All The Right Money Moves – 3 Key Financial Tips for 2018

To help you and your family make all the right money moves for 2018, financial planner Lex Byers offers 3 key tips that could help you grow your 401(k), avoid financial ruin and adjust to the new tax rules signed into law by President Trump.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – “In the ever changing financial planning landscape, getting ahead financially is tough unless you set up a plan and stick to it,” says Lex Byers, a financial planner in Las Vegas. “Doing an annual financial check-up,” he stresses, “is only worthwhile if you use it as a jumping off point to build good habits.” To help you and your family make all the right money moves for 2018, Lex offers these 3 key tips that could help you grow your 401(k), avoid financial ruin and adjust to the new tax rules signed into law by President Trump.

Tip #1 – Insurance may not be sexy, but it is the foundation of any financial plan.

Insurance protects people from catastrophic losses that can wipe them out. So January’s the perfect time to make sure your family has enough life insurance to pay for the kids’ college, keep current on the mortgage and fund other living costs in the event you or another breadwinner in the family dies, causing a loss of income. “Check all of your insurance coverage,” especially if your life has undergone changes, such as having a child,” advises Lex Byers.

That means making sure your house, car, health and life is adequately insured against events that could put your family in financial peril. Other basics not to overlook are making sure your will and estate plan are updated and all your financial accounts have the proper beneficiaries.

Tip #2 – Adjust your personal tax plan to compensate for the new rules.

The new tax law means most Americans’ tax bills will change. Some will pay more and many will pay less. Many long-standing deductions, such as home mortgage interest and state and local taxes, have been cut or eliminated. Taxpayers should analyze how to best take advantage of any benefits they receive. Perhaps more important, figure out how to minimize financial damage caused by changes to the tax code that reduce take-home pay or make owning a home more expensive.

“People living in high-cost states that are either approaching retirement, in line for a new job in another state or who aren’t happy where they’re living now, might want to consider moving to a low-tax state, such as Florida,” says Lex Byers.

Simpler moves include reducing the money withheld from your paycheck for taxes if you’re getting a cut, or boosting your withholding if you expect to pay more in taxes. “It also makes financial sense to direct some or all of your tax windfall to your retirement account, or 529 college savings account, which can now be used to pay for private school from elementary school onward.

Many investors’ portfolios today may be more risky than they think. A portfolio that once had 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds, for example, may now have a stock weighting of 70% or more.

“I encourage people to look at their holdings and make sure they are not overexposed to risk that they are not prepared to handle,” Byers says. To reduce risk, investors should rebalance their portfolios, or get back to their initial asset mix of, say, 60% stocks and 40% bonds, he says.

Tip #3 – Home Ownership may not be the golden goose for tax deductions anymore.

With fewer deductions, housing isn’t as financially friendly to homeowners, especially in New Jersey and California and other pricey, high-tax states along either coast. Now’s a good time to see if the house you’re living in or the new house you’re eyeing or the second home you’ve been dreaming about is still affordable.

Does it mean you shouldn’t own a home or buy a home? No. A house isn’t only an investment, it is a place to live. But with the new tax rules, it could hit the second-home market as well as keeping people from moving up to bigger primary homes. “It will be harder to afford housing because the government isn’t subsidizing it as much,” says Lex Byers.

About Lex Byers

A recognized expert in retirement planning, income tax mitigation and asset protection, Lex Byers has experience structuring tax and enterprise transactions, including corporate and limited liability company formations (domestic and offshore), acquisitions, dispositions and mergers, buy-sell agreements, partnership agreements, joint ventures, real estate acquisitions, dispositions and tax-deferred exchanges.  Additionally, Lex Byers has substantial experience in the areas of ERISA, tax treatment of business enterprises and tax-deferred entities. For more information, visit http://lexbyers.us

Lex J Byers – Never Heard of a Dynasty Trust? It’s Time You Have!

Pretty much everyone has heard of a ‘living trust’,” says Lex Byers, a Nevada asset protection lawyer. “You’ve worked hard to achieve success in business and your personal financial life and now it makes sense to take steps to preserve that wealth you’ve accumulated, so your sons and daughters and their sons and daughters can enjoy some of the fruits of your labor.” A “Dynasty Trust” can do all of that while minimizing estate taxes, providing protection for your family, and distributing assets in a way that reinforces your values, as well as perpetuating itself for generations to come.

Unlike corporations, partnerships, and other business entities, most trusts are not perpetual. Most kinds of trusts are established with a finite term that is either a specified length of time or is tied to an event—for example, a beneficiary reaching the age of majority. Indeed, under the common law “rule against perpetuities” and many modified state law versions of the rule, a trust’s duration must be limited. However, some states do permit properly structured trusts – dynasty trusts – to have a term spanning several generations or to last indefinitely.

As Lex Byers describes it, “The basic structure of a dynasty trust is relatively simple. You transfer selected assets (which could be a combination of stocks, bonds, and real estate) into a trust managed by an independent trustee, usually a financial professional or an institution. The trust may be created as an “inter vivos” transfer during your lifetime or as a testamentary transfer through your will. Once established, such a trust is irrevocable. You can’t control it directly or change beneficiaries.”

The trustee is now responsible for investing trust assets. Depending on the trust’s rules, income may continue to accumulate inside the trust or it may be paid out to beneficiaries, usually your children and other descendants. The trustee may also have discretion to use trust principal for the health, education, support, or maintenance of the beneficiaries or in other specified circumstances. But the goal is for the trust to be managed so that it will preserve most of its assets for the benefit of future generations.

One chief objective of a dynasty trust may be to minimize taxes. Transferring assets to the trust removes them from your taxable estate. Under the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), you can contribute up to $5 million to the trust (indexed to $5.49 million for 2017) — or $10 million as a couple (indexed to $10.98 million for 2017) — without owing gift or estate taxes. Not only does ATRA retain this generous exemption for 2015 and thereafter, it permanently extends the provision allowing “portability” of exemptions between spouses.

Although transferring assets through the trust to your grandchildren could trigger a generation-skipping tax (GST), there’s also now a $5 million GST exemption (indexed to $5.49 million for 2017) to shelter the transfer from this tax—but there’s no portability of GST exemptions.

“Like we’ve seen in many movie plots, a dynasty trust can also be set up to help perpetuate values you hold dear. If you want your heirs to adopt your strong work ethic or your charitable inclinations, your trust might impose requirements related to those values that beneficiaries must fulfill in order to receive funds. It’s your way to get in your ‘final last word’ to your children,” amuses Lex Byers.

There could be rules related to working at particular kinds of jobs, demonstrating a commitment to charity, or meeting other kinds of ethical or religious benchmarks. Your trust can be set up to help heirs avoid the “trust baby” syndrome that has often plagued wealthy families and to prevent spending sprees by irresponsible children or grandchildren.

A third objective in setting up a dynasty trust may be to provide protection from creditors. Because the trust, rather than its beneficiaries, owns the assets, creditors of your heirs won’t have access to the assets. And a dynasty trust’s indefinite or perpetual term means that protection will also be long lasting. This feature can also safeguard assets against claims by a divorcing spouse.

Lex Byers urges clients looking at this trust option to keep in mind that while you can’t control a dynasty trust directly, you may reserve the right to hire and fire trustees and to provide guidance about investment policy…and having the right trustee in place should always be their key focus.

If you still think a dynasty trust might benefit your family, it could be important to act soon, while the current estate tax provisions are in effect. Moreover, federal officials have said they would like future rules to limit the duration of dynasty trusts. Welcome to the ever-changing world of politics and your money.

Tips on Selecting the Best Auto Accident Attorney

At the moment, you will find a lot of people who met with car accidents, every single day. However, these folks aren’t able to claim the recovery amount. Just in case, you haven’t done anything wrong then you definitely must file a situation towards another party. You’ve to get claim for the compensation in the opposite party. However, a typical person doesn’t learn about their privileges to get compensation in the opposite party.

Avail the expertise

In cases like this, sufferer must avail the expertise of a vehicle accident attorney. If you’re also certainly one of individual’s sufferers then you need to opt for professional lawyers inside your situation because they are well-experienced with a myriad of accident related issues. Despite the fact that, you will find lots of accent lawyers currently available but you have to choose the good for you. Usually, people face many difficulties when it comes to choosing an attorney for his or her accident situation.

Opt for the best

Sometimes, they choose the incorrect lawyer. However, you’ll know that you can’t enable your hard gained money use choosing the incorrect attorney. Actually, you need to opt for the very best accident attorney. There’s no denying for this proven fact that likelihood of winning the situation increases, should you choose an experienced and knowledgeable attorney. You will find some details that need great consideration, if you want to choose the very best accident attorney for the situation.

Choose the skilled attorney

To begin with, you have to choose a skilled attorney with appropriate experience of car crash cases. This is because, these cases are entirely not the same as other cases and when you select a lawyer who simply has experience with other cases then the likelihood of losing your situation is much more. You shouldn’t take any type of risk inside your situation even if you valuable cash are involved with it. You need to choose some best lawyers after which compare these with one another when it comes to their qualification, abilities, past work, costs and a few other significant aspects. So, what exactly are you awaiting? Select the right attorney for the situation and obtain most effective compensation!

Lex Byers – Lex J. Byers Attorney – Argent Capital & IFL Capital Group

Lex J. Byers serves as the organization’s senior counselor and creator of the P.E.B.™ Plan. In that capacity he is responsible for the overall regulation and structure of the company, conducting enterprise valuations and diagnosing the fiscal health of client organizations. Byers joined Argent, LLC following an extensive career in government, tax research, financial analysis and marketing that spans the past 30 years.

A former senior congressional staff member (Executive Assistant to The Honorable Eldon Rudd – 4th District, AZ), Byers uses his extensive knowledge of Washington D.C.’s regulatory and legislative environment to keep the organization current on pending federal tax, retirement and business issues. Additionally, he holds membership in the Association of Corporate Counsel and is a General Associate of the American Bar Association, where he is active in the ABA Sections on Tax and Estate Planning.

Lex’s entrepreneurial career also includes serving as government affairs manager for the Food Marketing Institute (Washington, D.C.); government affairs manager for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and executive vice president of the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce. Byers was educated at the University of California-San Diego, and the University of San Diego.

A recognized expert in retirement planning, income tax mitigation and asset protection, Byers has experience structuring tax and enterprise transactions, including corporate and limited liability company formations (domestic and offshore), acquisitions, dispositions and mergers, buy-sell agreements, partnership agreements, joint ventures, real estate acquisitions, dispositions and tax-deferred exchanges.  Additionally, Mr. Byers has substantial experience in the areas of ERISA, tax treatment of business enterprises and tax-deferred entities.

His Business Succession work focuses on transition issues for professionals and small business owners.  The primary goal of professionals and small business owners is often to minimize taxes while retaining control of their business.  To that end, Byers has extensive experience setting up both qualified and nonqualified retirement programs with their attendant tax deferral benefits.

In his asset protection practice, Lex assists clients in protecting their assets from potential creditors arising from personal and business transactions.  Specific, tax-neutral strategies utilizing both onshore and offshore vehicles include the use of Asset Protection Trusts, corporate veils, bearer shares, spendthrift trusts and International Business Companies.

He also has extensive experience representing clients before the IRS and other taxing authorities on issues ranging from simple sales tax examinations to complex unitary business investigations.

Lex is a frequent lecturer to various financial planning and professional associations on topics ranging from structural formation and taxation to asset protection and retirement planning. He is an instructor for continuing education of Attorneys, Financial Planners and Certified Public accountants lecturing on ART: Asset protection, Retirement and advanced Tax planning techniques.

In his spare time, Lex collects and drives a variety of classic motorcycles and automobiles.