A lot of people are interested in giving something to charity when they are making plans for the future. One of the things that you want to consider to this end is going to be how well the charitable cause utilizes the resources that they have. You may have heard stories about some charities having very high administrative costs including very significant salaries paid to executives.

Some people have no problem supporting top-heavy charities, but there are others who would prefer to contribute to charitable organizations that keep their overhead low so that the cause in question receives optimal support. The question is, how do you obtain detailed information about the inner workings of charitable organizations before you make donations?

Since we live in the information age the Internet is a source of a lot of good information and there is an excellent online resource that exists to assist people who are interested in putting charitable organizations under the microscope. CharityNavigator.org has compiled an extraordinary database that provides detailed information on hundreds upon hundreds of different charitable organizations.

They utilize a star rating system to provide visitors with a quick “at a glance” idea of how well each charitable organization is being run. If you want to analyze the specifics you could dig deeper and examine financial performance as well as transparency and accountability metrics.

In addition to being able to look into a charity or charities that you are already aware of, you can research charities that exist by category if you choose to do so in an effort to gain a broader understanding of your options.

Once you identify the causes that you would like to support, you are going to have to add a charitable giving component to your estate plan. There are various charitable giving vehicles that can be utilized, and the best choice will vary depending on the specifics of a given situation. If you are interested in examining your options, take action right now and arrange for a consultation with a licensed estate planning attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When you are parents and grandparents the health and well-being of your family members is of tantamount importance to you. As we all know, money is important but it does not provide happiness or holistic success as a person in and of itself. This is something that many people take to heart when they are planning their estates, because receiving too much too fast can sometimes do a person more harm than good. The last thing that a well-meaning elder would want to do would be to extinguish the drive toward personal achievement of a loved one inadvertently through the giving of a generous bequest.

Faced with this situation many people decide to utilize incentive trusts to give their loved ones the best of both worlds. With an incentive trust you appoint a trustee and name the beneficiary as you would with any trust, but you include stipulations that must be met in order for the beneficiary to receive trust distributions.

For example, you could provide for ongoing distributions as long as the beneficiary remains a student in good standing at a college or university. You could then attempt to instill a work ethic by providing a matching distribution for all monies that the beneficiary earns at his or her job after graduation.

In addition to using an incentive trust to guide an heir toward positive achievement, you can also use the trust to dissuade the beneficiary from engaging in self-destructive behavior. Say you had a loved one who had a drug problem. You could state in the trust agreement that this individual must complete a drug rehabilitation program and pass ongoing drug tests as conditions that must be met before distributions are made.

Of course there are those who resent an inheritance with “strings attached,” and psychologically it is best for people to make positive decisions of their own volition. Yet, incentive trusts are a tool that is available to you and many people have used them with great success.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Estate planning involves the distribution of your financial assets to your heirs upon your death, and many people assume that the way this is done is through a will. Though it is true that wills are often used to define the terms of asset distribution, there are other vehicles for transferring assets that have a lot of appeal to many people. One of them is the revocable living trust.

When you are planning your estate you invariably want to make things simple for your loved ones after you pass on. When you have a will the estate must go through probate, where its validity will be determined. The probate or surrogate court then supervises the administration of the estate, and this ensures the transparency of all transactions made in behalf of the estate, so probate does provide useful protections. On the other hand, the estate administration process (not probate)can be a time consuming process that can get costly by the time legal fees, and other attenuate expenses are paid if your estate is not properly set up.

Revocable living trusts are an alternative in the right circumstances. After you fund the trust you as the grantor select a trustee or trustees and you name your beneficiaries. You can act as trustee while you are living, so you retain control of the assets in the trust. You name a successor trustee who will administer the trust according to your wishes after you pass on. This can be a single individual, multiple people, or an entity such as a bank or a trust company. Upon your death the assets are then transferred to your beneficiaries and are usually not subject to probate if properly funded. Since the trust is indeed revocable, you can change it as you see fit or dissolve it altogether at any time.

Revocable living trusts are a good option in the right circumstances due to the efficiency and flexibility that they provide if set up correctly. Whether or not a living trust is the right choice for you would depend on the details of your wishes and the size and scope of your estate.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

An IRA, or individual retirement account, is one of the most popular ways to save for retirement. An IRA can be created at a bank, a brokerage firm, or a mutual fund company. IRAs differ from pensions and 401(k) plans in that individuals, not employers, typically open them.

Tax Benefits

You can deduct the money you deposit into an IRA from your taxable income, thus reducing your tax burden. This tax shelter saves many investors a great deal each year, since this portion of their income is no longer taxable.

Another tax benefit to an IRA is that as the account matures, the money remains tax deferred. Your money will only be taxed when regular retirement distribution begins. You’ll never have to pay penalties or extra taxes, unless you take money out early. This tax sheltering applies to traditional IRAs. If you invest in a Roth IRA, you may be eligible for greater tax deductions.

Who Is Eligible?

Anyone who receives earned income and is under 70 can apply for an IRA. The only issue that arises is how much of your contribution is tax-deductible each year. If you or your spouse has other retirement accounts through work, your deductibility may be restricted in certain cases. Your tax deductibility may be phased out when you reach a certain modified adjusted gross income (MAGI): if you and your spouse make between $83,000 and $103,000 and file taxes jointly; if you are single and make between $52,000 and $62,000; or if you are married, filing separately, and make between $0 and $10,000. AGI (adjusted gross income) refers to your income after allowable deductions are made; MAGI refers to your total income after some of those deductions are added back on.

Is an IRA for you?

An IRA is a good option for you if you do not have other retirement plans through your employer, or if you want to supplement those plans. There is no such thing as over-planning for retirement.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.