Check your beneficiaries


Check your beneficiaries Improperly designating beneficiaries on a retirement account or insurance policy can be costly. That’s why we recommend checking beneficiaries on IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and life insurance and annuity policies every five years or so. It’s simple to designate (or neglect to designate) a beneficiary, but it’s not so simple to do it […]

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Don’t throw away that trust!


Now that the exemption from the federal estate tax has hit $2 million, some married clients have questioned whether they still need their trusts. After all, the trusts were made to avoid the tax, and now the tax threat for them has disappeared. Fact is there still may be reasons to retain or establish a […]

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Advance Directives


With the nationwide publicity surrounding the Terri Schiavo case there has been much talk about living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders, powers of attorney, etc. Documents that pertain to end-of-life issues are known collectively as Advance Directives. Typically they address medical, family and financial decisions made on behalf of somebody who is no longer capable of making […]

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What’s better for your estate – a will or a trust?


You may have heard that a living trust is better for estate planning than a will. In reality, there are pros and cons to each. While the topic is too complex to cover thoroughly in a brief article and we at Mentor are not attorneys, we do periodically help our clients address this question. A revocable […]

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Does your estate plan need a tune-up?


Our experience with clients shows that estate planning is typically the last piece of the financial planning puzzle that people address, if ever.  Not having an up-to-date estate plan could put you and your family at high risk.  If you die without a will, a court (not you) selects the executor and guardian for your […]

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