If you want your estate and its assets to last for a considerable amount of time, then you have to be intentional about the estate plan that you develop and implement. After all, if you rely on a simple will, then you’ll lose all control over how your heirs can use their inheritance once you’re gone. This can put your assets at risk of being misused or being spent away too quickly. Fortunately, though, there are ways to create your estate plan to ensure asset longevity.
Estate planning tools you can use to give your estate assets longevity
There are a lot of estate planning tools at your disposal. Here are some of the most helpful when it comes to ensuring that your assets will last a long time:
- A spendthrift trust that incrementally releases assets to ensure they’re not spent away too quickly.
- A discretionary trust that allows the trustee to dictate when assets will be released to the beneficiary and in what amount.
- An incentive trust that can motivate your loved ones to achieve an identified goal before trust assets will be released to them.
- A remainder trust that supports an individual during their lifetime then specifies where remaining assets are to be directed upon the first beneficiary’s death.
- A generation-skipping trust that leaves assets directly to your grandchildren.
- A legacy trust aimed at providing financial support for multiple generations.
Take control of the future of your estate’s assets
One of the great things about estate planning is that you can customize the process to suit your goals and to seek to attain your vision of the future. So, as you embark on the estate planning process, be sure to take time to consider what it is that you really want for your loved ones and your assets. Then, think through which estate planning tools will get you where you want to be and act on them. Hopefully then you’ll be able to rest assured that you’ve done everything needed to provide for your loved ones while protecting your assets as you see fit.
