What are ways to distribute wealth to my heirs to prevent tax issues?

Ralph
00:00:00

Are you lying awake at night worrying about how to pass your wealth to your children without losing a big chunk of it to taxes? Maybe you've set up trust but still feel uncertain about the best way to distribute your assets.

Well, you're in for a good show today because we're going to explore smart strategies for tax efficient wealth distribution that align with the Christian principles.

And we're going to address a great question from my friend Bob about transferring wealth to to his three children because Bob's confused and you'll hear that in his question today.

Podcast Announcer
00:00:31

In a world where crushing debt keeps you trapped, where living paycheck to paycheck has become your new normal, and where the dream of retirement seems impossibly out of reach, there's hope. Join financial evangelist Ralph Estep Jr. A man who's walked through the fire of financial failure and emerged stronger on the other side.
Welcome to Ask Ralph, the show where real world experience meets biblical truth. To break the bondage of financial despair.
To get ready to take control of your money, break free from the financial stress and align your resources with God's purpose for your life. This is Ask Ralph with Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:01:13

Well, thank you for joining me today. Let's continue our journey together. We have a destination set and that destination is to master our finances from a Christian perspective.

Now, if you missed yesterday's show, I had a great show on Tax Talk Thursday about handling taxes when living and working in different states.

So if you missed it, be sure to check it out because the strategies we covered yesterday might just save you thousands of unnecessary tax payments and might keep you from getting one of those dreaded audit letters from one of the states. So again, you can check out all the episodes at askralph.com well, today's question comes from my friend Bob.

Like I said, I've known Bob for a long time and Bob actually put this question in our private Facebook group.

And if you're interested in joining that group, you can go to askralphpodcast.com/group and you can interact with the rest of us in the Facebook Insiders group. But here's Bob's question. He says, Ralph, transferring wealth, I find it not to be an easy thing.

I consulted my financial advisor and I was told I can't just keep everything status quo even though everything I own is in trust upon my wife and my death and my daughter is the executor with a non revocable trust and things are set. Whereas she is durable power of attorney, I'm told my investments need to be distributed between my three children. Do you have thoughts?

Well, Bob, that is a great question. It's a question I get routinely in my practice. So thank you for that.

Now, listen, before we get too deep into this, I want to start by saying a lot of what we're going to talk about blends the issue of legal and accounting. So I want to be very clear. I am not an attorney. I don't play one on tv.

What I'm going to talk to you about today, first thing I'm going to tell you is if you have any specific legal questions involving trust or inheritances, I'm going to highly encourage you to go speak with an attorney. Yes, it's going to cost you a few dollars, but your peace of mind is worth the money that you're going to spend.

So today's topic is going to be my general information based on experience, not legal advice. Now, if you've got a question like Bob, another thing you can do, and you can always do this, you can go right to our website.

That's at askralph.com There's a little search icon and you could say, listen, I've got this big financial decision, or maybe it's a small financial decision to make.

Well, you can click on that search icon and see if I've written a blog post about or see if I've talked about it on this show and you can start off with some strong financial footing before you make that big decision.

Now, as you know, a few days ago I talked about how I'm going to add a gratitude statement because I think each of us needs to start each and every day being grateful. So today I'm grateful for God's wisdom and teaching us about stewardship.

And that's exactly what you're asking about, Bob, and the importance of planning for future generations. So that's what I'm grateful about today. You know, Bob, I always like to start with a scripture reading, too.

And your question reminds me of Proverbs 13:22, and this is a particular verse that I've used several times on this show because it teaches us about leaving an inheritance for future generations. And Bob, I know that's exactly what you're trying to do because we've talked about this one on one. So let's turn to that verse.

And this is what it says again, that's from Proverbs 22 says this a good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. I don't think I need to Add too much to that. That is a very blunt saying.

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. So let's get to today's topic and let's see how we can help you in your decision making processes.

Bob, you know what keeps many Christians up at night? You know, I ponder this. You know, I've written a couple books. I'm actually working on my third book and that'll be coming out here soon.

But what keeps Christian up at night is the fear of their legacy becoming a tax burden for their children. And that I hear this time and time again. I just had a client in the other day. This was exactly what we were talking about.

He said to me, ralph, he says, how can I reduce the tax burden for my children? Now, I'm going to tell you, everybody's situation is different.

So the things we're going to talk about today may apply to you and they may not apply to you, but I want to throw a lot of things out there because there's some of these things you can actually do. So let me tell you about a client, Tom.

Now, Tom is not my client's name, but I'm going to tell you a story about him because it really illustrates what we're talking about. And Tom, he's been a tax client of mine for years. And this one particular tax season, he came in and you could just see he was exhausted.

I don't know what was going on at the time. I looked at him, I'm like, tom, are you okay? And I could just tell something in his demeanor had changed.

And he said, ralph, I'm exhausted and, and I'm worried about things. Now, Tom is a Christian business owner. He had been in church his entire life and now he had reached his mid-60s.

And he started thinking about that legacy planning. He started thinking about how am I going to handle my assets.

You know, in Tom's particular case, he said, ralph, I have about $2.3 million in assets and I've got three children. And when he said that, you could see the tears in his eyes. You could tell this was very emotional for him.

And listen, all of us have come to this point. I mentioned on the show a couple of weeks ago when my wife and I and my oldest son traveled to Germany.

One of the things we did before we went away is we went and met with our estate planning attorney because we wanted to make sure that things were set up so that if something happened to us that Things would be set up for how we wanted our assets to be handled, how we wanted our assets to be distributed. And I could see this was really getting the time. And he said this to me, said Ralph, said, I've worked my entire life building something for my kids.

And that is the truth. You could tell Tom was a guy, he invested in his family, he invested in his children. He was a hardworking guy.

But he said, I'm terrified I'm going to mess it up. And listen, that's a common thing I hear in my practice.

A lot of people are worried about, you know, they've done all this hard work, they've put money aside just like you, Bob. You worked hard your entire life. You've amassed. And I'm going to say it's a fortune, but it's a fortune to you and it's a fortune to most of us.

And what Tom said, he said, the last thing I want is for them to lose half of their inheritance to taxes. And then he said something was even more striking. He said, rap or worse. I am really concerned that it's going to tear the family apart.

And let me just tell you, that is something I hear time and time again. So I got in a little deeper, as I do with all my clients. We started with that initial assessment, a non emotional, just a factual thing.

And I found out that Tom had already set up a trust. But with that trust, it was missing some crucial elements.

Again, I am not an attorney, but just the basics of what he told me, the way that it was structured, there was a potential for a 40% tax burden on his children. And obviously that's not what Tom wanted. So he was trying to balance this financial wisdom and this faithful stewardship.

But Tom's situation was not simple. See, Tom had an interesting and complex asset mix. He had retirement accounts, he had a 401k from his job, he had put money into an IRA.

He had a Roth IRA. He had a health savings account. So that adds a layer of complexity to it. And I've talked about this on other shows.

Tom also had a vacation property, another cool thing that Tom had. And he worked diligently with this with his son. His oldest son was. He had a classic car collection.

I'm gonna tell you right now, he would always bring in his phone and he would show me some pictures. He not only bought cars, but him and his son restored cars. And they were some, I mean, tell you, beautiful classic cars.

And he had a special garage he rented. And I want to say he had eight or 10 of these. This was definitely a passion. It was something that he and his son did together.

Tom also had a business property. He owned a small business property, and his youngest daughter had always dreamed of turning it into a Christian counseling center.

That's what she had studied in college. And. And her goal at some point where they had this small property was to create this Christian counseling center.

And believe it or not, this is a very strange occurrence or circumstance. So Tom came in, like I said, he sat down with me, and I had just gotten done a CPE class.

For those of you that don't know that continuing professional education as a licensed Delaware public accountant, I have to take so many hours of continual education. For me, it's 40 hours per year or 80 hours in a two year period. Well, happenstance. I had just had this CPE class on tax efficient strategies.

So I was very well versed on what I could tell Tom. And I was able to emphasize the importance of understanding all his assets.

So the first thing we did is we made a list, what I call a comprehensive asset list. We looked at everything he had. And for Tom, I came up with some solutions.

And one of the things we did for Tom, because Tom said, ralph, he said, one of the things I want to do is I want to. I don't want to just wait till I'm dead and gone. I want to be able to bless my children now.

So one of the cool things that you can do, and a lot of people overlook this, and I'll talk about this a little bit later in the show, was Tom was able, because he's married, to gift $38,000 per year per child. So he was able to do that while he was there to see it, while he was there to be a part of it.

And the best thing about this annual gifting, there's no taxes for the person who receives it. Now, it doesn't help Tom on his taxes either, but it helped him emotionally. It helped him, helped him gain that financial peace.

And then the next thing we talked about is, what are we going to do about this business property and his daughter's vision. So one of the things I encouraged him to do is I said, why don't you go talk to an attorney?

Because one of the things you can do is set up an irrevocable trust. And what he ended up doing with his attorney is he placed that business property in an irrevocable trust.

Now, there's a difference between a revocable and an irrevocable. I actually did a show about That a few weeks ago, and I'll put a note to that in the show notes today.

And Bob, just as an aside, having read your question, I believe you actually have a revocable trust. So if you do have an irrevocable trust, let me know, because you need to talk to your attorney, because they. That is not what I think you have.

I think you actually have a revocable trust. But anyway, we did this with Tom.

We work with his attorney because he wanted to preserve his daughter's vision for serving others, but he also wanted to protect it from estate taxes. And the other thing I encourage Tom to do, and he's still doing it to this day, is he sits down with his estate attorney every year.

Yes, it cost him a consultation fee, but like Tom said to me many times, he said, ralph, I would rather pay a professional to know what needs to be done. And that's the thing. Like, I'm not an attorney. I go and see an attorney when I have questions like that. Go see my own attorney.

I actually did a show about that a few months ago. Actually, it's probably been a year ago now. I'll put a link to that in the show notes also. But this is the time to not be cheap. Let me be blunt.

You want to pay to surround yourself with professionals. So let's talk about what happened to Tom. So like I said, we sat down, we put together sort of a skeleton plan. Like I said, I'm not an attorney.

And I said, tom, go see your attorney. But here's some things you can talk about. And I'll tell you what. It was exciting for Tom, so much so that he scheduled a consultation with me.

I want to say it was about two months later, and when he came in, like, this dude had just a jump in his step. Like, he. He was just excited. You could tell his whole appearance has changed. He.

He had emotional relief, you know, and it was very cool because he started telling me about how he started to get involved in the future of that Christian counseling center his daughter wanted to do. He's helping him make it happen. And he knew he now had peace of mind, knowing that his tax burden had minimized. What he said was.

He said, ralph, and his voice was cracking. He said, for the first time, I'm not just passing on money. I'm passing on a legacy of faith and service.

And I get to see what happens while I'm still here. And that was so important for Tom and Bob. That may be something you want to consider.

Maybe you want to consider doing Some gifting of your assets now and again, Bob, it depends on your particular assets, because if they're retirement money or things like that, there may be some tax ramifications. That's where you want to sit down with somebody like me and let's work through that.

Because it's not as simple as saying, well, I, I'm going to gift Ira money. I don't want to take a big deep dive on that right now. Boy, that's an AI term. But I don't want to go down that road because that can.

And that's where, you know, I say it all the time. You've got to have specific advice for your particular situation. But here's the legacy impact of what Tom was able to do.

And Tom said it best himself. He was, he wasn't just transferring wealth, he was transferring the values, his Christian values that he was so know, so important to him.

He was able to give those monies while he's still there. He's seeing his daughter have that vision of that business property turning into a Christian counseling session, Christian counseling location.

And he was able to create what I call multi generational impact because it impacted him. He was able to see it.

His daughters were able to see it, and his grandkids and future generations will have that connection to Tom because he was able to align his financial decisions with, with his faith. And my friends, that is what we call stewardship in action. So you might say, Ralph, what are the key takeaways from what you did with Tom?

Well, the big one is this estate planning is about more than money. Bob, if you're listening to this, and I appreciate your question, again, your estate plan is partially about money, but it's bigger than this.

So that's why I'm saying it's so very important to get professional guidance because you got to figure out a way to balance that wise planning and that faithful stewardship. And in the end, like the Bible verse said, today, you want to create a legacy that honors God. So let's talk about some of the things.

Let's do a little bit, little bit deeper discussion on. So there's that annual gifting strategy. And this is a strategy. It's an exciting opportunity that many people overlook.

Now, in 2025, you can gift up to $19,000 per person per year.

So if you're married and, and you have a child between you and your wife, like I talked about with Tom, you can gift them $38,000, just cut them a check. There's no tax ramification. There's no tax returns that need to be filed. So imagine this. Imagine giving each of your three children $38,000 annually.

And that's exactly what Tom started to do. That's $114,000 a year. Now he had three children moving tax free. Again, it depends on, on the character of those investments.

If your money is not in after tax dollars or if in, it's in stock or something like that, that's a whole different, that's a whole different animal. And you need to meet with somebody like me or somebody you trust to go through that.

Because here's the deal and this I'm going to take a little bit of a deeper dive right at this second. If that money is in an IRA or pre tax money, in order to get that money out, somebody's going to have to pay tax on that.

Now you can either pay it now or pay it later. That's something you want to talk about with your financial advisor.

Now if that money is in stock, you might want to talk about that as well because see, here's the deal and a lot of people don't understand. This client I had in the other day didn't get this. You get what's called stepped up basis. Now you might say, Ralph, what in the world does that mean?

Here's a real simple example. Let's use Tom as my example. Let's say in Tom's portfolio, he's got $100,000 worth of stock. Let's say it's Amazon stock.

I don't even know if Amazon has stock, but let's just say it's Amazon stock. So if Tom was to sell that Amazon stock in order to gift it to one of his children, Tom could potentially have a capital gain on that.

Because in, in Tom's particular case, let's say he bought that Amazon stock when it was cheap when they were first getting started. So Maybe he paid $20,000 for it and like I said, now it's worth $100,000.

Well, he's got this $80,000 capital gain that he's going to have to pay tax on if he was to sell those stocks and, you know, take that money and give it to his children. Well, if he waits till he passes away and they're the beneficiaries of that stock, they get what's called stepped up basis.

And stepped up basis basically means that on the date of your passing. So in our scenario, Tom's passing, whatever that Amazon stock is worth on that date becomes the basis of for the person who inherits those stocks.

So let's use that same example. So let's say tomorrow Tom passes away that Amazon stock is worth a hundred thousand dollars.

Well, guess what, the person that he leaves that to, his son or daughter, one of those people, they have a capital gain now of not 80,000, but they have a capital gain of almost nothing. Because if it's valued today and they sell it today, then there's no capital gain at all.

Now if they hold it and it goes back up in value, then their capital gain is going to be based on what the beginning value was on the date of his death and over he sells it for.

So if you're gifting stock and you've got those built in gains, that's something you want to talk to somebody like me about and make sure that it's right for you. But it's, see, and that's the thing, these type of distributions are not just limited to cash.

You got to think about your stock, think about real estate like Tom did with that business property or even interest in your business if you own a small business. And see, here's the thing, tax laws are changing in 2025. Who knows? I did a show about that a couple weeks ago.

Who knows what's going to happen in this new Congress with the new president. So now may very well be the time to act. And let's talk about something else. You've already started those trusts.

Well, there are different types of trust and like I said, I'm going to make a note in the show notes that talks about the episode. I talked about those because there's revocable living trusts, there's irrevocable trust. There's even a thing called dynasty trusts.

I'm pretty sure that doesn't have anything to do with the TV show that used to be on tv. But here's the thing you got to understand, trust aren't just about taxes. That's a good portion of it.

But they protect your assets and give you control. Again, that's the thing you want to talk about with your attorney.

And here's one thing, if you do do a trust, do, do a trust, that's a, that's a funny way to say it. But Bob, this, I'm speaking directly to you. Your trust is not a set it and forget it document.

And maybe that's what your financial advisor is telling you, Bob, is maybe you're a financial saying, yeah, Bob, that's great you set up this trust 10, 15 years ago, but when's the last time you updated it? So that's one of the things you want to discuss regular review with your attorney. Make sure your trust isn't just this set and forget it document.

And the other thing is people leave money on the table because there's tax efficient investments, there's tax managed funds, there's strategic asset location, there's the discussion about long term holding periods. You got to think about it like this. Think of your investments like organizing your closet.

And now some of us have very organized, like my wife, for example. I'm going to talk about my wife in a positive way here. She's an organized person in her closet. You go in there, you look at her closet.

She's got her clothes hung up by color. So she's looking to wear a white shirt. Here's the white shirts and she wants a red shirt. Here's the red shirts, here's the blue.

She's got her slacks and shorts and all that done exactly the same way. Well, you've got to think about your investments the same thing. Organize in that closet. Everything has its place.

So work with your broker and find out what's the best solution. And then that estate planning framework comes together and you put all those pieces together. And this is not a simple approach.

This is a comprehensive approach. Bob, you got to look at all your assets. Do that regular review and listen if you hear nothing else I say today, go get professional guidance.

Go find an attorney if you don't have one, meet with your attorney. Go find an accountant if you don't have one and meet with your account if you want to meet with me, I meet with clients all over the world.

You can go to askralph.com way at the top of the page you'll see book a call with Ralph. Now that's the starting point. But you've got to regularly update this because life changes.

Maybe you have a new grandchild or there's a divorce or there's a death in the family, God forbid, but life changes and your estate plan needs to do that as well. And here's my key reminders and I'm going to get to some action steps in just a few moments. But always work with qualified professionals.

Make sure you're working with an attorney that works with the states and review those plans annually. You probably heard me say it 100 times. And not only the legal side of this, but you got to consider the federal and state tax implications as well.

Because in Tom's case we talked about, his total assets were $2.3 million. Well, right now there is no estate tax for his heirs when he passes away. Because right now the estate minimum is $13 million.

So from a federal perspective, he's got no issues. But depending upon where you live, there could be state tax implications. And that's why you want to talk to an attorney and talk to an accountant.

Another big deal about this. And a lot of people get stuck on this one, Bob. And I don't know if this is your situation as well.

You mentioned that your daughter is involved in this, but you got to have communication. I'll talk about that a little bit later when I talk about some action steps, but have a discussion with your family.

You know, one of the things that Tom was really worried about was his estate causing rifts in the family and destroying relationships. So one of the key things that Tom did is he had an annual meeting with his kids, and he said, okay, here's what's my estate?

And he was very transparent about it. Now, a lot of clients, they don't want to do that. They keep everything, know, kind of cozy divest. My grandfather did this.

My grandfather had a drawer with two locks on it. It was like a safe deposit box in his house. He don't want anybody to know what was going on until he passed away.

But see, I actually think that it's better to keep that family communication open. And last but not least, remember the spiritual aspect of stewardship.

Now, one of the things I mentioned the other day is every day I also write a blog post. So you get to hear my sparkling voice or see my face here as you're watching or listening to the show. But I go a little bit deeper in the blog post.

I give you some resources to look at, and you can always find those at askralph.com/blog and we also do put today's blog in the show notes. Well, now, let me ask you a question. Has this show made a difference in your life? You might be saying, ralph, where are you going with this?

But just think for a second. Answer me yes or no right now, wherever you're at, has this show made a difference in your life?

You know, that aha moment when something clicks about your finances or your faith? Well, let me just tell you, that's exactly what someone else is searching for right now.

There are so many people out there trying to get through this maze of their finances, their maze of estate planning, and they need to hear from somebody like you. And here's why your voice matters. Because every day, people just like you are looking for guidance. They're doing Google searches.

They're looking for all kinds of things. And they're getting crappy information.

One of the things I think, Bob, you may be getting is information from somebody that doesn't know what they're talking about. And see, think about it like this.

If you share your story of how this shows impacted you, that could be that gentle nudge they need to transform their financial journey. So what am I asking you to do? I'm asking you to do an honest review.

Because those reviews help people find us in a sea of podcasts and there are hundreds of thousands. You might be saying Ralph, but I'm just one voice. Yes, but think about it. It's a quick impact with a lasting difference.

So do me a favor, do me a huge favor. Once you get done listening today or watching today take 60 seconds, that's all I need from you. And go to askralphpodcast.com/review.

It's really that simple. askralphpodcast.com/review and do me a favor, leave me a five star review and rating. Share that breakthrough moment.

What did, what did the show do that made a difference to you? Maybe it helped you break free of debt. Maybe it helped you put together that intentional spending plan or that budget.

Maybe it helped you get the impetus to go meet with your attorney like we talked about today for estate planning. I want you to do that because it will help someone else find their path to financial wisdom. Think about it this way.

Think about the most valuable lesson you've learned from the show. That insight you're holding. That could be exactly what another listener or viewer needs to hear. You can be their sign, you can be their guy.

You can have kingdom impact on them. Again, go to askralphpodcast.com/review because together we're building a community where faith and finance work in harmony, just like Bob did.

He went to our Facebook insiders group and there'll be notes in the show, notes for that. Because listen this, please hear me. Your review is more than feedback. It just is. It's a beacon for others seeking that same clarity you found.

So why not share that again?

That's at askralphpodcast.com/review now a few days, you know, I entered a few days ago, I introduced this whole idea reflection questions because at the end of each episode is before we get into talking about what you can go do, I just want to take a few moments and reflect on what we talked about. So first thing I want to ask you today, have you taken inventory of all your assets and how they're currently titled? That's where it's Got to start.

What do you have and how is it structured? That's the first question number two question.

So my reflection question number two, when was the last time you reviewed your estate planning documents? Bob, ask yourself that question. Did you go meet with that attorney years ago and you haven't updated it? That's a bad plan, Bob.

Go meet with your attorney and update those documents. Now, your attorney might say, bob, you're in great shape. Here's what's going on. Here's how you set it. Here's how you set it.

Have you how you have it set up. So, but just go get that peace of mind. And my third reflection question is, have you discussed your distribution plans with your children?

Now, again, I will get feedback from this. If you disagree with me, that's fine. Reach out to me.

You can get me@asgraf.com but I really think it's time to start having those discussions with your family.

Because like Tom, if you want to avoid those issues, and I've seen it destroy families because people have kept that information too close for the vest, too close to their vest. So go and have those discussions.

You don't have to tell them every little nook and cranny of what it is, but give them a big picture of what's going on. So let's get to those action steps. So here's my professional advice.

When planning your estate, it's essential to seek professional advice from financial counselors and estate planning attorneys. That's your dream team because they can help you navigate the complexity of tax law.

And they can also, like Tom wanted, they'll ensure your wishes are carried out effectively. So here are some tips from some financial advisors. When I did research for the show, here's the things they said to do.

Number one thing, keep your will and beneficiary designations of the day. Do that and review maybe twice a year review. Communicate clearly with your heirs about your estate plan.

Again, you don't have to share with them every little detail of it. Consider the role of an executor and choose someone trustworthy. Bob, you've mentioned it. You've got your daughter set up for that.

Obviously you trust her. So consider that role of that executor and make sure that that's somebody that is trustworthy.

Now, another thing, in our digital age, a lot of people don't think about this.

And this is another reason you want to go have your plan reviewed is now we have a lot of people that have these digital assets, cryptocurrency and things like that because those things may not have been considered when you set up your estate plan. And there may be passwords, there might be digital wallets you need to send or share access with. So that's really important.

Here's another thing I think is a great idea and that is introduce your executor to your financial advisor and attorney. Don't wait till you pass away. Have that annual meeting and have your executor come alongside. Have them come sit with your accountant.

I have that happen in my practice all the time. Have them come sit with your financial advisor or your broker and, and have them come sit in with those attorney meetings.

Another thing you want to do while you're talking to your attorney is incorporate advanced directives and long term care planning into your estate plan. A lot of people forget about this.

And then the last thing on my list here is discuss your estate plans with your chosen power of attorney and your healthcare proxy to make sure they understand their responsibilities.

One of the things you don't want to do is create all these beautiful legal documents and, and things that you want to have done and then the person that you asked to do them doesn't understand what you want. So have those discussions you see here.

Because distributing well to your heirs is a significant responsibility like you've alluded to Bob in your question. And Tom found this out when he sat down with me. And that responsibility requires careful planning and consideration.

And if you integrate biblical principles with sound financial strategy, if you can marry those two worlds together, which is all this show is all about, you can ensure your legacy blesses your loved ones and honors God. You can do it at the same time. So here's my key takeaways and I'm going to go on a little bit long, but this is a big topic.

Number one, prioritize your relationship with God. Matthew 6:21 reminds us for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So let your financial decisions reflect your faith and values.

Number two, be a good steward. Use your wealth to honor God and bless others, including those in need. And you can include that in your estate plan.

Number three, plan for your heirs well being. Consider the potential impact of your inheritance on their character and their spiritual growth. I've talked about this before as well.

One of the big concerns my wife and I had was we didn't want to leave this big basket of cash to our kids. That's why we set up trust so that they can ease into that number four thing. I'm a tax guy. Minimize taxes.

You can utilize strategies like we talked about that gifting the trust, the life insurance, all those things can reduce your tax burden and potentially the person you're giving to. Tax burden number five. It's a Christian finance podcast. You got to give generously.

And I'm going to encourage you, incorporate charitable giving into your wealth transfer plan. And last but not least, and I probably said it 15 times, maybe 16 times, seek professional advice.

It floors me how many people are unwilling to spend a few bucks to give them that peace of mind. They want to do it themselves. They want to go online and do their own will, do their own trust. And I'm sorry, you are not an expert.

I'm not a legal expert. I am a financial expert. I am a tax expert. But seek professional advice.

Consult with financial advisors, consult with estate planning attorneys, and make sure your wishes are carried out effectively. I know we went with a lot of stuff today. Well, tomorrow's show, this is going to be a doozy. And it's this question.

It says, why should I wait until 70 to collect Social Security? We're going to dig into that. It's a question I get routinely in my practice. Now, remember this. My passion is to help you achieve financial success.

That's my goal here. That's why I get up in the morning. This is my passion. I want to see you live out your dreams. I want to see you grow in your faith.

And yes, you can do both at the same time. You absolutely can. I demonstrate that daily. And I know together we can master your finances from that Christian perspective.

So as I always end this show, stay financially savvy out there, build your dream team, get those people around you. Bob, I'm gonna encourage you to do that and meet with people that can help you. And God bless you abundantly.

Podcast Announcer
00:32:22

Thank you for joining us on the Ask Ralph show, and with a simple click to subscribe, we'll invite you back to our next episode. And remember, financial issues don't have to be complicated. Just Ask Ralph

The information contained in this episode of Ask Ralph is based on data available as of the date of its release. Saggio Accounting plus and Ask Ralph Media, Inc. Is under no obligation to update this content if changes occur.

Applying this information to your specific situation requires careful consideration of all facts and circumstances, and any information provided is not to be considered as financial, tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax advisor or attorney before acting on any material covered.