Thursday, January 24, 2013

Death Certain, but Taxes...No!

Death and Taxes

Benjamin Franklin has a famous quote stating that "the only certain in this life are death and taxes". This is true for the most part, but there are legal ways to avoid taxes and ensure that the money you saved and worked so hard for isn't gobbled up by the Government upon your death.

Taxes are the number one expense in our life time. I am not against paying taxes, but I also don't think the government has a right to tax all your assets that you spent a life time working for just because you die. I would personally like to see my hard work passed on to my children and grandchildren.

In 2002 The New York Times ran an article titled "Death Still Certain, but Taxes May Be Subject to a Loophole". In the article, David Johnston, the author, gives some powerful insight into how the wealthy are using Life Insurance to protect their assets and avoid paying the hefty death taxes. The proceeds of a well constructed Life Insurance plan are paid out to beneficiaries Tax Free. For the record it isn't a loophole if it is part of the IRS tax code. Those that know the code and use it to their advantages will be better off.


Depending on the year and the state you live in, death taxes can be as high as 50%. Can you imagine saving money, paying off your home and building a retirement plan in a 401k or IRA just to have half of it disappear after your death due to taxes? Anyone that doesn't like the idea of giving their money to the government after death should be holding adequate amounts of death benefit to cover their assets.

Best-selling Author Ed Slott has an incredible lecture series called Stay Rich Forever and Ever. In that series he talks about how people can lose most of their money and assets without proper planning due to Death and Estate Taxes and Final Year Income Taxes. He gives the example of someone with 10 Million dollars having nothing within 9 months because of the tax booby trap their money fell into. This could leave your family with nothing because you didn't have a plan in place to protect your money.

Watch Ed Slott's 10 minute video here.

Ed Slott does not sell Life Insurance. He is a tax planner and CPA. He shows people how to strategically protect their assets and how life insurance he says, "is the single BIGGEST benefit in the tax code". He makes a joke that he actually personally owns so much Life Insurance that he's afraid to eat at home with his wife.

As the video shows, your money can get trapped and eaten up in taxes. He recommends using life insurance to cover that asset and leave money completely tax-free to your heirs. So why would someone buy life insurance and pay for this tool? Taxes and a legal way to protect yourself against them.

If you would like to learn how to safely grow your money without the worry of future taxes and also protect the assets you have worked so hard to accumulate, contact me and we can build a plan to protect your future. There is a way to create a stream of tax-free income in retirement (living benefits of life insurance) and a way to pass money on to future generations tax-free (death benefit) and I can show you today.

Cheers,

Stephen Gardner
888-638-0080 




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