You may have noticed that many changes have occurred in the world of communications recently. It's not like several years ago when you would just write someone a letter or call them on the phone. Even the entire media industry has shifted and with the internet, newspapers are closing and how we get our information has also changed.
The purpose of this message is not to debate whether these changes are good or bad. I'm not so sure, but I do know that our world has shifted and because of the shift, it is important to embrace these changes and learn how to use them to your benefit.
These changes have certainly impacted how we communicate with you. We no longer publish a hard copy newsletter having shifted that to our firm's website several years ago. Now, there are many ways for us to get you information faster than ever before. I hope you are using at least one of these new information sources.
Let's review all the ways you can communicate with our firm and all the ways you can receive information from us:
There's the old standby, what is now called snail mail. When you actually send a letter in the U.S. Mail. Our mailing address is:
26 W. Dry Creek Circle, Suite 520
Littleton, CO 80120
The second old standby is the telephone. Here is our phone: 303.730.7100.
A third standy, the fax machine is also used, but less and less and will probably not exist sometime in the future. Here is our fax: 303.730.7195.
There are numerous more modern ways to also be in touch with us. These appear below and we encourage you to try them out. Just paste each address into your browser and each site a visit.
Our newsletter is now published on our firm's blog. We hope you follow it and enjoy our articles. You can find it here: http://bhgreenberglaw.blogspot.com and that is where you landed to be reading this article.
We still have our firm's website you can use it every day. Also, older newsletters appear there along with other important estate planning information. You can find our website here: www.bhgreenberg.com
We also now have our firm on Twitter. If you are using Twitter, you can follow us here: @BHGreenberg or http://twitter.com/BHGreenberg
We also have a presence on facebook. You can find us on facebook here: http://on.fb.me/atuS7Q
We are also on Linkedin and you can find us there at: http://linkd.in/bGKtUv
You will notice that when you follow us at these other places and in these other ways, you will receive more information about estate planning and estate taxes than ever. We also post articles from other sources that we think you will find interesting and useful in thinking about estate planning and your own finances. Try at least one of these other ways of being in touch with us and let me know what you think.
As always, thank you for your interest and support.
PS: Congress has failed to act to clean up their estate tax mess. There are numerous articles on our blog about this topic and how it affects your planning. After you read that, if you have questions, just let me know. And, you can even just give me a call or send me an email, just like in the old days.
Bernie Greenberg
BECAUSE DEATH AND TAXES: Learn about what you need to do to be prepared for what's coming. Wills, trusts, taxes, probate. If you haven't experienced it you will. Estate planning is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself and your family. Please join Bernie Greenberg's world of estate planning. www.kgattys.com
Monday, October 11, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The First & Most Important Element in Your Financial Plan
The First & Most Important Element in Your Financial Plan: How to make sure your financial house is built on a solid foundation.
Most people agree that planning finances is important. Most agree that if they don't have a financial plan, they would like to have one some day.
Even if you have a financial plan, how do you know if it is built on a solid foundation? That is a critical question and we will explore here how to make sure your plan has a solid foundation.
Let's start with a basic premise. Any structure, including your financial plan requires a sold foundation. Whether a house, building or financial plan, the structure will ultimately fail if the foundation is not solid.
Imagine a pyramid, it looks like a triangle with the point of the pyramid at the top.
The bottom of the triangle or pyramid is the foundation. Because everything rests on the foundation, we want NO risk in that foundation. That foundation must support the entire structure in any kind of situation, storm or trouble. That is why pyramids are built like this and they have certainly withstood the tests of thousands of years.
Unfortunately, most financial plans are not structured this way. In fact, if you turned the pyramid with the top on the bottom, that is how most plans are built. In complex legal lingo, we call such a plan top-heavy. To use more complex lingo, the plan is ass-backwards. The slightest wind or trouble will topple that plan.
How is it possible that such an important structure, your financial plan, could be made upside down? The answer is more simple than you may think. Most plans do not protect against the biggest risks first. Such plans are focused on what to invest in, funding retirement, college education for kids and other similar and important goals.
But such a plan is upside down because they are built on a false assumption. The false assumption is that you will make the money necessary to deposit into the financial plan over the right number of years in order to make the plan work. That length of time is called the plan horizon. The assumption is false because it fails to anticipate that you may not be able to meet the plan horizon due to illness, disability or death.
Said another way, upside down financial plans fail because there is NO foundation. The foundation of any properly constructed plan has to protect against the WORST that can happen first. Not last, but first. A proper plan must first assume that you will not meet the plan horizon and have contingencies built into the plan that will still allow the plan work as intended.
We get now to the first and most critical step in any financial plan: estate planning. You read that right, estate planning. The first step in building your financial plan is to START with your estate plan. This is because your estate plan is about protecting against the worst risks first. Your estate plan is what protects your blind side.
I won't cover here the elements of a proper estate plan here, you can read about that elsewhere here on my blog. Suffice it to say though, that your estate plan covers YOU, your loved ones and your property if anything happens to YOU. A proper Will, perhaps a trust for the kids, Durable Powers of Attorney; a Living Will; proper beneficiary designations, life insurance, health insurance, proper auto and home insurance, and disability insurance are all important pieces of this foundation.
Don't let your financial plan fail because it is built upside down. Make sure that your plan is built on a solid foundation of your estate plan. Insist that you and your loved ones be properly protected. Remember, friends don't let friends drive with an upside down financial plan. Don't let your own plan be hazardous to your family and your wealth.
Bernie Greenberg
Most people agree that planning finances is important. Most agree that if they don't have a financial plan, they would like to have one some day.
Even if you have a financial plan, how do you know if it is built on a solid foundation? That is a critical question and we will explore here how to make sure your plan has a solid foundation.
Let's start with a basic premise. Any structure, including your financial plan requires a sold foundation. Whether a house, building or financial plan, the structure will ultimately fail if the foundation is not solid.
Imagine a pyramid, it looks like a triangle with the point of the pyramid at the top.
The bottom of the triangle or pyramid is the foundation. Because everything rests on the foundation, we want NO risk in that foundation. That foundation must support the entire structure in any kind of situation, storm or trouble. That is why pyramids are built like this and they have certainly withstood the tests of thousands of years.
Unfortunately, most financial plans are not structured this way. In fact, if you turned the pyramid with the top on the bottom, that is how most plans are built. In complex legal lingo, we call such a plan top-heavy. To use more complex lingo, the plan is ass-backwards. The slightest wind or trouble will topple that plan.
How is it possible that such an important structure, your financial plan, could be made upside down? The answer is more simple than you may think. Most plans do not protect against the biggest risks first. Such plans are focused on what to invest in, funding retirement, college education for kids and other similar and important goals.
But such a plan is upside down because they are built on a false assumption. The false assumption is that you will make the money necessary to deposit into the financial plan over the right number of years in order to make the plan work. That length of time is called the plan horizon. The assumption is false because it fails to anticipate that you may not be able to meet the plan horizon due to illness, disability or death.
Said another way, upside down financial plans fail because there is NO foundation. The foundation of any properly constructed plan has to protect against the WORST that can happen first. Not last, but first. A proper plan must first assume that you will not meet the plan horizon and have contingencies built into the plan that will still allow the plan work as intended.
We get now to the first and most critical step in any financial plan: estate planning. You read that right, estate planning. The first step in building your financial plan is to START with your estate plan. This is because your estate plan is about protecting against the worst risks first. Your estate plan is what protects your blind side.
I won't cover here the elements of a proper estate plan here, you can read about that elsewhere here on my blog. Suffice it to say though, that your estate plan covers YOU, your loved ones and your property if anything happens to YOU. A proper Will, perhaps a trust for the kids, Durable Powers of Attorney; a Living Will; proper beneficiary designations, life insurance, health insurance, proper auto and home insurance, and disability insurance are all important pieces of this foundation.
Don't let your financial plan fail because it is built upside down. Make sure that your plan is built on a solid foundation of your estate plan. Insist that you and your loved ones be properly protected. Remember, friends don't let friends drive with an upside down financial plan. Don't let your own plan be hazardous to your family and your wealth.
Bernie Greenberg
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Where Did All The Money Go?
Where Did All The Money Go?
That's a very good question. If you don't know what I am referring to, I am referring to $2 trillion. That's a lot of money, and I'd like to know where it went.
What $2 trillion you ask? Did you know that for the first time in history (recorded or otherwise) a government has spent $2 trillion in just 18 months!! According to Colorado Senatorial candidate Michael Bennet, there is nothing to show for that money!
Here's what happened: the current administration is the first government ever, to spend $2 trillion in just 18 months. I am not going political in this article, I just want to know where the money went. It is simply inconceivable for the administration to have spent that much money and not know where it went and what the country got for that much spending.
So I pose the question: where did the money go? Do you know? Bennet says it was wasted and we have nothing to show for it. We know it didn't improve the economy or the help with unemployment. So where did the money go? Does anyone in Washington actually know? Does anyone there actually know what they are doing?
If you know, let me know and maybe send a message to Michael Bennet and let him know too.
That's a very good question. If you don't know what I am referring to, I am referring to $2 trillion. That's a lot of money, and I'd like to know where it went.
What $2 trillion you ask? Did you know that for the first time in history (recorded or otherwise) a government has spent $2 trillion in just 18 months!! According to Colorado Senatorial candidate Michael Bennet, there is nothing to show for that money!
Here's what happened: the current administration is the first government ever, to spend $2 trillion in just 18 months. I am not going political in this article, I just want to know where the money went. It is simply inconceivable for the administration to have spent that much money and not know where it went and what the country got for that much spending.
So I pose the question: where did the money go? Do you know? Bennet says it was wasted and we have nothing to show for it. We know it didn't improve the economy or the help with unemployment. So where did the money go? Does anyone in Washington actually know? Does anyone there actually know what they are doing?
If you know, let me know and maybe send a message to Michael Bennet and let him know too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)