| 8 Steps for Building Solid Estate Plans and Bursting Boomers' Inheritance Dreams |
| News - Financial News |
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Combine a lackluster economy that continues to disappoint, mix in investment volatility and uncertainty, and garnish with the disappearance of trillions of dollars in home values. Voil! You have just mixed together the ingredients for estate litigation and intrafamily feuding."I think we have definitely seen an increase in family squabbles and a lot more people wanting to contest wills," says Adam Gaslowitz, an estate litigation attorney in Atlanta. The extended downturn has led to reduced asset values for stocks and real estate, making it harder to split the pie and reach amicable settlements. "We have seen an alarming increase in guardianship and conservatorship disputes," he adds. "Adult children don't seem to be waiting until their elderly parents die to begin fighting to gain control of a parent or their assets."Steven K. [Read the full article] Jan 6 (Reuters) - TD Ameritrade may partner with established 401(k) plan administrators in 2012 as a way to win a bigger share of IRA rollovers and boost its asset gathering efforts, two top executives at the firm told Reuters. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) make up about $4.9 trillion of an estimated $16 trillion in U.S. retirement assets, while 401(k) assets are at $2.9 trillion, according research firm Cerulli Associates. The first Baby Boomers hit 65 years of age last year and are retiring at a rate of around 10,000 a day. When employees with 401(k) plans leave their jobs or retire, they have to decide where to roll over their 401(k) assets into tax-advantaged IRAs. "For the next 10 years there will be quite a few of these people having that conversation at their work," said Ed Ditmire, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Markets. [Read the full article] As senior citizens pursue a satisfying retirement, one truth inevitably becomes apparent. Filling the day with many activities is not the best focus of our efforts. We soon learn that the quantity of our activities is less important than the quality of what we do. What is the purpose of a frenetic-paced collection of random accomplishments if at the end of the day I feel no real satisfaction and have no sense of a day well spent?Too often we hustle through the day with our mind a million miles away, missing the opportunity to live in this current moment and appreciate all that it has to offer. We hurry to a lunch date, eat our food without paying attention to what we are putting into our mouth, impatiently honk at the slower car in front of us, miss the beauty of a sunny day, and generally overlook the quality of life. Our mind is focused elsewhere on the quantity of our to-dos. We need to realize it is in our power to enhance our quality of life. [Read the full article] 
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