EP 159 | Do I REALLY Need a Trust?

Welcome to episode 159 of The Retirement Years on Profit Boss® Radio! In this episode, we’re talking about estate planning. As in wills, trusts and powers of attorney. I know, it’s not sexy, but it is important. 

Estate planning isn’t just something for people with a lot of money. It’s about making things as easy as possible for your loved ones when you’re gone, and whether you’ve got $10 or $10 million in assets, that matters. If you’re thinking that having a will takes care of this, you may be surprised to learn that a will doesn’t do that much – and can create serious legal and financial headaches for your beneficiaries. 

Furthermore, if you have children, I cannot stress this enough: please get an estate plan in place along with appropriate life insurance. If you get in trouble and really need life insurance or estate planning documents in place, it’s often (unfortunately) too late, and whether you’re new parents or retirees making plans for your golden years, it’s highly likely that you need more than just a will to protect your family and your assets. If you’re wondering what to do next, today’s episode of Profit Boss® Radio is for you. 

I’m joined by wills, trusts, and estates attorney Laura Cowan. Based in New York City, Laura was named a 2019 Rising Star by Super Lawyers, an award only given to the top 2.5% of attorneys in the Greater New York area, she’s spoken at the UN Headquarters about estate planning for non-citizens, and she has been featured in Forbes Magazine. Most importantly, Laura is an attorney who can actually speak to people about this complex topic without overwhelming them! 

So, are you ready to truly understand the difference between wills and trusts, learn how to best protect your life’s work and your loved ones, and find out how to build an estate plan to best suit your needs? Then you don’t want to miss this episode. Tune in to Profit Boss® Radio today!

Here’s what you’ll find out in this week’s episode of Profit Boss® Radio

• Why having a will and not a trust guarantees that your beneficiaries will end up in probate court – and why this process often costs up to 5% of your estate and takes years to complete. 
• Which of your assets cannot be passed down in a will – and how naming minors as primary beneficiaries to assets like life insurance and 401(k)s can leave your money in a stranger’s hands until your children turn 18. 
• Why most people choose to create a living trust instead of a will – and the components that go into an estate planning package. 
• The dangers of letting minors collect their whole inheritance at 18 – and what happens if you don’t name a successor guardian for your minor children.
• How asset protection trusts differ from living trusts – and how to best protect your assets from creditors.
• How a trust can protect your assets in the event that your spouse dies and you remarry. 
• Why you shouldn’t create your own estate plan online – and why you should choose to work with a flat-fee estate planning attorney over one who charges by the hour.

MoneyWise Segment: Should You Refinance Your Mortgage?

If you listened to last week’s episode, Coronavirus & Your Money, you heard all about what NOT to do during a crisis. And while your investments are likely down, so too are mortgage rates. I have heard from people who are getting quoted on refinances at remarkably low rates and a lot of people are wondering, “should I refinance my mortgage?” Don’t miss today’s MoneyWise segment where I answer that question and share my best advice! 

Resources and Related Profit Boss® Content

• Laura’s Website

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Transcript

Hilary Hendershott: I’m Hilary Hendershott, your host, and this is The Retirement Years on Profit Boss Radio, Episode 159.

The Retirement Years on Profit Boss Radio is your weekly wealth building and retirement mastermind. Profit Boss is also a movement for women who want to reach their full wealth potential and be financially free. Let me be your guide as you defy the odds, take control of your money, grow your wealth and retire well. Do you want the secrets of wealth and retirement to be yours? This is the place. I’m Hilary Hendershott. I’m a certified financial planner running a leading advisory firm for women and couples and I’m sharing with you real stories from real life and real people who are making it happen. Forget Wall Street. You ready? Let’s do this.

Hilary Hendershott: All right, profit boss. In today’s episode, we are talking about estate planning. What the heck is a will and do I really need a trust? These are questions I hear all the time. It’s very rare when I meet a new client that they’ve done complete estate planning, and I can understand. It’s expensive, no one likes to think about our own mortality, and it’s not really clear what it’s for. However, while you might not think you’re interested in the details of estate planning, I promise what you are interested in are the benefits of doing it correctly. Taking care of your children, your spouse and your loved ones, making sure that you’ve dotted your I’s and cross your T’s in the event something terrible happens to you that you haven’t left them suffering both emotionally and financially. So, my tip to you is to listen to today’s episode, get your questions answered here but go hire an attorney. So, my guest today is New York City Attorney, Laura Cowan. 

She was named a rising star by Super Lawyers in 2019, an award reserved for the top 2.5% of attorneys in the Greater New York City area. She has spoken at the UN headquarters in New York City about estate planning for non-citizens and has also been featured in Forbes Magazine. More importantly, Laura prides herself as I do in using plain speak. So, most lawyers, and frankly, tax people and sometimes financial advisors, you hear talk but will lose you right away because they start using technical jargon. And Laura and I really make an effort to speak in a language that everyone understands. I mean, I know that when I speak to my daughter’s doctors, I appreciate that they do that for me. Anyway, we try to cover the topic at a fast pace, not to get into too many details because you don’t really need to understand it. Just you need to understand why you need it enough to go get it done. 

My husband and I went to get our estate plan done after we got married. It’s a couple of meetings with the attorney, a couple of hard conversations where you really have to grapple with like what is the planet going to be like if I’m not on it, and just go get it taken care of for your kids. So, Laura and I today discuss what is a revocable living trust, what happens to that trust in the event one spouse dies and after two spouses die. We talk about the details of how you should consider leaving your money to your kids. What happens to your money if you name minor children as the beneficiaries on your 401(k) or other IRA accounts. Tip: You don’t want to do that. But again, we tried to keep this as light as possible. And today’s MoneyWise segment is about Should I Refinance Now? So, rates are way down and a lot of people are considering refinancing their home but there’s something I want you to be aware of and make sure you know before you do that. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with myself and Laura Cowan.

[INTERVIEW]

Hilary Hendershott: Laura Cowan, welcome to Profit Boss Radio.

Laura Cowan: Hi. Thank you.

Hilary Hendershott: Hi. You have no idea how long I’ve looked for an estate planning attorney who can actually speak to people without overwhelming them. So, thank you for being her.

Laura Cowan: I’m glad to be here.

Hilary Hendershott: Laura, what are the most common misunderstandings or misconceptions about what you do?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. So, some of the common misunderstandings about estate planning is that it’s only for people who have a lot of money. I hear this one all the time. I don’t have that many assets. Do I really need an estate plan? And I always tell my clients the same thing, which is, estate planning is really about making things as easy as possible on your loved ones when you’re gone as easy as possible and as inexpensive as possible. And you care about that whether you’ve got $10 in the bank or $10 million in the bank. So, it doesn’t really matter how much you’re leaving behind. Whatever you have in terms of assets, you care where they go and you care about things being as seamless as possible for your loved ones when you’re gone, and that’s really what estate planning is about.

Hilary Hendershott: What is the difference between a will and a trust?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. This is a great question and this is something that confuses a lot of people. So, what a lot of people don’t realize is that a will, it doesn’t really do that much. So, a will is great. It’s better to have one than to have nothing at all. And with a will, you can name beneficiaries for your assets. You can name an executor to kind of oversee everything when you’re gone and you can name guardians for your minor children, that’s really important as well. The downside to having a will is that it has to be probated before your assets can be distributed out to your family. 

Hilary Hendershott: What does that actually mean? 

Laura Cowan: Right. So, that means your will has to be accepted by a probate court. Your family’s going to have to hire a lawyer to probate the will for you and it means the court is overseeing the whole process of getting an inventory of the assets and distributing the assets. And it’s a whole court process where a judge is in charge of everything. And so, if you have a will, probate court is guaranteed and there are three big downsides to probate court. And I should point out that every state is a little bit different. Every state’s got their own laws but probate court is generally expensive. There are going to be court fees involved and lawyer fees, and those can total as much as 5% of the estate assets. So, in other words, let’s say you pass away and all you have is a home that’s worth $1 million, well, you could lose as much as $50,000 of that to lawyers and court fees through the probate court process. 

Hilary Hendershott: And it is a longer process, correct? 

Laura Cowan: Yes. So, it’s a longer process as well. So, it just takes time to kind of crank through the system. It can take months, if not years, and during that time your assets are going to be frozen so they won’t be distributed out to your family. And then a third downside to probate, in addition to it being expensive and time-consuming is that a will becomes a public document when you pass away, which I think is really interesting. So, you draft a will and you pass away and it gets filed out the probate court, and then that becomes a public record. So, if you don’t like the idea of people being able to see what assets you passed away with and who your beneficiaries are, a will probably isn’t the best idea for you. The other option would be to do a trust, a living trust.

Hilary Hendershott: Okay. And isn’t it true, though, that there are certain assets that absolutely do not pass by a will? So, for example, can you name someone to gift your home to in the will?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. So, that’s a good question. So, it’s true that some assets aren’t covered by your will so things like life insurance, for example, or a 401(k). When you buy those assets, you fill out a beneficiary designation. So, you have a beneficiary for your life insurance or a beneficiary for your 401(k). And so, then when you pass away, that’s just going to get paid out to whoever you named as the beneficiary, regardless of what your will or your trust says. So, not every asset’s covered under your will.

Hilary Hendershott: Yeah, and that’s really important. I speak to out here in Silicon Valley, young people in their 30s who have young children, five and seven years old, and they will name their children as the beneficiary of their 401(k). And I try to describe to people that really isn’t what you want to do. What’s your experience of what happens if a five-year-old receives a million dollars in a 401(k)?

Laura Cowan: Right. So, there’s a couple of downsides to naming minors as beneficiaries and it’s very common. You’ll see people have a life insurance policy, and they’ll name their spouse as the primary beneficiary and then their minor children as the backup. There’s a couple of downsides to that. First of all, you’re right. That means that your kids are going to get a big check on their 18th birthday because that’s the age that they’re legally entitled to inherit, and no parent wants that. The second downside is that because minors can’t inherit until they turn 18, you know, let’s say you pass away and your kids are still five and seven, a court is now going to have to get involved to make sure that there’s someone who’s been named to manage that money on their behalf until they turned 18 or 21 or whatever age you pick. So, that’s going to push those assets into probate court, which is going to make that probate court bill a lot higher, if that makes sense. Yeah.

Hilary Hendershott: And I have heard that those assets get managed by a court-appointed administrator. In other words, for at least a period of time, someone you don’t know will be managing the balance of your 401(k) for your five-year-old. Is that accurate?

Laura Cowan: Yeah, that’s accurate. So, these are all things that can be solved within an estate plan. So, if you have an estate plan in place, and you named your choice of trustee, and that’s the person who’s going to manage your kid’s inheritance on their behalf until they turn 18. If you don’t name that trustee, then the court’s going to have to name one for you and who knows who they’ll pick. So, all these things can be solved by doing something called a living trust, which is what most of my clients choose instead of a will.

Hilary Hendershott: Oh, is that right? So, my experience is the four documents typically come together. Just tell me if this is right or wrong, the will, the trust, the legal power of attorney and the medical power of attorney? How do you usually do it?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. So, all of our estate planning packages include all of those documents. So, either a will or a living trust, you’ll do one or the other and I can go over the benefits of a living trust in a second. But then, yes, every estate planning package should also include a health care proxy, where you can name someone to make medical decisions for you. If you’re incapacitated, you can’t make decisions on your own. And then a financial power of attorney which kind of does the same thing except for your money is where you name someone that you trust to pay your bills and file your taxes for you things like that if you become incapacitated. So, usually, those documents make up an estate plan.

Hilary Hendershott: Okay. And so, then if you don’t do a will, how do the material assets or possessions get transferred, such as furniture, jewelry, cars, like that?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. So, the alternative to doing a will is doing something called a living trust. And again, this is what the majority of my clients choose. A living trust is a will substitute. So, basically, it’s just a document like a will where you’ll name your beneficiary for your assets and a successor trustee, you kind of oversees everything when you’re gone. The benefit of a living trust is that any assets that are held in the trust, when you pass away, they get distributed out to your family without any probate court involvement. So, that’s the real difference between the two.

Hilary Hendershott: Okay. We may be treading on an area where California law is slightly different than New York, maybe not. But the answer is the attorney knows. You have to go see an attorney in your state and they’ll make the recommendation between a will and a trust. And the net effect is what you want to have happened is to have your assets go where you want them to go and to take care of your kids if they’re minors.

Laura Cowan: Right. That’s the other benefit of estate planning. Whether you do a will or a living trust, regardless, you’ll have an opportunity to name guardians for your minor children, which I know is something that every parent that’s the most important thing is naming the person that you want to raise your minor children, God forbid, something happens to you and your partner. So, that’s a huge benefit. And then also having stipulations in place, if you don’t want your kids to get their inheritance at 18, maybe you want them to get their inheritance at 21 or 25 or staggered. You can write all of that in to your documents but you have a lot of choices that you can make.

Hilary Hendershott: I may be repeating myself on this podcast, not this particular episode but I may have said in the past that my husband and I actually set it up so that our daughter, we get assets at her age 35 to 40 and 45. Because I have seen firsthand what young people do with large amounts of money if they don’t have experience managing it, and it’s bad. Right?

Laura Cowan: Right. It is. Yeah, even the most responsible child, it’s a lot of money too. If they get a lot of money at 18 or 21, they’re probably not going to manage it very well.

Hilary Hendershott: Right. I literally actually saw someone who inherited a bunch of money, maybe a million dollars and he spent it all on fraternity parties at UCLA. Yeah. Like, it’s all gone. It was such a tragedy. So, what happens if people do not name a successor guardian for their kids?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. So, this is a great question. So, if you don’t name your choice of guardians in a will and something happens, the court is going to have to make that decision for you, of course, going to have to come in and choose using the best information they can, who they think will be the best person to raise your children. They’ll do the best that they can with the information that they have, but they’re not going to know your preferences. They’re not going to know what you would have wanted. So, they could end up picking the last person that you would ever want raising your children, someone who maybe looks good on paper, but in real life isn’t who you would have chosen. So, I don’t think any parent wants a court deciding who should be long-term guardians of their kids.

Hilary Hendershott: Right. And do you have family members like vying for custody? I mean…

Laura Cowan: Yes, that’s something else a lot of people don’t consider. It’s almost too much of a good thing. What if you and your husband passed away and your husband’s sister wants to take the children but then your sister wants to take the children then you’ve got two family members battling it out in court and all of that could have been avoided if you had just named your choice in a will.

[MONEYWISE]

Hilary Hendershott: Welcome to today’s MoneyWise segment designed to make you smarter than your neighbor. Today, we are discussing whether you should consider refinancing your mortgage. So, as I record this, we’re in the middle of the coronavirus debacle. Health impacts aside, the market is down several points. Some of you are down 10% to 15%. The Treasury yield slid. So, what the Treasury yield is the amount the federal government is paying for people to take on its debt. Treasury rates are not directly linked to mortgage rates. However, they are correlated and, in this case, mortgage rates have slid as well. I have heard from people who are getting quoted on refinances at something like 2.325%, 2.5%. They are remarkably low rates. You should absolutely take advantage of that. I’m hoping some of you were almost in contract to purchase a house and you found that your mortgage cost came down significantly, which is going to leave more room for you to do other things with that money. But should you really refinance? 

So first, remember that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made mortgages larger than $750,000 non-deductible on the mortgage interest, so you can deduct the first $750,000 of mortgage interest. You cannot deduct after that. So, like I myself have a $1.2 million mortgage. If we refinanced something like 500,000, I maybe not doing the math correctly right at this moment, but more than 300,000 of that interest on that debt would not be deductible anymore. So, I would need to calculate very carefully. Well, is it worth it to save on the rate? But secondly, the point that most people overlook is you’ve probably been paying on your mortgage for several years, four or five or six or more years. Now, you need to add up the remaining payments that you have on that mortgage. And remember, when you refinance, you’re refinancing into a 30-year loan, so 360 more payments. So, if you only have 120 payments left on your higher interest rate mortgage, you probably might as well just keep it. 

So, add up the total remaining payments at your existing rate, and then add up the total payments on the proposed rate. And if you plan to stay in the house until you pay off the loan, that math is going to tell you whether you’re actually saving money. So, you can’t just look at a lower monthly payment as being a slam dunk of a good deal. All right. I hope that helps. 

[INTERVIEW]

Hilary Hendershott: Is it true that assets “in a trust” means you’ve named the trust as the owner of the asset? So, that’s what that phraseology means. We all just say are the assets in the trust? And how you know is you look at the title of the account or the title of the home at the county registrar’s office and it’s not titled to you as a human being. It’s titled to your trust. And you can obviously correct me if I didn’t give any details right. But my main question is, is it true that assets that are in a trust are protected from creditors in the event of a lawsuit or a big car accident or anything like that?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. So, it’s important to know that there’s different kinds of trusts and they do different things. So, if you’re looking at a living trust, remember this is the probate avoidance trust. So, that’s the trust that you set up when you’re alive and you title your assets like your home, in your living trust, and the benefit of that is that when you pass away, it doesn’t have to go through probate court. Those assets are protected from creditors or anything like that because you still own that home, you still have control over it, despite the fact that it’s held by your living trust. Just one of the benefits of a living trust is that you set it up and you move your assets into it, but you still own and control your assets. Now, there’s a different kind of trust called an asset protection trust and that’s different from the living trust. This is a trust that you can set up, for example, to hold your kids’ inheritance. And the benefit of an asset protection trust is that I like to think of an asset protection trust as like a tube of toothpaste, right? 

It’s like your kids’ inheritance is in this tube of toothpaste, and whatever is in that tube, but you’re right, it’s protected from lawsuits. It’s protected if they ever get divorced, is protected if they ever have to file bankruptcy. Now, they can squeeze money out of that too when they need it for expenses, for health and education and support and maintenance. Whoever stays in that tube is protected. So, that’s the benefit of an asset protection trust.

Hilary Hendershott: So, let’s take the example of a couple who created trust and they’re together for 20 years and one spouse dies. Now, what happens to the assets?

Laura Cowan: So, usually it depends on the state and it depends on how the assets are held. Let’s say you’ve got a married couple, and everything they own is held jointly, right, as in both of their names. So, if an asset is held jointly and then one spouse dies, then the other spouse just continues on owning that asset. So really, nothing happens in that event. So, in that case, the estate plan wouldn’t really kick in until the second spouse passed away or they died at the same time, if that makes sense.

Hilary Hendershott: One thing I described to clients and you have to be delicate when someone is sitting in front of you talking about something like this, but it is potential outcome, let’s say husband and wife build up a bunch of assets and then husband dies and wife gets remarried and then wife dies. Well, now there’s the potential outcome that millions of dollars that former husband earned, could actually get left to new husband’s kids. 

Laura Cowan: Right. 

Hilary Hendershott: Right? And, you know, it may be that they’re all fine and good with that but I mean, just personally, that outcome seemed a little abhorrent to me. So, how does a trust protect in the event of death of a spouse in that kind of a situation?

Laura Cowan: Yeah. That’s a great question and that’s something that it makes sense to ask if you’re working with a younger couple, where if one partner were to pass away, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that the other would remarry, if they’re young enough and whatnot. So, yeah, there are trusts that you can set up in that situation as well, that would protect some of the assets from being lost if the surviving spouse remarried. It’s kind of technical. I won’t go into the details, but there are definitely things that you can do to prevent all of the assets from being left to the new spouse. 

Hilary Hendershott: Yeah, I kind of think, I mean, you use a tube of toothpaste example, I kind of think of it like a suitcase. Like if I die, you get this money that’s in this suitcase, but the rest of it, I want it to go to my kids.

Laura Cowan: Yeah. That’s a great analogy.

Hilary Hendershott: You can take that suitcase with you, honey.

Laura Cowan: Yes, that’s right. There’s a split of the assets. You’ve got two suitcases and, one, you can do whatever you want with but the other one goes to the kids no matter what.

Hilary Hendershott: Right. Okay, good, or a charity or your sibling or whatever you say. Okay, what haven’t I asked about here? What are the key things people need to understand?

Laura Cowan: You know, we can manage an estate tax. Estate tax is not really a concern for most people these days. Right now, if you have more than $22 million, you might have to pay part of your estate for federal estate tax. It’s really a very high number now. So, if you have any assets below that, you’re okay for now. The exemptions change over time, so you want to keep an eye on it. And then, of course, each state is different. Your state might have an estate tax as well, and they might not. So, you’d want to speak with an attorney about that just to make sure you’re not paying any taxes unnecessarily,

Hilary Hendershott: Right. Most people don’t pay estate tax anymore and that’s my experience. When I started in the business, it was a little different, but that $12 million number kind of most people don’t get there. So, let’s talk about what an estate planning engagement looks like. How long do you spend with the attorney? What is a good range of expenses to be having in mind? And of course, if you have anything to say about things like Nolo Press.

Laura Cowan: Yeah. You know, I get asked quite a bit, can I just do my estate plan myself online? And you know, I really discourage it, mainly because you don’t know what you don’t know and I don’t think I’ve ever once had a client come through my office that didn’t at some point say, “Oh, my gosh, I didn’t realize that was the case,” or I’d never thought of it that way. You know, it’s so easy to make a simple mistake that could actually have kind of a catastrophic impact. So, I would recommend at least sitting down with an attorney and just getting some basic education. In my office, the process is come in for an initial consultation, we’ll go through your assets and your family and we’ll answer your questions. Everyone’s got different concerns, and then we’ll review. My clients generally choose a living trust over a will but ultimately, it’s up to them. I would recommend working with an estate planning attorney who offers flat fees, as opposed to billing by the hour. 

But then you know exactly what your investment is going to be and exactly what documents you’ll be getting for that fee, and then there’s generally a period where the documents are drafted and the client can review them and make changes. And then we have what we call a signing ceremony, which is kind of we call it a ceremony because it’s a big deal. You know, this is when all of your assets and your family is protected. And then there’s a process after where if you’ve done a living trust, we’ll work with you on moving your assets into your trust as well. But the best advice I can give is to work with an attorney who charges a flat fee, and it’s just very clear about what you’re getting for your money. 

Hilary Hendershott: And range of costs? 

Laura Cowan: Oh, yeah. So, it depends on the state. Every state is different and every lawyer is different as well. I would say a comprehensive will package for a married couple with minor children would maybe start around 1,500 and a trust would be a little bit more than that. Of course, the trust you get a lot of savings on the back end by avoiding probate court. Yeah, it’s going to depend on what state you live in and whether your circumstances might be a little bit different. For example, if you’ve got a child with special needs, then you want to do some special planning around that. You don’t necessarily want a child with special needs to get any kind of an inheritance outright, because that might disqualify them from any government benefits, which is a bad thing. So, again, the fees are going to depend on what’s really important for you and what’s going on in your family. 

Hilary Hendershott: Perfect. Thank you so much for your time. If you’re listening and you’re in the state of New York, reach out to Attorney Laura Cowan, but no matter where you are, if you have young children, please, please, please get an estate plan in place with some life insurance as appropriate. It’s just really important and unfortunately, once you need insurance, an estate plan, it is obviously too late. So, thanks again for your time, Laura. We will link to your website at HilaryHendershott.com/159. 

Laura Cowan: Super. Thank you. Yeah. And anyone who is welcome to come into my office and we’re waiving our consultation fee for guests of the show, so I would love to meet you.

Hilary Hendershott: Very generous. Thank you so much. 

Laura Cowan: Thank you.

[ANNOUNCEMENT]

Hilary Hendershott: Hey, profit boss, if after listening to today’s episode, you think you might be ready to take meaningful actions with your wealth and perhaps consider working with me and my firm in some way, then I’d love to hear from you. Just go to HilaryHendershott.com/Start-Here. When I’m not sitting behind the mic, I’m running Hendershott Wealth Management. We’re a fee-only fiduciary financial advisory firm. We work with women and couples to take their finances to the next level. Everything I talked about here on the show gets personalized and put to work for my clients. So, I ask you, why wait until tomorrow when you can start realizing your full wealth potential today? The life you want to live, it doesn’t have to wait. Just imagine the freedom and joy you’ll experience when you’ve secured your retirement and enjoyed the years leading up to it. That’s what I want for you. That’s what I do for my clients. And if that’s what you want for yourself, just head on over to my website right now, HilaryHendershott.com/Hello. All of our initial conversations are totally complimentary. So, let’s just see where our friendly conversation may lead. HilaryHendershott.com/Hello.

[CLOSING]

Hilary Hendershott: As we wrap things up here for today, I need to review with you the things I have to disclose as a fiduciary financial advisor offering wealth management services through my firm Hendershott Wealth Management LLC. You should know that the opinions I express on Profit Boss Radio are my own and they can change. The content I provide in the show is for general education. It’s not intended as specific investment advice, nor do I recommend any specific financial products. Unlike how I roll at home with my husband, I can’t guarantee that my statements, opinions, or forecasts are always 100% right. Of course, I wish I could peek into that proverbial crystal ball but so far, I haven’t found it. Past performance is not indicative of future results. I talk a lot about indexes and I want you to know, you can’t actually buy an index because, of course, when you take a list of companies and create a product that allows people to invest in those companies, there are fees and expenses involved that reduce returns. Remember, all investing involves risk, which as you know, means you could lose your money and I have to tell you that there is no guarantee that any investment plan or strategy will be successful. And that should keep my lawyers happy. Have a great day!

[END]

Disclaimer

Hendershott Wealth Management, LLC and Profit Boss® Radio do not make specific investment recommendations on Profit Boss® Radio or in any public media. Any specific mentions of funds or investments are strictly for illustrative purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice or acted upon by individual investors. The opinions expressed in this episode are those of Hilary Hendershott, CFP®, MBA.