Estate Planning as a Career

Some superstitions are harmless, like knocking on wood, carrying a rabbit’s foot or believing that if you get on a plane with your right foot, the plane won’t crash. I do this last one myself. Silly, but harmless.

Other superstitions are not so harmless and they affect other people as well. For example, the millions of husbands who are superstitious about estate planning and, therefore, refuse to do it. Or do it partway but won’t complete the process.

Ed and his wife Cynthia, worked with an attorney to set up their estate plan. Ed signed all the documents except for one - the durable powers of attorney. The papers have been sitting on his desk for over a month.

Cynthia is angry and feels helpless because of Ed’s continued delay. She feels like a hostage to Ed’s superstition that if he signs the durable powers of attorney papers, which are necessary to complete the process, God is watching and will snuff him out.

Because of Ed’s superstition, Cynthia won’t be able to act on his behalf if he can’t make medical or financial decisions for himself. Unless Ed signs the papers giving Cynthia the power to make those decisions, his adult children from his first marriage will be calling the shots, not always in Cynthia’s best interests.

“Ed signed the other papers but won’t sign the durable powers of attorney” Cynthia says. “He assures me he will, but when I remind him that the planning isn’t complete unless he does sign, he accuses me of nagging. He knows it’s not rational, but he says it makes him feel better.”

Is there any difference between that kind of thinking and not walking under a ladder, wearing garlic around your neck to protect you from vampires or crossing the street when you see a black cat?

When I was researching my book, I discovered in interviews that many men intentionally leave loose ends in their e (more…)

There’s more to estate planning than a will. While a simple document might have been sufficient for past generations, the modern man or woman needs to take a closer look at the estate planning process, if they are to avoid years of legal dispute and infighting among their heirs and beneficiaries.

There are several trends which factor into this shift towards increased conflict in probate matters. Not all of these are recent, but their combined effects are undoubtedly being felt more in the modern era than at any other time in history.

A Change in “Family” Values

One of these factors is the loosening of the traditional nuclear family. Things that used to be taboo - divorce, children born out of wedlock - are now commonplace, if not universally accepted. As a result, family relationships have become increasingly complicated and strained. When people divorce and remarry, they essentially broker a “merger” between two independent family units with different backgrounds and interests. The issue becomes even more unclear when illegitimate children born of affairs or failed relationships are thrown into the mix. Add to that the decline of the admittedly unequal but simple system of primogeniture, and it is easy to see how disputes over inheritances could arise out of such a situation.

For someone interested in estate planning, a tangled web of relationships is a daunting obstacle to overcome. What is one to do? Is it moral to favor an illegitimate child over a legitimate one? Should the children of a first marriage be given precedence over the children of subsequent unions? These are just a few examples of the thorny questions that must be answered by an effective estate plan. Unfortunately, even when done with the best intentions, the allocation of these assets to this heir or that one often results in hurt feelings and bitter (more…)

Investing Using $0!!!

In the search for someone who could teach us churn out massive amount of income using real estate investments, we found Robert Allen. He found instant fame in real estate realms when The Los Angeles Times took him up on his challenge. He made this claimed,

“Send me to any city in America, take away my wallet, Give me $100 for living expenses and in 72 hours I will buy you an excellent property, all with none of my own money.”

They flew him to San Francisco with an L.A. times Reporter. In 57 hours I had purchased 7 properties worth $722,000. And those assets are worth almost triple that amount.

The Challenge Continues…

For his next #1 best seller, he did the St. Louis Challenge. He said:

“Send me to any unemployment line. Let me select someone who is broke, out of work, discouraged. Let me teach him in two day’s time the secrets of wealth. And in 90 days he’ll be back on his feet, with $5,000 cash in the bank, never to set foot in an unemployment line again…”

He selected a young couple from the unemployment lines of St. Louis, Missouri. Ninety days later they had earned $5,000 using one of his techniques.

In the next 12 months they had earned over $100,000.

The Steps To Real Estate Investment

Real estate investing is almost like any other forms of investments. There are basically these steps:

Step 1: Buy A Bargain Property At A Discount

(selling for much less than its worth)

Step 2: Sell It At A Much Higher Price Than You Bought

(not difficult since market value is higher than what you have bought at.)

Before your start firing off a series of burning questions of but how, how how? We want you to hold your horses and be educated in this wonderful world of real estate investing. Who knows yo (more…)