Phillips and Blow PC - October 2019
the Phillips and Blow Monthly Bulletin
7700 E. Arapahoe Road, Suite 100 Centennial, CO 80112 303-741-2400 www.phillipsandblowlaw.com
10 .2019
Adjusting Your Sails
What You Can Learn About Estate Planning From Sailing
If you’ve visited our office before, you may have noticed the massive sailboat model in our lobby. It represents the mutual love of sailing that John and I share. While I’ve only recently gotten certified, John learned how to sail in the Chesapeake Bay in the 1970s. Our passion for getting out on the water has taken us on some incredible adventures over the years, and, with any luck, there are many more to come. he’s spent most of the intervening time in Colorado. Eventually, John ventured down to Florida and earned his American Sailing Association credentials. After that, he and his wife sailed through the San Juan Islands from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia, and he recently sailed to the Channel Islands with some buddies. While those long sailing trips may be few and far between, John keeps his sailing skills sharp on Colorado’s reservoirs. I received my ASA certifications in 2018 in the British Virgin Islands, and, just this past July, I got the chance to return and sail around the U.S. and British Virgin Islands with my family and some friends. While there, I took the opportunity to earn my catamaran (a type of boat with two parallel hulls) sailing certification and to get some more experience sailing in the open ocean. While sailing through the Caribbean and sailing on a reservoir in Colorado might seem vastly different, the two environments are actually more similar than you would expect. Besides currents and tides, most of what you have to account for in the ocean must also be accounted for in Even though John started sailing before the advent of the modern sailboat (or thereabouts),
Chatfield, Cherry Creek, or Dillon Reservoirs. The winds can get just as squirrely and prone to microbursts (a sudden, powerful gust) wherever you sail. That’s why getting out on the reservoirs is instrumental for us to continue honing our skills beneath the mast.
on the sunniest of days, a sudden storm can put you in a tumultuous situation, but proper planning and practice can get you safely back to shore. Likewise, a sudden illness or death in the family can make for unexpected, and even chaotic, circumstances. But, with proper estate planning and maintenance, you can drastically lower the negative impacts of the unexpected. Just like we adjust our sails to account for changes in the wind, you should adjust your estate plan to account for changes in life. Don’t let life’s sudden weather catch you unprepared. At Phillips & Blow, we’re here to help you keep you and your family on course. If you haven’t been in to see us in a while, please call to set up a free estate planning review.
“JUST LIKE WE ADJUST OUR SAILS TO ACCOUNT FOR CHANGES IN THE WIND, YOU SHOULD ADJUST YOUR ESTATE PLAN TO ACCOUNT FOR CHANGES IN LIFE. ”
Sailing is a lot like life in some ways. Being out on the water, utterly subject to Mother Nature, can lead to some unexpected situations. Even
– Justin Blow
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Be Anxious No More Talk to Us About End-of-Life Care Options!
Of Your Grandchild's Education Don’t Let Money Get in theWay
The United States is getting older. What we mean by that is more advances in medicine and elder care mean people who live in the United States are creating a larger population of people 65 and up than ever before. Such a drastic change in our population makeup means that end-of-life care costs are going up, and many senior adults risk being left without a solid end-of- life plan if they don’t take the changing elder care landscape into account. Many people plan well for retirement and end-of-life care. They stock away what should be adequate funds for life after work, but many do not account for outliving the funds they have saved. This is becoming increasingly common as more medicines and procedures help our bodies live longer — sometimes longer than our minds. End-of-life care can mean you or your loved ones are looking at a pretty expensive bill, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When it comes to making sure all your potential end-of-life costs are covered, you can take three basic routes: You pay the costs out of pocket, go through an insurance plan, or try to qualify for Medicare. In other words, you pay for it, your insurance provider pays for it, or the government pays for it. If you have deep enough pockets to go with the first option, you are lucky. But if you’re like most people, you’ll probably need to go with option two or three. Different insurance plans and legislation regarding Medicare eligibility emerge every day, and we don’t have enough space here to get into the technicalities of all the latest payment options available to you. However, we can help navigate these waters. You might be afraid or anxious about the looming costs of elder care, but you don’t have to be. Call or come into our office today for a free consultation.
College expenses aren’t what they used to be. What used to be affordable to any student with a part-time summer job now can take years to pay off. If your grandkids want to go to college, the cost of education should not be a barrier to their future. Luckily there are ways that you can help ease that financial burden. INVEST IN A 529 SAVINGS PLAN. There are no limits on age, income, or monetary contributions attached to this college savings account, and contributions are tax-deductible in some states. Just like a Roth IRA, the earnings grow over time and can be used tax-free for qualifying expenses, like tuition and room and board. There are a few downsides, however. Funds from a grandparent’s 529 savings plan are considered student income and could hurt your student’s eligibility for financial aid. If you choose to fund through a parent’s 529 savings plan, which doesn’t count as student income, you lose control over the funds you contribute. PAY THEIR TUITION. Not everybody has $20,000 just lying around, but if you do, using it to pay for your grandchild’s tuition isn’t a bad way to spend it. Normally, annual financial gifts that are exempt from the federal gift tax can’t exceed $15,000, but payments toward someone’s tuition, for any amount, are not taxed. Keep in mind, however, that the money can only go toward tuition, not toward other college expenses like room and board or textbooks. HELP THEM FIND OPPORTUNITIES TO SAVE. Even if you don’t have thousands of dollars to give, you can still help your grandkids look for other opportunities to save. There are thousands of available scholarships, grants, and programs to help students pay for college, and helping them look online and in your community can go a long way. College could be your grandchild’s first stop on the path to achieving their dreams. You can be a part of that journey by making sure money doesn’t get in the way of that.
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Trusts • Probate • Long Term Care Planning • Elder Law
The Frontier of Estate Planning
How to Manage Digital Assets
We amass huge digital footprints in our lifetime, and that means a lot of passwords and security answers. It’s increasingly important to think of password information for sites like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and accounts for paying bills and paying off debt, as assets. And those assets need to be incorporated into an estate plan. If family members can’t access the accounts of deceased relatives, at best they cannot view precious family photos from social media, and at worst, the accounts may become victim to identity theft. But handing over access to your accounts before you die is easier said than done and also might not be the best idea. Many website terms of agreement have specific clauses prohibiting the transfer of password data to other users, not to mention the state and federal laws that get in the way. Thankfully, you can do a few things to make the process easier for your family. INVENTORY YOUR ONLINE ACCOUNTS You should obtain the password info for every online account, including your email and bill-paying accounts, and keep them on a list in a safe place. SECURE YOUR PASSWORD INFORMATION There are a few different ways to keep this important list safe. When you’re in the process of creating the list, you can either use a password- encryption service or just a password-protected document to keep those
passwords secret. Once you’ve created the list, however, you’ll want to put it in a safe deposit box or an attorney’s vault. Just don’t put any password information in a Will, as this will become a public document.
DRAFT AND SIGN A STATEMENT FOR THE EXECUTOR OF YOUR ESTATE PLAN
At Phillips & Blow, we can prepare the necessary documents to authorize the executor (or trustee) of your plan to access your online accounts. This saves them the time and headache of fighting with multiple companies to try to save your digital assets. Laws regarding digital assets are changing every day, and the potential for sticky legal situations is high. If you want to incorporate your account information into your estate plan, you’ll need some help from the experts. Call Phillips & Blow today for a free consultation.
Trivia
Leftover Candy Snack Mix Inspired by Food & Wine Magazine
WHAT was the first successful vaccine developed in history?
A: Scarlet Fever B: Small Pox C: Rabies D: Cholera
INGREDIENTS:
• • • • •
2 cups mini pretzels, coarsely broken
1/4 cup light brown sugar 2 tbsp granulated sugar 1/3 cup dry milk powder 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Submit your answers to email@jrphillipslaw.com
• 12 oz mini candy bars, such as Snickers, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
Correct answers will be entered into a drawing on Oct. 31 for an Amazon gift card.
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 275 F. 2. In a large mixing bowl, fold together pretzels, sugars, milk powder, and butter. 3. Spread mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes. 4. Let cool for at least 30 minutes and mix in candy bar pieces before serving.
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inside
Come Sail With Us! this issue
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3 Strategies for Helping Grandkids Pay for College
Your End-of-Life Care Options
Digital Assets and Your Estate Plan
Leftover Candy Snack Mix
Learn About Your Gut-Brain Axis
Thinking With Your Gut
The Amazing Connection Between Your Stomach and Your Brain
While it may seem strange to think about, the human stomach is truly a thing of wonder. Most humans only acknowledge its digestive processes, but the gut plays a much more influential role in our day-to-day lives than simply breaking down food for nutrient production; it is closely connected to our emotional states, as well. Think about it. Have you ever felt butterflies before a date, intestinal pain during moments of stress, or nausea before an important presentation? Have you ever told someone to “follow their gut” before making a big decision? These physical symptoms are not a coincidence; they are known in the scientific world as the gut-brain axis . Your gut is connected to the limbic system, the part of the brain that processes emotions. The brain sends messages to all other organs in your body, so it’s not surprising it communicates with your stomach, too. What is surprising, however, is that the connection goes both ways. Just as your
brain can relay information to your gut about excitement and anxiety, your gut can have a direct impact on the way you feel. According to a recent study published by the National Library of Medicine, when a person’s microbiome — the diverse population of good and bad bacteria living in the GI tract — becomes significantly altered or imbalanced, psychological or neurological issues can arise. In response to these emerging findings, dietary approaches and probiotics are being explored to see how well they can modulate a person’s microbiome and address symptoms. While research is still being conducted to determine the extent of the stomach’s influence over emotional and mental states, plenty of evidence proves the connection is real. Your stomach “talks” to you all the time, and, if you didn’t have enough reasons to pay attention to the food you eat, now you have one more thing to keep in mind. If you start thinking a bit more with your gut, your health will thank you for it!
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Trusts • Probate • Long Term Care Planning • Elder Law
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