Your life’s work deserves asset protection and a well-thought-out strategy. Therefore, to keep your estate plan safe, here at Saddock Advisory, we’ll reduce your exposure to income taxes and steer you clear of unforeseen pitfalls.
Although we can handle the heavy lifting, we always like for our clients to have the opportunity to be informed. So stick with us here while we highlight some common problems often associated with estate planning.
If estate planning is done poorly, your hard work could bear the brunt of these mishaps. And unfortunately, one small misstep can have hugely negative outcomes.
Five Common Mishaps with Estate Planning
1. Issues with Beneficiaries
If you fail to name a contingent beneficiary on retirement accounts and insurance policies, or you don’t review beneficiaries often, you could be missing out on potential tax breaks.
Or, imagine if you forgot to change an ex-spouse on an IRA, there could be serious consequences for your new spouse and family.
2. Not Preparing for the Unexpected
Have you made a plan in the case of a death?
A change in assets?
Or maybe divorce of one of your children?
As with many things in life, there are a number of unforeseen issues that could arise at any time. Thus failing to have a plan in place could leave you exposed.
3. Planning Portions Individually
If you divide subsets of your estate plan among various advisors, you could be opening yourself up to miscommunication and a disconnect. Essentially, you are just delaying or even preventing success. However, working with one set of advisors allows your assets to be managed in alignment with your estate plan.
At Saddock Advisory, we are experienced in taking a holistic approach and looking at the big picture to prevent pitfalls. We stay with you every step of the way.
4. Miscommunication with Family Members
A main objective of estate plans is to provide for loved ones after your passing.
While you may want to make things easy and uncomplicated by handling everything, it can actually do more harm than good when you keep them out of the loop. You want to make sure everyone understands your plan and expectations.
5. Complications from Well-intended Gifts
Another well-intended gesture that could potentially backfire is not thinking through a gift.
You want an expert to review your will and ensure there are no loopholes, confusions, or even potential legal and financial complications that may result in more of a headache for your loved ones.
We can help you by reviewing your will for any potential issues and work them out in a solid plan.
Avoid these huge, costly headaches for you and your loved ones by entrusting an expert! The Saddock Advisory team is willing to spend the time to get to know our clients and the big picture in order to craft the best, completely custom solutions for your needs!
If you’re ready to learn more about our mission and see if we’re a good fit for you, send an email to info@saddock.com or give us a call at 972-437-5201.