Customer Reviews

60 Minute Estate Planner

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The 60 Minute Estate Planner by Sandy F.Kraemer certainly earns a five star rating. No other book does as much to motivate and show you how to choose the best way to preserve your estate for the benefit of your heirs. The living trust discussion, diagrams, and exposition of the advantages and disadvantages, are more concise and easier to understand than in "The Living Trust" by Henry W. Abts III. Kraemer provides menus that live up to his promise of providing the clearest and most painless way to make your fundamental decisions about the disposition of your estate. His advise on choosing lawyers and accountants is cogent. His diagrams make illustrative use of your assets flowing through pipes when you die. The analogy of poor estate planning to poor plumbing strikes home when you clearly see how potential leaks can rob your heirs. Laying aside the highly practical nuts and bolts of estate planning, section III of the book on the human side of inheritance planning, makes you realize that inheritance involves a lot more than just estates and money. This section alone more than justifies the cost of the book and the time spent reading it.

The 60 Minute Estate Planner is very good and readable. The reader can expect to find good, comprehensive and detailed discussion of relevant estate planning subjects. In addition, the reader will find some concrete examples that might prove very fruitful.

Although I readily rate The 60 Minute Estate Planner 5 stars, I strongly believe that Matin Shankman's "The Complete Book of Trusts," available for purchase right here at amazon.com, is by far superior in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage of estate planning topics as well as trust strategies.

To the extent possible, I would recommend that the reader consider purchasing both The 60 Minute Estate Planner and The Complete Book of Trusts.

This book is a lot like a recipe book: you determine the value of your assets and that will tell you exactly the documents you need to protect your estate. This is what makes this book stand out--you know exactly what you need and can save a lot of time and money by not having to pay a lawyer to determine this. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what they need before they start getting billed by the lawyers.

Sandy seems to cover all the bases, but the language is a bit too dense for the beginning reader, and there is little to no practical information about how to deal with a trust/trustee once the program is implemented. For example, how does a trust limit ones freedom of action wrt ones assets, before the first death as well as after. After reading, I still couldn't decide if I wanted a trust or not.

This book assumes you already know a great deal about estate planning terminology. Definitely NOT for beginners. Also glosses over terms without enough detail and explanation.

I used this book to help me determine the best approach for my personal situation. My attorney also borrowed my copy and thought it very useful.It is written and illustrated in a clear manner. The book was very useful.

This was the least helpful of the estate planning books I've recently read. It did have a lot of helpful information but the book is full of fluff, lot's of it. If you cut out the fluff there might be 50 pages worth of useful and helpful data. There are much better books on the topic of estate planning available. My opinion is that if you don't already have this book in your estate planning library, then you don't need it. Your money will be better spent elsewhere.

SANDY KRAEMER HAS TAKEN A VERY C0MPLEX SUBJECT AND MADE IT EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE. A PRACTICAL HANDS ON BOOK I WILL USE OFTEN , AND RECOMMEND TO CLIENTS. MARVIN STRAIT CPA PAST CHAIRMAN OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

very informative in a usable format. no college degree required to understand and use the information. Easy to read and use. highly recommend it before contacting a professional estate planner. it gives you the power to make the best decisions.

Back in 1999, I decided to do some estate planning. I decided to buy about 5 books to first learn the basics of estate planning......then see an estate planning attorney to set up my estate plan.

Of the five books that I read on estate planning, Kraemer's book was by far the best book. The main reason I liked Kraemer's book was his use of example flow charts, which show what happens to the money as each spouse dies. These flow charts also allow you to easily calculate the estate tax due at each step of the process.

The other books were very dry and boring.......and without the flow chart approach...it was not clear to me how bypass trusts work.

I highly recommend Kraemer's book as the best book on estate planning.......primarily due to the flow charts.

Kraemer also explains that the use of disclaimers can be a good thing.......and a good way to deal with the changing estate tax laws.

Kraemer's book allowed me to understand the basics of estate planning and bypass trusts. I was able to save time and money then working with an estate planning attorney to set up our bypass trusts.

In this age of full disclosure, it can be noted that I am the author and publisher of the book INDEX MUTUAL FUNDS: HOW TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE AND BEAT THE PROS. This book is an introduction to the concept of index funds is and is sold on Amazon. I am also a contributing author to the book THE BOGLEHEADS GUIDE TO RETIREMENT PLANNING available from Amazon with an estimated release date of October 2009. I have also written 21 short stories on investing which are also available on Amazon.

Other good books on investing which may help you build a large enough estate so you get to worry about the problem of estate planning are shown below:

The Richest Man in Babylon
Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
The Millionaire Next Door
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing