How should I go about creating an estate plan?
"Yes, an estate plan can be very important.  Estate planning - typically attempts to eliminate uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. Guardians are often designated for minor children and beneficiaries in incapacity. In general, your ""estate"" includes all of your assets, less all debt, plus death benefits from all life insurance policies not held in an irrevocable trust. The biggest reason to have an estate plan is to make sure that your personal values about both medical and personal finance financial matters are honored in the event that death or incapacity prevents you from acting for yourself. In addition, tax minimization is a further and very important goal of estate planning for persons with taxable estates. To create an estate plan for yourself or update an existing plan, you will most likely need the services of an estate planning attorney. When you consult with an estate planning attorney, the attorney considers how you want assets distributed to heirs, what taxes might your estate be liable for and whether there are tax-minimization strategies that would be appropriate and appealing; what your preferences and values are with respect to the management of medical and financial affairs in the event of incapacity; and any complicating family issues. To deal with these issues, your attorney will need full and accurate information about you, including: When an estate plan is created, be sure you understand what the attorney is saying. Estate planning ideas can be confusing. It is also appropriate and expected for you to ask about the attorney's fee for any legal service. Some articles and resources: Get ahead of your estate planning Estate Planning by CBA"
What happens to a minor if the parents are missing, or incapacitated, or deceased should be planned now, and not end up a matter for the courts to decide.  You might need to sit down with a family lawyer as well as a fee based financial planner, to make sure you have addressed all the relevant details. These details would include where they would live, money, and what the money should be used for. I'll start by saying that if this is being explored to scratch a specific itch you have then great, if this was a cold call it's probably safe to ignore it. Certain whole life products (they vary in quality by carrier) can make sense for very high earners who are looking for additional tax preferred places to store money.  So after you IRA, 401(k), etc options are maxed out but you still have income you'd like to hide from taxes whole life can be a potential vehicle because gains and death benefit are generally exempt from income taxes.  Be on the look out for loads charged to your money as it comes in to the policy.  Life insurance in general is meant to keep your dependents going without having to sell off assets in the event of your death.  People may plan for things like school tuition, mortgage/property tax for your spouse.  If you own a business with a couple of partners it's somewhat common for the partners to buy policies on each other to buyout a spouse to avoid potential operating conflicts.  Sometimes there can be estate planning issues, if you're looking to transfer assets when you ultimately pass it can make sense to form a trust and load cash in to a whole life policy because death benefits can be shielded from income tax and the estate tax calculation; the current estate tax exemption is about $5.5 million today (judging from your numbers you might actually be close to that including the net value of the homes).  Obviously, though, the tax rules are subject to change and you need to be deliberate in your formation of the trust in order to effectively navigate estate tax issues.  You seem to have a very solid financial position from this perspective it looks like your spouse would be in good shape.   If you are specifically attempting to manage potential estate tax liability you should probably involve an financial planner with experience forming and managing trusts; and you should be very involved with the process because it will absolutely make your finances more complicated. I've done this, but on the other side.  I purchased a commercial property from someone I had a previous relationship with.  A traditional bank wouldn't loan me the money, but the owner was willing to finance it.  All of the payments went through a professional escrow company.  In our case it was a company called Westar, but I'm sure there are plenty out here. They basically serve as the middle-man, for a fee (something like $5 a payment, plus something to set it up).  They have the terms of the loan, and keep track of balances, can handle extra principle payments and what that does to the term of the loan, etc.   You want to have a typical mortgage note that is recorded with the local clerk's office.  If you look around, you should be able to find a real estate lawyer who can set all this up for you.  It will cost you a bit up front, but it is worth it to do this right. As far as taxes, my understanding is that the property itself is taxed the same as any other property transfer.  You would owe taxes on the difference between the value of the property when you inherited it and when you sold it.  The interest you get from the loan would be taxed as regular income.  The escrow company should send you tax forms every year listing the amount of interest that you received.  There are also deductions you can take for expenses in the process. You can buy DIY will kits from office supply shopes like Staples or specialized publishers like Nolo or Quicken. The most important factor for you to consider will be the witness rules in your state to ensure the validity of your will later. Nolo has a lot of good information in this regard. Hopefully this is helpful :) Debt will ruin any plans.  I guess that the interest on the credit cards is about $450 a month or about $5,500 per year and the school loans is about $6,000 a year.  Get a an Excel spread sheet going and start tracking your expensed.  Learn to make a amortization spread sheet for all debts, and any future debts that you are thinking about. If you want a family soon plan on one income for a period of time. If you buy a house plan on paying it off while you are working.  Then the house payment becomes spendable money during retirement.  A cheaper house can be upgraded in the right neighborhood with an excellent appreciation in value.  Money put into excellent collectibles and kept for 20 years or more is private and off the radar income no taxes when sold. STUDY STUDY LEARN LEARN Keep a list of your accounts, banks, life insurance policies, location of your will, etc, and make sure two people you trust know where you keep that list. Review and update the list at least once a year. This way if something happens to you, your next of kin will have an easier time locating your financial details and final wishes. And having a list also means you won't forget about any of your accounts. You really should consider sitting down with an independent financial advisor to run the numbers for the various options and discuss what risks you're comfortable with and what your requirements/goals are. This isn't a simple decision,  unfortunately. Advice I've seen suggested that some portion of the money should stay in the market, earning market rate of return. Exactly how much, and invested in what, is complicated. An annuity is essentially an insurance policy.  The company assumes the risks and promises you specific payments in exchange for keeping the money.  They wouldn't do so if they didn't think that on average they'll pay out less than the combination of your purchase price plus earnings, so you really are paying a fee for this service. Whether it's worth that cost -- and for how much of your money -- depends on how much you have saved and how risk-tolerant you are. I'm going to steal a moment here to point out that many charities offer annuities. These may or may not pay out less than commercial annuities,  but the profits go to a better cause either way. If you plan to leave part of your estate as donation to a charity anyway, this basically lets them have the money earlier while you continue to receive income from it. The process would look something like:  1. Register your investment company with the SEC 2. Get the ETF approved by the SEC  3. Get a custodian bank (likely requires min assets of a few million) 4. Get listed on an exchange like NYSEARCA by meeting requirements and have an IPO   1 and 2 probably require a lot of time and fees and would be wise to have a lawyer advising, 3 is obviously difficult due to asset requirements and 4 would probably involve an investment bank plus more fees You will want to focus on how much is needed for retirement, and what types of investments within the current 401K offerings will get you there. Also will need to discuss non-401K investments such as an IRA, college savings, savings for a house, and an emergency fund.  The 401K should be a part of your overall financial picture, how much you invest in the 401K depends on the options you have (Roth 401K available), how much matching (some a little or a lot), and your family plans.  You have a few choices:  Your company through the 401K provider may provide this service. They may have limited knowledge in what non-401K funds you should invest in, but should be able to discuss types of investment. Fee only planner. They will be able to discus types of investments, and give you some suggestions. Because they don't work on a commission they will not make the investment for you. You need to be able to make the actual selection of investments, so make sure you get criteria to focus on as part of the package.  Commission based planner. Will make money off your investment choices. May steer you towards investments that their company offers or ones that offer them the best commissions in that investment type. If the 401K doesn't use funds that the planner can research you will need to provide a copy of the prospectus provided by the 401K. My suggestion is the fee only planner. They balance the limited focus of the 401K company without limiting themselves to the funds their company sells. Before sitting down with the planner get in writing how they fee structure works. A flat fee or hourly fee planner will be expecting you to do all the investment work. This is what you want. Let the fee only planner help you define your plan. But also reanalyze the plan every few years as your needs change. "This is not intended as legal advice, and only covers general knowledge I have on the subject of wills as a result of handling my own finances.   Each state of the USA has its own laws on wills and trusts.  You can find these online.  For example, in Kentucky I found state laws here:  http://www.lrc.ky.gov/krs/titles.htm and Title XXXIV is about wills and trusts.  I would recommend reading this, and then talking to a lawyer if it is not crystal clear.   Generally, if a lawyer does not draft your will, then either (1) you have no will, or (2) you use a form or computer program to make a will, that must then be properly witnessed before it is valid.  If you don't have it witnessed properly, then you have no will.  In some states you can have a holographic will, which means a will in your own handwriting.  That's when you have that 3am heart attack, and you get out a pad of paper and write ""I rescind all former wills hereby bequeathing everything to my mistress Samantha, and as to the rest of you go rot in hell. "" One issue with these is that they have to get to court somehow, and someone has to verify the handwriting, and there are often state laws about excluding a current spouse, so you can guess for yourself whether that one might disappear in the fireplace when another family member finds it next to the body or if a court would give it validity. And there can be logic or grammar problems with do it yourself wills, made in your own handwriting, without experience or good references on how to write things out.  Lawyers who have done a bunch of these know what is clear and makes sense.  (1) In Tennessee, where I live, an intestate's property, someone who died with no will, is divided according to the law.  The law looks to find a spouse or relatives to divide the property, before considering giving it to the state.  That might be fine for some people.  It happened once in my family, and was resolved in court with minimal red tape.  But it really depends on the person.  Someone in the middle of an unfinalized divorce, for instance, probably needs a will help to sort out who gets what.   (2) A form will is valid in Tennessee if it is witnessed properly.  That means two witnesses, who sign in yours' and each others' presence.  In theory they can be called to testify that the signature is valid.  In practice, I don't know if this happens as I am not a lawyer. I have found it difficult to find witnesses who will sign a form will, and it is disconcerting to have to ask friends or coworkers for this sort of favor as most people learn never to sign anything without reading it.  But a lawyer often has secretaries that do it...  There is a procedure and a treaty for international wills, which I know about from living overseas. To streamline things, you can get the witnesses to each sign an affidavit after they signed the will.  The affidavit is sworn written testimony of what happened, that they saw the person sign their will and sign in each others' presence, when, where, no duress, etc.  If done correctly, this can be sufficient to prove the will without calling on witnesses.  There is another option (3) you arrange your affairs so that most of your funds are disbursed by banks or brokers holding your accounts.  Option (3) is really cheap, most stock brokers and banks will create a Transfer-On-Death notice on your account for free.  The problem with this is that you also need to write out a letter that explains to your heirs how to get this money, and you need to make sure that they will get the letter if you are dead.  Also, you can't deal with physical goods or appoint a guardian for children this way.  The advantage of a lawyer is that you know the document is correct and according to local law and custom, and also the lawyer might provide additional services like storing the will in his safe.  You can get personalized help that you can not get with a form or computer program." I second all of this. It’s worth noting that not all estates require wealth advice. Unless it’s in the millions of dollars and you have no prior experience, I wouldn’t waste time with wealth advisors.   ML is a broker dealer, not a fiduciary. "Former financial analyst here, happy to help you. First off, you are right to not be entirely trusting of advisors and attorneys. They are usually trustworthy, but not always. And when you are new to this, the untrustworthy ones have a habit of reaching you first - you're their target market. I'll give you a little breakdown of how to plan, and a starting investment. First, figure out your future expenses. A LOT of that money may go to medical bills or associated care - don't forget the costs of modifications and customizations to items so you can have a better quality of life. Cars can be retrofit to assist you with a wheelchair, you can build a chair lift into a staircase, things like that which will be important for mobility - all depending on the lingering medical conditions. Mobility and independence will be critically important for you. Your past expenses are the best predictor of future expenses, so filter out the one-time legal and medical costs and use those to predict. Second, for investing there is a simple route to get into the stock market, and hopefully you will hear it a lot: Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). You'll hear ""The S&P 500 increased by 80 points today..."" on the news; the S&P is a combination of 500 different stocks and is used to gauge the market overall. You can buy an exchange traded fund as a stock, and it's an investment in all those components. There's an ETF for almost anything, but the most popular ones are for those big indexes. I would suggest putting a few hundred thousand into an S&P 500 indexed ETF (do it at maybe $10,000 per month, so you spread the money out and ensure you don't buy at a market peak), and then let it sit there for many years. You can buy stocks through online brokerages like Scottrade or ETrade, and they make it fairly easy - they even have local offices that you can visit for help. Stocks are the easiest way to invest. Once you've done this, you can also open a IRA (a type of retirement account with special tax benefits) and contribute several thousand dollars to it per year. I'll be happy to give more advice if/when you need it, but there are a number of good books for beginning investors that can explain it better than I. I would suggest that you avoid real estate, especially if you expect to move overseas, as it is significantly more complicated and has maintenance costs and taxes." "Debts do not inherit to the children. You are absolutely not liable for your parent's debt, in any way whatsoever. **  Collection agents will lie about this; tricking you is their job, and your job is to tell them Heck no, do I look like an idiot? When a person dies, all their personal assets (and debts) go to a fictitious entity called the Estate.  This is a holder for the person's assets until they can be dispositioned finally.  The estate is managed by a living person, sometimes a company (law firm), called an Executor.  Similar to a corporation which is shutting down business, the Executor's job is to act on behalf of the Estate, and in the Estate's best interest (not his own).  For instance he can't decide, in his capacity as executor, to give all the estate's money to himself.  He has to loyally and selflessly follow state law and any living-trust or wills that may be in place. This role is not for everyone.  You can't just decide ""la la la, I'm going to live in their house now"", that is squatting.  The house is an asset and someone inherited that, as dictated by will, trust or state law.  That has to be worked out legally.  Once they inherit the house, you have to negotiate with them about living there. If you want to live there now, negotiate to rent the house from the estate. This is an efficient way to funnel money into the estate for what I discuss later.** The Estate has assets, and it has debts. Some debts extinguish on the death of the natural person, e.g. student loans, depending on the contract and state law. Did you know corporations are considered a ""person""?  (that's what Citizens United was all about.)  So are estates - both are fictitious persons. The executor can act like a person in that sense.   If you have unsecured debt, how can a creditor motivate you to pay?  They can annoy and harass you.  They can burn your credit rating.  Or they can sue you and try to take your assets - but suing is also expensive for them.  This is not widely understood, but anyone at any time can go to their creditors and say  ""Hey creditor, I'm not gonna pay you $10,000.  Tough buffaloes.  You can sue me, good luck with that.  Or, I'll make you a deal.  I'll offer you $2000 to settle this debt.  What say you?  And you'll get one of two answers.  Either ""OK"" or ""Nice try, let's try $7000.""  If the latter, you start into the cycle of haggling, ""3000."" ""6000."" ""4000."" ""5000. ""Split the difference, $4500."" ""OK.""  This is always a one-time, lump sum, one-shot payoff, never partial payments.  Creditors will try to convince you to make partial payments.  Don't do it.  Anyone can do that at any time.  Why don't living people do this every day?   How about an Estate?  Estates are fictitious persons, they don't have a ""morality"", they have a fiduciary duty. Do they plan on borrowing any more money? Nope. Their credit rating is already 0. They owe no loyalty to USBank. Actually, the executor's fiduciary duty is to get the most possible money for the assets, and settle the debts for the least.  So I argue it's unethical to fail to haggle down this debt.  If an executor is ""not a haggler"" or has a moral issue with shortchanging creditors, he is shortchanging the heirs, and he can be sued for that personally - because he has a fiduciary duty to the heirs, not Chase Bank.  Like I say, the job is not for everyone. The estate should also make sure to check the paperwork for any other way to escape the debt: does it extinguish on death?  Is the debt time-barred? Can they really prove it's valid?  Etc.  It's not personal, it's business.  The estate should not make monthly payments (no credit rating to protect) and should not pay one dime to a creditor except for a one-shot final settlement. Is it secured debt? Let them take the asset. (unless an heir really wants it).  When a person dies with a lot of unsecured debt, it's often the case that they don't have a lot of cash lying around.  The estate must sell off assets to raise the cash to settle with the creditors.  Now here's where things get ugly with the house.  ** The estate should try to raise money any other way, but it may have to sell the house to pay the creditors. For the people who would otherwise inherit the house, it may be in their best  interest to pay off that debt. Check with lawyers in your area, but it may also be possible for the estate to take a mortgage on the house, use the mortgage cash to pay off the estate's debts (still haggle!), and then bequeath the house-and-mortgage to the heirs.  The mortgage lender would have to be on-board with all of this.  Then, the heirs would owe the mortgage.   Good chance it would be a small mortgage on a big equity, e.g. a $20,000 mortgage on a $100,000 house.  Banks love those." Hire a lawyer familiar with transactional law and they will have a examples in house. Any debt that large will have nuances that Google or Reddit can't help you with.   A term sheet is a term sheet but you will want it to be substantial and air tight. "Is option trading permitted in the account? Most 401(k) do not permit this. 1 - it means none traded today. 2 - there are 50 outstanding contracts. Each one has a guy who is long and a guy who is short.  3 - not really, it might depend on the stock.  4 - no. With commissions so low, and the inherent leverage of options, one contract reflecting 100 shares of the underlying stock, the minimum is what you can sleep soundly with.  5 - because GLD does not reflect precisely 1/10 oz of gold's price. If you look at the prospectus, it reads ""The investment objective of the Trust is for the Shares to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the Trust’s expenses."" Since there are no dividends to take expenses from, the GLD price will erode by .4% each year compared to the price of 1/10oz gold."