Announcer:
It is time now on KROS for Financial Focus, brought to you by NelsonCorp Wealth Management. The opinions voiced in this show are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Registered representative securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker-dealer member of FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisor representative Cambridge Investment Research Advisors incorporated, a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and NelsonCorp Wealth Management are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax advice. Now here’s today’s Financial Focus program.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Good morning, and welcome to this week’s Financial Focus brought to you each and every Wednesday morning, right here on KROS. This is Nate Kreinbrink, got Mike Steigerwald here with me. We are at the end of November, and this year is flying by. Thanksgiving is gone. Christmas season is here. Christmas programs are here. Christmas events, Christmas movies. It’s a holiday season, Mike.
Mike Steigerwald:
It’s unbelievable. I mean, I can’t believe it. We’re just coming up here, and geez, the weather sure changed. It got real cold, really quick. And yeah, Thanksgiving’s come and gone, and here we go, all decked out for Christmas.
Nate Kreinbrink:
I was staying that when I was coming back from lunch on Monday, I was like, “Man, this is really cold out here.” And it wasn’t that long ago where I was like, “Man, this is kind of nice day out here today for November.” Not anymore.
Mike Steigerwald:
That’s Midwest living.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is here. It looks like we may get a little reprieve in the upcoming forecast. Maybe a little chance of some more precipitation this weekend, but then hitting forties for a couple days, so will be a nice little change and kind of get away from those cold winds again.
Mike Steigerwald:
Yeah, certainly.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is winding down in the end of the year and it is going fast, and I know we’ve touched a couple times as far as end of the year planning. There is still time to get that stuff done, but it is going fast. And that is Roth conversion, some of those things that need to be done by the 12-31 deadline. Looking at estimated taxes where you’re going to be, some of that tax planning, having Andy Ferguson on with us for our monthly talking on tax. He talks a lot as far as the end of the year tax planning, planning versus preparation. You flip that calendar to 2024, and most of your accountants are now in tax season mode. And the planning is pretty much done, they’re focused on one thing, and that’s getting the tax documents out, getting tax returns into them, getting them finished, and that type of stuff. So you have 30 days basically, but with the holidays you don’t necessarily have 30 days. So, it’s coming quick.
Mike Steigerwald:
Yep. This month will go by faster than probably any throughout the rest of the year. So we all know that when busy season coming and you got shopping and family gatherings and multiple different types of events going on. You can get away from it and think you got this time, you got the time, you got the time. You don’t have you time. A lot of times we see that, we forget and then you’re trying to do it last minute. Folks, seriously try and get it done as soon as possible. Don’t want to be up against that clock.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Yes, and it does go quick, and I know we always say every year goes faster and faster, but this year, obviously, has been no different and we are there. So you have the opportunities with those, make sure you take advantage. Contributions to Roth accounts, IRA accounts, does go with the tax deadline as far as the deadline to be able to make those contributions. But anything else, make sure you understand where that goes into. We’ve talked a little bit in previous months, I think, and haven’t touched on it, so I think it’s a good thing to kind of bring back. But making sure that any accounts and anything that you have are still updated and are going to be distributed, how you still want them. And we see a lot of times where life events happen. You get married, you get divorced, death in the family, new account, old account that you’ve had for a while, you forget who you have listed on there as beneficiaries.
Now that replies to retirement accounts, life insurance policies, annuity contracts, anything that has a beneficiary designation, you can list who you want that account to be transferred to upon your passing. There’s a primary one that goes to it first. If you and the primary beneficiary are deceased at the same time, there’s contingent ones for a secondary option to list on there, but they’re oftentimes forgotten, or they’re put on there years and years ago and you don’t even think about it. And like I said, you have these life-changing events where maybe you got married, you want to add a spouse to. Maybe kids become of age, you want to add them into the mix somehow. Create a trust document, you maybe want to list a trust as a beneficiary where it would apply. So all of these things come into it, but it’s important that you continue to monitor those.
Mike Steigerwald:
Yeah, certainly. And again, this time of year, perfect for that type of situation, where you’re have some family gatherings, want to make sure everybody’s kind of in the loop and on the same page, where if there is something that came up throughout the year and you’ve neglected to make that appropriate change on any of the accounts in terms of changing beneficiaries, like you said, Nate, you brought up a good point. These things happen throughout the year, and unless you’re telling somebody or acting on it, it’s not going to change itself. I mean, we’re not going to know that there was a marriage, a divorce, a death, what have you. And those documents that don’t get updated, unfortunately, don’t get updated. And then if you keep pushing it off until something does happen, it just creates a mess for the beneficiaries, and kind of really the way you want it to go, doesn’t go that way if we don’t have the simple steps that are taken to make sure that everything is lined up properly.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Right. And sometimes they’re not the easiest conversations to have, right? It’s sitting down talking about, “Hey, if I should pass away, this is what I want to happen.” “Hey, if I’m incapacitated in a hospital, can’t make my own decisions, this is who I want to be my healthcare power of attorney, durable power of attorney, we’ve listed you as trustee of the estate should we be passing.”
These are conversations that, and Mike mentioned it, you got family members home over the holidays for family gatherings, events, parties, get togethers, whatever it may be. Maybe pull them aside for 15, 20 minutes, and just give them a heads up as to what you have in place, maybe who they should be able to contact, and kind of lay it out a little bit for them. And again, it’s not that again, they’re easy conversations to have. They’re not conversations you want to have.
Mike Steigerwald:
Party appropriate, they’re not.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Yeah. But again, we’ve seen it where it falls into the opposite side of that spectrum, where you don’t tell them anything, the unfortunate happens and they’re left completely blind, trying to pick up the pieces.
Mike Steigerwald:
That’s a difficult spot to be in, certainly.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Because again, at that point in time, it’s obviously a very emotional time. They’ve got a lot of other stuff they’re dealing with, and then trying to pick up the pieces with everything else. Whereas a little bit of a planning could go a long way in order to ease the burden that’s just basically dropped in their lap at that point in time.
So again, having those discussions, letting them know what you’re thinking, letting them know kind of what their thoughts are. I mean, maybe you think they’re going to be a great trustee of the estate, of the trust, but maybe they don’t want to have anything to do with it. And knowing that ahead of time allows you to maybe plan accordingly. Again, healthcare, power of attorney, durable power of attorney, that type of stuff. Let them know what your wishes are and have them kind of made known to everybody. It avoids those tough decisions and maybe any, I guess, bickering back and forth between possibly multiple siblings. As far as making decisions, one wants to do this, one wants to do that, but you made your wishes known, they all are aware of it. So it avoids those awkward moments, those separation of families that, I think, sometimes that happen in difficult times like that.
Mike Steigerwald:
Yeah, and we’ve seen examples both ways, right? I mean, we’ve seen it where we have the proper planning and making sure we have these reviews done. In terms of making sure the beneficiary designations are all where they need to be and reviewing that annually, probably a good practice. But we’ve also seen the opposite, where we don’t have that. And yeah, headaches that come along with trying to settle everything when you really are just sort of flying blind there. If you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t know who to contact. I mean, it’s a difficult thing to navigate, and can really cause some issues amongst the family. So yeah, having these discussions, I think, is the best practice.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Right. And we say it’s not like we want to bring light to these, but in a way we want to plan for the worst and hope for the best. And that’s kind of the adage that we take when having these conversations. And again, you see that big burden lifted off of people’s shoulders, that big sigh of relief when you have these discussions. They have everything in place. They know that, hey, if something happens, things aren’t going to be a burden.
Mike Steigerwald:
Feels good to get it done, there’s no doubt.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It does. And it’s that planning that we always talk about. And you talk planning a lot of times with retirement accounts, with savings, with income, with insurance, with cashflow, with all that type of stuff. This is another piece of the puzzle that oftentimes gets overlooked simply because it’s awkward.
Mike Steigerwald:
And it’s a very easy step.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Yes.
Mike Steigerwald:
It’s something very easy to find out who are the listed beneficiaries, and if I want to make changes typically one form, one signature, very simple process.
Nate Kreinbrink:
And get them updated and make sure everything is tied in correctly, it’s going where you have to do. If you do have a trust, make sure the wording is still accurate in there. A lot of times people say, “Well, I did a trust 17 years ago.” Well, is that still accurate?
Mike Steigerwald:
Anything changed in your life?
Nate Kreinbrink:
Was it still updated in that time? So to do that, oh, I have a will at home that I wrote on the back of a napkin. Well, maybe we need to kind of look at that and see if it’s actively legit, and that it’s going to go how you think it’s going to go.
Mike Steigerwald:
Yeah, accomplish what you want it to accomplish.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Yes. And constantly reviewing those every so often is definitely important, reviewing the beneficiaries. Again, if we can avoid any assets going through probate, we want to make sure we can do that. And a lot of times a simple form, a simple adding a transfer on death, a payable on death to some of those assets that aren’t beneficiary driven, can kind of help solve that. Gets it to where we want to go, but it just avoids that step of having things go through probate should they not need to. And a lot of times simply in retirement, people want to look to consolidate things anyways. They have multiple accounts at multiple different companies. They want to say, “Hey, I’ve got statements coming from everywhere, I don’t even know where everything is.” Well, if you don’t know where things are, how are your beneficiaries going to try to disassemble that and then to bring it together?
Mike Steigerwald:
Difficult to navigate.
Nate Kreinbrink:
So again, as you transition through these different phases of life, working to retirement, to kind of estate planning, those type of things, you have questions on anything that you have, give us a call. We’d be happy to have you bring it all in. Let’s put it out on the table, and let’s start kind of maneuvering through it to make sure that everything is going according to what your plan wants it to be. And if we can, let’s start consolidating things as we go.
So all good stuff to look at, but again, want to make sure that people look at that. Before we do run out of time, I did want to mention that every Friday, NelsonCorp Wealth Management is wearing jeans for charity. Money raised in the month of November will be donated to the Caring Closet, which is located at the First Presbyterian Church in Davenport. Mike, appreciate you joining me today.
Mike Steigerwald:
Thank you, Nate.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Next show will be December.
Mike Steigerwald:
Yeah.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Already. Get your Christmas list done. Again, Mike and Nate with NelsonCorp Wealth Management, bringing you this week’s financial focus. Thanks for tuning in, and have a great rest of your week.
Announcer:
Financial Focus is a production of NelsonCorp Wealth Management in Clinton and Davenport. The opinions voiced in the show are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Registered representative securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker-dealer, member of FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisor representative Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and NelsonCorp Wealth Management are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax advice. For more information, visit our website at www.nelsoncorp.com.