Why Prepare an Estate Plan?

To protect your personal assets - Your assets include your investments, retirement savings, insurance policies, and real estate or business interests. Ask yourself three questions: Whom do you want to inherit your assets? Whom do you want handling your financial affairs if you're ever incapacitated? Whom do you want making medical decisions for you if you become unable to make them for yourself?

To protect your business - You may have spent a lifetime building your business. Take a moment to make sure that your hard work will survive the death of you or one of your partners. As the owner of a closely-held business, much of your wealth is probably tied up in the business. While returning earned income back into the business helps finance growth, it can cause severe liquidity problems for your estate when you die. After paying probate and estate taxes, your estate and surviving family members also may encounter liabilities that become payable upon your death. They may also face the potential of decreased business earnings, due to your absence.

No matter your net worth, it's important to have a basic estate plan in place. Such a plan ensures that your assets are protected while you are living, and family and financial goals are met after you die.

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Establishing Your Business

To set up a Limited Liability Company (LLC), Corporation or other type of business registration is one of the major decisions that any business or company can undertake. Various forms of business registration has a lot of implications for the operation and management of the company and can ultimately contribute to its success or failure. But the first thing any business that wants to set up an LLC or Corp should do is to get good advice. There are pros and cons to the various types of business registrations and to set up an LLC or Corp will take some time and money, the two most important resources that any business has. It is useful to examine the options before investing either.

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