determine how best to distribute your assets to your heirs, we recommend speaking with a Fiduciary Financial Advisor. These financial professionals can help you assess what you have and how best to transfer your assets in the most tax efficient way.
Fraser Allport is a Fiduciary and Certified Estate Planner. ™. Fraser simplifies the process of starting and finishing your Estate Plan.
Fraser’s simple “ Estate Fact-Finder ” questionnaire can help start the process of building you a bona fide Estate Plan.
Here’s Fraser’s eight critical steps for Estate Planning.
1. Define your objectives.
Estate Planning has a straightforward yet daunting goal: to record a plan for distributing your life’s assets upon your death. Such a task is multifaceted. It encompasses elements of money, taxes, family dynamics and emotions.
Define your objectives early. What’s your ultimate goal ? Who gets what, when, and how ? Who is your Executor ? Do you have Powers of Attorney and Health Care directives in place ? Do you have HIPPA pre-authorizations in place ? Have you planned for Final Expenses and a pre-paid Funeral / Cremation Plan ?
Start with your intentions, and your next steps will be clearer.
2. Inventory your belongings.
Before you can assign beneficiaries to what you own, you need to take stock of what you have.
Your assets include both the tangible and intangible, such as:
- Homes, Land and Real Estate
- Cars/Boats
- Collectibles/Antiques/Coins/ Jewelry, etc
- Sentimental Family Heirlooms
- Personal possessions ( furniture, tools, etc.)
- Bank and Brokerage accounts
- Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, IRAs, etc
- Life Insurance and Annuities
3. Consider your Values.
After you’ve taken stock of what you have, take stock of what you want to leave behind. What Legacy, memory, or impact do you want to make ? Are you including bequests to Charities ?
Are you leaving bequests for Grandchildren and College funding ? Are you leaving a lump sum, or funds in Trust ?
4. Brainstorm your beneficiaries.
In most states, next-of-kin are the standard Estate beneficiaries when a Will doesn’t exist. But that may not align with your wishes.
You can leave your Estate to anyone, including Charities and Alma Mater.
5. Prepare your Executor’s tool chest.
This is the step that makes Estate Planning simple for your Successor Trustee or Executor.
Income Taxes can have a significant impact on the final value of inherited funds, while Health Insurance, Life Insurance policies, and other financial tools can be the difference between using up your resources in your final days versus passing along your bequests and Leaving A Legacy.
Among the list of medical and legal considerations you should evaluate with a Professional are the following:
- Life insurance
- Trust
- Powers of Attorney
- Medical Care Directive (a.k.a. DNR)
- Who files the final Income Tax Return for Decedent ?
6. Enlist the advice of a qualified Estate Planner.
If the above duties sound daunting, they can be. This is where a Fiduciary can help. A licensed Fiduciary is legally obligated to act in your best interest, and can help navigate the ins and outs of Estate Taxes, Life Insurance, Wills and Trusts, and more.
Getting the right advice at the right time could save your beneficiaries time and costs associated with Probate Court, and make the process less stressful and costly for your Heirs.
7. Don’t “set it and forget it.”
A quality Estate Plan should always be updated. Beneficiaries’ needs change, as do tax laws. Both a Will and a Trust should be reviewed annually. Your situation may not have changed, but your State’s Laws may have. Be proactive. Start Today.
8. Leave A Legacy. Don’t Leave A Mess.
Be proactive. Start and Finish the process so that you leave your Life’s work to your loved ones … not the Probate Court and Attorneys’ fees. This is a moral as well as financial imperative.
Schedule your no obligation Complimentary Consultation with Fraser Allport, specializing in Retirement, Medicare, Tax and Estate Planning, and Deferred Compensation at :
www.calendly.com/fiduciaryadvisor
Or Call Fraser at 386.882.6256
Fraser Allport is a DROP, 403b and Def. Comp’ Specialist. He is a Fiduciary, and Certified Estate Planner ™ with 42 Years of Experience.
Fraser has been in Business for 5 Decades.
Experience Matters.
Your Retirement will depend on how much planning you put into it.
It is never too early to plan for your Retirement.
Schedule your no obligation Complimentary Consultation with Fraser Allport, specializing in Retirement, Medicare, Tax and Estate Planning, and Deferred Compensation at :
www.calendly.com/fiduciaryadvisor
All of Fraser’s prior DROP articles are archived at :
https://fraserallport.com/florida-drop-library/
https://fraserallport.com/medicare-library/
Fraser is a Certified Estate Planner ™
See Fraser's Estate Planning services here
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Client references are available for you to speak with upon request.
