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The Lane Report newsletter is a regular notice of legal, financial
and public policy issues of special concern to small businesses and
those who manage their successes. The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane and
its financial services affiliates offer successful people a strategic,
multidisciplinary approach to tax, investment, corporate, estate and
insurance planning.
For further information, please contact:
Marc J. Lane
The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, a Professional Corporation
180 North La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601-2701
(312) 372-1040
Nationwide: (800) 372-1040
Facsimile (312) 346-1040
Email: success@marcjlane.com
Website: http://www.marcjlane.com
Protecting today's wealth. Building tomorrow's.®
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The Lane Report
Start 2003 with a Review of Your Financial Goals and Strategies
With every New Year there are resolutions made to live healthier, wiser,
and fuller lives. This same enthusiasm should also apply to reviewing
your financial goals. With any sound financial plan, a comprehensive
review of your goals and strategies are a significant part of its success.
What better time than at the beginning of a new year to reevaluate these
goals and strategies to ensure that you are still on track?
Meeting your financial goals doesn’t have to be cumbersome. Consider
the following steps:
- Set measurable financial goals.
Set specific targets. What do you want to achieve and when? Instead
of saying you want to be "comfortable" when you retire or
that you want your children to attend "good" schools, you
need to quantify what "comfortable" and "good" mean
so that you'll know when you've reached your goals.
- Use qualified advisors to provide guidance.
Seek out qualified advisors to assist you in defining your goals and
establishing strategies to meet those goals. It may be a financial planner,
attorney, or accountant who can provide guidance. Make sure they are
qualified and that you can comfortably work with them.
- Understand how your financial decisions are interrelated.
Each financial decision you make can affect several other aspects of
your life. Your investment decisions may have tax consequences that
may also affect your estate plan. A decision about your child’s
education may affect when and how you meet your retirement goals. Remember
that all your financial decisions are interrelated.
- Continually re-evaluate your financial goals.
Your financial goals may change over the years due to changes in your
lifestyle or circumstances, such as an inheritance, marriage, birth,
house purchase or change of job status. Revisit and revise your financial
goals as time goes by to reflect these changes so that you stay on track
with your long-term goals.
Whether your goals are retirement security, funding children’s
education, increasing current income, or reducing taxes and passing
accumulated wealth to your family, the strategies you’ve put in
place to meet these goals need to be reviewed and possibly revised.
Here are some key areas to assess:
- Evaluate your investment plan.
The New Year is a great time to make sure your current investment plan
is still on track, but more importantly to make the necessary changes
if it isn't. If your personal financial situation or market conditions
have changed, your portfolio may reveal that your asset allocation has
drifted from your targeted levels. If this is the case, rebalancing
your portfolio’s asset mix of stocks, bonds and cash may be necessary.
This also an ideal time to evaluate the performance of each of your
securities against a benchmark- an index that measures the average performance
of a representative group of securities, such as the Dow Jones Industrial
Average, S&P 500 or the NASDAQ.
- Determine if your insurance needs are still being met.
Insurance serves to protect your family and your estate. Start your
New Year off by measuring your current insurance policies against your
needs. A growing family, caring for an aging relative and income changes
all require you to assess if your insurance coverage is still adequate.
Also, re-evaluate your beneficiary designation and make appropriate
changes. The insurance industry continues to change and introduce new
products, some of which may be better options than your current coverage.
- Evaluate your tax situation and strategy.
Check your deductions, tax law changes, and life changes. Review your
assets for capital gains and/or losses. Consider gifting property or
cash to charity to create an income (and estate) tax deduction. Gifting
appreciated stock to charity also allows for an income tax deduction,
but you also avoid paying capital gains taxes on the appreciation. If
you don't need current income from your investments, see if you are
paying unnecessary taxes on earnings from them. There are very good
tax-advantaged alternatives available for college and retirement savings.
It is well known that tax-deferred investing leads to greater growth
than taxable growth. However, there may be some restrictions, which
you should be aware of. Talk to your tax advisor.
- Review your estate plan.
Your estate plan documents should be reviewed once a year to see if
they still make sense under your current circumstances.
Estate plans are created for a multitude of reasons including the desire
to avoid probate, control the distribution of assets, and to minimize
estate taxes. The typical estate plan includes a will, one or more trusts,
powers of attorney, life insurance, and a program of gifts and charitable
donations. Commonly, an estate plan is amended several times every few
years, as a result of changes in circumstances, tax law changes, or
changes of heart.
Recent 2001 tax law changes created many new opportunities for larger
savings of estate taxes, but estate plans need to be reviewed and possibly
revised to take advantage of those tax benefits.
With the New Year upon us, use your renewed energy to stay on top of
your financial goals. Have a safe and prosperous New Year.
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TO ORDER MARC J. LANE'S 32ND BOOK, "PROFITABLE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE
INVESTING? AN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR'S GUIDE," CLICK HERE
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OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS," CLICK HERE
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Read the December 2002 Lane Report
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A New Way To Turn Life Insurance Into Cash
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The Lane Report newsletter is a publication of The Law Offices of Marc
J. Lane, a Professional Corporation. We attempt to highlight and discuss
areas of general interest that may result in planning opportunities.
Nothing contained in The Lane Report newsletter should be construed
as legal advice or a legal opinion. Consultation with a professional
is recommended before implementing any of the ideas discussed herein.
Copyright © 2008 by The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, A Professional
Corporation. Reproduction, in whole or in part, is forbidden without
prior written permission.
Any tax information or written tax advice contained herein is not intended
or written to be used and cannot be used by any tax payer for the purpose
of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person.
(The foregoing legend has been affixed pursuant to U.S. Treasury Regulations
governing tax practice).
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