Money Talks Blog by Oxford Planning Group

When you were in the early years of your financial experiences, you may have learned lessons from your parents or other relatives.  You may have also had a teacher or mentor that gave you valuable life lessons that helped you financially.  If you did have that person in your life you are very lucky.

Hopefully throughout your life you have now formed a value system around your finances.

Legacy planning is a broad topic and can include how you want your money used in the future, how you hope the next generation will use or think about money and the best ways to tax efficiently pass on your money. Additionally, legacy planning can include protective measures that further control the money after your death. There are many options to think about.

Now it’s time to ask yourself what you want your financial legacy to look like. 

Have you saved enough, or do you live within reasonable means so that you will be financially stable throughout your life?  Will you have any money left at the end of your life?  Who would you like to benefit from any money you have left?  A family member?  A charity?  A cherished friend?

As you look forward and begin planning how your money will last and possibly benefit another generation, there are many variables that need to be reviewed.  How will you invest the money?  What is the best way to position your money to minimize taxes?  During your lifetime you will have income taxes and then when you pass on your money, the beneficiary may be faced with income taxes.  Proper planning can provide useful strategies that will help maximize what you have available to use or what you will have available to pass on to the next generation.  

Historical statistics show that a huge amount of wealth is lost as it is passed from one generation to the next.  This is often due to lack of knowledge in those receiving the money as well as frequent requests for loans or a “helping hand” from friends and family of the beneficiary.

If you are concerned about this, there are ways to protect your money, both now and after your death. Using trusts and other structures can provide more limited access to future money and hopefully better long-term usefulness of the money you leave.

What’s your Legacy?  Most of us will never be a famous politician, actor/actress or other famous person but each of us has a chance to make the world a better place and leave our own Legacy. 

It starts with you.  What are your values?  What are your money values?  

Within each of our own families we have an opportunity to help mold the next generation.  Do your children know your values and what you feel the best use of money should be?  You should share your thoughts with them.  

Are you utilizing the tools available to maximize your Legacy?  There are many types of investments and insurance products, as well as different types of trust and business arrangements that can help maximize your lifetime Legacy.  

Do you have charitable goals?  Are you set up to be able to leave money to charity in the most tax beneficial ways?

Need help?  Let Oxford Planning Group help build your legacy.  

It’s officially Spring and there's no better time to get organized and clean things up. Simplifying and organizing your finances can also help in reducing stress and creating greater positive energy. 

Household finances are typically one of the most stressful areas of all households and relationships.  

Debts, uncertainty about employment, lack of emergency reserves, worry about investments, unexpected expenses and uncertainty of longer-term goals can also create elevated stress levels. 

At Oxford Planning Group, we take both simple and complex financial situations and help create solutions to overcome challenges and achieve financial objectives. Our clear and simple to use online solutions help you track all your finances in a secure, interactive dashboard and allows you to see your financial life in action.

Do you have a plan to achieve your ongoing goals?  Do you have too many accounts (banking or investment), too many credit cards or no core plan for long term achievement of goals?  Not being able to easily track your debts and investments can create greater financial risk.  Additionally, it’s much more difficult to achieve financial goals if you can't easily track your current situation and progress. 

The first step in Spring Cleaning your finances is to create a summary of everything you have.  What do you own and what do you owe? 

• Things you own can include property, home(s), investment accounts, bank accounts, collections, or anything else of value. 
• Things you owe include any debts on any property such as your mortgage, a car or other property where a loan was used to purchase an item.   

Next, do you know where everything is? And very importantly - does your spouse or partner know?

• If you have a medical emergency or an auto accident, do you and your spouse or partner have easy access to your benefits for those policies? 
• Have you had your insurance policies reviewed recently to see if they are up to date and providing the best benefits for your needs and costs?
• Check your credit report
• Get rid of clutter by scanning in documents that you don't need to keep in hard copy.  Store them in a secured (and backed up) computer or your personal vault (part of our secure online solutions). 

So - what’s creating worry or stress for you?  Let Oxford help you build a plan and simplify your finances.  Let's make sure everything is up to date and that you know where everything is.  It’s time to relax and enjoy spring. 

As I work with many of my retiree clients, it’s common for them to consider selling their current homes.  The reasons for this are numerous and may include buying in a dream location, downsizing, moving to lower taxed states, moving closer to their children and moving to retirement communities.

What You Need to Know

The higher the tax basis of your home, the less you will be taxed at the time of sale.  Typically, any amount you roll over to a new home won't be taxed, but any gain over your basis that is not reinvested in your new home may be subject to taxation.  Also, if you inherited your home from a parent, your basis may be based on the value at the time of death of your parent.

Hopefully over the years you have saved some of the receipts from loan documents, loan refinancing documents and home improvements.  Also, don't forget to include information on any previous home's value you have rolled into your current home.  Your basis will typically include the home's original purchase price, but also may include certain fees and expenses that were paid at closing. 

Here are a few things (and this is not meant to be all inclusive) that can further increase or decrease your homes basis:

Decrease

• Home office depreciation
• Insurance proceeds from an insured loss
• Money received to give an easement on your property

Increase

• Additions or Improvements to your home
• Improvements to prolong the life of your home
• Government Assessments to add street lighting, curbs etc.
• Repairs after hurricane or fire damage
• Legal fees to defend title

Its always best to think about your home's basis well before you need the numbers.  After a sale, when it's time to file tax returns, everything gets rushed.  Make sure you plan ahead so you can have accurate facts and help to minimize your taxes.  We recommend that you check with your accountant to confirm any details related to your home's basis.

Today's blog is a little different.  It’s not finance related, but it’s certainly about your welfare and the welfare of your friends and family.  Today we had the opportunity to participate in a "Stop the Bleed" course at our office.  This course was designed to help train bystanders how to stop life threatening bleeding while waiting for emergency responders to arrive. So, because I'm in the first aid mindset, I thought I'd write a short piece on situations you may encounter at work or home. My purpose in this blog is to give you an idea of what you may encounter, and the types of training that are useful to be prepared for these situations.  This blog is not intended in any way as specific instruction of what to do in these situations. It is just my take away from the training I have received. 

Any number of emergencies can occur during your average day no matter where you work or what you do for a living. Here are a few (by no means a complete list) of the types of emergencies you may encounter and what may be needed.

The first thing to do for any emergency is to call 911 or direct someone to call for you if emergency treatment is needed.  Additionally, do you have emergency numbers posted around your home or office where easily found?

Unconscious person

•  CPR training can be lifesaving in this event.  Red Cross offers classes all over the nation. If there is an AED available at your location, do you know where it is and how to use it? An AED can be invaluable in saving a victim's life and greatly increase the percentage of survival over not having an AED. 

 Cuts or injuries.

• A First Aid Kit should be available at your home or office.  A good first aid kit may help save someone's life in the event of an emergency or could help make a less severe injury under control more quickly. The Stop the Bleed class we took had some recommended items for a bleeding control kit.

Allergic Reactions

• Life threatening allergies are very common. Chances are you know someone who has one. Try to be aware of friends or family members that have allergies and see if they have their own EpiPen. In the event of a serious allergic reaction someone can lose consciousness before being able to alert someone where their Epipen is. If you have your own EpiPen, it may be a good idea to alert those at work or at home where you keep it in the event of an emergency. Many CPR classes include a portion about how to use these.

Choking

• Choking is another common occurrence.  This may occur at your home, office or while you are out at a restaurant.  Most CPR courses teach the skills needed to help a choking victim.  Such measures can be lifesaving and are easy to learn.

Stroke

• Again, a good CPR course teaches how to determine signs of a stroke.  Getting immediate emergency care can be critical to both survival and better outcomes for the victim.

There are of course many more situations that can occur, but these are some of the most common ones.  Additionally, each of the above has relatively easy sources of training available to be considered.  In all cases any person aiding a victim should always consider their own safety first.

The American Red Cross, some local Fire Stations and other private organizations offer courses in the above emergency procedures and many more.  We recommend CPR training for everyone because it is such a valuable skill to have and the classes only take a couple of hours.

Red Cross CPR Classes

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class?scode=PSG00000E017&cid=generator&med=cpc&source=google&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzePjBRCRARIsAGkrSm749F4E89rSkgfPraEU8VFMK6HYnLe9stqMubnkWJapV5kFKI0QgBwaApX3EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Stop the Bleed Classes

https://cms.bleedingcontrol.org/class/search

Many of us use credit cards with reward point systems.  These programs offer discounts, air miles, cash rewards, gift cards, magazine subscriptions, discount gas and numerous other options.

Do you really know if you're getting the best deal on your reward points versus other options available?

When reviewing reward point systems, it’s important to review the rewards in terms of the amount of dollars of benefit received for the dollars that you spent.  This is generally not how these point systems are reported.  In fact, with one card you might get triple points for every dollar spend and for another card you might get double points for every dollar spent.  At first glance, the triple points look like the better deal.  The reality is that the dollar value of both rewards points might be identical.

So how do you know what’s best?

First, review how many points you get for each dollar spent.  Some plans give different points for different types of spending (dining out, groceries, gas, etc).  If that’s the case, you may have to figure out an average amount spend and what points you received for that.

Next, review how those points convert into your rewards.

We all have different things we like, so limit your comparison to only those things you would normally use.  If you travel a lot, look at air miles/tickets.  If you shop at amazon, target, staples, see if they offer a gift card.  Review what cash reward options are.  You'd think they all converted to the same dollar amount, but generally they do not.

We’ve seen cases where a cash reward option was for example $100, but that same points reward in a gift card offered was worth $200.  That’s double the value and could have easily been missed.

Now that you better understand how your rewards points work, don’t forget to compare to other cards you have or to other offers you get occasionally.  Make sure to give yourself the best dollar value rewards possible.  It’s in your best interest.

As always, we are here to help.  If you have any questions let us know.