“Even though you’ve paid taxes that help fund Medicaid for all your working years, you shouldn’t aspire to get a return on that “investment.” Medicaid is a program for people with minimal income and assets; if you have to use it, you’re in bad shape. Eligibility guidelines vary by state because Medicaid is a joint federal-state program. But to give you an idea, getting Medicaid through ACCESS Florida as an individual who is 65 or older and needs long-term care requires that your monthly income be no higher than $2,199 and your assets be no more than $2,000 ($5,000 in some cases).”
Any Fontinelle, Investopedia
Quote for the Day
April 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Quote for the Day
April 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
“While many people have an inherent aversion to talking about both death and taxes, leaving a positive legacy is something we all care about. Unfortunately, numerous studies show that over 50% of Americans have no estate plan, no will and no medical directives. Why do so many people fail to properly plan for what happens at the end of their life? Simon & Garfunkel may have gotten to the heart of things in one of their songs: So I’ll continue to continue to pretend / My life will never end….
“The tragedy of failing to properly plan is not visited upon the dead. It is the living that suffer its unexpected and unforgiving consequences. By failing to properly plan, many of us are creating problems for our loved ones that do not exist. Estate planning sounds as if it is for the über-wealthy when in fact it applies to everyone. Below are some of the areas that need to be addressed as a part of the estate planning process.”
John J. Scroggin, AEP, J.D., LL.M., Wall Street Journal
Quote for the Day
March 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
“Family business succession planning is the cornerstone of any successful family business owner’s estate plan. As is often the case, however, planning for the inter-generational transfer of ownership and control of the business becomes complicated by the intra-generational conflicts of the business owner’s heirs. These onflicts among members of the second generation, if severe enough, can render the effective management of the business by the second generation virtually impossible, leading to a loss in productivity and profitability with a resulting decline in the enterprise’s value.”
Michael V. Bourland and Dustin G. Willey, “Setting the Stage for Planning with the Family Business Owner: Tax-Free Division,” ALI CLE Estate Planning Course Materials Journal, April 2015.
Quote for the Day
March 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Henry David Thoreau
Quote for the Day
March 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On the impact of the business structure of a farm on federal farm payment limitations:
The structuring question also influences eligibility for the federal farm program payment limitation. Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act, of 1996 and earlier legislation, each “person” under one or more production flexibility contracts is eligible for a maximum of $40,000 in federal farm program payments. The payment limitation was eased in 2000. Thus, a key issue any time the farm or ranch business is restructured is determining who will qualify as a separate “person,” and whether different types of entities qualify as their own separate “person.”
McEowen and Hart, “The Law of the Land: Fundamentals of Agricultural Law,” (2002)
Quote for the Day
March 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
Winston Churchill
Quote for the Day
March 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
“If you feel like your VC [venture capitalist] is a proctologist, run for the hills.”
Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, Venture Deals: Be Smarter than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist, Wiley 2103
Quote for the Day
March 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Actually, this is not a quote but a paraphrase of some information I found the other day on the Internet. Can’t remember the source–I think I may have found it on Farm Bureau website and repeated in a variety of other places, including a Nationwide Insurance brochure I discovered online. With that, this:
Almost 97% of farms in the U.S. are owned by families, and only 11% of those families have succession or transitions plans in place to ensure that the farm stays in family hands after the current owner dies.
Quote for the Day
March 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau
Quote for the Day
March 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Those who inherit fortunes are frequently more of a problem than those who made them.
Congolese Proverb