• Lifetime Planning
• Trust and Estate Planning

*Note: These products are not FDIC-insured. These products are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.

Lifetime Planning :

The Planning Process – Where Do I Start?

Common questions include:

• What are my goals? Is this money for retirement, child’s education, a second home? How much money can I devote to a regular investing plan? How much will college cost when my child needs to go? How much income do I need for retirement?
• Who do I talk to about the lifetime planning process? Do I talk with my bank, financial planner, or CPA?
• What is the lifetime planning process and where do I begin?

Proper planning allows you to:

• Maintain control of your finances and personal decisions during life and after death.
• Implement your choices in case of incapacity.
• Avoid Probate Court
• Avoid Estate, Gift and Generation Skipping Taxes.
• Provide for loved ones while protecting your income.

Step One:

Carefully choose your Financial Planning Team
Some of the people you might want on your team include an accountant, trust officer, financial planner, or an insurance agent. The team can help you:

• Analyze your “cash flow” in the light of a budget.
• Analyze your current and future net-worth position and any changes.
• Offer ideas for income tax reduction. Provide investment planning to maximize retirement income.
• Outline solutions for educational planning where children are concerned.
• Suggest insurance planning to provide income in the event of premature death.
• Advise you about disability insurance to provide income in the event of a disability.
• Help you plan the purchase of a home and real estate such as a vacation home or cabin.
• Suggest specialized business planning such as buy-sell agreements and succession planning.
• Provide creative health planning such as Critical Illness Insurance, Long Term Care Insurance, Power of Attorney, a Living Will, and pre-funding care for parents whose health is failing.
• Suggest Will and Estate Planning ideas.

Step Two:

Calculate Your Current Position:

You need to examine:

• How much you are earning from all sources.
• How much you are spending.
• What you own.
• What you owe.

With this information you and your advisors can assess your ability to save for the future.

Step Three:

Determine you financial objectives
Once your current situation is recorded, you are in a position to set your financial objectives. These objectives may include children’s education, retirement, a trip overseas or many others. Financial goals are generally either long-term objectives or short-term objectives. Your financial plan and investments will be influenced by the term of your objective. When you understand your current financial position and what you want to achieve, you are in a position to plan.

Step Four:

Recommendations to Meet Your Goals
After you have developed your position, your financial planning team begins to recommend ways to implement your goals. Solutions can include any number of strategies. They might include IRA’s, 529 Education Plans, investment diversification, tax reduction strategies, or budget considerations. The recommendation and plans are tailored to the person or family.

Step Five:

Decide which Recommendations Meet Your Goals and Implement Them
Once you have carefully studied and understood the recommendations, you can decide on which recommendations to adopt and take action. The list of options can seem complex, but a good financial planning team can make your options clear.

Step Six:

Conduct Periodic Reviews of Your Financial Plan

Contact Us:

First National Bank and Trust Company
702 N. Washington
PO Box 348
Junction City , KS 66441

(785) 762-4121
(800) 762-4121

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Trust Estate and Planning

The Planning Process – Where Do I Start?

Common Questions Include:

• How do I know if I need an Estate Plan? How large does my estate need to be before I should be considered?
• Who do I need to talk to about the estate planning process? Do I talk with my bank, attorney, CPA, or financial planner?
• What is the estate planning process and where do I begin?

Proper Planning Allows You To:

• Maintain control of your finances
• Implement your choices in case of incapacity.
• Avoid Probate Court
• Avoid Estate, Gift and Generation Skipping Taxes.
• Provide for loved ones while protecting your income.

Step One:

Carefully choose your Estate Planning Team
The complex work of estate planning is seldom the work of a single person. Understanding the legal, tax, and financial details of a comprehensive estate plan, requires the expertise of several persons. The team is usually made up of some or all of the following: an attorney, accountant, trust officer, or financial planner. Sometimes people assume that their existing financial advisors are already considering the details of an estate plan. One should not assume that advisors have already thought through an estate plan. Rather, ask the persons on your team, what kind of planning should I be doing? Be open minded about adding new members to the team who may bring fresh and innovative ideas to your planning.

Step Two:

Gather the Information about your Estate
Busy people are not always known for their attention to details. As a result, they can accumulate many assets and not be sure what they really own. The second step requires a person to write down all the assets and liabilities they have so that calculations can be made. This list should include everything that a person owns from personal property to real estate, cash, stocks, bonds, minerals, businesses, life insurance policies, jewelry, art, and any other asset. After the list is compiled the assets should be identified by ownership –i.e. by husband, wife, or if jointly held. When the total of a couple’s assets equals or exceeds the federal estate exemption limits significant federal estate tax exposure could be present and more comprehensive estate planning techniques may be recommended. In addition, all documents such as Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Powers of Attorney, and Buy–Sell Agreements should be gathered. With this essential information, the person is ready to proceed to the next step.

Step Three:

Analyze the Data of Your Estate Plan
After the data is gathered, it can be analyzed by you and your planning team. This allows you to plan and make present and future calculations. You can compare the size and current structure of your estate to the current federal estate tax tables. From this comparison, the analysis can show a person the impact of estate taxes and the amount that will be due if no planning takes place. You can develop a direction for all phases of your life from working years to retirement and beyond. You can develop a plan to pass your property to your heirs.

Step Four:

Consider Recommendations for Your Estate
After the numbers are analyzed, the estate planning team then begins to recommend ways to implement your goals and to reduce or avoid the estate taxes and settlement costs. Solutions can include any number of strategies. They can be simple of complex. They might include a Unified Credit Trust, a Life Insurance Trust With Survivorship Life Insurance, or a Charitable Remainder Trust. Other family business techniques used may include the family limited partnership and the Section 303 Redemption, a Limited Liability Corporation, or all three. The recommendations and plans are tailored to a family, person, or business.

Step Five:

Decide Which Recommendations Meet Your Goals and Implement them
Once you have carefully studied and understood the recommendations, you are ready to decide on which recommendations to accept and take action. The list of options can seem complex and hard to understand. However, a good estate planning team can make the complex concepts clear.

Step Six:

Conduct Periodic Reviews of Your Estate Plan
Estate plans need to be reviewed on a periodic basis. This is done to update you on any changes that have occurred in estate tax law and what should be done to solve the problem as well as to account for any changes in your personal situation.

The estate planning process can take a short time or several months to complete. However, taking these steps can protect you during your lifetime and can save you a few thousand to several hundred thousand dollars or millions in estate taxes depending on the size of your estate. Do not leave the important matter of estate planning to someone else. Be proactive and set the estate planning process in motion for yourself and for your heirs.

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