60 Minute Estate Planner (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

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 an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 285 pages
• Publisher: Aspen Publishers; Rev Sub edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130810339
• ISBN-13: 978-0130810335
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,264,659 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Handles inheritance issues better than any other single book, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good and Readable!, April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 60 Minute Estate Planner: Fast & Easy Illustrated Plans to Save Taxes, Avoid Probate and Maximize Inheritance (Hardcover)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to the exact documents needed, April 15, 2000

By	Cary R. Stephan (Colorado Springs, Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.