Blog Post
Minimalism May Be Great for Your Stuff and Finances but Not for Your Estate Plan
By Canarick & Canarick |
In a modern world marked by information overload, overflowing inboxes, nonstop notifications, and the constant pressure to accumulate more stuff, minimalism offers a compelling counternarrative. Born from the mid-twentieth century artistic rebellion and revived in the 2010s on the back of increased digital clutter, climate anxiety, and economic strain, minimalism ...
Read More Is an Income-Tax Time Bomb Lurking in Your Estate Plan?
By Canarick & Canarick |
As the federal estate tax exemption has ballooned from $5 million in 2011 to $13.99 million today, the need for estate tax planning has drastically decreased. However, with a top marginal income tax rate of 37 percent, the focus of estate planning has shifted to a new frontier: income tax ...
Read More Undoing an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust: Options and Alternatives in a Changing Estate Tax Landscape
By Canarick & Canarick |
The irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) has long been a staple of estate planning. This tool is designed to hold life insurance policies and remove the death benefit proceeds from an individual’s taxable estate (meaning that the value is not subject to estate tax) while also providing liquidity to cover ...
Read More Remember Your First Line of Defense: Insurance
By Canarick & Canarick |
The modern insurance market dates to seventeenth-century London, where merchants reeling from the Great Fire of London started pooling funds to cover fire losses. Today, this same basic concept—pooling risk to protect individuals and businesses from catastrophic loss—underpins nearly every sector of the global economy. The US insurance market, the ...
Read More Could a Domestic Asset Protection Trust Be the Right Trust for You?
By Canarick & Canarick |
There are more ways to create wealth today than ever before. Whether you are working a traditional nine-to-five job and investing in the stock market, a full-time investor taking advantage of online trading platforms and international markets, running an online business that you hope becomes your main income source, or ...
Read More Are You Saving Enough for Retirement?
By Canarick & Canarick |
Retirement is supposed to be a carefree period of enjoyment and fulfillment. However, retirement has become a daunting prospect for many Americans, full of anxiety and financial uncertainty. Longer lives and rising costs make the idea of retiring in one’s 60s increasingly unrealistic. But very few people, even those who ...
Read More The Pros and Cons of Joint Ownership
By Canarick & Canarick |
If you are recently married or have been married for a while and have acquired additional money or property (or plan to), you have options regarding how your assets can be owned. Although joint ownership seems easy and convenient, it may not always work as well as you think it ...
Read More Your Post-Honeymoon Legal Checklist
By Canarick & Canarick |
Your wedding day was absolutely perfect. You and your spouse went on your honeymoon and had the time of your lives. Now you are back and can breathe a sigh of relief as the years ahead unfold before your eyes. Well, not so fast. With your honeymoon over, there are ...
Read More Estate Planning for the Newly Married
By Canarick & Canarick |
Now is the perfect time to start working on an estate plan. As newlyweds, you are likely in the process of deciding which of your accounts and property (your assets) to combine and how to turn two households into one. You may also be setting up new bank accounts and ...
Read More Choosing the Ideal Trust for Your Wishes
By Canarick & Canarick |
The term estate may bring to mind mansions, vast fortunes, and a level of wealth that many people do not possess. This misconception may lead to the false impression that estate planning is only for the rich and famous, discouraging those with more modest means from seeking professional guidance. If ...
Read More Beneficiary and Transfer-on-Death Designations: Are You Doing It Right?
By Canarick & Canarick |
Do you know which of your accounts have beneficiary designations, sometimes called transfer-on-death (TOD) or payable-on-death (POD) designations? Have you updated them recently? Are you aware of what can go wrong if there are issues with your beneficiary designation forms? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it ...
Read More Are Outright Distributions the Perfect Fit for Your Loved Ones?
By Canarick & Canarick |
Although Americans are living longer and spending more time—and money—in retirement, many parents intend to leave an inheritance to their children. The exact amount can vary greatly depending on individual circumstances and wealth levels, but even a small inheritance can be meaningful and help set a child up for long-term ...
Read More Do You Know What You Own?
By Canarick & Canarick |
Americans’ median household net worth (meaning half the households have more and half the households have less) is around $193,000, while the average net worth is just over $1 million, according to the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States.[1] The median gives a more accurate picture because ...
Read More Who is Part of Your Professional Team?
By Canarick & Canarick |
If you are like most Americans, you have at least one to-do list. You might also use lists when you are shopping, brainstorming, setting goals, and planning for events. To-do lists, grocery lists, bucket lists . . . the list goes on. However, there is one crucial list that often ...
Read More Ensure That Your Loved Ones Call the Right Doctor
By Canarick & Canarick |
Now that we are in March, we are well past the point at which most of us have abandoned our New Year’s resolutions. As in previous years, improving physical health ranked among the top goals that Americans set for themselves in 2025.[1] But while goals like losing weight and building ...
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