Estate-planning

This book really impressed me with the legal help I was searching for. Inheriting money with no knowledge of business, it really helped me with the questions I needed answered and many more I hadn't even thought of. It was ordered for our library and after reading it, I ordered one right away so I could add it to my library and start setting up my estate right. A must for any person needing legal advice and knowledge how to manage his investments.

Plan Ahead: Protect Your Estate And Investments by Frank Eberhart is a highly practical resource for non-specialist general readers seeking to put their personal estate and finances in order, as well as generally protecting their families against the inevitable. Written in no-nonsense, easy-to-understand terms, "user friendly" chapters, Plan Ahead presents straightforward information as to what happens to one's assets when one dies, the effects of the latest tax laws, what the different types of trusts are and how they can be used to ensure financial security for family members, understanding the basics of various types of investments, and a great deal more. Plan Ahead is a very highly recommended primer -- especially for the novice beginner in estate and financial management planning.

A must read for beginners or advanced, trusts, wills, investments and new tax laws and how they affect you, very impressed!

I bought the previous edition of this book several years ago and learned so much from its straight forward, well-organized and clear presentation (I am neither an accountant nor a tax person) that co-workers and family members began quizzing me on matters of estate planning. This book allowed me to answer many questions and also enabled me to have a very intelligent conversation with a professional estate planner. I consider the book such a valuable resource that I just purchased the updated edition.

I am an estate planning attorney, not affiliated with any of the author's companies, and I think this book is a "must read" for anyone who is serious about planning his/her estate.

By the way, estate planning is for everone, not merely the "wealthy." The cost (in time and fees) to have a customed designed and implemented estate plan will probably be the best investment you will ever make to protect and preserve your wealth for your loved ones.

Outstanding book to educate yourself on estate planning. This book will prepare you for the planning process so you can understand what your estate planning attorney is talking about and what he or she is trying to accomplish for you. It also very clearly outlines the fallacies inherent in trying to conduct estate planning without competent legal counsel. The authors tell you know how to find competent advice and how to arrange conduct free consultation interviews with any prospective estate planning specialists. If you are even thinking about estate planning, GET THIS BOOK!

It's clear that the author has years of experience in protecting business owners' hard-earned assets. The author's asset protection strategies range from simple and inexpensive to complex and costly. This really makes the book suitable for managers of large corporations as well as small business owners.

At 500 pages, the book is detailed and comprehensive, but easy to read. Who would have known that in many states taking out a second mortgage on a house could make it exempt from attachment, while in other states, just the opposite approach, i.e., paying off the first mortgage, is what's required? Or that an IRA shields assets from the claims of creditors in many states and thus provides much more than a tax shelter, while in other states an ERISA-qualified 401(k) plan is a better choice? The author sorts all of this out in an authoritative but easy to read guide. Many readers will wish that they had this book years ago before financial problems developed. But, even there the author has strategies that can help avert a disaster.

The content, layout and design of this book make it not only indispensable, but actually fun to read. The tips, warnings and anectdotes are terrific. Attorney Misenti obviously has wide ranging experience in this field and his writing style is superb.

This is the ultimate guide to wealth building and wealth preservation. I've read other guides on forming an LLC or a corporation, but I never realized how woefully inadequate those other guides were before I purchased this book. As the author points out, many business owners form an LLC or a corporation without understanding how to strategically fund the entity, avoid exceptions to limited liability, or transfer assets to exempt categories, all of which are necessary if financial wealth is to be preserved in the face of lawsuits or bankruptcy. This guides teaches how to do all of that, and more.

The addition of actual cases, state asset exemption lists, and business forms for LLC's, makes this one of the best books of its kind that I've seen. Apparently this is one book in a series from the publisher that has received a lot of acclaim. ...

I've read that small business and entrepreneurs lead the country out of a recession. This guide could not be more timely. Don't start a business or expand your business without buying this book. This guide should be in the library of every business owner and well used. This really is the best, and most comprehensive asset protection guide on the market for small business owners, corporate mangers, and individuals interested in preserving their wealth.

I like the fact that the author proves that, when his asset protection strategies are put into place before financial problems arise, they are virtually beyond challenge, even to the extent of preserving an individual's entire wealth against the most significant of claims. I found it amazing that, with the right planning, millionaires can emerge from a major lawsuit or bankruptcy with no loss at all! Want to save a million dollars or all of the assets you have worked hard to create? Buy this book NOW and put a comprehensive asset protection plan in place based on the author's recommendations.

How would you hendle the death of a loved one? For me, until I read this book, I wouldn't have had a clue! I think this book makes sense for anyone who is going through the financial transition that death brings to survivors but also to anyone who wants to be prepared for the event. Think about it...we will all eventually have to face this, why not be prepared? This book covers more details than I would have thought of, and I work in the financial industry. I think a major plus to this book is that is gives definitions, addresses, phone numbers, web addresses, etc... of all the things and places you will need to know about. I would highly recommed this publication.

If your loved dies suddenly or you know its coming this is the essential book to read about handing the situation.

A compact guide on what to do when and how. It brings together in one easy to read and understand format the information you will need immediately after a death and later on.

This is a book to have on hand as you would have a dictionary.

When my mother died I found it was dificult to get the information I needed. Laywers can be very expensive. If I had this book it would have saved my time and money.

Although the book origionally seemed small for the price I discovered that it had a lot of information. It covered everything from how to handle my husband's car lease to estate processing and identity theft. It was also well written and had a easy to follow format.

My Dad passed away suddenly and I was not sure what to do first. My friend recommended this book and it was great. It really told me what to do and what to think about each step along the way. It told me things to watch out for for from funeral directors and the writer was right! His advice about settling the estate was also useful. Everyone needs to read this book!

Wow -- what a great handbook to help in difficult times. Nobody wants to think about the subject, but at some point we all have to face planning a funeral for a loved one. It's well-written and informative. I highly recommend it.

V.K. Thornton made a difficult subject easy to read about. Excellent book to have as your parents get older and as life goes on. A good book.

This book was of tremendous help when we had a series of deaths of family members. Important things you need to know about bank accounts, taxes, etc. You name it; it's in here.

Scott offers very practical, concise and organized guidebook which I wish I had from day 1...This book focuses on necessary and predictible situations: what needs to be done, when it should be done and who should do it. It defines the terminology simply. The writing is clear and comprehensible. This book is so important for someone newly experiencing the operational side of death, that I purchased multiple copies for my fellow mourners.

This book is both simple and practical. When someone close to you dies, worrying about all the details of what to do next can be overwhelming. Many people are too distraught to deal with potentially complex legal and financial issues. This book provides an easy step-by-step approach to the whole process, and doesn't overwhelm the reader with too much detail.

Finally, a book absolutely anyone can understand when deciding how and where to invest. Mr. Dunetz is obviously an intelligent man but is able to speak to the layman as well as the established investor.

I'm glad I read this book before I planned my estate. Finally, a comprehensive and easy to read volume on the subject.

My sister Allison turned me on to this book when I told her of my concern towards protecting my future assets, and am I glad she did. Easy to read information that has already helped me in my quest to protect my sizable fortune obtained after years and years of domestic cat breeding.

Imagine a world where humankind is considered part of the environment and our elected leaders consider the needs of the commons when making decisions. Imagine a world where neither unbridled communism or capitalism reign. This is the world described in Wally Hickel's new book, "Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution."
If you haven't read this book yet, you should. It is a well-written lesson for every citizen of the planet. Even if you don't agree with all of his ideas, Wally Hickel's book will make you think about how we can co-exist with nature and how our potential as residents and stewards of the planet is limited only by our imagination.
The story he tells is a lesson in Alaska's battle for statehood and the world's struggle to find balance between bottom-line exploitation and lock-it-up environmentalism.
It is a story every student should read. Our youth need to understand the battles that were fought by some of Alaska's greatest leaders to win statehood. They need to learn about how the federal government has broken its promises to the people of Alaska. They need to read about how outside commercial interests have exploited Alaska's resources at the expense of Alaska's citizens and the environment. They need to learn about how the environmental movement is trying to lock up Alaska and take humans out of nature's equation.
Everyone should listen to his message of entitlement. He explains with refreshing clarity how the creation of Alaska's Permanent Fund has fostered an atmosphere of doubt, greed, and narrow-sightedness. And his theory that the Permanent Fund has stolen Alaska's pioneering spirit is worthy of consideration. As Alaska faces its current fiscal crisis, it would do every Alaskan good to understand that the Permanent Fund was established as a "rainy day account" and not as a giant trust fund.
Our local, state, and federal leaders would serve us well to read this book, debate its ideas and concepts, and consider the arguments. Perhaps then they would move beyond the rancor of political jousting and act in the best interests of Alaska, the nation and the world.
Wally Hickel's life has been one of challenges, victories, defeats, vision, leadership, and controversy. This book is the culmination of an amazing life. It brings into focus an idea that has been nurtured over 50 years - an idea from a man respected around the globe for his vision and straight forward manner.
"Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution" is a textbook - a textbook for the present and the future.

Don Stolworthy
Juneau, Alaska

Walter J. Hickel's "Crisis in the Commons" is must reading for anyone interested in land use patterns and environmental issues. Hickel's analysis is truly a view from the top as he has shaped land use policy both as an advocate for Alaska statehood,as governor of Alaska, and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Richard Nixon.

Hickel takes the reader through his trials in negotiating a state land grant for Alaska in the 1958 statehood bill. We then move to the builidng of the trans-Alaska pipeline and later examine the issue of oil drilling in the Santa Barbara channel when Hickel was Secretary of the Interior. Hickel provides insightful analysis into various crises in the Nixon administration, including an account of his own firing.

The book is also a view from the top in its discussion of a new form of land ownership that has emerged in America's most northern state. Hickel calls this the "owner state." In Alaska the state, rather than the federal government or private individuals, owns a vast portion of land, including the Prudhoe Bay Oil field. Unlike earlier American states, Alaska's goal is not to place such land in private hands, but to develop it for the benefit of all the people of Alaska.

All readers may not agree with every policy that Hickel developed to "manage" the owner state. But there is no question that the "owner state" points to a new concept and vision of the public lands.

Finally the personality of Hickel, a fascinating state and national figure, comes through with vibrance in this volume. The reader will truly come to know Walter Hickel by reading "Crisis in the Commons."

Electric Rivers is a concise overview of the complex issues and events that surround the construction of and opposition to the James Bay Project, and the subsequent James Bay II. It is a story that I firmly believe that every Canadian should be made aware of, as it is an excellent example of how Big Business and politics works in Canada, and of how these elements in Canada have continuously contradicted the ideals and values that Canadians have stood for. The entire project was little more than the fulfillment of one man's megalomaniacal vision, regardless of the human and environmental consequences. And it speaks volumes of how we have continued to uncerimoniously trounce upon the rights and culture of the Natives.

Electric Rivers is an excellent introduction for those who want undertsand this issue. Also recommended is Strangers Devour the Land by Boyce Richardson.

This book provides a very important record of a controversial mega-project. In Quebec, political expediency caused the construction of a massive dam complex that virtually destroyed three major wilderness rivers and flooded thousands of acres of wilderness land. The environmental consequences included mercury poisoning of fish and a major caribou drowning event. Yet this project received almost no notice south of the Canadian border. This book is just about the only written record of the events leading up to this project. Since the quebec government continues to make noises about new hydro mega-projects, this is a must read book for the environmentally conscious. Though not inspired writing, the research is sound.

"Land Development Calculations" provides an excellent and innovative strategy for working towards sustainable land use and development. The models for varying land development strategies can assist local government land use decision makers and planners as well as developers determine the carrying capacity of land within realistic thresholds. The accompanying spreadsheets for the development scenarios on the CD-ROM are extremely user friendly and do not place an undue burden on the user by requiring what may be hard to find or to collect data. All of the data required just is typical of what is necessary to make appropriate land development decisions. As a local government planner, I am working towards incorporating the information received from the models in to the zoning and development code as part of the approval process by using it to further assess suitability of the property for the purposes proposed (a zoning consideration required in accordance with the State of Georgia Zoning Procedures Act). I strongly encourage other land planners and developers to read "Land Development Calculations," because of its highly practical and very timely material.

This is a terrificaly valuable technical reference for practitioners who need an efficient method of performing land development calulations. The book and its companion set of spreadsheets enable users to answer two key questions: 1) how much can be built on a given piece of land; or 2) how much land is needed to accommodate a given use? The material is clearly written and well illustrated, especially a series of worksheets leading through the method. Another strength is its comprehensiveness and detail, including all major land-use and micro site conditions.