Estate and Tax Planning: Where to Get Started

Estate planning isn't just for the super-rich. Almost everyone has an estate, whether large or small. Your estate includes personal items such as cars, property, jewelry, bank accounts, and investments. 

But estate and tax planning are more than just protecting your assets. It's about preparing for illness, disability, passing on, and planning for your heir's future.

Tax and estate planning can be a complicated road to travel, and it can be daunting knowing where to start. Here are a few tips on where to get started with estate and tax planning.

What is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is making a plan in advance and taking steps by naming the people, charities, or organizations you want to receive your assets after you die. Estate planning makes it easier for your wishes to be carried out at a later date.

What is Tax Planning?

Tax planning involves taking a hard look at your financial situation to reduce your tax liability. Tax planning is crucial to estate planning because your taxes can have a significant impact on how much you pass to your heirs after you die.

There are three related federal transfer taxes: gift tax, generation-skipping tax, and estate tax. Depending on the value of your estate, all of these taxes can affect the amount you leave your beneficiaries. You must use professional tax planning to ensure your beneficiaries are well cared for after you pass on.

Getting Started With Estate and Tax Planning

Your estate planning will change as your needs, financial situation, and family change. From the time you become a legal adult, start working, accumulating assets and investments, you should begin your estate and tax planning. Use these steps to get started.

Up-to-date Beneficiary Designations

Even if you're single and early in your career, you need to designate a beneficiary for your 401(k) and life insurance policy. Update your beneficiaries as your life changes and your family grows.

Health Care Proxy

A health care proxy allows someone to make health care decisions on your behalf if you can't do so yourself.

A Living Will

A living will allows you to leave instructions for the end-of-life treatment, such as non-resuscitation or life-sustaining treatment.

Durable Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney allows someone else to make financial decisions on your behalf.

A Will

If you're early in your career and have no assets, you may not need a will, but a will is crucial when you own a home or other properties where you don't have a beneficiary named. Finding the right will lawyer who understands your particular issues can put you in a good place so you won't be stressed or worried.

Guardian for Your Children

It's essential to your estate planning to appoint a guardian for your children if both parents die or if you're a single parent with sole custody.

It's never too early or too late to begin estate and tax planning. Using an attorney who offers innovative solutions for tax and estate planning is the best way to secure your family's future after you pass on.

Three Things To Know Before Running A Business Credit Check

A business credit report will give you a fair idea about how a company organizes its credit outflow. It enables you to determine if an enterprise can be trusted by the way it manages money. 

You can adequately gauge the financial health of a company with a business credit report. A good business credit score indicates that a company is a good candidate for receiving loans on favorable repayment terms. 

An exemplary business credit score proves their creditworthiness and implies that they can fulfill their financial obligations and obtain good financing to conduct their business for growth and expansion.

Before you engage financially with any company, you need to run a business credit check on them. Associating your business with potential partners who have a bad business credit score can have serious repercussions on your business credit, and it can direct the way other companies will perceive your business. 

A business credit report will enable you to provide credit to your potential business partner responsibly. It allows you to assess the likelihood of repaying the credit on time so that you can smoothly conduct your business. 

Moreover, it will give a better idea about how much credit should you lend for small business financing. Hence, with a business credit report, you can appropriately assess both credit risk and affordability before providing any credit so that you do not get into any financial difficulties. 

If you are wondering how to get business credit reports online, you can refer to various reputable e-companies that allow you to buy business credit reports to check up on your potential business partner.

Hence, as a business owner, you need to make informed business credit decisions. With the help of business credit reports of current and prospective business partners, you can adequately maintain your financial health and enable your cash flow to move smoothly. Here are few important things you should know about business credit reports.

Factors That Determine Business Credit Scores

A business credit score gives you crucial insight into a company’s financial health and reliability. The credit reporting agencies generate the report and calculate it using several factors. 

The details typically consist of public financial data and information that the company, its lenders, and other vendors supply to the credit reporting agency. The scoring model of each agency differs, and most of them combine the following factors like payment history, age of credit history, debt and debt usage, industry risk, and company size. 

A business credit report will help you know about business characteristics, older companies have better credit scores as compared to startups. A company that has sustained itself for a long time builds an adequate financial history. 

A business credit report will enable you to know about a company’s credit utilization ratio, that is, the amount of revolving credit they currently use divided by the total amount of revolving credit that is available. To have a good ratio, they need to have a credit spend under 30 to 35% of their credit limit. 

If they have a higher spend ratio, it indicates that they have a weak credit repayment schedule, and are extensively relying on external credit. You can gauge their credit history with a business credit report which generally includes the credit length, consistency and regularity of repayment history, current, and past loans, and also their outstanding debts.

Importance of a Business Credit Report

Before pairing up with new customers or suppliers and establish a partnership with another company, you can minimize and manage credit risk by accessing their business credit report. It will enable you to evaluate the likelihood of repaying what they borrow on time. 

The business credit report allows you to look into how they have managed their credit accounts in the past, and gauge their credit commitments. It allows you to predict better if they can manage the credit they are applying for. 

These reports will boost your credit-related decision-making process, and also assess how much business credit they can afford, and what risk you are taking by providing the given amount of credit. 

Business credit reports give you a better overview of the company’s information, subsidiaries, company finances, risk scores, and any liens or bankruptcies so that you can make a well-informed business credit decision.

Monitor Your Own Business Credit Profile Too

Besides monitoring the credit profile of your customers, partners, and suppliers, you should also monitor your business credit profit too. It will impact how other companies and financial institutions perceive your company and affect the decisions for conducting any business relationship with your business. 

For expanding your business, you should keep a tab on your potential partner as well as your credit score. You should try to keep it favorable and updated at all times to obtain good financing opportunities to conduct your business.

To Conclude:

Hence, you can rely on business credit profiles to access the necessary information you need to decide if you can extend credit to your prospective business partner, and gauge the credit risk and affordability.

Repairs in Your Home That Are Worth the Initial Investment

When planning to sell your home, you want to get a higher bidder. However, this may not be easy if you do not upgrade your home. No buyer wants to invest in a home with many issues that may lead to costly repairs. 

This is why you should renovate your home to look valuable and enable you to get back your initial investment or even more. Here are various upgrades.

Improve Curb Appeal

Your home exterior is the first point of contact for buyers coming to inspect your home. It should be eye-catchy to attract the buyer’s attention quickly. 

This is why you need to improve the curb appeal by changing or upgrading a few things in your home exterior. You can mow and level your lawn, change the furniture in your patio, add color to your painters, and pressure-wash the exterior of your house. 

Such changes will make your home attractive, thus increasing its value.

Repair the Roof

Most buyers pay close attention to the roof when buying a home. No one wants to risk buying a house with roof issues that could lead to costly repairs or replacement. 

Your roof should be durable, attractive, and strong to increase the value of your property. Inspect the roof thoroughly and determine where you need to repair it. 

You may want to seek help from a contractor to help you inspect the roof before repairs. If you notice leaks on your roof, you can use a local company, like Everest Systems, to seal the leaks and make your roof more efficient and valuable.

Update the Kitchen

Everyone wants a neat, well-organized, and modern-looking kitchen. This is what most buyers will use to rate the overall look and feel of your home. So, ensure it looks attractive, modern, and neat. 

You can replace the appliances with modern fixtures that are energy–efficient. Changing sinks, faucets, and cabinets is another excellent upgrade that will increase the value of your home.

Replace the HVAC

If you have an old HVAC unit, it is time to upgrade it. Today, there are multiple units with different features that can increase the value of your home dramatically. Go for an energy-efficient system that the new homeowner won’t incur high energy bills. 

With advanced technology today, you will get programmable thermostats that you can control easily to avoid spending more energy and incurring higher power bills.

Upgrading your home may seem a challenging, time-consuming, and costly project, but it is worth it. You’re sure of the increased value of your property that will influence the final cost of selling your home.

How to Finance for College After Serving in the Military

After serving their country many veterans don’t have to find themselves struggling to pay for college because there are resources that can help finance a college degree after military service.

With just a little research on financing an advanced education, veterans can take advantage of the variety of benefits to get ahead in civilian life. There are many options available to those who want to go back to school after their service in the military, and here are a few to consider.

Military Tuition Assistance Programs

With the increasing cost of college, many students find it difficult to pay for a good education. Tuition assistance programs help you take the burden off your shoulders and help you earn your degree while working in the military. 

The tuition assistance programs vary depending on which branch of the military you enlist in, the structure of the program, and the time period.

The GI Bill

Many people are unaware of the original GI Bill or how it benefits those who served our country, but it's possible to get plenty of relevant information on it. The GI Bill, which was started after the Second World War, is a federal program that provides educational and housing assistance for veterans. 

There is also the Post 9/11 GI Bill. It’s designed for those service members who were discharged after September 11th, 2001.

Online Universities

There is also the option of enrolling in an online university for military service members. Many colleges and universities offer a wide range of award-winning academic programs and services to veterans, active-duty military service members. Military spouses, and military family members

Loan Repayment Assistance for Military Students

Military service members are often required to repay all of the loans they took out when they enrolled in college. However, these students may be unsure of how to proceed with repayment after their service is done. 

This assistance program is for those military servicemen who want to continue their education, or already have a degree and want to find a new career path, who can use this program to find an affordable loan repayment plan.

Loan Forgiveness for Military Students

Military student loan forgiveness programs are designed to help military students get forgiveness for loans that they applied for to get through college.

Those who have served or are serving in the military have many benefits, programs, and resources available to help them easily transition from military life to civilian life and get the education they need to secure well-paying jobs in a wide range of industries or professions.

4 Aspects of Restoring an Old Home to Budget For

Many people wish to someday have their own dream home. Either by building it new from the ground up, or finding one on the market that they simply have to add a few touches to here and there. 

However, in many cases, obtaining that home may be more work than you expected. This will certainly be the case if you are restoring an older home. As the years go by, everything eventually needs an overhaul or touch-up. 

This is no different when it comes to homes, as they tend to need a lot of maintenance as they get older. Whether that be because of just time itself, some sort of area, or environmental disaster, or we learn more about the materials we used to build it. Something will most likely need to be done for your home. 

Doing so will require creating a tight budget that you have to keep a strict eye on. If you don’t, you may end up spending more than the project is actually worth to you. 

Below are four aspects of restoring an old home you must budget for.

Foundational Issues

One of the biggest problems with older homes can be foundation issues. As a house gets older, it begins to “settle”. Sometimes, this means that the soil beneath the house will shift or move away, meaning your house’s foundation has nothing underneath to support it. 

This can lead to cracks forming along the walls of your home, both inside and outside, or the ground pulling away from the entire structure. A sign of foundational issues will be doors that either stick or don’t fit properly in their doorways, or the floor sagging or bowing. 

Gaps may appear in your windows, or along with your cabinets as they pull away from the wall. Soil shifting isn’t the only cause of foundation issues, however. The roots of nearby trees may have eventually grown so big they have begun destabilizing the foundation. 

Flooding from over the years may have even deteriorated the foundation. It generally depends on your area’s environment and soil content to determine if your house is at risk for foundation issues. 

No matter how it happened however if an older home has foundation issues, you must have those addressed first before you pay for anything else if you want to save the home.

Hazardous Material Removal

Homes built many years ago were often constructed under different safety standards and with different building materials than those that exist today. 

Things like asbestos insulation and lead paint or pipes were common in the past before it was discovered they can cause life-threatening diseases. If you suspect such hazards may exist in the home you are remodeling, have some budget set aside to remove those dangers. 

It can get expensive to remove things like lead-based paints and asbestos-riddled ceilings safely. When you choose a removal service, make sure you are picking out a reputable company that follows all the latest safety regulations.

Roofing

Another thing you will likely need to budget for is new roofing. Many kinds of roofing are not designed to last forever. Asphalt shingles, for example, are probably not going to last longer than 20 years. 

Over the years, it’s very likely the roofing of an older home has been damaged in some way. Plan to have the roof of the home inspected, and budget accordingly. If there is any question about its condition, hire a roofing contractor, like PM Roberts LLC, and have new roofing installed in the style of the original roofing. 

While you may want to stick with an original roof, the damage that can be done to the home if it fails is not worth the trouble. It would be better to replace the roof and feel safe knowing that you have a secure one over your head.

Electrical System

The electrical systems in older homes can also prove a challenge. They may, for example, not be able to support the wattage of your modern appliances. 

When this happens you could experience constant power outages as the house’s breakers flip. Otherwise, pests could have gotten in over the years and damaged any wiring they came across. In certain cases, old-fashioned electrical systems could pose a serious hazard. 

No matter what the issue, it would be best to expect you’ll need to do something about your house’s electrical system. Electrocution and fire could both be a risk. Restoring a period home may require replacing the electrical system entirely.

Overall, there are pretty much no examples of older homes that can be restored on the cheap. Instead, you must budget carefully to ensure that you have enough money to actually finish the project. 

If you don’t budget properly, the project can easily spiral out of control and end up ballooning in price. You could end up losing money on the house, and end up making your project cost more than it was ever worth. 

Preparation and dedicated accounting are important to make sure your restoration project is worth every penny.

What are the Advantages of Used Car Deals? A Definitive Guide

Buying from a certified used car dealer is an excellent option for those who want to save money on their next purchase. A quality, the pre-owned vehicle can offer so many benefits over new models that it makes sense to give them some serious consideration when shopping around. 

Some people are apprehensive about buying a used car because they worry that the quality of their new vehicle will be below. But those who do not mind being creative with modifications may find it worth looking into, as many dealers offer great deals on pre-owned vehicles!

When looking to buy the best used car deals in Ontario, whether it is for personal use or as a way to help make money, there are many places where used cars for sale near you can be found. 

However, when going about finding used cars for sale close to you, there are some important things to keep in mind. While there are certainly advantages to owning one of these used cars, there are also some disadvantages. 

Knowing this upfront can help you decide if purchasing a used car is right for you.

What are the advantages of purchasing from used car dealers?

One of the most obvious advantages to purchasing a used car from a private party or even a used car for sale close to you is the convenience factor. 

If you live a considerable distance from where you would like to purchase your vehicle, then buying from a private party is often the easiest way to go. However, if you have the means to travel, there may be other options you should consider as well.




Another advantage to purchasing from local used car dealerships is the selection of vehicles that they have available. Most local dealerships have at least a few models and make of vehicles that they can offer. 

This is often a good thing because you will likely find a better selection and pricing than you would if you went to a dealer that sold everything. However, this comes with a downside. 

Because local used car dealerships often only have a limited amount of selection available to their customers, they will have to be willing to pass on some deals in order to keep their costs down. This can result in some very good deals that are not available elsewhere.

Perhaps the biggest advantage to purchasing used cars for sale near you is the cost savings. This can be significant depending on the make and model you choose. 

Many people find that buying used cars for sale near you can help them save hundreds of dollars over buying new ones. In fact, many people say that it is one of the best ways to get a great deal on a car! The insurance for a used car is also less.

You also want to consider how much money you have to spend each month on used cars for sale. You can easily spend thousands of dollars on one of these vehicles, but this is not always the case. 

If you have sufficient funds to buy a used car, you could even choose to finance it. This can be helpful if you have a good credit score and are able to qualify for a loan.

When you shop around for used cars for sale, be sure to take your budget into consideration. Be realistic about what you can afford in a used car. 

Remember that most used cars will be well maintained, so do not expect to drive away in a showroom new car that you can barely get around. However, you may be surprised to know that some used cars are actually a great deal because they come with low mileage. 

This can mean that you will be able to drive around for years on end without having to worry about maintenance issues.

It is also a good idea to take a look at the used cars for sale from a dealership you are interested in. Some dealerships have a better selection, which means you can avoid driving around in a less than a desirable vehicle. 

You might also find more helpful information about used cars for sale at a dealership because they are willing to answer questions that you might not have had the time or resources to find yourself. 

Additionally, some dealerships offer vehicle financing, which can make life a bit easier when you need a loan to purchase a used car. You will also get a full vehicle history report including registration status and insurance.

Final Take

When you buy a used car from a dealer, it is important to know that the price of your purchase includes all documentation. You can also be sure that the vehicle has been inspected and serviced before being put on sale.