Do You Need a Will?

Do You Need a Will?

The answer is probably yes. Here’s why and what it should include

More than half of American adults do not have wills, according to the American Association of Retired Persons. True, if your estate in under a determined sum (this amount is the case for most Americans) – your heirs may be exempt from paying estate taxes, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need a will. What are the potential consequences of not planning for the disposition of your estate?

Boston attorney Alexander Bove, the author of the Complete Book of Wills & Estates (Henry Holt).

What happens if I don’t have a will?

If you have no will, your estate will end up in probate court and many important decisions will be out of your hands. Normally, you name an executor, a trusted friend or family member who is responsible for determining taxes, assets, bills, debts to be paid on your estate. Without a will, the court becomes the executor and your estate is divided under state laws.

What are the most important components of a will?

As a rule, wills are broken up into two parts. Specific bequests include specified property, such as specific amounts of money, real estate, and stocks that are left to a designated beneficiary. The residue is everything else, or everything not specifically defined, and will normally go to the primary beneficiary of the estate, usually a spouse, children or both. Only property in your name at the time of your death can be passed on to your heirs.

Don’t forget to write a will! Photo by Elena

What are living wills, health care proxies, and durable power of attorney, and why are they important?

A living will is a declaration that indicates whether you would want to be kept alive by artificial means in the event that you are diagnosed with a terminal illness.

A health care proxy allows you to appoint someone to make medical decisions for you.

A durable power of attorney names someone to make financial transactions for you. If you don’t have a durable power of attorney, and if your assets or property need to be transferred, your beneficiaries would have to go to probate court in order to appoint a conservator or guardian.

How often should I update my will?

Whenever there is a major change in the tax laws, or if there is a change in your family or your family’s finances.

How can I provide for minor children?

If you have minor children, you should be sure to name a trusted relative or friend as the guardian who will be responsible if the person and property of the minor child.

What is the difference between a will and a living trust?

A living trust is a legal document that you create while you are alive. You can transfer assets to the trust while you are alive, and the trust governs the assets. You may be your own trustee. Whatever is in the trust does not have to pass through probate. Whatever you do not put in the trust goes into a will. A living trust – including a will, a durable power of attorney, and health care proxy – and a living will are the typical documents in a modern estate plan.

How much should I pay to have a will drawn?

It depends of the complexity of the estate. The process of drawing up a will can range between $100 and $10,000, depending on how complicated it is. Often the amount of property is not as important as the family circumstances.

We'll die one day or another. Everyone will. Illustration by Elena.

9/11 Memorial Center

9/11 Memorial Center

Ground Zero. Views of the 9/11 Memorial from a few different points of New York City.

All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

The central basin surrounded by walls with the names of the victims. To imagine the dimensions, please, pay attention to the people gathering around the basin and the trees.

The Center's Main Tower as seen from the Hudson Park.

The towers.

Another view of the main tower.

Airplain

The picture of the main tower of the 9/11 Memorial Center taken from very close distance

The complex of 9/11 New York Memorial Center and surrounding blocs.

As seen from the Battery park.

View from on of the small places in downtown Manhattan.

View from the Staten Ferry Terminal.

From the Battery Park, the Pier A on the left.

The highest building on the Manhattan Island.

View from the walking trail in the Hudson park. The Hudson River can be seen on the left.

Close view of the Memorial Center.

An artwork and the Memorial center at the distance.

Trails of the Hudson Park on the Hudson littoral.

The Center hidden behind a bloc of residential buildings.

The Central basin, view from another perspective.

Fifteen Miles

Fifteen Miles

By Ben Bova

The generator was hopelessly smashed, he saw. The old bird must’ve been breathing his own juices.

When the emergency tank registered full, he disconnected the oxygen line and plugged it into a special fitting below the regenerator.

“If you’re dead, this is probably going to kill me, too,” Kinsman said. He purged the entire suit, forcing the contaminating fumes out and replacing them with the oxygen that the jumper’s rocket needed to get them back to the base.

He was close enough now to see through the canister’s tinted visor. The priest’s face was grizzled, eyes closed. Its usual smile was gone; the mouth hung open limply.

Kinsman hauled him up onto the railess platform and strapped him down on the deck. Then he went to the controls and inched the throttle forward just enough to give them the barest minimum of lift.

The jumper almost made it to the crest before its rocket died and bumped them gently on one on the terraces. There was a small emergency tank of oxygen that could have carried them a little farther, Kinsman knew. But he and the priest would need it for breathing.

Fifteen Miles. Photo by Elena

«Wonder how many Jesuits have been carried home on their shields?” he asked himself as he unbolted the section of decking that the priest was lying on. By threading the winch line through the bolt holes, he made a sort of sled, which he carefully lowered to the ground. Then he took down the emergency oxygen tank and strapped it to the deck section, too.

Kinsman wrapped the line around his fists and leaned against the burden. Even in the moon’s light gravity, it was like trying to haul a truck.

“Down to less than one horsepower”, he grunted, straining forward.

For once he was glad that the scoured rocks had been smoothed clean by micrometeors. He would climb a few stepts, wedge himself as firmly as he could, and drag the sled up to him. It took a painful half-hour to reach the rignwall crest.

He could see the base again, tiny and remote as a dream. “All downhill from here,” he mumbled.

He thought he heard a groan.

“That’s it,” he said, pushing the sled over the crest, down the gentle outward slope. “That’s it. Stay with it. Don’t you die on me. Don’t put me through this for nothing!”

A Slight Miscalculation

A Slight Miscalculation

By Ben Bova

Moneygrinder was leaning back in the plush desk chair, trying to look both interested and noncommittal at the same time, which was difficult to do, because he never could follow Nathan when the mathematician was trying to explain his work.

“Then it’s a thimple matter of transposing the progression,” Nathan was lisping, talking too fast because he was excited as he scribbled equations on the fuschsia-colored chalkboard with nerve-ripping seuaks of the yellow chalk.

“You thee?” Nathan said at last, standing beside the chalkboard. It was totally covered with his barely legible numbers and symbols. A pall of yellow chalk dust hovered about him.

“Um…” said Moneygrinder. “Your conclusion, then…?”

“It’s perfectly clear,” Nathan said. “If you have any reasonable data base at all, you can not only predict when an earthquake will hit and where, but you can altho predict its intensity.”

Moneygrinder’s eyes narrowed. “You’re sure?”

“I’ve gone over it with the CalTech geophysicists. They agree with the theory.”

“Hmm.” Moneygrinder tapped his desktop with his pudgy fingers. “I know this is a little outside your area of interest, Nathan, but…, ah, can you really predict actual earthquakes? Or is this all theoretical?”

“Sure you can predict earthquakes,” Nathan said, grinning like Francis, the movie star. “Like next Thursday’s.”

“Next Thursday’s?”

A slight miscalculation. Photo by Elena

“Yeth. There’s going to be a major earthquake next Thursday.”

“Where?”

“Right here. Along the Fault.”

Nathan tossed his stubby piece of chalk into the air nonchalantly, but missed the catch and it fell to the carpeted floor.

Moneygrinder, slightly paler than the chalk, asked, “A major quake, you say?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Did… did the CalTech people make this prediction?”

“No, I did. They don’t agree. They claim I’ve got an inverted gamma factor in the fourteenth set of equations. I’ve got the computer checking it right now.”

Some of the color returned to Moneygrinder’s flabby cheeks. “Oh… oh, I see. Well, let me know what the computer says”.

“Sure.”

Theories of Risk Management

Theories of Risk Management

By Megan Jorgensen

Just like parcours (a popular topic, consisting of a potentially very dangerous sport of running across buildings, depicted in cartoons such as American Dad episode Stanny Boy and Frantastic, mystery and thriller television series, and in music lyrics and cinematography), management and business studies is a popular subject in movies. For example, in the controversial movie Friends With Benefits, featuring Justin Timberlake (singer) and Mila Cunis (That 70s Show with Ashton Kutcher) he is a successful Website manager, while she’s a savvy headhunter.

Furthermore, Frigo & Anderson (2011) react to the financial crisis surrounding the events of subprime mortgages and subsequent bank collapses that started taking place somewhere around 2008. The authors do so by looking at risk management and enterprise governance. Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a significant area for businesses to look at in attempting to achieve commercial success. The issue has gradually gained international recognition, with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) issuing a set of directives on how the process(es) should be carried out. In addition, credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have demonstrated interest in a firm’s ERM system. As one knows from introductory economics courses, risk-loving individuals significantly differ in their investing strategies from risk-avoidant, or even risk-neutral individuals. Interestingly, the Strategic Risk Management Lab at DePaul University concentrates on devising countermeasures and focusing on such areas as the KRIs (Key Risk Indicators). Further, the RIMS (Risk & Insurance Management Society, Inc.) developed a risk management council. Moreover, management and business studies theorists point out that businesses tend to be dynamic, and thus risk management is a crucial issue to business teams. A top down approach to management may be warranted.

In the past and in the present risk management exists. Photo by Elena

By the same token, management studies can be quite elaborate and specialized, and used in areas not directly involved with trade. For example, managing resources is important in ecology, environment, and earth and planetary science (e.g. Bestelmeyer, 2011).

References:

Bestelmeyer, B. T., Goolsby, D. P. & Archer, S. R. (2011). Spatial perspectives in state-and-transition models: a missing link to land management? Journal of Applied Ecology, 48: 746-57.

Frigo, M. L. & Anderson R., J. (2011). Strategic risk management: A foundation for improving enterprise risk management and governance. Wiley Periodicals Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Megan Jorgensen. All rights reserved.