Recent Blog Posts
Choosing a Nursing Home
Which nursing home do you want to move to in the future? That is easy. None of them! No one wants to entertain the possibility that they will one day be ill enough that they will require around-the-clock care. If you only need help sometimes, then you have the option of relying on relatives… Read More »
Estate Planning Asset Protection Basics
When you build an estate plan, you have two goals. The first is to provide for your care in your old age, and the second is to plan for the distribution of your assets to your family, or any other chosen beneficiaries, after you die. The less attached you are to wealth and the… Read More »
The Four Parts of Medicare
People who are approaching retirement age often look forward to the free or inexpensive healthcare services they will be eligible to receive, while simultaneously worrying about their out of pocket healthcare costs. Healthcare for retirees is anything but a freebie, and as the cost of living increases and the social safety network erodes, paying… Read More »
Dynasty Trusts
Conventional wisdom holds that you will never be wealthy enough to need the complex estate planning strategies that financial planners advertise. It is not possible to max out the lifetime limit on the annual gift tax exclusion unless you are a multimillionaire. You have a much bigger chance of running out of money and… Read More »
Power of Attorney and Your Estate Plan
Your will is not the only estate planning document you need; in fact, it is the one that you can most easily do without. If someone dies without a will, the court will still distribute the decedent’s property to his or her closest surviving family members according to New York’s laws of intestate succession. … Read More »
The Medical Care Aspects of Your Estate Plan
Estate planning is not just about money. With you, your property is only stuff. Yes, it would be stressful for your family if you never indicated your wishes about who would inherit which assets from you, and your surviving relatives had to guess, and sometimes argue, about what you would have wanted or who… Read More »
What Are Appraisal Management Companies, and Are They Friend or Foe?
Compared to the anticipation that precedes them, real estate closings are anticlimactic affairs. In the most upscale parts of the Five Boroughs, the law office conference rooms where the closings take place are lovely to behold, but if you can afford to buy a real estate property that would entail such an opulent setting… Read More »
Should You Invest in REITs Instead of Buying a Real Estate Property as an Investment?
Of all the lies and false hope associated with the pursuit of passive income and the quest to be your own boss, one of the most insidious and persistent rumors is that owning real estate properties as an investment is easy money. Anyone who has ever rented out a real estate property to tenants… Read More »
House Hacking
In better economic times, people used to daydream about building up enough equity in their homes that they could move to a bigger house and use the old one as a rental property. There were times when becoming a mom-and-pop landlord seemed to be within the reach of almost all homeowners. These days, good… Read More »
Can Listing Beneficiaries on Non-Probate Assets Backfire?
Conventional wisdom holds that the first step in estate planning is to write a will. This way, when your estate goes to probate after you die, the court will distribute your property to your heirs in accordance with your wishes. The next step is to keep as much of your property as possible out… Read More »