QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLAN SERVICES in BREA, CA

Retirement planning is the process of setting aside money and assets for retirement so that these assets are protected and can increase in value which can the be used once one becomes a senior citizen.

A qualified retirement planner should:

• Understand the current laws related to estate planning, asset protection, and trusts.
• Help you understand the complicated world of retirement planning.
• Understand the methods and vehicles to protect these investments.

There are a large variety of financial vehicles, including:

• 401K
• IRA
• Roth IRA
• Real Estate
• Life Insurance
• Social Security
• Family Trust Funds
• Employee Pensions & Retirement Funds

Retirement plans are the least understood and most neglected part of estate planning. Historically, parents often left their tax deferred retirement accounts to their children “outright" - free from trust. In other words, they named their children as direct beneficiaries of these accounts.

This traditional method of dealing with retirement accounts often resulted in some unintended consequences:

• The child, without the proper guidance of a trust, decided to “cash in” the retirement account and was subjected to massive and virtually immediate tax liabilities.
• The child, without the proper guidance of a trust, lost out on decades of “tax deferred growth” opportunities afforded to him by the IRS.
• The child, without the added asset protection of a trust, lost the retirement account balance to divorce, creditors, and predators.
• The child just happened to be a minor or was incapacitated at the time of the parent’s death, resulting in the need to “probate” this otherwise non-probate asset.

These unintended consequences can be easily avoided by leaving your retirement account to your child (or grandchild) in a specialized IRA Legacy Trust - a trust that comports with all of the IRS requirements to permit your child to “stretch out” the tax deferred growth in the retirement account over decades. This trust further provides your child with a degree of asset protection otherwise unavailable when the child is named as a direct beneficiary.

Gerard W. O’Brien & Associates works with clients to make their retirement plans part of their comprehensive estate plan. Besides counseling clients on the pitfalls associated with transferring retirement monies via beneficiary designations, we will work with a client and his or her advisors to provide sensible and practical options to optimize and transfer these hard earned and saved funds.

Retirement Planner in Brea, Orange County, CA

PRACTICE AREAS

ESTATE PLANNING | Reduce Estate Tax, Create Successor Trustee or Beneficiary, Protect Your Family & Assets, Reduce Family Disharmony. Important documents: Power of Attorney for Health Care, HIPAA Declaration, and Living Will.

POWER OF ATTORNEY | General, Limited, Durable, Springing, Financial, Medical

PROBATE & TRUSTS | Orange County, CA, Probate Administration, Trust Fund Attorney.

BUSINESS PLANNING | Develop Systematic Process to Increase Revenue, Decrease Costs and Protect Assets

RETIREMENT PLANNING | Qualified Planner, Employee Benefits, Pensions, Protect Business Assets.

ASSET PROTECTION ATTORNEY | Legal Asset Protection Attorney Services for Living Trust, Family Limited Partnership, LLC & Lawsuit Protection.

TAX PLANNING | Personal & Business Tax Planning for Retirement & Deferred Tax Plans.

CHARITABLE TRUSTS & GIFT PLANNING | Transfer personal values as well as assets for the benefit of the community.

PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS | Creating a Charitable Trust, 501c3 Tax Exempt Status

OTHER LINKS

DESIGN PHASE

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

MAINTENANCE PHASE

ELDER & SENIOR LAW

WEALTH COUNSEL

OUR LOCATION

RESOURCES

SERVICE AREA

• Anaheim & Anaheim Hills
• Brea
• Buena Park
• Cypress
• Fountain Valley
• Fullerton
• Garden Grove
• La Habra
• La Palma
• Los Alamitos
• Orange
• Placentia
• Seal Beach
• Stanton
• Tustin
• Villa Park
• Westminter
• Yorba Linda