Legacy Planning
Ensure your legacy reflects your values and wishes with a plan that efficiently transfers your wealth to the next generation.
Aiming to Safeguard Your Legacy with Strategic Planning
Legacy Planning at Nicholas Wealth Management is about more than just distributing your assets; it's about ensuring your legacy lives on as you envision.
We work with you to create a comprehensive plan that not only aims to maximize your estate's value for your beneficiaries but also minimizes the tax impact, better ensuring your wishes are honored and your family is protected.
We help you plan your estate to take advantage of tax benefits, seeking to protect your assets from excessive taxation and preserving more for your beneficiaries.
We find ways to utilize trusts and other asset protection strategies to manage how your assets are distributed, ensuring they go directly to your chosen beneficiaries while avoiding probate.
We find ways to incorporate charitable giving into your legacy plan, aligning your philanthropic goals with tax-efficient benefits.
Our team looks for ways to optimize the distribution of your retirement accounts to reduce taxes and maximize the value passed on to your beneficiaries.
We work with you to develop a plan for transferring wealth within the family that minimizes tax implications and aligns with your wishes for your legacy.
We regularly review and update your legacy plan to ensure it remains aligned with changes in laws, your financial situation, and your personal wishes.
Keys to Legacy Planning
FAQS
The probate process can be time consuming and expensive for your heirs. Your legacy plan should seek to avoid probate as much as legally possible. Here are two ways to avoid probate:
Properly designated beneficiaries: One of the easiest and simplest ways to bypass probate is to make sure you have beneficiaries listed on all of your investment, brokerage, bank and retirement accounts.
Revocable trust: Establishing and funding a revocable trust allows assets to bypass probate and be administered by a trustee.
A power of attorney authorizes someone else to act for you if you cannot act for yourself. A power of attorney can be extensive and cover anything from paying the bills to selling a house. A "durable" power of attorney means it remains effective if you become incompetent.
A “springing” durable power of attorney becomes effective on only if and when you become incapacitated. If you never become incapacitated, it does not become effective and your attorney in fact exercises no authority over you or your assets.
You may revoke a power of attorney at any time by notifying the attorney-in-fact in writing. The death of the principal terminates the power of attorney. Authority then passes to the decedent's executor.
No one wants to experience incapacity, but it can bring peace of mind knowing you have clearly expressed your advanced directives. The advance health care directive, also known as a "living will" appoints someone to make health care decisions for you if you cannot make such decisions for yourself.
Losing a family member is one of the most difficult and challenging experiences that someone can endure. The last thing that many people want to think about during this time is tying to organize and locate their loved one’s assets and property. Creating a legacy plan while you are alive can be one of the best things you can do to allow your estate to be a blessing and not a burden for your loved ones.
Yes. Our Nicholas Wealth financial advisors will work alongside our estate planning attorney partners to help you build a legacy plan that allows you to bless your beneficiaries while protecting your estate from excessive taxes and penalties.
Let us help you craft a legacy plan that honors your life, values, and the people and causes you care about. Start the conversation today.
