| QUOTES from
the
Masters... |
| On Trust |
On Values/Principles |
"Trust
men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show
themselves great." -- Ralph
Waldo Emerson
"A
person will not buy from you until he is convinced that you are a
friend
and are acting in his best interest. You must make this clear."
-– Brian Tracy
"To
be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." -– George
MacDonald
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"The
principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the
principles you live by, you will change your world." -- Blaine
Lee
"Freedom
requires that we learn and put into practice the three R's - Respect,
Responsibility,
and Restraint." -- Fr. Brian
Cavanaugh,
TOR
"Determine
your unifying principles in life and resolve to live by them." -–
Brian
Tracy
"Count
the cost first. Don't pay too big a price for pursuing minor
values."
-- Jim Rohn
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Misconceptions
About the Unlimited Marital Deduction...
The marital deduction
eliminates both the federal estate and gift tax on transfers of
property
between a husband and wife, in effect
treating
them as one economic unit. The
amount
of property that can be transferred between them is unlimited,
meaning that a spouse can transfer all of his or her property to the
other
spouse, during lifetime or at death, and completely escape any federal
estate or gift tax on this first transfer.
However,
property
transferred in excess of the unified credit equivalent will ultimately
be subject to estate tax in the estate of the surviving spouse, meaning
that use of the unlimited marital deduction will NOT eliminate
estate settlement costs.
Consider the following:
- At best,
the unlimited marital deduction will POSTPONE
payment of the federal estate
tax, not
ELIMINATE
it. If the estate of the surviving spouse exceeds the unified
credit
equivalent(1),
federal estate tax will be payable at the second death. In fact,
postponing payment of the tax may even result in a higher federal
estate
tax, if estate assets continue to grow.
- The
unlimited marital
deduction does not eliminate the need for estate liquidity to pay
administrative
costs, such as funeral expenses, probate costs, legal fees and final
expenses.
- The
unlimited marital
deduction is NOT
available to:
*
Surviving spouses;
*
Single or divorced people; or
*
A married person who wants/needs to leave property to someone other
than
the spouse.
(1) The 2010 Tax Relief Act provides for "portability"
of the maximum estate tax unified credit between spouses. This
means that a surviving spouse can elect to take advantage of any unused
portion of the estate tax unified credit of a spouse who dies in 2011
or 2012 (the equivalent of $5 million in 2011). As a result, with
this election and careful estate planning, married couples can
effectively shield up to $10 million from the federal estate and gift
tax without use of marital deduction planning techniques, but only if
one of the spouses dies in 2011 or 2012.
Since
the 2010 Tax Relief Act "sunsets" at the end of 2012, "portability"
between spouses will not be available beginning in 2013 unless Congress
takes action in the future. As a result, the benefits of
continued use of marital deduction planning techniques should be
evaluated in developing an estate plan. |
With proper
advance
planning, it may be possible to take full advantage of the marital
deduction
at both spouses' deaths, reducing estate tax liability and increasing
the
size of the estate ultimately left to surviving family members.
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| MESSAGES
from
the Masters... |
FOUR
ESSENTIALS FOR HAPPINESS by Brian Tracy
You
may have a thousand different goals over the course of your lifetime,
but
they all will fall into one of four basic categories. Everything you do
is an attempt to enhance the quality of your life in one or more of
these
areas.
THE
KEY TO HAPPINESS
The
first category is your desire for happy relationships. You want to love
and be loved by others. You want to have a happy, harmonious home life.
You want to get along well with the people around you, and you want to
earn the respect of the people you respect. Your involvement in social
and community affairs results from your desire to have happy
interactions
with others and to make a contribution to the society you live in.
ENJOY
YOUR WORK
The
second category is your desire for interesting and challenging work.
You
want to make a good living, of course, but more than that, you want to
really enjoy your occupation or profession. The very best times of your
life are when you are completely absorbed in your work.
BECOME
FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT
The
third category is your desire for financial independence. You want to
be
free from worries about money. You want to have enough money in the
bank
so that you can make decisions without counting your pennies. You want
to achieve a certain financial state so that you can retire in comfort
and never have to be concerned about whether or not you have enough
money
to support your lifestyle. Financial independence frees you from
poverty
and a need to depend upon others for your livelihood. If you save and
invest
regularly throughout your working life, you will eventually reach the
point
where you will never have to work again.
ENJOY
EXCELLENT HEALTH
The
fourth and final category is your desire for good health, to be free of
pain and illness and to have a continuous flow of energy and feelings
of
well-being. In fact, your health is so central to your life that you
take
it for granted until something happens to disrupt it.
PEACE
OF MIND IS THE KEY
Peace
of mind is essential for every one of these. The greater your peace of
mind, the more relaxed and positive you are, the less stress you
suffer,
the better is your overall health.
The
more peace of mind you have, the better are your relationships, the
more
optimistic, friendly and confident you are with everyone in your life.
When you feel good about yourself on the inside, you do your work
better
and take more pride in it. You are a better boss and coworker. And the
greater your overall peace of mind, the more likely you are to earn a
good
living, save regularly for the future and ultimately achieve financial
independence.
CONTROL
YOUR ATTENTION
Life
is very much a study of attention. Whatever you dwell upon and think
about
grows and expands in your life. The more you pay attention to your
relationships,
the quality and quantity of your work, your finances and your health,
the
better they will become and the happier you will be.
ACTION
EXERCISES
Here
are three things you can do immediately to put these ideas into
action.
First,
take time on a regular basis to think about what would make you really
happy in each of the four areas.
Second,
set specific, measurable goals for improvement in your relationships,
your
health, your work and your finances and write them down.
Third,
resolve to do something every day to increase the quality of some area
of your life - and then keep your resolution.
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