CFP

Selecting a Trustee: Talent, Temperament and Time

Selecting a trustee: talent, temperament, and time. Sometimes an estate planning attorney will recommend setting up a trust. One of the decisions to make in setting up a trust is selecting a successor trustee.  Who is the best person or persons to step into this role if you are unable to? Should it be a family member or a professional trust company? The requirements for this role often boil down to talent, temperament, and time. Following this outline, here are some questions to ask when considering a person, or an institution, as a successor trustee: Selecting a Trustee: Talent First, talent. Is the potential trustee detail-oriented? For example, trustees are required to provide annual accountings to beneficiaries. Are they familiar with keeping track of which money is considered “principal,” and which is considered “income”? This can make a difference when there are both current beneficiaries and remainder (future) beneficiaries. How familiar is the trustee with the spectrum of investments? Does he, she, or it understand the risk factors of all kinds of investments? Would he, she, or it know which investments are in the best interest of the beneficiaries? Trustees are “fiduciaries,” which means they are liable if their investment choices are not considered to be in the beneficiaries’ best interests at all times. That said, would the trustee understand when it is wise to watch pennies, and when it is “pound-foolish”? Selecting a Trustee: Temperament Next, temperament. Will naming this person cause family tension? Will they have conflicts of interest? Do they have problems dealing with other family members? Can they be sensitive to family dynamics and unbiased in decision making? Will this person put my interests ahead of his or her own? Selecting a Trustee: Time Finally, time. Will serving as trustee pose a time burden on a person? Trustees must have time to: review and pay bills, review investment decisions (jointly or with professional investment managers), and communicate with beneficiaries as necessary. How is the health of the potential trustee being considered? Will the beneficiaries likely outlive this person? Further Questions For shortfalls in any of these areas, an estate planning attorney should be consulted on whether any of the following may help: Naming two or three people as co-successor trustees. Considering a current co-trustee or –trustees. Considering a “trust protector,” a third-party person who oversees the trustee and can replace them if they are doing an unsatisfactory job. Having a family meeting to discuss the  provisions of the trust with the successor trustees, attorney, financial planner, and accountant. For some, a corporate trustee has distinct advantages. Corporate trustees have entire staffs of trust officers and lawyers. They have accounting systems set up to provide accountings and pay bills. Most have salaried staff investment managers with performance-based bonuses. They purchase stocks, bonds, and funds at institutional pricing with no markup to clients. Additionally, trust companies operate as unbiased professionals, with experience handling reasonable and unreasonable family members. They have loads of liability insurance. Finally, beneficiaries can’t outlive…

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Read more about the article Investing Vehicles: Getting You Where You Want To Go
Are you in the right investing vehicles for your destination?

Investing Vehicles: Getting You Where You Want To Go

With the stockmarket falling, it's normal for investors to wonder what kind of investing vehicles to choose right now. Stocks, bonds, even real estate, seem poised to crater as soon as we decide to buy. It's probably the most common question a financial planner receives in times like this - "Where should I put my money?" The media is filled with quick-fix advice on this all-important question. Research has shown that the best long-term predictor of investing success is the percentage we have in stocks vs. bonds. Further down the list in importance is the specific stocks and bonds (or mutual funds) selected.  But, financial products, or investing vehicles, are what sell pop-up ads and keep eyeballs glued to our screens. So, it’s no wonder that this is a common question. The Question Before The Question However, precisely because it is so important, it’s not a question that can normally be answered in an hour, or even two. There is a reason that financial products are called “vehicles.”  They get you where you want to go.  Consider - if you get behind the wheel of a real vehicle, turn on the ignition, put it in drive, and step on the gas without a destination in mind, what happens? You might have some fun and adventure, but not a lot to show for the trip before you have to fill up again. Wild Destinations When investors are asked where they would like the vehicle to go, financial planners often hear something like the following: Rich-Land (News flash: most of us are there already.) Growth-With-No-Risk Land 100%-Guaranteed-Income Land Cake-and-Eat-It-Too Land Whatever-the-Most-My-Portfolio-Can-Make-Me Land These kinds of wild places only exist in Financial-Fantasy-Land. They are too vague for any kind of meaningful map. Having one of these as your sole destination is a recipe for exhaustion and frustration. No vehicle will get you there, no matter what you might hear or read. Fun and Fulfilling Destinations In comparison, what are some examples of fun and fulfilling destinations? Try these: Have $X per year to support my basic living needs beginning in 20__ Replace my car with one like it every 5 years until I can’t drive anymore Spend 3 weeks every year in Scotland beginning in 20__ Put my kids through private school Provide sufficient support for the kids to attend a liberal arts college at age 18 if they want to Buy a mountain house by 20__ Host my children and grandchildren on a cruise every summer beginning in 20__ Build my own boat by 20__ Hold a 50th anniversary party for my parents Open a beachside bistro by 20__ Go to graduate school full-time in 20__ Spend 20 hours per week volunteering at the shelter beginning in 20__ These are real-life goals from real-life people with real achievability. Some of the destinations they knew off the top of their heads. Others took some time to dream, discuss, and discover. In some cases, that discovery was hard work. But once we knew the destination,…

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