Dear Garden State Trust: My spouse died two years ago, leaving me an estate worth several million dollars. Because the estate was less than the federal exemption amount, I was told that no federal estate tax return was necessary. Was that advice correct? —Having Second Thoughts Dear Having: It’s complicated. Not filing the federal estate…
Author: gstc
The Explosion of IPOs and New Investment Choices
Not all companies are available to be purchased by ordinary investors. Many companies, even very large ones, are held in private hands, and have no desire to change that anytime soon. In 2016, CreditSuisse compiled a report of the listed companies on major U.S. stock exchanges over the last four decades. Although the value of…
Federal Estate Taxes
Dear Garden State Trust: At what wealth level do I need to worry about the federal estate tax? —Affluent, Not Rich Dear Affluent: That depends upon your circumstances. The amount exempt from the federal estate and gift tax in 2022 will be inflation-adjusted to $12,060,000, up from $11,700,000 in 2021. If you are married, you…
Scams Are Becoming More Elaborate
Although we may know of various scams and how to avoid them, we can’t know them all because they are changing all the time. Sometimes we can spot these changes as they happen. When the Nigerian prince scam changed from being mailed to being emailed, it wasn’t that hard to tell it was the same…
Investments
Dear Garden State Trust: I’m looking for an investment that could double or triple my money in a year. However, it can’t be too risky, as I’ve had some financial setbacks this year. I have a lot of ground to make up, but I have to do it safely. What do you recommend? —Mixed Signals…
Trusts and Philanthropy
Americans are some of the most generous people in the world. Although one might have expected charitable giving to have decreased in uncertain times during a global pandemic, Americans donated a record $471 billion dollars to charity in 2020, according to a recent report in Giving USA. One wealth management strategy for a substantial gift…
GRATs
Dear Garden State Trust: What is a GRAT? Is this something I should be considering? —Curious About Trusts Dear Curious: GRAT stands for Grantor Retained Annuity Trust. This is a temporary trust that may be used to transfer large sums free of federal gift or estate tax. The Grantor establishes the trust for a specific…