Articles

Avoid these mistakes when setting up a trust

When setting up a revocable trust, you need to be diligent about asset transfers, beneficiary designations and funding formulas. Failure to complete certain steps can prevent the trust from acting as you intended, creating additional cost and unintended consequences for your estate. Common issues include the following: Failure to transfer assets Setting up a trust is just the first step. You must accurately transfer assets into the trust in order for its proper function to take

Setting up a medical ID on your phone

You may already be familiar with the idea of setting an “in case of emergency” contact that displays on the lock screen of your phone to let emergency personnel know whom to call if you’re found alone unconscious or unable to speak. Smartphone providers now offer enhanced options that let you provide even more emergency information, such as medical conditions and allergies. Newer iPhones make it easy with their integrated Health app, but there are ways

Naming a guardian for your children

Resist the urge to avoid naming a guardian as part of your estate plan simply because it’s not easy to imagine someone else raising your children. If you don’t, you leave the guardianship of your children up to the courts if you pass away. Think about who, starting with your family members, would be the best choice. Remember that the guardian you choose doesn’t also have to handle money for your children. Assuming you have life

Life insurance trusts: fund or collapse?

An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) has long been a fundamental tool for managing federal estate tax liabilities. But with a sizable increase in the federal estate tax exclusion, some families are wondering if their ILIT is even relevant anymore. An ILIT owns your life insurance policy for you, essentially removing it from your estate. ILITs were popular for their ability to shelter life insurance proceeds from estate taxes. They also give the grantor the ability

Passage of SECURE Act anticipated by year-end

Estate planners have been watching Congress closely, waiting to see what will happen with the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. The legislation, designed to boost Americans’ retirement savings, has implications for individual savers and for those planning to pass an inheritance to the next generation. The SECURE Act passed the House of Representatives in May with a nearly unanimous margin of 417-3. The bill is considered to have strong bipartisan support and

How to collect on a customer debt

Businesses need to get paid to stay afloat, and it’s no fun to spend a lot of time collecting a debt from a customer. When someone doesn’t pay and you need to collect, here are some tips for doing it: Be sure you know the rules where you live. State law debt collection rules vary. While the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies only to third-party debt collectors and lawyers, some state laws apply to

Can noncompete be enforced against independent contractor?

A noncompete clause in an employment contract can be an effective way to keep a worker from leaving to work for a competitor for a defined period of time after he or she stops working for you. Sometimes independent contractors have as much, or nearly as much, company-specific knowledge as employees. So the question is whether you should include a noncompete clause in your independent contractor agreement. If you require independent contractors to sign a noncompete

EEOC requires businesses provide pay info by Sept. 30

All businesses with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees must submit their 2018 pay data to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by Sept. 30, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has decided. The information, which must include how much each employer paid workers of various sexes, races and ethnicities last year, is intended to be part of the EEOC’s ongoing collection of demographic data. Businesses must submit the

Protect against possible hacking of company car GPS

Businesses that insert GPS trackers in their employees’ cars tend to see improved productivity, efficiency and safety. These devices also come with concerns over employee privacy, but the benefits often trump the risks. However, a recent report brought to light a measurable hacking risk with GPS trackers. The report in Motherboard stated that a hacker known as L&M has hacked into more than 7,000 iTrack accounts and more than 20,000 ProTrack accounts. Companies use these apps

Should you accept Venmo, PayPal & Zelle? Pros and cons of digital payments for businesses, landlords

Pros and cons of digital payments for businesses, landlords Many people are exchanging money these days with new, electronic payment options such as Venmo, PayPal and Zelle. These online and app-based services make it easy to pay a friend for dinner or a roommate for half of this month’s bills. Many customers and renters don’t have checking accounts, or prefer using digital payments, so the question of whether to accept these payments is arising regularly for

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