If you are reading this, you probably need an estate plan. If you have children, live in states like California, you owe it to your family to have an estate plan that includes a revocable trust. One of the first things I did after my daughter was born 6 years ago was set up an estate plan.
Ok so I’m one of those that…used meta benefits now (3!) years ago to create a will and trust and we…haven’t moved anything into it. We even bought a house after and forgot to buy it in the trusts name 🤦♀️. Are there any services that will now just walk us through this and hold us accountable?
Btw... I just tripped over an article about you, which is how I landed here.. Great stuff!
I retired early from a Silicon Valley tech job. I just sold all my stock from them that I'd been holding for 15yrs and paid off my mortgage. I'm trying to figure out the best way to invest and secure the rest. I'm in cds currently with some of it, but they are due to mature in Feb. I'm twisted on whether to re-new them at the now lower rate or put the money in something else.
With this new administration coming in, I also feel that the tech stocks I'm holding in my IRAs (traditional and SEP) may lose a good amount of the 500% gain that I got from holding them for years. My finance guy wants me to sell and consolidate into one IRA. We'll be chatting about that next week.
I also want to open a Roth while I still can and slide some of my stock money outside of My IRA into that.
I have an HSA as well and max it every year, with a portion invested in Vanguard funds. The HSA is much needed for several operations I have coming up.
We tend to overwhelm ourselves with the short term decisions. It is also perfectly fine to lean more conservative with your holdings.
Assuming your finance guy is a fiduciary, I am a fan of simplifying life via consolidation. No point in having lots of accounts all over the place doing the same thing.
How to execute on the Roth depends on your income. If you did earn a tech salary this year, it probably puts you oer the thresholds to contribute to a roth directly. Then you have the traditional IRAs which makes it not worth doing the backdoor roth due to the pro-rata rule. The financial professional you are working with can hopefully provide guidance here. Good luck!
How did you know I was just researching about an estate plan!? :) I have a first appointment with an estate planning attorney later today. Your post was very timely and informative. Thanks for everything you do!
Should/Can you put yourself as the trustee of the trust? For the revocable living trust?
Can you share more of the people involved in the trust as an example? (trustee/beneficiary/etc...?)
When you go to the notary with the beneficiary (e.g. wife)
> "Another month later, everything was approved, and my wife and I (with our six-month-old in tow) visited the office to sign all the documents in the presence of a notary."
Does that imply your beneficiary/wife/(trustee?) have visibility of all your assets?
Or is the signed document doesn't mention any specific amounts? bank accounts?
In my case the trustree's are both me and my partner. We were the only ones involved in the process, both signing with a notary. I did share my guardianship wishes with the people I selected and told the executor about the trust, but no other specifics. There are not really any account details within the trust. It is a separate process I needed to go through to move assets into the name of the trust (but the trust didn't change at all).
In my case all our assets were communal property already so the distinction wasn't as complicated as if we both had pre-marital assets. My non-lawyer understanding is that you would keep your pre-marital assets in your own name (if that is what you are wanting) and can name the trust as the beneficiary (wouldn't want to do this with retirement accounts). So they don't need visibility, but still benefit from the existence of the trust and the assets going into the trust after death.
As always, thanks for super detailed and helpful dive into estate planning!
>other assets (stock plans, brokerage accounts, bank accounts, college funds, etc).
If our goal is to protect assets from probate, these assets can be excluded by designating beneficiaries. Do we really need to retitle all these assets to the trust? This is a lot of work, and may not be needed for this goal. There might other benefits with doing this I maynot be aware of though.
Not all my bank accounts seemed to have the ability to set a TOD (transfer on death) or beneficiary. If your institutions do, that would avoid probate. Although, my understanding is that you have a much greater degree of flexibility by putting everything in the name of a trust.
One benefit could be that after the initial pain of re-titling everything in the trust name, any future changes would only need to be done to the trust, and not every single account.
My investing timeline is decades. I accept that I can't predict how the market will move year to year and don't make any investment changes based on presidential elections.
You can easily move assets in and out of an irrevocable trust as well as make changes easily. There are some specific other benefits that come with a revocable trust, but it is much more restrictive for the use cases I am interested in.
My rudimentary understanding irrevocable can come in handy for dynasty purposes where you are pushing past estate tax limits.
Since this is FAANG FIRE, what happens to the people that are on a US visa and may not remain permanently in the US? Would a US trust will still be applicable in other countries to avoid probate?
Or would one need a trust in each country of residence?
Also, are there any downsides of creating a Trust?
(e.g. are there maintenance fees? possibility of the government to own your assets for whatever reason?)
Ok so I’m one of those that…used meta benefits now (3!) years ago to create a will and trust and we…haven’t moved anything into it. We even bought a house after and forgot to buy it in the trusts name 🤦♀️. Are there any services that will now just walk us through this and hold us accountable?
You should reach out to this posts sponsor to see if they can help!
Feels like you are in the final 2 miles of a marathon! You got this! Get over that finish line and check this off your perpetual to do list!
Btw... I just tripped over an article about you, which is how I landed here.. Great stuff!
I retired early from a Silicon Valley tech job. I just sold all my stock from them that I'd been holding for 15yrs and paid off my mortgage. I'm trying to figure out the best way to invest and secure the rest. I'm in cds currently with some of it, but they are due to mature in Feb. I'm twisted on whether to re-new them at the now lower rate or put the money in something else.
With this new administration coming in, I also feel that the tech stocks I'm holding in my IRAs (traditional and SEP) may lose a good amount of the 500% gain that I got from holding them for years. My finance guy wants me to sell and consolidate into one IRA. We'll be chatting about that next week.
I also want to open a Roth while I still can and slide some of my stock money outside of My IRA into that.
I have an HSA as well and max it every year, with a portion invested in Vanguard funds. The HSA is much needed for several operations I have coming up.
Happy to have you here!
We tend to overwhelm ourselves with the short term decisions. It is also perfectly fine to lean more conservative with your holdings.
Assuming your finance guy is a fiduciary, I am a fan of simplifying life via consolidation. No point in having lots of accounts all over the place doing the same thing.
How to execute on the Roth depends on your income. If you did earn a tech salary this year, it probably puts you oer the thresholds to contribute to a roth directly. Then you have the traditional IRAs which makes it not worth doing the backdoor roth due to the pro-rata rule. The financial professional you are working with can hopefully provide guidance here. Good luck!
How did you know I was just researching about an estate plan!? :) I have a first appointment with an estate planning attorney later today. Your post was very timely and informative. Thanks for everything you do!
I feel like open enrollment time always reminds people about all the things they forgot to do the prior year!
Should/Can you put yourself as the trustee of the trust? For the revocable living trust?
Can you share more of the people involved in the trust as an example? (trustee/beneficiary/etc...?)
When you go to the notary with the beneficiary (e.g. wife)
> "Another month later, everything was approved, and my wife and I (with our six-month-old in tow) visited the office to sign all the documents in the presence of a notary."
Does that imply your beneficiary/wife/(trustee?) have visibility of all your assets?
Or is the signed document doesn't mention any specific amounts? bank accounts?
Or visibility is only available after death?
In my case the trustree's are both me and my partner. We were the only ones involved in the process, both signing with a notary. I did share my guardianship wishes with the people I selected and told the executor about the trust, but no other specifics. There are not really any account details within the trust. It is a separate process I needed to go through to move assets into the name of the trust (but the trust didn't change at all).
In my case all our assets were communal property already so the distinction wasn't as complicated as if we both had pre-marital assets. My non-lawyer understanding is that you would keep your pre-marital assets in your own name (if that is what you are wanting) and can name the trust as the beneficiary (wouldn't want to do this with retirement accounts). So they don't need visibility, but still benefit from the existence of the trust and the assets going into the trust after death.
Hope that helps... at least directionally.
As always, thanks for super detailed and helpful dive into estate planning!
>other assets (stock plans, brokerage accounts, bank accounts, college funds, etc).
If our goal is to protect assets from probate, these assets can be excluded by designating beneficiaries. Do we really need to retitle all these assets to the trust? This is a lot of work, and may not be needed for this goal. There might other benefits with doing this I maynot be aware of though.
Not all my bank accounts seemed to have the ability to set a TOD (transfer on death) or beneficiary. If your institutions do, that would avoid probate. Although, my understanding is that you have a much greater degree of flexibility by putting everything in the name of a trust.
One benefit could be that after the initial pain of re-titling everything in the trust name, any future changes would only need to be done to the trust, and not every single account.
Will you be adjusting your mix of Vanguard funds now that Trump is screaming tarrifs?
My investing timeline is decades. I accept that I can't predict how the market will move year to year and don't make any investment changes based on presidential elections.
Why revocable vs irrevocable? My understanding is the latter protects your money from Medicare trying to grab it once you pass; and avoids probate.
You can easily move assets in and out of an irrevocable trust as well as make changes easily. There are some specific other benefits that come with a revocable trust, but it is much more restrictive for the use cases I am interested in.
My rudimentary understanding irrevocable can come in handy for dynasty purposes where you are pushing past estate tax limits.
So both options give you the ability to move assets in and out?
Since this is FAANG FIRE, what happens to the people that are on a US visa and may not remain permanently in the US? Would a US trust will still be applicable in other countries to avoid probate?
Or would one need a trust in each country of residence?
Also, are there any downsides of creating a Trust?
(e.g. are there maintenance fees? possibility of the government to own your assets for whatever reason?)