In this edition of the Red Wagon Estate Planning and Elder Law Show, we go through the ins-and-outs of our maintenance program. Jeff begins by talking about his personal experience with his mother and the attorneys who robbed them of their money, and how he became one of those attorneys in his first job after getting his certification. This leads into Jeff talking about how Bellomo & Associates approach to build relationships and trust with clients, and first and foremost educate people. One of the key ways Bellomo & Associates builds lasting connections with clients is through our maintenance program. Jeff explains what our maintenance program is and what it does for our clients. We hope that you join the maintenance family if you are able and keep up to date with the show for everything you need to know about estate planning and elder law.Key Takeaways Takeaway 1: Jeffs background(00:00:25 - 00:04:47)When Jeffs mother became ill and needed assistance, a surgeon told them to look into care options. He went to an attorney seeking advice, paid a $300 consultation fee, and the attorney tried to trap him into a $15,000 plan without any details, insight or explanation. He forfeited that $300 and went to another attorney who did the same thing, costing him another $300.In 2008, Jeff found himself becoming the very thing he swore to himself he would never be, one of those attorneys that just collects consultation fees. He wanted to quit his job but his mom convinced him to not throw away all of the work hed done to get his certification as an estate planning and elder law attorney. Instead of running away from his problems, he was convinced to run at them and change the industry for the better.Takeaway 2: What Bellomo & Associates is about(00:04:48 - 00:06:05)Bellomo & Associates was founded on the idea that education comes first and foremost. That is why we have so many free workshops.Clients know exactly what they are hiring us for, only paying a flat fee. There are no hidden charges or billings. We build trust, its not just about making money.Takeaway 3: Our maintenance program(00:06:06 - 00:12:32)Clients love the flat fees and everything being included up front. That has gotten many clients to choose us. What we didnt necessarily anticipate is, what happens on an ongoing basis? We had a lot of clients who used to be former business clients, and brought to our attention the idea of having clients on retainer like in the business world. This led to us starting up a maintenance program.We have a maintenance family now, clients who choose to pay a flat fee per year to be able to come in at any time, ask any questions and make any changes to their documents. If the law changes, we call them and them about the changes in the law.Every month we try to have a speaker or event to bring the family together. It hit Jeff that most people dont have lasting connections with law firms, so this maintenance program is designed to make and strengthen connections.We can see hundreds of clients on a regular basis, which makes for a significantly better business model.Weve gotten together at John Wright Restaurant and have had meetings at various parks. In October we always have a maintenance event where Jeff and the other attorneys speak on the changes in the law and any changes in the industry. After that meeting, any clients that need changes to their documents can make arrangements to sit down with a team member. We let our families know that if they maintain themselves in the maintenance program from the day that you started your plan to the day that you pass away, we will honor a one percent fee guarantee.If a family goes through probate or has their assets in a will, typically a lawyer charges around 5%. If they have assets in a trust its typically 2-3%Our maintenance programs range from $395-$695 per year. Youre looking at paying that for an hour and a half of an attorneys time per year, but in return you get unlimited access to the law firm, monthly speakers, monthly events, monthly education, annual picnics and annual maintenance events.Takeaway 4: The impact of the Secure Act(00:12:33 - 00:17:00)Several years ago, the law changed. There was the Secure Act that came down, a law related to retirement accountsPrior to the Secure Act, we were able to stretch out a retirement account for a beneficiary over the life expectancy of the child. So, if you have a child in their twenties, there is a lot of life expectancy remaining. You could stretch out that retirement account a long time. The Secure Act in 2019 said no to this. It said that you have 10 years to realize it. This was a significant change in the law.Listen to your financial advisor on what to do with your retirement account. Were only letting you know that were seeing a change, that you cant just defer, defer, defer. The highest wage-earning years for most individuals are in the 50s and 60s, years when their parents are retired. The children have 10 years to pay 100% of the tax consequence.An example: If theres a million-dollar retirement account, the child has to take $100 thousand of ordinary income each year for 10 years, which could lead to a significant change in their tax brackets. Whereas with the parents, if they had done the same thing and stretched it out over 10-15 years, it probably would be a very negligible result.Were seeing a lot of financial advisors encouraging people to start making those conversions.The importance with the maintenance family is that as soon as the law came down, we made changes to our software, we waited until it got tested through the national organization that we belong to, and then once it was set and ready to go we immediately started contacting our clients and bringing them in to make changes to all of their documents.All of that is free of charge for all of the maintenance family.What about the people not in the maintenance program? We want to get them as well, they need to pay for the change. The law changed the documents and how we do the planning, and that had to be updated. We reached out to them, we charged them the hourly rates and moved ahead.Takeaway 5: Some other things to know(00:17:01 - 00:21:43)If you opt out of the maintenance program, you lose the 1% fee guarantee. You cannot get that back.Weve only had one fee increase in the 7-8 years of this program. Its very steady and has worked out greatly for clients.If you are a part of our maintenance family, you will be getting a notification from us about our maintenance picnics and events. It is very important to us to build a relationship and get to know you on a one-on-one basis. When you look at the maintenance program, you know were not using it to make money. Were actually giving up money with the maintenance program. Our maintenance families are where most of our referrals come from because we become close with these families and build relationships. Its a win-win for everybody. Wed love for you to become part of the family.Links and Resources MentionedBellomo & Associates workshops: https://bellomoassociates.com/workshops/ For more information, call us at (717) 845-5390   Connect with Bellomo & Associates on Social MediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/bellomoassoc YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/BellomoAssociates Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bellomoassociates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellomoassociates/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellomoandassociatesWays to work with Jeff BellomoContact Us: https://bellomoassociates.com/contact/ Practice areas: https://bellomoassociates.com/practice-areas/ 

In this episode we go over one of the fundamental concepts of Bellomo & Associates: The Three Lands to Your Familys Security. The three elements of this concept are Tax Land, Long-term Care Land, and Estate Planning Land. Understanding these three lands is essential for trust planning and protecting your assets. Maintaining control of your assets is key, so it is important to understand Tax Land and Long-term care land so that you do not unnecessarily lose control of your assets to unexpected circumstances. On our next show, well continue the conversation about the three lands and then well dive into trusts. You wont want to miss it!Key Takeaways Takeaway 1: Tax Land Currently, there is no federal estate tax with individual assets equalling $12.06 million or less ($24.12 for a married couple). No current clients have problems with staying under that mark. After 2025, the federal estate tax limit is set to go down to $5 million plus inflation. We can estimate it will be around $5.8 million for an individual and $11.6 million for a married couple. Historically, Congress only passes tax bills related to estate tax when they absolutely must, so estate law is set to go forever at $5.8 million unless there is great necessity to change the law again. The transfer of the money can occur during life, at death, or a combination of both stages. For annual exclusion gifts, you can give $16,000 per child and their spouse per year. Essentially, we can give everything away in Tax Land.Takeaway 2: Long-term Care Land Includes skilled nursing homes or skilled care in the home. The average cost for nursing homes in PA is around $14,000, and $12,500 between York and Lancaster.In-the-home care can cost between $21 and $23 thousand per month. Paying for long-term care can either be done out-of-pocket, with long-term care insurance or with government programs (Medicaid). If a spouse enters a nursing home, we are able to protect the assets for the spouse residing at home 100%. If a single individual enters a nursing home, we are able to protect 50% of the assets. You cannot give away all of your assets in Long-term Care Land. You can only give away up to $500 per month in aggregate.Takeaway 3: Estate Planning Land Estate Planning Land is where you can keep the control that you lose in the other 2 lands, such as not being able to take back any gifts in Tax Land. Estate Planning Land accounts for the unexpected, whereas in tax land, your father could put your name on everything, but if you unexpectedly die the next day, control of the money is lost. Bad things happen to good people, you could lose your assets. Outright gifts are risky but trusts arent. When you put money in trusts, you avoid capital gains tax. CONTROL IS THE KEY. You must make sure to look into all three lands before making any final determination. Links and Resources MentionedBellomo & Associates workshops, including The Three Lands of Estate Planning: https://bellomoassociates.com/workshops/

In this episode, we focus in on Bellomo & Associates professional boot camps. We go through the origin of these educational events, what they do for healthcare professionals & financial professionals, what to expect at an event, and how these events affect consumers. This provides useful information whether youre a healthcare or financial professional or a client of an estate planning & elder law firm. First and foremost, we are here to educate, and we want to turn your education into a relationship. Make sure to reach out to us if you are interested in our services and keep up with the Red Wagon Estate Planning and Elder Law Show for more essential information!Key Takeaways Takeaway 1: The origin of the Boot Camp(00:02:43 - 00:07:18)About 15 years ago, Jeff started to realize that there was a bit of rub between the healthcare profession and the elder law bar.Example: Capacity becomes a bit of a tug-of-war between healthcare professionals and legal professionals.The bar for being determined as having legal capacity is low, which has caused concern from healthcare professionals. Jeff talked to some of his social worker friends and tackled this issue with a whole bunch of others. They told him that he should do this for social workers professionally so that they can get credits for an engaging and educational event with him.Bellomo & Associates looked into it and we determined that we would offer free social worker credits and went ahead and hosted an event with around 100 people, which was a success.Takeaway 2: Including more professionals(00:07:19 - 00:12:47)After the second boot camp we realized, why are just saying social worker and not healthcare? We opened the boot camps to all healthcare professionals. Each camp earns 6-7 credits. These camps give us the opportunity to see how the two areas, elder law and healthcare, jive and at the same time how they have some conflict. We can examine why the conflict occurs, what it means and what it is from each perspective.These boot camps can do the same thing with financial professionals with similar conflicts. We were finding some of the same conflicts with financial advisors, accountants and other professionals.A person should have a team behind them: an elder law attorney, a financial advisor, an accountant and maybe an insurance agent. Each one of these people has a job and a focus. Lawyers protect assets, accountants reduce taxes, and financial advisors increase wealth.Well, these dont always jive. These ideas can be completely at odds with each other. We have to look at the long term and look at where the client is headed and what their personal goals are.We decided to offer the same Boot Camp for financial professionals so that we can have these conversations ahead of time.Takeaway 3: What these boot camps accomplish(00:12:48 - 00:19:03)Its all about case studies and real life examples to have conversations about the issues and work through them.Professionals are better prepared for any scenario because of these boot camps.Were currently hosting 4 boot camps per year. You can give the office a call and go on our website to register.There is a boot camp coming up on October 7th in our Lancaster office. This one will be for all professionals, healthcare and financial together. The conversation and the interaction is better when you mix the room because the event is not just about one topic. Its a lot more fun and its a great way to network with other professionals.Links and Resources MentionedBellomo & Associates workshops: https://bellomoassociates.com/workshops/ Bellomo & Associates Boot Camp:https://bellomoassociates.com/elder-law-boot-camp/ For more information, call us at (717) 845-5390   Connect with Bellomo & Associates on Social MediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/bellomoassoc YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/BellomoAssociates Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bellomoassociates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellomoassociates/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellomoandassociatesWays to work with Jeff BellomoContact Us: https://bellomoassociates.com/contact/ Practice areas: https://bellomoassociates.com/practice-areas/

In this episode, we walk through what estate planning is and who needs it, the basics of financial power of attorney, medical power of attorney and planning a will. We also went over some common misconceptions surrounding estate planning and what to look out for when you are ready to start the planning process. In our next episode, we will talk about what trusts are and how to protect assets, so make sure to tune in!Takeaway 1: What is estate planning?Two sisters at a workshop had opposing ideas: All about not losing money vs. Making sure mom can die peacefully without guessing what she would have wantedBoth sisters are correct, estate planning addresses both of these ideas.Takeaway 2: When to start estate planning? Science cannot replace the brain - it is important to plan ahead and organize your estate planning before your brain enters la-la land or later you have some sort of disability. Estate planning is being prepared before it can become messy.You want to control your property while you are alive and well. Control is key.Takeaway 3: Misconceptions Family is the most important thing = WRONGWe think family is the most important thing but in reality its yourself. Its like on an airplane when the oxygen masks fall down, you have to put yours on first before helping others. You have to take care of yourself first. Then you can take care of the rest of your family. Everyone is always wanting to know about money, but with that the pyramid is upside down. We need to flip the pyramid. The base is the most important thing. The base is you and your spouse, then your family, and then the money accumulated and how to protect it. Some people think that estate planning can be generalized for everyone, but everybody has very different needs, estate planning is not uniform. Its impossible to answer the What do I need? question without knowing a lot about a person and their family.Heirs are in fact not determined until death.Takeaway 4: Advice for getting ahead It is important to put money into a trust if you do not want to give an outright distribution to an 18-year-old. Do not leave anything to chance, plan for all the contingencies. Put money in trusts to be prepared for whatever scenario plays out.Financial power of attorney is a great place to start with planning once you turn 18. If you dont have one and you lose capacity, the only way to appoint a beneficiary is to go through a guardianship hearing. Yes, there is a fallback will, but its not perfect. Do not rely on a fallback statute.Financial power of attorney, a medical power of attorney, and a will are the most important items to start with.