Protecting Your Financial Future: The Inside Story on Wills, Living Trusts, Probate, Estate Taxes, and Asset Protection [Hardcover]

Bruce Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

This unique guide, endorsed by nationally known radio talk show host Bruce Williams, gives you inside information on estate planning and asset protection strategies. In a down-to-earth style, the book helps readers understand how to: save thousands in taxes and legal fees; protect assets and business from lawsuits; avoid probate and unnecessary court proceedings; maximize IRAs and retirement plans; and minimize grief, confusion and financial burden for loved ones. Includes a foreword by Bruce Williams, ten asset protection tips anyone can use to protect against lawsuits or financial grief, sample legal documents, and a glossary of terms.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lee Phillips and Kristy Phillips, married attorneys who specialize in financial planning, were faced with their very own monetary crisis some 15 years ago when Lee was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now having beaten back both the disease and the possibility of associated fiscal disaster, the couple has written Protecting Your Financial Future to outline the asset protection and estate planning principles they utilized during their ordeal. Packed with personal anecdotes and other real-life examples, it includes tips that readers can employ immediately as well as practical long-term advice on cutting or eliminating estate taxes, protecting your home from lawsuits, and avoiding probate.

Review

Death. Yours. What happens after it? All too scary to think about. Wrong. Too scary not to think about. The authors point out that decisions have already been made for you about your estate by some folks in your state legislature. They've already decided what happens if you die without a will, without an estate plan, and without making your wishes known through legally written documents, such as that will and certain trusts. And if you don't like making these plans for yourself, you really won't like the plans that the state has made for you. Don't take it personally. The state makes the same plans for everyone who dies without a will, or intestate. The authors have the talent for making the complex simple and the book is an easy read. You get walked through useful goals, like passing things on according to your wishes, and avoiding or minimizing probate. There is also good exposition of common mistakes made by many, such as well-intentioned but disastrous use of joint title to property; and discussion of problems that confront most families, such as what to do with old Aunt Selena, who is 97 and incapable of staying in her apartment one more minute. There's light at the end of the tunnel, though. After you accomplish the three goals and many tasks the authors set forth, you get to really enjoy the fourth goal: living well. -- From Independent Publisher

Protecting Your Financial Future is "must" reading for anyone having to write a will, create a living trust, deal with probate, facing estate taxes, and/or wanting to establish asset protection. Protecting Your Financial Future fully lives up to its title with solid information and practical advice on avoiding probate costs, eliminating estate, income, and gift taxes, shielding from lawsuits, insuring family safety and happiness, maximizing retirement, and surviving in an economic and legal jungle of hidden traps and snares for the financially unwary and unprepared. Protecting Your Financial Future is also about protecting your family and loved ones, and insuring that your wishes are followed in the proper disposition of what you've worked so hard for throughout your life. -- Midwest Book Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 346 pages
• Publisher: LegaLees Corporation; 1 edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964896516
• ISBN-13: 978-0964896512
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,016,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on estate planning and asset protection, October 5, 1998

By 

Ben Knaupp, Attorney ([e-mail]) (Portland OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Protecting Your Financial Future: The Inside Story on Wills, Living Trusts, Probate, Estate Taxes, and Asset Protection (Hardcover)

As an attorney, I've read many books on estate planning and asset protection. Protecting Your Financial Future is the best treatment of the subject I've seen. It's got powerful info that even financial and legal professionals will learn from, but it's easily understood by the layperson too.

One of the best aspects of the book is its writing style. It was actually enjoyable to read; intermingling strategies with anecdotes that illustrate principles.

Living trusts and other asset protection tools are often used incorrectly. The authors of Protecting Your Financial Future help readers avoid common pitfalls and build wealth with strategies all my clients should use. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a trust or thinks they will benefit from a trust. This book will give you the answers you need for the best possible plan.