Wisconsin Veterans Forward

What is Inheritance Planning and Why Should You Care? (Part 1)

May 16, 2022 Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce Season 2 Episode 140
Wisconsin Veterans Forward
What is Inheritance Planning and Why Should You Care? (Part 1)
Show Notes Transcript

(Part 1) There is a huge difference between inheritance, estate, and succession planning -- not knowing the ins and outs of inheritance could really cost you, your family, or your business in the long run.

We welcome inheritance expert Michael Zwick of Inherit More to give us the run down.

Questions? Comments? Continue the discussion by requesting access to our exclusive WVF Facebook Group.

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Wisconsin Veterans Forward is brought to you by the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit organization that serves veterans and military families by supporting veteran owned and veteran-friendly businesses throughout the state. 

On behalf of our members, we serve as an advocate for Wisconsin’s veteran business community and promote economic opportunity for military veterans, military families, and veteran-friendly businesses.

Follow us on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/Wivetschamber

 

Intro & Outro Themes: 

Barry Dallas - I’m Gone (https://uppbeat.io/t/barry-dallas/im-gone)

Noise Cake - Light It Up (https://uppbeat.io/t/noise-cake/light-it-up)

Speaker 1:

Today on Wisconsin veterans forward. They say that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I don't know who they is or are. Uh, but they're right. Planning is really important. And there are multiple ways that you can plan. And there are many ways that you can plan correctly. And there are a lot of ways that you can plan, uh, incorrectly. And a lot of people, a lot of business owners, a lot of individuals have a very hard time in talking about Kind of post life, either life of a person or life of a business entity or life of an organization transition. When it comes to a transference of assets, intellectual property, Et cetera, cetera, the physical, uh, capital assets, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But there are some angles to, to that, that folks don't really consider her. And that's what we're gonna be talking about today. Now. Uh, Michael wick is a friend of mine we've chatted before, and we chatted about he he's an inheritance investigator, inheritance planning expert. And I remember he explained this to me, cause I was like, isn't this, this is what's. Is inheritance planning the same as succession planning? Or is it the same as estate planning? He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no way different. And he explained it to me and it was super interesting. And I was like, man, more people need to be aware of this. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. It's important for you personally. It's important for your business. It's important. You name it. It's important. You should know about it and we're gonna dive into all this awesome, Tom fooly right after this, you are listening to Wisconsin veterans forward. Wisconsin's premier audio resource for veterans, military families, veteran owned and veteran friendly businesses. Wisconsin veterans forward is brought to you by the Wisconsin veterans chamber of commerce@wiveteranschamber.org, Mike Swick. How are you friend?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing great, Adam, how are

Speaker 1:

You? I'm I'm doing okay. I wanted to be really careful about how I introduced this because I remember like, I remember us talking about this and there's like the delicate line of understanding between like estate succession and inheritance planning and inheritance planning is very different. Um, so can you explain what it is that what is inheritance investigation and inheritance planning? How is it different and why should people care?

Speaker 3:

Okay, so I'm gonna kind of, uh, take the first one. Uh, second, the second one first. Uh, so inheritance planning, a better known as estate planning is what someone does when they wanna prepare for their demise. However long in the future might be some people don't do it until they get that, uh, you know, get your affairs in order notice from their doctor. Some people start doing it when they're in their twenties or thirties and in good health. Um, and will constantly, hopefully if they're doing it right, we'll constantly update it, um, throughout their lives as they go through any major changes. Basically though, in, in a nutshell, what estate planning is, is basically saying, here's what I want to happen to my stuff when I pass away, um, I want, you know, this person to get this share of my estate. I want that person to get my, this much money or that my car collection, whatever the case might be. That's, that's basically what estate planning is. And there are other things that go into as such as, you know, medical power of attorney, if you're unable to make medical decisions for yourself. Um, but estate planning in a nutshell is basically planning for what will happen to your stuff after you pass away,

Speaker 1:

Who, who gets my Pokemon cards? You know,

Speaker 3:

You better decide about that, uh,

Speaker 1:

Because you don't want the family to fight over them or your beanie babies. You know what I mean?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. The question for me is I, I collect college t-shirts in my travels and uh, well, yeah, people ask me who's gonna get them. And I say, you know what? Uh, I haven't found, I haven't specified that. It will yet.

Speaker 1:

Why, uh, what, okay, hold on.<laugh> why did you start collecting college? T-shirts

Speaker 3:

Um, I just started collecting'em, uh, they were good kind of mementos of my travels. Uh, and I just, um, nowadays you can't tell from what, where right now, but for the most part, uh, living in Florida now year round and working from home may as well, be comfortable, uh, right on<laugh>. So I get to wear my t-shirts and as I start wearing'em, since COVID started, it's like, you know, may as well start wearing my t-shirts every day. And, uh, and now I even get gifts from people where people like, they know I collect them. So they'll send me one as a, um, as a gift or a thank you for, you know, something I might have done. So, yeah.

Speaker 1:

What's your favorite campus that you've visited so far?

Speaker 3:

Uh, so I don't get'em all on campus. Um, I tend to, I like to think of the, the smaller campuses. Um, yeah, I, um, some like some of'em I like I've been to the campus if I'm driving somewhere and I know I have time and I see a sign for some random college. Well, yeah, I'll go there<laugh> and just stop and walk into the bookstore. And then, uh, other ones I'll just get, you know, my, my, my role for if I'm buying in myself is I buying in the states where, uh, where the college or university is. Um, so the bigger schools are easier to get, cuz that you can buy, uh, you know, if I'm in, I, in Florida buying a university of Florida t-shirts is pretty easy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Not

Speaker 3:

Buying a Stetson university one, you actually have to go to campus and buy it at the bookstore.

Speaker 1:

Right, right. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Well, cool. That was totally random side tangent, but that, I just found that, that very interesting. So, so we've, we've explained estate planning. Yes. What is the difference then?

Speaker 3:

Okay, so that's the sense of state planning? What I do is I get involved almost always after the person has passed away and the family will come to me and say, we don't know what assets our loved one owned, or we kind of know where things are, but, you know, frankly, we just don't have the time or the ability to, to, to deal with it. Um, usually the people who are giving executors, the people who are handling the, the estates after some of ate, tend to be family members, which means they've, they're now grieving most likely for hopefully. Um, not that all people be grieve, but hopefully they're there. I

Speaker 1:

Guarantee

Speaker 3:

<laugh> hopefully they are, hopefully they're feeling some sort of emotional loss if they've lost someone as close to them. Sure. Um, so they're dealing with that. Usually the person who is handling things as the executor tends to be the children. And if you look at the, the average age of someone dying is usually late seventies. That means the children are often going to be in their say forties or fifties, meaning people who are still working still have usually younger children. So they got a lot on their plate add to that, the grieving, and then add to that, the duty of being the executor. Hmm. So we start inherit more with the purpose of helping people get that, get that load off of their, off of their plate, so to speak. Uh, so what we do is we will do an investigation versus we'll talk to the family, get an idea of who the decedent was. Mm-hmm,<affirmative> deceased decedent. It depends on, uh, you know, which phrase you like to use. And then we will do the, an investigation, see what assets he or she left behind. And then we'll do all the legwork to get those assets into the hands of the family.

Speaker 1:

Now, if, if they, uh, if the deceased has an estate plan, is there still a need for an inheritance investigator? Like if there estate plan is ironclad, uh, is, is there still a need? Is there still stuff that is often missed by people on the receiving end?

Speaker 3:

Uh, yes. That's actually great question. Uh, that people there's a big misconception about estate plans, which is that if I, if that you have a will, that you're taken care of or on the flip side, if you don't have a will you're, you know, the, the HES are up, you know, are up the Creek without a pedal. Uh, neither of those is true. And the reason is that a will often doesn't specify what assets somebody owns. Uh, for example, uh, I thank God, my parents are still alive, but their will basically says that, uh, you know, upon each one's death, the spouse gets the other gets everything. And then if the spouse is not around at that time, then everything goes to the grand children, grandchildren in certain percentages. And that's all it says. It does not mention one asset that my parents own. Right. Doesn't mention their house. It doesn't mention any sort of brokerage accounts or checking accounts or whatever it doesn't mention anything. And that is a clear cut valid will. That will, that should be fine. Um, on the flip side, if some of that is I will, because wills don't often list assets, then the, the absence of will is not going to ruin anything. Now. Yes, it is good for, for people to have a list of what they own and, uh, separate from the estate plan and to update that on a regular basis because things change. I mean, you know, my father, who's 86 and still works full time. Um, he does a lot of it. He does investing, uh, on, you know, on his, on the side, not as his business, uh, but, uh, he is actively investing. He sometimes is asked to be on boards of companies and for that, he gets stuck. So my father's portfolio, for example, changes all the time. Um, now I, you know, I'm due to sit down with him pretty soon and kind of go over things and say, Hey, what, and I don't need to know what the amounts are, not on my business at this point. Um, but being that I will be at some point that the executor of his estates, uh, I do wanna know where things are not necessarily what everything's worth.

Speaker 1:

Hmm. What's something that you, what's something that you find that your clients are, are often surprised. I mean, you're the, the program's called inherent more. So if you have a client, that's like, we got a, will we got an estate plan. We're good to go. What, what are some things that you sometimes turn up that they, that weren't on the list that may not have been considered that, that somebody on the receiving end of your services and be like, whoa, good find.

Speaker 3:

Um, so it, it could really be anything. It could be a checking account that, that, that people didn't say anything about. Uh, sometimes people, uh, especially older generations, like to kind of keep their money, uh, sprinkled among different banks. You know, it comes from the, the, the fear of, of the depression and, and Brun and the banks being closed down. So people just would scatter their, their stuff around different things. Some could be insurance policies sometimes, you know, back, uh, many years ago, people would buy insurance policies back when there were door to door insurance salesman, and someone might buy a policy, uh, for, and just sticking in a drawer and forget about it. And then decades later that policy is still enforce. Uh, so it could be anything. The reason we, we name the company inherit more is because now we're helping people to inherit, but we're helping them to inherit more.<laugh>, uh, it's kind of like when someone has a realtor, uh, yes, someone could sell the house themselves, but they have to do all the like work for it. And most likely the realtor is going to bring in a better offer than the person who's gonna get themselves. And most likely more they're gonna get, they're bringing in enough, extra money. That's gonna offset whatever that commission might be.

Speaker 1:

Right. I, I can't help, but think of like a hiring a tax professional, you can do the taxes yourself, you know, or you can hire somebody. And of course they get a commission, but they're gonna end up finding more probably which will offset the cost of the commission and take all of that weight off of you, which your, your time and your mental health is valuable. Right. So

Speaker 3:

Exactly.

Speaker 1:

Do you find people in general are like, oh my gosh, I am just so glad<laugh> thank you. You saved my life here.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. There definitely are some of those people who they just it's, like I said, it's beyond them at that. Especially at that particular time, when they've lost a loved one, they're dealing with the, their lives, you know, their, their families, their, their businesses or their jobs. And, uh, people just don't, people don't realize just how, uh, what a, how much time and emotion and energy being an executor can, can be. Um, you know, like giving example, I have a friend who's the rabbi of a large synagogue in Detroit area, I'm friends with. And when we started the company a few years ago, he was telling me that when his father passed away, um, he said as someone who's a clergy, someone who's who's counsel people through major life moments, he says, I was prepared emotionally for loss. He says, because I've had that front row seat to so many other people losing loved ones. So even though it hurt, you know, terribly, I was at least prepared for the loss. And I knew how to process. He says, nothing prepared me for probate. Uh, he said, I never had any idea how much time and energy I was gonna have to put into being the executor, uh, until I had to go through it. It's, it's something people don't really talk about too much. Uh, not cause it's so much of a dirty secret. It's just, it's not one of those, uh, cocktail party conversations where people sit around talking like, so what's your executor experience? Like,

Speaker 1:

It's an awkward thing to talk about. Yeah. It it's. How do you, how do you broach conversations? I mean, do you just come in after the fact, or is it ever something that's set up? Like we, we know the, the end is near. Is there anything you do on the front end or is it always after someone has died?

Speaker 3:

Usually it's usually it's after someone's died, we do every so often get that call usually kind of sheepishly someone calls us and says, you know, so, and so my whatever parent or uncle or aunt or whatever is in hospice, and we don't think they have much longer, um, you know, is it too early for us, you know, to consult you. Um, and they feel like, it sounds very cruel of them to do so. And I always say like, my, my response to them is, well, you obviously don't wanna start rating the rating, the bank accounts or anything like that. I said, but I don't see anything wrong with, with at least trying to get your arms on where assets are. Um, partly because if no money has been set aside for funeral, uh, you wanna be able to, you know, tap into that funerals. They're getting more and more expensive. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. Um, but it's also, you know, I think it's, it's okay to say, you know, as long as you're not being like, like I said, ish about, you're not trying to get the money, the, the date before the body's even cold. Right. I think it's okay to say, listen, let's just get a jumpstart on this. That's just my opinion. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with me, but you know, that's just me.

Speaker 1:

Have you ever had a client that was that like the goal that, that you could just tell that they liked, they wanted the Mercedes and they wanted to drain the bank account. I'm sure you probably can't talk about it. We're gonna find out what his answer was on the very next episode of Wisconsin veterans forward. See, it's waiting there for ya. We just left you on a cliff hanger, so you want more, and now you're gonna go to the next, we'll see you over there. Thank you for listening to Wisconsin veterans forward brought to you by the Wisconsin veterans chamber of commerce. Please visit us@wveteranschamber.org. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, leave a rating and review in whatever platform you're listening through.