Secure Your Family's Financial Future: Estate Planning, Wealth Building, and Minimizing Debt

The increase in the cost of living, including the cost of housing, food, and energy, threatens the financial security of many American families. There's so much uncertainty.

The best way to combat this uncertainty is to develop strategies for securing your family's financial future. A plan can help you to identify your financial goals. By creating a plan, you can set yourself and your family up for a strong future and a chance at long-term financial independence. Ensuring your personal finances are in top shape is more important than ever.

Planning for Your Financial Future

Planning for your financial future is a big job. It has a singular goal but involves various interrelated action steps. Different professionals can help you put all the pieces of your financial puzzle together. These can include:

• Financial advisors to ensure your assets will meet your current and future needs
• Tax advisors and other tax professionals to explain tax laws and assist with tax planning
• Insurance brokers and agents to ensure your life insurance policies provide adequate protection
• Estate planning attorneys to help with the estate planning process

Engaging in this planning process will help you and your loved ones. During this process, you will work through topics including:

• End-of-life preferences for medical care
• Directives on whom you will appoint to care for your minor children and dependents
• Getting legal advice about the best estate planning documents for your situation
• Analyzing retirement plans and annuities to ensure your cash flow is adequate

This list may seem overwhelming at first. Set a goal to tackle the steps applicable to your financial situation one at a time.

Estate Planning

Estate planning is one of the best options in your toolkit for planning. While many people associate estate planning with older individuals who are in retirement, estate planning is a worthwhile endeavor at any age.

With estate planning, you can allocate your assets, including:

• Real estate
• Funds in bank accounts
• Investments in brokerage accounts
• Retirement assets

Thoughtfully allocating your assets can ensure they benefit your family with maximum asset protection once you pass away.

Beneficiary Designations

Make sure your beneficiary designations are up to date. Beneficiary designations allow you to select individuals who will receive your financial assets when you pass away. This way, when you die, those assets will transfer directly to those you choose without probate.

Real Estate

For any real estate you own, titling the property in such a way that it will transfer to others automatically by operation of law is an efficient way to avoid probate. For example, when you own property as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, the title to the property passes to the surviving owner by operation of law.

Implement an Estate Plan at Any Age

If you're younger, estate planning might involve creating a will. As you age, estate planning may focus more on caring for your children and dependents after you are gone. When you have accumulated significant assets, you may need to consider the estate tax implications of property distribution. You could examine lifetime gifting strategies to reduce the value of your gross estate while utilizing the exemption limits for estate and gift taxes.

Common Estate Planning Documents

With estate planning, you will consider numerous legal documents that will become part of your estate plan. These important documents could include:

• Last will and testament
• Living will
• A durable power of attorney or a power of attorney (POA)
• Medical directives for health care
• Revocable living trust
• Irrevocable trust

Part of estate planning also includes choosing someone who can assume financial power of attorney and care for your finances if injury or incapacity prevents you from doing so yourself. This will ensure a trusted individual keeps up with your bills and investments when you cannot.

How Can Estate Planning Help?

Here are some specific ways estate planning will help your family. Estate planning:

• Creates a clear plan for who gets what. If you pass away with no estate plan in place, there could be a great deal of confusion and conflict when it comes to the allocation of assets and property. With an estate plan, you'll ensure each family member is cared for according to your preferences.
• Makes things easier for everyone if you become ill or incapacitated. If you can no longer make financial and medical decisions, the power of attorney you designate with an estate plan will eliminate the uncertainty. Your family can rest assured that money matters are covered, leaving them financially secure and minimizing additional stress.
• Enables you to minimize or avoid federal estate taxes. If your estate is worth more than the cutoff amount for estate taxes, it may incur a tax on transfers. You can use an estate plan to set up trusts and give tax-free gifts to avoid or lessen tax liability. This provides for asset protection so that your family will benefit from the total value of your estate.

Thinking about your inevitable death is challenging. However, estate planning is essential to securing your family's financial future. To accumulate wealth to pass on to future generations, you must take steps today to start or continue building wealth.

Invest Today for a Secure Tomorrow

Making sound investments can maximize the amount you can pass on to your loved ones and future generations. Investing can help you grow your wealth over time. Consider investing in a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other assets that align with your risk tolerance and financial goals.

Personal Retirement Accounts

Consistently contributing to a personal retirement account is a great way to build a solid financial future. The cost of living is constantly increasing, making it important to set aside money for the future. That way, you can afford a comfortable life during your golden years. You don't want inflation to chip away at your assets.

There are different types of retirement accounts. Many people take advantage of 401(k) accounts through their employers. Speak to your place of employment about whether they offer 401(k) contribution matching. Some employers may also provide pension plans.

If you cannot fund retirement through your employer, you can set up a Roth individual retirement account (IRA) or traditional IRA. These types of retirement accounts allow yearly contributions up to a limit. They come with income limitations. Like a 401(k), the funds will become available when you reach retirement age.

If you contribute to one or more of these retirement accounts from a young age, your money can grow throughout your adult life. Retirement funds can pay for your living expenses after you stop working.

Removing Debt and Managing Credit

The final part of creating a solid financial future for your family is learning to eliminate debt and manage credit. With some things out of your control, you can make financial decisions to ensure your family does not suffer from outstanding debts. You can build your credit, allowing you to borrow at lower interest rates.

Destroying Debt

Getting out of debt is about more than putting your finances in order. Eliminating debt sets your family up for success. Consider the following steps toward a debt-free life:

1. List and assess your debts. Create a document listing how much you owe and to whom, minimum payment amounts, payment due dates, and the interest rates for each debt. Your assessment should consider which debts are the most serious, such as ones with past-due payments or obligations that have gone to collections.
2. Figure out how much you can afford to put toward debt. Look at your budget. How much do you need for necessities, such as utilities and housing? Subtract those costs from your monthly earnings. The amount left over should indicate how much you can put toward debt payments beyond the minimum.
3. Understand your options for debt relief. If you have any debts in collections, you can offer to settle for less than you originally owed. Work with debt collectors, and set up payment plans. If you ignore collectors, they could file a lawsuit against you. Avoid this at all costs. If accounts reach collections, a judgment allows creditors to garnish your wages or subtract funds from your bank account.
4. Strategize debt payments. You need a roof over your head, transportation, and basic living necessities. Make minimum payments on house, car, and utility debts as part of the snowball method. With this strategy, you'll choose one smaller debt to focus on, making more than the minimum payment while maintaining minimum payments on your other debts. Once you've paid off one debt, move on to the next until you've worked your way up to the largest debts.
5. Consider a debt management plan. Nonprofit credit counseling agencies offer these plans and help set up agreements with your creditors. You'll make a lump sum payment to the agency instead of multiple payments to various creditors. However, be sure the agency isn't a scam before you give them any information.
6. Budget effectively. Cut down on expenses that aren't necessary. Such costs include eating out, entertainment, expensive clothing, and gifts. Instead, shop thrift stores, and make DIY gifts.

Getting out of debt can be a long and arduous process. You may need to file for bankruptcy if your debts are too much to manage. Bankruptcy is a legal way to eliminate most of your debt. Doing so will hurt your credit for a few years, but this may be a small price to pay in exchange for improving your family's finances in the long term. Consult with a bankruptcy attorney if you're considering this step.

Managing Credit

The path to good credit involves:

• Paying off your debts
• Maintaining good standing with creditors via on-time payments
• Understanding your legal rights as a credit consumer

Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), you have a right to fair treatment when applying for credit. You can't be discriminated against due to your familial status. A creditor can't question whether you have kids or are divorced. By law, credit card companies must disclose fees that come with the card, such as annual fees or maintenance fees.

As a credit consumer looking out for your family's best interests, consider cards with minimal fees, low annual percentage rates, and cash back for purchases. Once you receive a card, do your best to maintain a low debt-to-income (DTI) ratio by paying off your debt after making a purchase. This will keep credit debt from building up and help you maintain a low DTI, which will help you qualify for loans and other credit products.