2009 Tax Changes that May Affect Your Estate Plan
The Estate Tax Exemption, the amount of money that you can pass to your heirs without triggering estate taxes, has increased from $2 Million to $3.5 Million. Current law provides for a total repeal of the estate tax in 2010, and then a return to the $1 Million exemption in 2011. We don’t know how this will change over the coming years, but the expectation is that Obama’s administration will keep the exemption at $3.5 Million levels.
If your estate is less than $3.5 Million, you probably won’t have to worry about estate tax planning. If it is larger though, you should meet with an estate planning attorney to figure out your options for reducing your estate tax hit, which would tax any amounts over $3.5 Million at 45%.
The gift tax exclusion has increased this year to $13,000.00. You can now make annual gifts of up to $13,000 per recipient without incurring gift tax.
If you haven’t had your estate plan reviewed in a few years, it may be a good time to set up an appointment with your attorney to go over your plan and discuss any changes that may be needed as tax laws change.
Download your Free 2009 Action Plan from Suze Orman today!
If you are confused about how to get your finances in order for 2009, I have a great resource to recommend to you.
Suze Orman has made an electronic copy of her 2009 Action Plan available for free! To get your copy, go to www.oprah.com .
Upcoming Events - Questions and Answers on the Economy
Confused about the economy? Feel like selling every share of stock you own? Before you make a rash decision, you may want to take advantage of this event offered by Jeff Cobb, Certified Financial Planner. Details follow:
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As most of you know, our financial markets have been extremely volatile as of late. Turbulent markets tend to cause confusion, anxiety, and misinformation; and unfortunately, all too often, irrational decision making is the result.
Jeff Cobb, a local Certified Financial Planner Professional, is offering to help provide clarity so that you can make sound financial planning decisions during the present economic storm. He’ll do this via a series of small group sessions over the next few weeks to be held at various locations. At the meetings, no sales presentation will be made and you will not be solicited to work with Jeff or his firm. The meeting format will simply be “Question and Answer” where Jeff will answer any individual questions or concerns you may have regarding your 401k and investment savings. Additionally, if asked, Jeff will explain, in language you can understand, complex economic and financial concepts such as:
- Why are hedge funds unregulated?
- What is LIBOR?
- What is a collateralized debt obligation?
- What is a credit default swap?
- What is preferred shares?
- What is institutional trading?
In order to facilitate each individual’s questions, each group session will be limited to five people and you must RSVP ahead of time to join in the group. You can RSVP by emailing Kristi@logicalinvestment.com or calling her at 291-9393. Please feel free to invite anyone along, or forward this email to anyone you think would be interested in attending.
Upcoming sessions are listed below:
Tuesday, January 20th
Main Library, 7711Goodwood Blvd.
11:00 am
7:00 pm
Tuesday, January 27th
Central Branch Library
11260 Joor Rd
10:00 am
6:30 pm
Tuesday, February 3rd
Jones Creek Library
6222 Jones Creek Rd.
10:00 am
7:00 pm
Tuesday, February 10th
Bluebonnet Branch Library
9200 Bluebonnet Blvd.
10:00 am
Tuesday, February 17th
Greenwell Springs Library
11300 Greenwell Springs Rd.
10:00 am
7:00 pm
Logical Investment Solutions
(225) 291-9393
Securities offered through
NEXT Financial Group, Inc.
Member FINRA/SIPC
Logical Investment Solutions is not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group, Inc.
Can’t Pay Your Mortgage? Don’t Pay a Fee For a Loan Modification Until You Read This!
If you are having trouble paying your mortgage or afraid you might be in trouble once your adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) resets, you are probably noticing advertisements all over the place for people or companies claiming they can help you get your loan modified.
Before you pay anything to anyone, make sure you have the real scoop on loan modification. Here’s what you need to know:
1. What is loan modification?
Loan modification means your lender has agreed to reduce your interest rate or stretch out the length of your loan, thereby reducing your payments. This reduction can be a permanent reduction or it may be a short-term reduction. All of the terms of a loan modification are negotiable.
2. Can you negotiate your own loan modification?
Yes, you absolutely can negotiate your own loan modification. If you have the time and energy to focus your energy on this and you feel confident in your negotiation skills, give it a shot on your own before paying someone else to handle it for you, by all means.
3. Should you pay someone to negotiate your loan modification for you?
If you do not have the time or do not feel confident negotiating your own loan modification, you can hire someone to negotiate on your behalf, but make sure you take my guidance on this before you do.
There’s a lot of companies springing up and jumping into the loan modification market. In many cases, these are the same unscrupulous mortgage brokers who put you into your loan in the first place. Do not pay anyone other than a lawyer to negotiate your loan modification!
I’ve seen many companies representing that they are lawyer-backed or lawyer-associated. These are not lawyers. Do not pay them to negotiate your loan modification.
In some cases, we are seeing people pay up to $5,000 to one of these companies just to have the company send out a single letter to the lender requesting loan modification, get denied and say “Sorry we couldn’t help you. Good luck!” and then you are stuck in the same situation you were before, but with even less money. That’s the last thing you need.
4. Who should you hire to handle your loan modification?
You should hire a lawyer who has experience reviewing loan documents and negotiating loan modifications and has a proven track record in the financial industry.
You see, in many cases the loans were not issued properly and a lawyer who knows what to look for in the loan paperwork may find defects that can be used as leverage points in the negotiations.
Plus, your lawyer is in a fiduciary relationship to you. This means that your lawyer must act in your best interest, not his or her own, or your lawyer faces losing his or her bar license. These fly by night loan modification companies have no real risk if they screw you over because chances are they will be out of business within the next three years anyway. Not your lawyer.
5. Should you pay upfront for loan modification services?
You should only pay upfront for loan modification services if you are working with a lawyer or someone licensed by your State to accept upfront payments for loan modification. And, you should find out if there is a guarantee program available in case the loan modification is not successful and what your responsibilities are under the guarantee.
6. How much should you expect to pay for loan modification?
Loan modification handled by a reputable lawyer Personal Family Lawyer is likely to run you between $3,500 and $5,000. There are companies offering loan modification services in the $1,500 or $2,000 range, but these are the ones to look out for because oftentimes homeowners are finding that these are take the money and run kinds of places. If you have paid upfront to a loan modification company and they were not able to obtain a modification for you, do talk to a qualified lawyer who handles loan modification Personal Family Lawyer and they may be able to get the funds you paid to the loan modification company back for you.
Written by Alexis Martin Neely, mom, writer, speaker and Personal Family Lawyer. Alexis makes it super easy for your family to talk about and plan for sticky subjects like money, death and taxes. Get Alexis’ humorous, enlightening, and often quite revealing “Family Wealth Secrets” at: www.FamilyWealthMatters.com.
A Plan for Getting Your Investment Portfolio Back On Track
If you have any money in the stock market at all right, now, you are probably concerned about the losses to your investment portfolio. The Motley Fool has recently issued a report called You Can Do It, Rebuilding Wealth After the Crisis. This report gives tips on assessing the damage to your portfolio and gives constructive suggestions to implement going forward so that you can rebuild your wealth. You can download a copy by using the link below.