Awakened Planning: How to Talk About Estate Planning at Your Family Reunion

July is National Family Reunion Month and the perfect time to reconnect with family from near and far, share life’s updates, and reminisce about the wonderful memories you share together. If you’re getting together with family this month, it’s also a perfect time to talk to your loved ones about your shared goals, family resources…
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Vacation Ready: Essential Legal Preparations for a Worry-Free Getaway

Vacations are a time to relax, unwind, and create beautiful memories with your loved ones. But before you set off on your adventure, it’s essential to ensure that your legal affairs are in order so you can fully relax during your travels.  Can’t imagine doing one more thing before you take some much-needed time away? …
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Capturing the Stories of Aging Loved Ones: The Power of Family Wealth Legacy Interviews

May is Senior Citizen’s Month, a time to reflect and appreciate all the things the seniors in our lives have done for us. Whether they are our parents, grandparents, or elderly friends, our seniors have given us so much over the years. But sometimes seeing your loved ones aging or seeing how you’ve aged yourself…
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Want to Grow Wealth? Warren Buffet’s Unexpected Investment Advice

If you are going to take investment and estate planning advice from anyone, Warren Buffett is likely one you want to consider. As one of the most successful investors in history, his track record speaks for itself. However, his wisdom goes beyond picking stocks and making money.  At this year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting,…
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4 Ways to Use AI to Make Life Easier for You and Your Family

Whether you’re turning on the news or scrolling through Instagram, it’s hard not to hear about AI technology, so this week I wanted to take some time to cover what the buzz is about and how you can use this technology to make your own life easier.  AI (artificial intelligence) language models like ChatGPT and…
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4 Common Mistakes Made On Life Insurance Beneficiary Designations

Investing in life insurance is a foundational part of estate planning, and when done right it’s a primary way to say “I love you” to your loved ones after you are gone. However, when naming your policy’s beneficiaries, several mistakes can lead to potentially dire consequences for the people you’re investing to protect and support.…
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The right business planning

Why Every Adult Needs A Living Will

When it comes to estate planning and wills, you have a variety of options for legal documents. The most common of these options is a “last will and testament,” which is also known simply as a “will.” But you may have also heard people talk about a “living will” and wonder what that is, and…
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Green Funerals: 6 Eco-Friendly Options For Your Remains

The environmental costs of death are significant and constantly rising. With 8 billion people on the planet right now—all of whom have bodies that die and must be disposed of—we need to start seriously considering alternatives to traditional options for burial and cremation. Fortunately, more and more “green” options are being developed to reduce these…
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7 Issues To Consider When Purchasing Disability Insurance

If you earn a good living now, but you worry about not having enough money for a future time when you cannot work due to illness or injury, disability insurance is your answer. However, you need to make sure you are getting an insurance policy that will meet your needs and not waste your money.…
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5 Smart Ways To Pay For Your Funeral That Won’t Leave Your Family To Foot The Bill

With the cost of a funeral averaging between $7,000 and $12,000 and steadily increasing each year, at the very least your estate plan should include enough money to cover this final expense. And if you are thinking of simply setting aside money in your will to cover your funeral expenses, you should seriously reconsider, as…
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Life Planning

5 Steps For Adding Digital Assets To Your Estate Plan

Although digital technology has made many aspects of our lives much easier and more convenient, it has also created some unique challenges when it comes to estate planning. If you haven’t planned properly, for example, just locating and accessing all…

Don’t Let Your Kids Move Out Without Signing These Documents

Watching your kids leave home to attend college or start their career can be an emotional time for you as a parent. On one hand, moving out on their own is a major accomplishment that should make you proud. On…

4 Year-End Tax-Saving Strategies for 2019

As we head towards the end of the year, we’re fast approaching the deadline to implement your family’s tax strategies for 2019. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) completely overhauled the tax code, and if you’ve yet to take…

Understanding Your Life Insurance Settlement Options

Following the death of the policy holder, the way in which proceeds from a life insurance policy are paid to the beneficiary (or beneficiaries) is known as the settlement option. And you might be surprised to learn that there are…

Use Estate Planning to Ensure Your Legacy Doesn’t Get Erased

When you think about those loved ones who’ve passed away, you probably don’t think very much—or even at all—about the “things” they’ve left you. And when they do leave something behind, what you likely cherish most about the object are…

Use Estate Planning to Avoid Adult Guardianship—and Elder Abuse

Elder abuse can take a wide variety of forms, but we think the worst of the worst is caused by unscrupulous adult guardians appointed by a court to care for seniors who are no longer able to care for themselves.…

Why You Need To Add a ‘When I Die’ File to Your Estate Plan

If you were to suddenly die today, would your loved ones know how to quickly find your estate planning documents? Would they know how to access all of your financial accounts? How about your insurance policies? What about your login…

Safeguard Your Children’s Inheritance With a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust

Last week, we discussed the benefits of a unique estate planning vehicle known as Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts. We referenced this planning tool based on how a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust could have protected Clare Bronfman, the heiress to the…

7 Processes to Complete With Your Parents Before They Die

In a recent Facebook post “Processes to go through with your parents before they die,” Daniel Schmachtenberger, founder of the Critical Path Institute, outlined seven simple exercises to use with your parents that can offer significant healing and completion for…

The Real Cost To Your Family: Relying On A Will Alone

This is the second in an ongoing series of NLBM articles discussing the true costs and consequences of failed estate planning. The series highlights a few of the most common—and costly—planning mistakes we encounter with clients. If the series exposes…

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