The #1 Common Living Trust Mistake

Brian Fricke, CFP®Asset Protection, Estate Planning

Brian shares the #1 common mistake that he sees with Living Trusts, whether professionally prepared by an attorney or prepared by you. That big mistake? Failing to retitle all of your assets into the living trusts name. Why is this important? Doing so will avoid a large tax bill on the inheritance. In this video, Brian also shares a tax … Read More

Step-by-Step Estate Planning

Brian Fricke, CFP®Asset Protection, Estate Planning

We have worked closely with estate planning attorneys over the years in helping folks meet their estate planning goals. Here is great advice we hear all the time from top estate planning attorneys: No matter your age, the state of your health or the size of your portfolio, every adult has to address the problem of estate planning. There’s no … Read More

Incredible Retirement Tip: What Your Financial Planning Software Is Missing

Brian Fricke, CFP®Asset Protection, Cash Flow, Investing

If you or your financial advisor use financial planning software to help manage your portfolio, you’re almost guaranteed to fail. Let me explain. These programs seem logical. You plug in the amount of money you have now, how much you’re saving, when you want to retire, how much you expect you will spend in retirement, etc. The program then makes … Read More

Top Three Reasons to Avoid Variable Annuities

Brian Fricke, CFP®Asset Protection, Financial Planning

Variable annuities are popular in times of market turbulence because of extra fringe benefits like “guaranteed income for life” or “withdrawal benefits.” However, these are the three reasons why those fringe benefits don’t always mean variable annuities are a good investment option for you: High Cost – variable annuities are double or triple the cost of a mutual fund, which … Read More