Education & Information
Client service and education to keep up with you!
What is your Financial Direction
Products come and go, but your financial direction rarely changes. Compasses point N E W S, North, East, West, South. A compass that only points North may be an issue should you need to head in another direction.
TUSK's financial direction strategies include:
- Income now - Spend more and reduce risk in retirement. Tax-efficient and Guaranteed. Risk-based stock market management and portfolio theory review. You earned it. Protect it.
- Future income replacement - someday, the income may need to come from another source, be ready.
- Long-term care planning and products, we prefer free and low-cost strategies built into other directional assets.
- Tax-efficient Wealth Transfer Strategies, asset optimization, your legacy.
- Business planning, start-up and exit strategies, compliance, executive retention and corporate wellness. Personal and Business coordination and policy efficiency. An owned business is an extension of the owner, and one can impact the other. With coordination comes efficiency, and efficiency hits the bottom line, increase the quality of life and pays the right amount at the right time.
The Most Expensive Risk Isn’t Market Loss — It’s Needing Care or Leaving Family Unprotected
A clean estimate helps you make calm decisions before care is needed. Use the calculator below to quantify risk, then review hybrid Life + Long-Term Care strategies designed to protect family and preserve legacy.
- Care is a cash-flow event — not just a medical event.
- Spouses get financially “injured” too when assets are liquidated under stress.
- Medicaid is a backstop — not a planning framework for choice or legacy.
Source: CareScout / Genworth Cost of Care Survey 2024 (state medians). Survey period July–Dec 2024. Adult Day + 24/7 care values are modeled estimates; use custom quotes when available.
Comprehensive Financial Risk Management Explained
Estate Tax
It’s not only about whether your estate owes tax.
For 2026, the federal basic estate and gift tax exclusion is $15 million per individual. Married couples may potentially protect substantially more with proper planning and use of portability and other strategies.
Estate Planning Still Matters Below $15 Million
Most families will never owe federal estate tax. But that does not mean estate planning is unnecessary. The larger risks often involve how assets transfer, how efficiently they reach beneficiaries, how income is produced, and whether unexpected care or liquidity needs disrupt the plan.
A comprehensive estate and legacy review may address:
- Beneficiary designations and ownership structure
- Probate exposure and asset-transfer efficiency
- Liquidity for heirs, taxes, debts, and final expenses
- Income needs for a surviving spouse
- Long-term-care risk and its impact on legacy assets
- Life insurance used for liquidity, equalization, or legacy planning
- Annuity strategies for predictable retirement income
- Coordination among financial, legal, tax, and insurance professionals
The Estate Tax Is Only One Piece of the Plan
A family may have no federal estate-tax liability and still face significant planning issues. Concentrated real estate, closely held businesses, retirement accounts, blended families, unequal inheritances, creditor concerns, and long-term-care costs can all affect what ultimately reaches the next generation.
The goal is not simply to minimize tax. It is to make sure the estate has the right liquidity, the right beneficiary structure, and a coordinated plan for transferring wealth according to your intentions.
Planning for Larger Estates
For families approaching or exceeding the federal exclusion, planning may involve gifting, trusts, charitable strategies, life insurance, business succession planning, and other techniques developed with qualified estate-planning attorneys and tax professionals.
The federal exclusion is indexed for inflation, and state estate or inheritance taxes may follow different rules. Planning should therefore be reviewed periodically rather than treated as a one-time transaction.
Build the Legacy Plan Around the Family
TUSK helps coordinate retirement income, life insurance, long-term care, and legacy strategies with your attorney, CPA, and other professional advisors so the pieces of the plan work together.
This information is educational and is not legal or tax advice. Estate and tax strategies should be reviewed with qualified legal and tax professionals based on your individual circumstances.
*TUSK and their representatives do not offer tax or legal advice. We encourage you to seek tax & legal advice from appropriately credentialed professionals, including a CPA for tax advice and an Attorney for legal advice.