Financial Organization

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Holiday Financial Conversations for the Generations: Older Adult Parents

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 The holidays provide us with rare opportunities to gather with family.  This is a time to check in with older adult parents to see how things are going and to see what might be changing.   Often, we will notice that time (and/or age) are beginning to make everyday life a little more challenging for our parents.  This is the perfect time to ask your parents about their plans for their future.

Things to discuss with your parents may include:

If having these conversations makes you feel uneasy, you are not alone.   However, giving your parents the opportunity to express their desires and helping them to put an actual plan in place to make their plans a reality is an invaluable gift.  And what better time than the holidays to give that gift?

Contact your financial planner for tips on holding these conversations or to schedule a family planning meeting.

Sandra Adams, CFP® is a Financial Planner at Center for Financial Planning, Inc. Sandy specializes in Elder Care Financial Planning and is a frequent speaker on related topics. In 2012 and 2013, Sandy was named to the Five Star Wealth Managers list in Detroit Hour magazine. In addition to her frequent contributions to Money Centered, she is regularly quoted in national media publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Research Magazine and Journal of Financial Planning.

Five Star Award is based on advisor being credentialed as an investment advisory representative (IAR), a FINRA registered representative, a CPA or a licensed attorney, including education and professional designations, actively employed in the industry for five years, favorable regulatory and complaint history review, fulfillment of firm review based on internal firm standards, accepting new clients, one- and five-year client retention rates, non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered, number of client households served.

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Tax Records -- Trash It or Stash It?

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Whether you’ve just finished your tax preparation regimen or you’re pushing the limits and still gathering your information, you’re likely facing a pile of papers on your home office desk (or perhaps the kitchen table).  If you haven’t already gone through the process of organizing your financial records in 2012, now is the time. 

In a previous post, I provided financial document retention guidelines that will be helpful in the tax-time clean-up process.  When cleaning up the tax mess, here’s what you should keep:

  • Records of Income - shred your paystubs once you have your W-2; keep your W-2 with a copy of your tax return.
  • Interest, Dividend and Capital Gain/Loss Records – keep until the appropriate 1099 is received.  Keep year-end statement for investment accounts to track progress, and purchase confirmations until the investment is sold.
  • Charitable Donations and Deductible Expenses – Keep with your tax return.
  • Real Estate-Related Papers – keep all records for 3 to 6 years after the property is sold and all taxes paid.  Although most real estate sales these days won’t have capital gain implications (current tax law allows up to a $250,000 gain for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers before there is income tax assessed on the gain), you may be able to use a loss on real estate for a tax advantage.
  • Tax Returns – Keep them forever.

While it may seem that there are more records you need to keep than those you can shred, remember there are ways to lessen the burden on your space.  Personal scanners are inexpensive and can allow you to electronically file and store these important documents; just be sure to back up your files. Or, if your financial advisor has an electronic document management system, he or she may be willing to hold a copy of your records in your client file.

Whether it’s the New Year or Tax Time, or another time during the year that triggers your financial record keeping clean-up, use our easy-to-use record retention guidelines and make it an annual event! You might even consider printing out this blog and filing it away for easy reference when tax time rolls around again.

The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete.  Any opinions are those of Center for Financial Planning, Inc., and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James.

Who, What, When, Where & Why

 

WHO…WHAT…WHEN…WHERE…WHY.  The “five W’s” - we all learned about them in elementary school, but why am I mentioning these “W’s” in a financial planning BLOG, you ask?

It turns out that the five W’s can help you to take control of your financial life.  Whether you are new to financial planning or well established, it is important have a clear understanding of YOUR five W’s:

WHO are your key financial advisors (financial planner, CPA, attorney, insurance agent, etc.)?

WHAT do you have (assets, accounts, policies, benefits, etc.)?

WHEN did you acquire each piece of your financial puzzle (maturity dates, etc.)

WHERE are your assets and important documents held or stored?

WHY do you have what you have and how does this fit into your overall financial plan?

Taking an inventory of what you have and recording the information in document form is important for a couple of key reasons:

  • For you, it is a reference guide so that key information is not lost or forgotten.
  • For your family and or future durable power of attorney/executor, it is an invaluable guide to assist in handling your financial affairs when you are unable to handle them yourself.

HOW do you get started on your “five W’s”?  For a free copy of the Center’s Personal Record Keeping Document, go to https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54341a03e4b08690c01bc8de/54dcf260e4b018fb5adfbec4/54dcf263e4b018fb5adfcdbe/1303923614337/record_system.pdf

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