Category: Coordination
The Power of Coordination
At the Lineweaver Companies, we believe a team approach to coordinating all your financial, legal, tax, and insurance needs helps save you time, money and worry. For example, we had clients who were both close to retirement, and unfortunately the husband had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The first thing we did was to work with them to make sure his pension was triggered in such a way that the wife could receive a greater lifetime benefit - almost a million more dollars than she would have otherwise received. At the same time, in this sort of situation, you have to consider powers of attorney – and other basic estate planning documents that everyone should have, like wills, and even if trusts make sense for your particular situation. There were also huge student loan balances of more than $120,000. But, because they kept the loans entirely in the father’s name, when he passed, the debt was forgiven. But what many people don’t know is that the forgiveness of debt – in this case student loan debt - is considered income by the IRS – and therefore taxable. As you can imagine, in this case it was significant: an additional $40,000. However, we were able to work with the family and the IRS to get the entire amount forgiven as well – so they ended up having the debt and the tax bill forgiven. Given the pension payouts and their savings, they had significant assets that needed to be managed eff
What is a Financial Quarterback, and Why Do I Need One?
In our increasingly complex financial world, it’s important to discuss the need to have an overall coordinated approach when it comes to financial affairs. Think of 11 players going onto the football field, and hiking the ball without taking the time to get into a huddle and have the quarterback call the play. The chances of these guys getting into the end zone are slim. Without overall coordination of your financial affairs, getting into the financial end zone may be difficult for you as well. Most people don’t think of all their advisors as a team, but it’s important to recognize that most of us already have a financial team; we are getting financial advice from a variety of sources. Your financial team is comprised of your different insurance agents, your CPA or tax preparer, your bank, any investment advisors with whom you are working, and your estate planning attorney. Everyone has a financial team, and they all need a Financial Quarterback. Let’s look at some potential pitfalls of not having a Financial Quarterback. What happens if you take money out of an investment and by doing so you have income to report? Will the receipt of that income trigger taxation on your Social Security? Will it increase your Medicare premiums? You had better know the answer to that prior to making the change. If you have a good financial quarterback, you will know the outcome before you make the change. If not, you may be surprised when you go to file your
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