Customer Reviews

AARP Crash Course in Estate Planning: The Essential Guide to Wills, Trusts, and Your Personal Legacy

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I've been waiting 3 years for Michael Palermo to write a book. I first stated reading his sage wisdoms on the internet. It is a rarity indeed for a national expert on estate planning and asset protection that can write a book that can explain to a regular person like me the complex matters of estate planning.

I'm a physician. I know that abdominal surgery is not a do-it-yourself project. Neither is estate planning. I made the mistake of doing it myself. Thankfully, before it was too late I consulted a professional and found that I had made some serious errors which were corrected. I would have eventually lost more than half my estate had I not sought professional assistance.

So, the lesson is we need a certified professional for estate planning. However, for the estate planning professional to help us in the most efficient manner, we need to have some basic understanding of estate planning. That way the estate planner does not have to spend their time explaining every elemental detail.

If you read this book you won't find yourself nodding your head up and down in the midst of your estate planner's explanation and advice, when you honestly haven't the foggiest idea what they are really talking about.

If you are considering whether or not to buy this book I would STRONGLY advise you to do so and to follow his advice before it is too late.

While you are at it, purchase Jean Chatzky's book "You Don't Have to be Rich" which will help you to build your estate.

This is the second book I purchased to help me gain some understanding about estate planning before talking to an attorney. It has been extremely helpful in giving info on many aspects of estate planning. I even took it to the trust dept at my local bank when talking to them about trust accounts. The trust adviser was very impressed with my knowledge and the level of planning I had already done and commented that this looked like a good reference source. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know about estate planning.

This is not a "how to" book. It is an exhaustive discussion of all of the options people have in planning their estates. This includes what can go wrong and how to avoid these problems.

It covers all of the possible ways to minimize taxes for your estate and your heirs.

The writing style is concise.

As an estate planner and attorney, I know that presenting this kind of information in an easy-to-grasp way isn't, well . . . easy. But Michael Palermo has done it. In Crash Course in Estate Planning, he explains everything from wills to planning for children to protecting your investment interests. The fact that the AARP endorses The Essential Guide is a great indication of the value of the information. The "Hints" and "Warnings" that Michael gives throughout the book could only have come from a real life practicing estate attorney who has faced these problems with clients many times. In addition to having an estate planning practice, Michael is also a Certified Financial Planner and the combination of wisdom garnered from his financial background and legal background serves his readers well. Michael knows which issues take a little more effort to understand, and he provides more detail accordingly. This is a great book for anyone who is preparing to tackle the estate planning process. Palermo provides clear and direct answers to very difficult questions. I highly recommend his book. Be advised though, if you read the book you may, at least in some areas, find you know more than your attorney!

James Lange, CPA/Attorney and author of Retire Secure! Pay Taxes Later: The Key to Making Your Money Last as Long as You Do

This book is a must for senions who need to understand the ramifacations of nursing home costs and related retirement issues. Attorney costs as high as $200.00 per hour and or flat fees of thousands of dollars, cause seniors to procasinate from getting their financial house in order. This book does a good job of explaining the need for proper planning and the ease in which it can be done withour having an attorney do ever phase, and prepare every document. Yet it does point out the need for an attorney in properly preparing the more difficult documents. I highly recoment this book for seniors and others also.

This is a well written, very readable treatment of the subject of estate planning. If one submits to the discipline of reading it thoroughly one will secure the necessary knowledge to ask and answer the pertinent questions of an estate planning lawyer.

I recently prepared my first comprehensive estate plan, which is of medium size and will include several trusts. My wife and I have a couple of complicating factors, such as the possibility of needing to consider estate taxes in our planning, and children from previous marriages. Before consulting an attorney I read this book as well as a couple of others, including the Nolo book. This one is the best for getting a comprehensive understanding of the legal fundamentals and nuances of estate planning. It is written for an ordinary joe, not a lawyer, but the author takes the time to first explain the basics (such as the various legal forms of ownership) of property law, which provides even the most uninitiated reader with a solid foundation for comprehending the far more advanced topics discussed later in the book. It is easy to follow and is also chock full of good practical advice (such as things to consider to keep your heirs from tearing each other apart or challenging your estate in court). I highly recommend it for anyone planning any size estate.

After having read this book my wife and I felt prepared to face the task of hiring an attorney and working through our estate plan with him. Armed with the knowledge gained from this book, we were able to steer the attorney toward some ideas which were the authors, rather than our attorney's. He considered them, decided they were good ideas for our situation, and we ended up incorporating them into our plan.

I would strongly recommend reading the book before hiring an attorney. The Nolo book is good too, but if you had to pick just one, pick this one.

This is a good basic book on estate planning. It debunks some of the common myths such as everyone should set up a trust. It lets you know what information you should have on hand when you consult a lawyer to handle the writing of your will etc.

The book should be in the hands of all those who want to preserve their estate from government taxes and prevent probate.