Amazon.com Review
The revised
60 Minute Estate Planner, by nationally recognized author and speaker Sandy F. Kraemer is a complete guide to protecting the financial future of your heirs. Updated to include tax-law changes approved by Congress for the years 1998 through 2006, this easily followed handbook is divided into three sections. The first explains why such a plan is needed, lays out the information that must be gathered to adequately prepare one, and discusses how professional assistance might be utilized in its creation. The second examines all of the components--such as living trusts, IRAs, life insurance, and annuities--that are involved. And the third offers suggestions for developing a plan that meets your specific values and goals. "You can't take your money, possessions, land, love, or even your body with you when you die," Kraemer writes. "Have you thought about what you are going to do with them? Remember, what is given and received, as well as how and when it is done, makes and breaks children, parents, relatives, and friends. Planning is an opportunity to show you care." With its incisive advice, clear language, functional checklists, and useful graphics, this manual actually can help you get there from here.
--Howard Rothman
The Sixty-Minute part of Kraemer's title refers to the time one will need to spend with a lawyer, accountant, trust officer, or financial planner after taking the time to prepare oneself using the advice and information Kraemer presents in this understandable, helpfully illustrated guide to saving taxes, avoiding probate, and maximizing inheritance. Kraemer himself is an attorney and cofounder of the Colorado Springs-based Estate Planning Council. Much of his book is devoted to illustrating various estate plans based on 21 different options depending on one's marital status, the worth of one's estate, and the number and status of heirs. He also devotes considerable space to the "human" aspects of planning for death. Reading Kraemer's book should shorten the time one has to spend with a professional adviser.
David Rouse
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.