First of all, the estate and generation skipping transfer tax has been repealed for 2010. However, this repeal could be only temporary and any legislation reinstituting it could actually be retroactive to the beginning of the year. This makes estate planning for those who estates could be subject to estate tax very challenging. Nevertheless, it's important to have an existing estate plan reviewed in light of the current law and what could possibly be a very different estate tax system in 2011 (lower estate tax exemption and higher rates).
In addition, Michigan will have a new Trust Code as of April 2010. The provisions of the new Code could offer some opportunities previously unavailable in your trust agreement.
Our laws will continue to change. If you are waiting until we know all of the answers, you will likely never have your estate complete.
You have the right to direct how your assets and affairs will be handled either during a period of disability, or at the time of your death. Also, you should understand what will happen upon the death of a spouse.
If your New Year's Resolution was to get your personal affairs in order, take the time to meet with a qualified estate planning attorney.
"Taxes used to be really scarey and they still are to some," Paulette explained. "Our motto is ‘We make tax time less taxing.' It's more of a mission statement than just a logo, it's what we do.
"We want to make people comfortable. Before I opened my own office, I would see people sitting in waiting rooms just terrified. People have told me that when they come in here they feel comfortable. That's what we want. We want to take the ‘stiff shirt' out, not the professionalism."
Accurate Income Tax's comfortable customers have grown the business to 14 people on staff, including Paulette herself, who still prepares tax returns.
"What I enjoy is the people and helping them," she said. "I've always said if someone just shuts that office door and tells me to do income taxes it's not going to work. I enjoy the people."
When they enter Accurate, customers are treated to smiling staff, coffee and cookies and, often, a member of the team who has her own business cards - Elsie the dog.
"Less taxing" works its way into everything Accurate does for customers, including appointments. "We try very hard not to make people wait," said Paulette. "I like to treat people the way I would want to be treated. I wouldn't want to sit out there and wait when I have an appointment!"
Paulette started at a large tax preparation company's local office. After 10 years, she started her own business at 307 W. Muskegon Ave. in the back of the building with two offices. Since 1996, her business has moved to the front of the building in five offices.
In 2003, she began working from a second location, an addition to her house on Apple Avenue. Last year she bought and renovated a building a few blocks away at 5263 E. Apple Ave., where the second location now conducts business.
There are now seven preparers between the two offices.
Television has built the stereotype of the boring, bespectacled accountant. Paulette has done her best to counter that convention. "It's never been boring for me. This year there've been so many changes. It could be the most confusing income tax year ever."
She's received the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award from the local Lion's club for service to the club and the community. She's a National Bench Rest Shooters Association 200 and 300 Yard Champion. She rides a motorcycle.
Minus the "stiff shirt," Paulette has built Accurate Income Tax and Accounting on service to local families and businesses. "We have nonprofits, S corporations, partnerships and single member LLCs, but they're probably five percent of what we do. Mostly, we service individuals and small business."
She said she thinks it's "terrible they make things so complicated that you have to pay somebody to file a tax return!" An interesting attitude for a tax preparer, but part of what drives Paulette to do the most for her customers.
"Good service at a reasonable fee. That's what we're about."
According to a July 2008 study by Hewitt Associates, women generally need more money for retirement, in part because they live three years longer, on average. Yet most women have done less to prepare for their financial security. Among the findings:
- The average woman's 401(k) balance was approximately $56,000, compared with about $103,000 average for a man.
- Women typically wait two to four years longer than men to begin saving for retirement.
- Women are less likely to invest aggressively (65% for women, versus 71% for men).
- Women in the study contributed an average of 7.3% of their pay to their 401(k), compared with 8.1% contributions from men.
Part of the challenge is that women make less than men. According to the Social Security Adminstration, in 2007, the median earnings of working-age women who worked full-time, year-round were $35,000, compared to $45,000 for men. And women spend fewer years in the workforce, in part because they're more likely than men to take time off to raise families. Smaller (and fewer) paychecks means lower Social Security benefits during retirement. In 2007, the average annual Social Security income received by women 65 years and older was $10,685, compared to $14,055 for men.
Other industry research has found women are more likely than men to cash-in their 401(k)s early, especially when they change jobs or leave the workforce to tend to their families. The vast portion of women, up to 90%, also say they are uncomfortable managing their finances.
Add it all together and it's clear that women, even more so than men, need a good financial advisor who can help customize a plan that addresses their particular challenges. No two investors are alike. With a solid roadmap, women have the potential to build investment portfolios not only as healthy as their male colleagues' accounts, but that can last those extra years in retirement.