Estate Planning

I bet you didn’t know how much the life insurance industry really loves having the estate tax stick around?  Yes indeed…according to a recent report on the fox business channel, life insurance companies spent $60 million in the last six months lobbying for the estate tax to stick around.

Why in the world would they do a crazy thing like that?

Well, you see selling large permanent life insurance policies to people who have estate tax issues is a tried and true business model for life insurance companies.  In fact, the clip from Fox points out that life insurance companies generate a significant amount of revenue as a result of the estate tax sticking around.  They say in the interview that the revenue generated by life insurers is 66% of what the federal government takes in for estate taxes.

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Today I thought we'd discuss a rather mundane topic, the Family Limited Partnership but one that carries great significance nonetheless.  I'm like everyone else I suppose in that I tend to lean away from some of the more heady topics that dig really deep into the nitty gritty of insurance/financial planning topics.  Why? Well mainly because I've been talking about them ad nauseam for the past 13 years and I  have the attention span of three year old who's been loading up on red kool-aid and cadbury cream eggs (i.e. the easter candy hangover).

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Well it seems we narrowly averted the fiscal cliff as we rang in the New year.  I’m sure that we’re all breathing much easier now.  At least we’ll get a momentary reprieve from the political circus that’s dominated the national conversation over the past few weeks.

Can you detect a bit of sarcasm in my writing?

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The Estate Tax is set for a nasty reset come the end of this year if Congress does not act to extend current legislation, or create new. We've steered clear of political discussions on the Insurance Pro Blog, and we still intend to do that. Today's discussion will attempt to be as objective on the topic as possible, and bring our perspective to the table about what a regression to a $1 million dollar exemption and a 55% top marginal rate will mean to you.

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Estate planning is a subject that traditionally incites images of stuffy topics that require obtuse attorneys who spend all of their time fascinating over abysmal tax implications.  While this assumption about the topic isn't unwarranted, it's a tad incomplete.  Estate planning is a subject that will infiltrate everyone's life and how you choose to address it will make a dramatic difference in the lives of those who have to deal with your matters once you have passed away.

Today I'm not all that interested in detailing depth, as much as I'm interested in presenting a few key concepts that will hopefully adjust some thinking and make everyone realize that like it or not, all roads lead to estate planning.

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