Page 3 - Accumulating, Preserving, and Passing Wealth | Stifel

Accumulating, Preserving, and Passing Wealth

Your Guide to Estate Planning

Many investors focus on long-term saving issues such as planning for retirement and providing for the education of a
child or grandchild. While accumulation of wealth is a primary concern, the protection and transfer of that wealth to
future generations is often overlooked. With the incredible transfer of wealth expected to take place in the upcoming
years, planning for the transfer of an estate takes on greater importance.

You might wonder whether you need an estate plan. Anyone who has a home, a car, investments, real estate, a
retirement plan, business interests, or personal property should have an estate plan. An estate plan allows you to
provide for the management of your assets while you are alive. In addition, it allows you to indicate how and to whom
you would like your estate distributed at your death. If you do nothing, your estate will be distributed according to the
intestacy laws of your state. This does not allow you to control the distribution of your estate, and often it disposes of
assets differently than you would have if you had the opportunity to plan.

Estate planning encompasses more than the distribution of your estate to your heirs. It is a process designed to
identify the best way to accumulate, preserve, and protect your wealth by implementing a plan to meet all of your
objectives. A carefully prepared estate plan can help you address lifetime management issues, as well as death
transfer issues.

There are a variety of estate planning tools available, some very simple and others much more complex. Before you
can select what tools you want to use within your plan, you’ll need to identify your planning objectives.

• Whom do you want to benefit from the wealth you accumulate?
• Do you want to structure your plan to include a charity as a beneficiary?
• Do you want to transfer some of your wealth to beneficiaries during your lifetime or only upon your death?
• Do you have any situations that would require specialized planning, such as a previous marriage or a special
needs child?

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