At our phone lines. They are open to you right now if you have questions for our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial. Telpe number to get on the air this morning six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six oh eight three two one thirteen ten gets you on the air with Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite of Coloss Financial.
Don't forget.
You can learn more about Class Financial on their website Class financial dot com. That's Closs k l aas Financial dot com. Teleph number for the office right here in Madison, six oh eight four four two five six three seven. Don't forget. No charge for that initial get to know your appointment tech Loss Financial. It will be complimentary to you. And again they're telephone number six oh eight four four two five six three seven as mentioned, joined this morning
by Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite. Eric, how you doing this morning?
I am doing great. Sean, how are you doing this week?
I'm doing fantastic.
Great to talk with you and Kyle. How have you been.
It's been a little while.
It has been John, Yes, I'm doing well. Good to catch up with you again.
I was on the I was at Class Class Financial dot com this morning and I was reading your bio and I noticed you have an interest in cruising Route sixty six on a motorcycle.
It is it's one of those bucket list items that I'm going to do eventually.
Here.
I just bought myself another motorcycle last year, so we'll get it planned one of these days.
That's I've taken I forty from Illinois to California, which kind of a lot of it kind of goes over that Root sixty six. But that's yeah, that's gonna be a great It's gonna be a lot of fun. As we talked this morning with Kyle and Eric, we're going to talk speaking of retirement and free time and being able to do those things. We're gonna be talking this week about estate planning and you know, one of those topics that it's a necessary topic for sure, and we're
going to get into it. It's gonna be a lot of great information. Had a chance to kind of go over the notes before the show, and it's it's pretty good and important stuff. You want to pay close attention to the program for a couple of reasons. One get some great information, some great conversation. Also coming up a little bit later in the show, we're gonna have your chance to win a great prize from our friends at Class Financial with the class Quiz question of the week.
I would give you a little tip listen closely. Oftentimes supposed to quite answer to the class quiz question, leak come up during the program, So again it beys, it's a great benefit to not listen just for the information, but also for an opportunity to win this week's prize, which is a twenty five dollars gift card to Starbucks.
So listen closely.
And before we get to this week's topic, let's actually rewind to last week's show and talk about the question and answer there.
Absolutely so.
Our winner last week was Alisha from Verona, and the question was true or false? Traditional defined benefit pension plans have become significantly less common due to their complexity and their cost. And the answer to that, Sean was true.
And that was a great show speaking of things that are true? Was it a great show? That is a true statement as well? You can listen back at clausfinancial dot com. Of course, subscribe to the podcast sign up as well for the meat weekly Market Pulse newsletter. I was a fantastic show, and this week we got a great show as well. We're going to be tackling a
state planning. Of course, the topic, then, let's be honest, is it's a very necessary, very important conversation, but a lot of folks try to kind of avoid that topic.
We don't like to think about it.
But let's talk about then, why it's so critical in your work when it comes to financial and retirement planning.
Kyle, Yeah, great question, Sean. It is. It's not fun obviously to talk about this, but obviously it's very very important, you know, and we see ourselves as your financial quarterback in coach, so we want to help you put the work with a bunch of different professionals to make sure that everything makes sense and that the whole plan works together.
And let's be honest to state planning is often one of the weaker links just because if you do set it up, you usually don't check it again for a long time because again, it's not the most fun topic. So but before we get rolling today, just remember that we're not lawyers with them. So all this stuff we're going to talk about today, try and give you some good information, but always be sure to seek out advice
from your own attorney. And you know, when it comes to a state planning, you know, life happens, we like to say, and it throws you some curveballs. And estate planning is all about being prepared. So we're going to cover a lot of different things today, but some of the most common ones or your wills, your trusts, powers of attorney, and then healthcare directives. So all of these things that we're going to cover are about making sure that your wishes are on ORed no matter what happens.
And you know, like I mentioned before, a lot of people, we hear it so many times. They finally get that will set up when the kids are born, and then they don't touch it for thirty plus years. Right, So that's not a good idea either. So we do believe in regular checkups. Just like your financial plan that you'd work with an advisor on, your state plan needs to evolve with your life. A good advisor helps you keep
everything aligned. So we hear this all the time. Like I said, set it up when the kids are born, or you know, they didn't change it when they've had you know, maybe it's grandkids time and they've had a grandkids and all that kind of stuff. So it's definitely something that you want to continue to double check on, so in a reality check. And this is a real recent survey here, So for March twenty twenty four, Survey and Financial Advisor magazine found that only twenty six percent
of Americans have estate plans. That number jumps to fifty percent for people with over five hundred thousand dollars in assets. And another surprise, thirty two percent of men have estate plans, but only twenty three percent of women do. So I know that I would not have guessed that men are better at this than women do well, for sure, that's the first it is. Yeah, and obviously this is super timely because we're we're in the midst of the biggest
wealth transfer in history. There's eighty four trillion dollars that's moving from the baby boomer generation to the Gen X and millennials. So how much of that goes to your loved ones versus the lawyers and the courts depends on your planning. And without a plan, you could lose you know, three to eight percent just due to unnecessary costs and probate fees and all that, which we'll talk about here. In a minute.
Really great layout this morning from Kyle Kite, of course, joined by Kyle Kite and Eric Schwartz. They are our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial the website class financial dot com. That's cost klaas Financial dot com. That's open number six So eight four four two, five, six three seven. So Eric, why do you so few people have a will? Why do they skip having that will? And let's talk about the importance of power of attorney documents.
Yeah, this is a topic, and I think Kyle would agree that we spend a lot of time talking to our clients about And I always joke with clients that when I tell them, hey, it's time to either get an a state plan in place or review your state plan, it generally is about five years before they actually do it, and you know, it's just me telling them frequently over that time. But I think the reasons here are pretty simple. I mean, death is uncomfortable, nobody likes thinking about it.
It's easy to just put it off and procrastinate, say I'll get to it later. I don't know where to start, I don't have enough stuff to worry about, I don't need an estate plan, or I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to make a will. It's too expensive. So these are all really common refrains that we hear from folks.
But here's the kicker.
Estate planning isn't just about what happens when you're not here anymore, because we often hear people say, well, my kids will have to deal with that. I guess, but it can impact you while you're still here. So power of attorney documents, as you mentioned, they're vital while you're still here. Think of it as choosing someone you trust to make decisions for you. If you can't make decisions. You can have a medical power of attorney which handles
your healthcare and you're in decisions around that. And then you also have a financial power of attorney so they handle your money. You can have one person that does both of these things, or you can split it up. I would say that's pretty common to split it up, but you can choose, and remember that beneficiaries only get involved after your death. Okay, so powers of attorney they're handling things while you're still here and typically when you
can't make your own decisions. So which is more likely incapacitation or early death right. In either case, you need to have a plan in place.
Really and it's pretty eye opening as well. As we talked this morning with Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite, they are retirement planning professionals from Class Financial. You learn more online Class Financial dot com. That's css k l aa S financial dot com. They're telephon number six oh eight four four two five six three seven again that's six oh eight four four two five six three seven no charge for the financial gets to know your appointment at
Class Financial. It will be complementary to you. We're going to continue our conversation with Eric and Kyle. We're going to talk a bit more about about things like probate, what exactly is probate and I some people probably had a little shutter like we'll talk about what it is and UH and what you need to know there. We'll get all the details next as Money in Motion with COSS Financial continues right here on thirteen ten wib I from Class Financial, Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite. You can
learn more about Claus Financial colss financial dot com. That's COSS k l a A S Financial dot com. You can learn more about the team at Coss Financial. You can also learn about their separate divisions, how they can help you or if you're an employer, what they can do for you of course, and also a great opportunity there to sign up for the weekly Market Pulse newsletter. It's a weekly news letter that you get in your
email inbox. Got a snapshot of the most recent market news as well as a link to the most recent podcasting and that available to you at cossfinancial dot com. This week, we are talking about estate planning and I mentioned that word probate. Does everyone need a will? And what is this probate thing that we often hear about?
Yeah, great question, Sean, Yeah, in a you know, in the real world here, pretty much everybody needs a will. And I say pretty much, but I really mean everyone, because if you don't have a will and estate plan set up, the state that you pass away in definitely has one for you, and it might not be what you would what you would want with your assets here.
So and people think that this is that a state planning and all these things that we're talking about are only for the super rich or only about wills and trusts, and that's that's a myth. So almost everybody has something of value, right You've got maybe a jewelry collection, or you've got an airloom, piece of furniture, cars, all this kind of stuff. So wills and trust kind of deal with all of these different assets that people. And because everybody has something of value, you need a plan for
how it's distributed. And as I mentioned, if you don't, I don't have a play in the state does and it's probably not what you want. So let's talk a little bit about will versus a trust because we're going over a lot of different topics here today. So will's kick in after death, which means, you know, while you're living, obviously you control everything. Will's just kicking after death. But trust can kick in as soon as they're created, so you can have a trust actually own assets like bank
accounts or homes that kind of stuff. And trust can also help you avoid probate. And we're going to dig into trust a lot deeper here in a couple of minutes, but probate itself proving your will and settling your estate, and it can be costly and time consuming. So the number one thing, and this is why anytime we're talking about you know, we talk a lot about four one ks and investments is that you name beneficiaries on those accounts on your bank accounts. Naming beneficiaries on accounts will
bypass probate. Having a trust can also bypass probate as well. And why do we want to avoid probate Because it's a costly, time consuming process. So it can take months or even years to go through their probate process, and attorney fees obviously come into play with this. And then in Wisconsin aspect, four to five percent of your issues for probate and about half of that it's going to the attorney fees. So this is why beneficiary designations are
so important. And beneficiary designations on your investment accounts often override your will or trust, so double check to make sure they line up with the directions that you wish to have happened with your assets. So this is an extreme example, but we've heard about it before. We've probably been mentioned it on this this call, before this radio show.
Before is that you know, we've had that worst case scenario where you know, you go through a divorce but you never change your beneficiary of your four O one K at work from your ex spouse and one of your passes away and that xpouse ends up getting that money because it doesn't matter what your will, it's going to go based on that beneficiary designation.
So really important conversation to have and a really important reminder to keep things updated. As we talked this morning with Eric Schwartz Kyle Kite, our retirement planning professionals from Class FINANCEEL So, Eric, you know, how often should we then be updating our estate plans?
Great question, and I think you can imagine if it's hard enough to get people to do their initial estate plan, it's not very easy to get them to go back and update it. But the same reasons that that people put off putting a state plan together in the first place tend to be this the same reasons people don't
update them regularly. So most most attorneys that I work with here locally, and I've I've asked this question of they'll say, you know, you should review your state plan at least every five years or after major life events, right birth of a child, death of a family member, divorced,
as Kyle was saying, any kind of health changes. Right, these are these are generally red flags for all Right, I better, I better go back and make sure that that my wishes are still being carried out as I intended that too, And don't forget to check how your assets are titled. Okay, So getting the documents put in place is and drawn up that is one step. But actually implementing those so retitling your home or your investment account or updating your beneficiaries, they need to match your
wishes as well. You can't just put the documents together.
That's important, important nuance there for sure. From Eric Schwartz of course, joined this morning by Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite from Class Financial. So Kyle, how often then excuse me until I touched on that. We got to talk though about the wills and trucks trust and kind of get a little deeper on that. So why should somebody consider a trust as part of their estate plan? And you think about you know, that being an option. Sometimes
it's not always the best option. Let's talk about some of the nuances there, Kyle.
And you know, this is a really really good question because in all honesty, like we say, in a perfect world, everybody would have a trust just because it gives you the most control over how you want your stuff distributed. If something order to happen to you, but realistically not everybody needs one. So the first thing that you would need to trust for is to avoid probate. So as we mentioned, trust can often bypass the probate process. This
saves time, money, and can keep your state private. Probate to public process, and trusts are generally outside of the court system, meaning if you just have a will, it's actually public records, so somebody can go in there and look in and see how your stuff got divvied up. In that kind of stuff. This is especially full of different situations where I say a trust is basically a non
negotiable that everybody should have one. If you have homes in multiple states or property in multiple states, you should definitely probably have a trust set up just because you would go through probate in multiple states because you own property in multiple states if this isn't one of them, and then control over asset distribution. So trust allow you to specify exactly how and when your assets are distributed
to your beneficiaries. You can set conditions such as you know, distributing at certain ages or for specific purposes like cars or education, that kind of stuff. And it's especially useful for beneficiary to be responsible or if you want to
protect assets for future generation. So think of this as anytime that money is going to do more harm than good to the people receiving it, you probably want to put a trust in place so that you can again have it distributed out to them on in a reasonable manner. Another one is managing assets during incapacity. So if you become incapacitated, a trust allows your trustee to manage those
assets without court intervention. And this is a big advantage over a will, which only comes into effect after death. So again think of this as also like the power of attorney would do something similar, but this allows a trust see to step in and not just a power of attorney. And then tax planning, so certain types of trust can help minimize the state taxes. This is particularly relevant for those with larger estates or maybe really complex estates and things like that. And then another big one
is protecting assets from creditors. So in some cases trust can provide a layer of protection against creditors, shielding assets from potential law. So this works for you, know, if you were to leave your money to your kids, and your kids inherit this money and they put it in like a joint account with their spouse, and then their spouse says, oh, but we just got a big dump
of money in our checking account. Now I want a divorce. Well, if that money is co mingled, that can be a marital asset, which that spouse could obviously, you know, take half and run or something like that. So it protects from future x spouses as well as creditors. And the final one in this one is another big one too, is special needs planning. So a special needs trust can provide for a beneficiary with disabilities without jeopardizing the eligibility
for government benefits. So again that's another situation where if you have a child with special needs or a grandchild with special needs, a trust is going to be something that you absolutely want to get set up for that situation.
You know, it's interestings. We talk on this show, you know, each week, and sometimes you think, you know, it's it's very this stuff is very specific. And as as Kyle, as you're kind of working through some of these, some of these bullet points, you're thinking, yeah, those are all very very unique situations, things that can interact with other
assets and other facets of your life. It's really important to have this conversation and to be doing this kind of work again, it's really really an important conversation, which is of course talking about a state planning as we chat with our retirement planning professionals, Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite. Of course, Eric and Kyle, they come to us from Class Financial their website Closs financial dot com. That's Coss k l aasfinancial dot com. To tell forh number six
oh eight four four two five six three seven. No charge for that initial get to know you appointment tech Loss Financial. It will be complementary to you again their number six oh eight four four two five six three seven. We'll talk about when a trust may not be the best option. Whilst our Closs Quiz question of the week that so much more. Next as Money in Motion with Coss Financial continues right here on thirteen ten WIBI This Morning with Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite, both of them
they are our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial. Don't forget if you missed any part of today's program. You want to listen back to the show, you want to share the show or get caught up on previous programs. You can, of course subscribe to the podcast right online Cossfinancial dot com. That's Coss k l aa S financial dot com. You can also learn more about the staff and the team at COSS Financial. I can learn about separate divisions at COSS Financial, as well as sign up
for the weekly Market Pulse newsletter. That all available to you at cossfinancial dot com. That's Coss k l aa S Financial dot com. Delphy number six oh eight four four two five, six three seven. No charge for that initial get to know you appointment at COSS Financial. It will be complimentary to you again in the office right here in Madison six oh eight four four two five six three seven. Talking this week about estate planning, and we've left off talking about why a trust may be
something that you should be using. There's also some situations where a trust might not be the best options. Tell us about that, Eric Hoop, do we have Eric?
Oh?
There we go, Eric, Sorry about that.
We miss part of you here.
Yep, you're back.
Welcome to the show, all right, Guy, glad to be here. Yeah, So there's definitely some reasons you might want to think about not going the trust route. You know, it's not not the right fit for absolutely everybody. One reason is is just simply the cost. So setting up a trust is generally more expensive, and it's it's more complex too than just creating a general will, and there's there can
be ongoing administrative costs associated with maintaining the trust. So that would be one one kind of roadblock to going going this route. And if you have a simpler estate your state, maybe it's relatively small and straightforward, you may be you may be just fine with the will. So if all your assets have beneficiary designations, I think like life insurance for one k's I RAS, those those beneficiary designations are are going to be sufficient to actually transition
your your assets. And you may not need to have an additional trust over the top of the will asset titling. So to fully benefit from a trust, you need to retitle your assets into the trust's name. This can be a time consuming process and sometimes gets overlooked. I was kind of alluding to this earlier. You'd be surprised how many times folks will will say, hey, I finally did my estate plan after all these years, and they come in,
I said, great, how do you retitle the house? Well, no, do you update the beneficiaries not yet like Okay, we're way there, We're have way there. The ongoing administration. So trusts, depending on what type they are, they can require ongoing administration like filing tax returns, maintaining accurate records. The flexibility. While while trusts offer a lot of control, they can be less flexible than a will, And once a trust is established, it can be more difficult to actually make
changes and more expensive. And finally, because laws trust laws vary from state to state, it's really crucial that you work with an attorney who is familiar with your state laws, so that can you know that can introduce some additional costs and ongoing maintenance as well, So those would be maybe some of the roadblocks to establishing a trust and using it in your state plan. But the last piece I want to cover here is if you do go to the trust route, it's important to understand the difference
between a revocable and an irrevocable trust. So a revocable trust can be changed or as its name suggests, revoked anytime during your lifetime. On the other hand, an irrevocable trust cannot. It's it's much less flexible. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Revocable trusts are very common and are used to avoid probate. They also allow for
management of assets if you're incapacitated. On the other hand, irrevocable trusts are often used for tax planning or asset protection purposes, like protecting your assets from nursing home costs.
For example.
So there's a lot of a lot of complexity here, and like Kyle said earlier, we are we are not attorneys. We just happen to work with them a lot. So it's it's essential to work with an experience the state planning attorney to determine whether a trust is the right fit for you in your situation and is sure that you're actually putting that together correctly.
Really impactful stuff this week as we talk with our retirement planning professionals, of course, Eric Schwartz and Kyle Kite. They come to us from Class Financial the website COSS that's Colssfinancial dot com, k l aa S Financial dot com. Great website. To learn more about the teams set up for the weekly Market Pulse newsletter. Listen back to this previous shows podcast. There's just so much stuff at Cossfinancial
dot com. You definitely want to check them out online again, it's Coss Financial dot com Delphy number six oh eight four four two five six three seven. No charge for that initial get you to know you appointment at Coss Financial. It will be complimentary to you again their number six oh eight four four two five six three seven. You want to hold on to that telephone number now as well, because it's time for the Coss Quiz Question of the Week.
It works like this.
In just a moment, I'll ask you the Class Quiz question of the week. We'll then have thirty minutes from the end today's program to call the Class Financial office right here in Madison at six oh eight four four two five six three seven. If you are the first car correct answer, you win this week's prize, which is a twenty five dollars gift card to Starbucks. This week's Coss Quiz question the week Is this true or false? Your beneficiary designations on your investment accounts will often over
ride your will or trust. Is that true or is that false? Telephone number six oh eight four four two five six three seven, first Corot correct answer when that's twenty five dollars gift card Starbucks and again that's COSS Financials office right here in Madison. That number six oh eight four four two five six three seven. Eric Kyle, It's always great chatting with you, always very informative. You guys, enjoy this beautiful Dan and we'll talk real soon. Yeah,
thanks Sean, see you guys. Doctor Marty Greer, she joins us. Next talk about what kind of we're going to look behind the scenes of what goes on in a vet clinic, what it takes to become a veterinarian or a vet tech or work in a veterinary clinic. We're to talk with doctor Grew about that next. Right here on thirteen ten, Wiba