Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Deborah L. Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2011

This best-selling book for baby boomers and their parents is essential reading, whether you are tackling the subject for the first time or revising your plan to reflect changes in the law, your finances or your personal life.

The expanded 2nd edition, available here, replaces the 1st edition, published in 2009. It covers the important 2010 tax changes that affect everyone.

The Table of Contents is designed to help you flag the sections most relevant to you:

Chapter 1

Nothing Lasts Forever

Read this chapter even if you are hearty and clear-headed.

Chapter 2

Who Gets What and How Much Is Enough?

Read this chapter if you want to provide for specific people, charities or pets in your estate plan.

Chapter 3

Understand the Tax System

Read this chapter even if you think estate taxes won t affect your heirs.

Chapter 4

Protect Your Spouse or Partner

Chapter 5

What if? Provide for Young or Disabled Children

Read this chapter so you can anticipate their needs and make sure they will be nurtured.

Chapter 6

Trusts: Not Just for the Wealthy

Read this chapter even if you think you don t need this very useful tool.

Chapter 7

Preserve Retirement Accounts

Read this chapter if you have your own retirement account or have inherited one.

Chapter 8

Be Smart About Life Insurance

Read this chapter whether or not you have life insurance.

Chapter 9

Pay for Health Care and Education

Read this chapter if anyone you love could use help with these expenses, now or in the future.

Chapter 10

Home Base: Factoring in Real Estate

Read this chapter if you own your primary residence or vacation home or might move to a different state.

Chapter 11

Hidden Traps When Crossing Borders

Read this chapter if you or a family member is a citizen of another country, lives abroad or has foreign investments.

Chapter 12

The Family Business: a Legacy or a Headache?

Read this chapter if you have your own business or a share in a family-held enterprise.

Chapter 13

Subsidize Friends or Family

Read this chapter if you would like to offer financial help to adult children, grandchildren, parents, siblings or others.

Chapter 14

What You Can Do for Grandchildren

Read this chapter if you would like to provide a financial cushion for your descendants in the years ahead.

Chapter 15

Give Now, Save Tax Later

Read this chapter if saving taxes is a high priority.

Chapter 16

Make Lifetime Gifts Go Further

Read this chapter if you have the resources to transfer large sums of money while you are alive.

Chapter 17

Your Charitable Legacy

Read this chapter if there are causes you care deeply about and would like to benefit now or later.

Chapter 18

Create Roadblocks to Creditors

Read this chapter if you worry about being sued.

Chapter 19

Keep Your Plan Current

Read this chapter even if you think you can leave well enough alone.

The book includes an extensive index and glossary. Readers can stay up-to-date by following the author's blog on ForbesDOTcom.

A lawyer, award-winning journalist and dynamic speaker, Deborah L. Jacobs has lectured about estate planning around the country to audiences of advisers and consumers. She is a Senior Editor at Forbes, where she writes about personal finance for baby boomers for both the Forbes magazine and Web site.

Jacobs has also been interviewed as an expert by reporters from many different media outlets, including The New York Times, Bloomberg News, Smart Money, Reuters, U.S. News & World Report, MarketWatch and CBS TV.

Editorial Reviews

Review

We regularly receive questions from readers about estate planning, a difficult topic at best. For good answers and advice, turn to a new book: Estate Planning Smarts. Written by Deborah L. Jacobs, a lawyer and journalist, it's a terrific guide for people who are just beginning to grapple with estate planning, as well as those who have (or think they have) their affairs in order. Ms. Jacobs does a deft job of handling key topics -- bequests, taxes, trusts, insurance, nest eggs, family businesses and real estate, among others in 19 concise chapters. Her to-do lists are especially valuable. --The Wall Street Journal

Deborah Jacobs cuts through the clutter and misinformation that dominates estate planning literature to produce a lucid, extremely readable book. --Larry Reibstein, Executive Editor, Forbes

This is a category killer: a book so good there s no need for anyone else to cover the same material. --Kaye Thomas, Fairmark Press

Deborah Jacobs cuts through the clutter and misinformation that dominates estate planning literature to produce a lucid, extremely readable book. --Larry Reibstein, Executive Editor, Forbes

This is a category killer: a book so good there is no need for anyone else to cover the same material. --Kaye Thomas, Fairmark Press

About the Author

A lawyer, award-winning journalist and dynamic speaker, Deborah L. Jacobs is a Senior Editor at Forbes. She has also been interviewed as an expert by reporters from many different media outlets, including The New York Times, Bloomberg News, Smart Money, The Motley Fool, Morningstar, Reuters, U.S. News & World Report, MarketWatch and CBS TV.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: DJWorking Unlimited Inc.; 2nd Edition edition (April 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061545366X
• ISBN-13: 978-0615453668
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Law > Taxation > Estates & Trusts

More About the Author

Deborah L. Jacobs is a lawyer and award-winning journalist specializing in legal topics. In her new book, Estate Planning Smarts, she draws on more than a decade of writing about the stressful issues that surround estate planning. Her articles for The New York Times, Bloomberg Wealth Manager, BusinessWeek and many other publications, have been widely cited and circulated by both advisers and consumers. Readers appreciate her clear, concise explanations of complex subjects and her ability to combine real-life stories with reassuring, practical advice. A senior editor at Forbes, she blogs at www.forbes.com/deborahjacobs/blog

To keep readers current between editions, Jacobs issues updates that can be downloaded from her book's Web site www.estateplanningsmarts.com and tweets at http://twitter.com/djworking.

Jacobs has been a syndicated newspaper columnist, newsletter editor and entrepreneur - she has had her own company, producing a variety of written products on legal and financial matters, for most of her career. She is the author of Small Business Legal Smarts (Bloomberg Press).

A native of New York and a graduate of Barnard College, Jacobs received her J.D. degree from Columbia Law School and her M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in New York City with her husband and son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Guide to Estate Planning!, December 13, 2009

By 

Ellen S - See all my reviews

This review is from: Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide (Paperback)

I began to read "Estate Planning Smarts" while visiting my elderly mom in Florida, the night before our first appointment with an elder care lawyer. Believe it or not, I couldn't put it down! Who would have thought that a book on estate planning could be such a page turner!

I stayed up reading most of the night, secure in Deborah Jacob's expert and compassionate guidance through the difficult terrain of estate planning and financial management. A lawyer myself -environmental but not trusts/estates-, I was impressed by how Ms. Jacobs managed to explain a complex area of law with comprehensiveness and clarity, and her focus on easy to use checklists.

When my mom woke me up in time for our 8 am departure, she was dismayed to hear I had stayed up reading a book until well after 3 am. When we had our meeting with the new lawyer, I used much of what I had learned the night before, particularly chapter 6 on trusts. Afterwards, I showed my mom - who was thrilled with both the new lawyer and her daughter's sage input during the meeting,- Deborah Jacob's book. She was similarly wowed, but still doesn't understand why I couldn't have started reading it earlier.

I cant begin to say enough about how useful this book is for everyone from the general public to legal and financial professionals. It made me better informed for our meeting with the lawyer and gave me incredibly useful checklists that I will be using with mom's financial adviser. Awesome is the word that best describes this action-oriented book. It's a ray of sunshine and clarity, and like my mom said to me, read it as early as you can.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Book, December 11, 2009

By 

Deborah J. Merritt "Law Prof" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide (Paperback)

This is a terrific book--the perfect guide for anyone who cares about their loved ones, financial security, or personal legacy. And who doesn't? As Jacobs explains in this highly readable book, estate plans aren't just for the rich. Many of us have more assets than we realize: a home, a retirement plan, life insurance, and family keepsakes. With the recession, it's more important than ever to preserve those assets for ourselves and loved ones.

The tax rules affecting these simple assets are more complex--and unforgiving--than most people realize. Many workers, for example, name their "estate" as the beneficiary on retirement plans. That's a mistake even my highly educated father made. Jacobs explains that this designation raises income tax bills for your heirs--even if your estate is small enough to escape the estate tax. Savvy planners name their heirs directly as beneficiaries of the retirement plan, leaving more money for the heirs and less for Uncle Sam.

"Estate Planning Smarts" is full of tips like this. And Jacobs presents her advice clearly, compassionately, and pragmatically. She guides readers through the human side of estate planning, as well as through the financial aspects. Sidebars offer interesting examples, while a detailed glossary explains puzzling terms. Jacobs even includes advice on how to find a lawyer, and she directs readers to other books, websites, and software.

This book is a treasure! Buy it and pass your own treasure on to the people and causes you love.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, February 18, 2010

By 

Gerry W. Beyer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide (Paperback)

Estate Planning Smarts eases the reader into a subject that is often difficult by focusing on an underlying purpose of estate planning: taking care of yourself and those you love. In this context, the Ms.Jacobs discusses the documents and tools that make-up an estate plan, the estate tax, and different assets and family situations that affect planning. All the while, the book uses language that both a lay person and an estate planner can understand and appreciate.

Ms. Jacobs divides the book into chapters by relevance to the reader, making it easy to find a particular topic or read the entire book without feeling overwhelmed. Each chapter is further subdivided by descriptive headings so as to give the reader a roadmap for that particular topic. Within each chapter, colored blocks set-off useful "to-do" lists, real-life examples, charts, and tables. The back of the book contains a 20-page glossary of estate planning terms and a list of resources for further understanding and action. Updated chapters to the book will be provided online at [...], insuring that the reader stays up-to-date.

Deborah Jacobs uses her prior years experience of writing in this field to create a book that really is practical, user-friendly, and action-oriented. Because the book uses an easy-to-read format, explains complex topics simply, and prompts the reader to think about and organize for effective estate planning, Estate Planning Smarts is a great book for estate planners to make available to new clients in need of a basic information.