Having “the talk,” is never easy. Whether you are 10 years old and your parents are having “the talk” with you … or you are 50 years old and having “the talk” with them … the topics, though vastly different, are never easy. But your parents were brave enough to sit down and explain the facts of life with you when it was needed. Now, it may be your turn to return the favor and talk about the facts of the estate tax.
Though the estate tax is currently on a one-year sabbatical, it looks increasingly like it will return next year – and with a vengeance, pouncing upon estate assets in excess of $1 million. Now would be a good time to talk to your parents about how the estate tax could affect them, when previously they may have assumed they were “safe.”
A recent article in US News & World Report offers some tips on how to bring up this sensitive topic, including making sure that your parents realize you do not have designs on their money. The article is a good read, but I’d like to add another tip. Refer your parents to this blog, to my website, or to our monthly e-newsletter. Talk about the issues you read, and how they affect your own lives, and the live of your loved ones – including your parents.
Though the estate tax is currently on a one-year sabbatical, it looks increasingly like it will return next year – and with a vengeance, pouncing upon estate assets in excess of $1 million. Now would be a good time to talk to your parents about how the estate tax could affect them, when previously they may have assumed they were “safe.”
A recent article in US News & World Report offers some tips on how to bring up this sensitive topic, including making sure that your parents realize you do not have designs on their money. The article is a good read, but I’d like to add another tip. Refer your parents to this blog, to my website, or to our monthly e-newsletter. Talk about the issues you read, and how they affect your own lives, and the live of your loved ones – including your parents.
