Author: Nicole Easton

The Grantor-Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) has emerged as a popular strategy in the estate planner’s toolkit.  The idea is that a grantor places assets in a trust while retaining the right to receive payments from the trust.  When the term of the trust expires, any assets remaining in the trust pass to a beneficiary, typically […]

Usually an IRA is invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and perhaps certificates of deposit. Sometimes a retiree may see this nest egg as a resource for a more unconventional investment.  In that case, one needs to beware of the rules against self-dealing.  Some transactions are prohibited under the tax code and may lead to […]

A parent, who is still living, created an irrevocable trust before 1985 for his lineal descendants. The trust creation date was before the effective date of the current generation-skipping transfer tax, and so the trust is protected from that tax by the “grandfather” rule for pre-existing trusts. The trust will divide into three portions upon […]

An item in Barron’s a few years ago by Lauren Foster demonstrates that being a trustee may be harder than some people expect (“The Five Biggest Ways to Bungle a Trust,” May 21, 2011).  Foster’s observations are must reading for anyone who expects to be a trustee, or who has nominated a family member to […]

The best way to prepare for retirement is to save, early and often.  Generally, one should set aside 10% to 15% of one’s income each year.  If the habit takes hold early in one’s career, a very meaningful nest egg should be the result. Saving is easier when there is a tax deduction for it, […]

Not many years ago, the typical retirement age, 65, was viewed as the onset of old age. Today, gerontologists define matters differently: If you’re between the ages of 65 and 74, you are one of the “young-old.” To be considered “old”, you need to be in the 75-to-84 age bracket.  After that, you’re known, demographically, […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), formerly the National Association of Security Dealers, continues to warn investors and consumers about “phishing,” a scam that uses spam e-mail to lure investors into revealing account information, passwords or PINs, or other types of confidential information. Often the e-mails falsely claim to be from service providers that investors […]

Several high-tax states, including California, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, are trying to establish a legislative work-around to the new $10,000 cap on the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT).  The cap will only affect the highest-income taxpayers, who have long been the target for state tax increases. Nevertheless, these states apparently fear […]