Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Stewardship Truths #6

A 12 part series discussing stewardship.

By: Barry G. Allen


Work hard at everything you do.

Proverbs 22:29 “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.”

Here the wisdom writer reminds us first that good stewardship involves how we earn what we get as well as how we spend what we get – in other words – good management is directly related to values; and second, in addition to teaching us values and helping us to prosper, hard work brings a measure of satisfaction to our lives.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Is Your Plan Coordinated?

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel

Efficiently and effectively accomplishing God’s plan for how what you own will pass at your death requires you put together a “coordinated” plan for how your assets will pass.

Assets that are beneficiary-designated such as life insurance and retirement accounts will pass per the terms of the beneficiary designation document, not per the terms of your will or revocable living trust. Likewise, jointly-owned assets will pass to the surviving joint owner at your death, no matter what your will or trust says.

Only assets in your name alone or designated to be paid to your estate, your executor or the trustee of your trust will pass as your will or trust directs.

Failure to coordinate how assets will pass may result in a beneficiary receiving assets in a way you did not intend. Here’s an example: Your intention is for anything coming to your son from your estate at your death is to be held in trust for him until he reaches age 25. Your plan includes both a bequest to the trust for his benefit created in your will and a life insurance beneficiary designation naming your son as beneficiary. The bequest will be placed in trust, but the life insurance will be paid directly to your son, whether he has reached age 25 at the time of your death or not.

Make sure your plan is coordinated, and stays coordinated, by regularly reviewing how your assets are titled and how beneficiaries of life insurance, retirement accounts and possibly other assets are designated. Then compare asset titling and beneficiary designations with the terms of your will or trust.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Do You Need More Income?

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Like many people you may depend upon income from certificates of deposit and other fixed income investments.

If so, I am confident you wish interest rates were a lot higher than they are. Also, you may have been thinking about how to provide some kind of financial benefit to your church and other charitable causes, but did not feel you could give up that income producing CD.

I am delighted to inform you the Kentucky Baptist Foundation offers you a simple solution to your need of more income and your charitable intentions. That solution is a charitable gift annuity (CGA).

A CGA is an agreement between you and the KBF under which, in exchange for your gift to the KBF of cash or appreciated securities with a value of at least $5,000, the KBF agrees to pay you a fixed amount each quarter for the rest of your life. The payout rate depends upon your age. The older you are, the higher the payout rate.

Also, a CGA can be on one or two lives. For example, it can be on the lives of a husband and wife.

Not only is the payout partially tax free, but also the gift portion of the plan is tax deductible. If you give appreciated assets, there likely will be capital gains tax savings as well.

The portion of your gift not needed to make the lifetime annuity payments to you will be available at your death for the chartable cause(s) you designate in advance.

You can specify for the remaining portion to be available to the charitable cause(s) outright, or to be held by the KBF in a permanent endowment fund with only the earnings, not the principal, being paid in perpetuity to the cause(s).

Anyone age 50 or older is eligible. Example of the current single life payout rates are: 5.1% at age 70; 5.8% at age 75; 6.8% at age 80; 7.8% at age 85; and 9.0% at age 90 and older.

As you anticipate the maturity of your next CD, consider using it for a CGA. Laurie Valentine and I are awaiting your toll free call to assist you.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Twelve Steps For Christian Estate Planning- Step #6

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel

A Christian estate plan is one you develop by determining how God wants you to: (1) provide for your family and other “dependents” at your death and (2) have your finances managed and decisions made for you if you became incapacitated and no longer able to do those things for yourself.

Step #6 Name a Guardian for Minor Children. Children under age 18 are “minors” under Kentucky law. As such, they cannot make decisions for themselves or manage assets. The law requires a guardian be named by a court to handle those things until a child reaches age 18, if there is not a natural or adoptive parent surviving.

Accomplishing God’s plan for how you should provide for your family includes deciding who should be named to take on the important role of “guardian” for your children if both parents died before all of your children reach age 18. And, once that decision has been made, it should be communicated by including a provision in your Will naming that person(s) so your family and the court will know who you want appointed as guardian if such a circumstance occurs.

Next Month-Step Use Trusts to Help Beneficiaries Handle Their Wealth   

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Assisting Needy Retired Ministers

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 

A few years ago a retired Baptist pastor and his wife inquired about how they might assist in meeting the financial needs of other Kentucky Baptist retired ministers and their wives who needed more income to cover the essentials of daily living.

Although their retirement income was modest, they were debt free, had accumulated some savings and wanted to leave a legacy of their gratitude to the Lord for His provisions throughout their ministry by helping other needy retired ministers. With interest rates on their savings at such lows, they also were seeking a way to increase their retirement income for as long as they lived.

We informed them about the benefits of a charitable gift annuity (CGA) and the KBF’s Minister’s Aid Society Fund (MASF) as a solution to both their charitable interests as well as their income needs.

The CGA payout rate was substantially higher than any CD rate, a portion of it was not considered taxable income to them and they would receive an income tax deduction on a portion of the CGA gift amount.

The perpetual earnings of the MASF are used to supplement the provisions by GuideStone Financial Resources, formerly the Annuity Board, to assist needy retired ministers and their wives, or their widows with extra money for housing, food and medications while seeking to ensure a well deserved dignity and independence. This GuideStone ministry is called Mission:Dignity and provides $6.2M annually to approximately 2,000 recipients per year ranging from $200 to $530 per month. The KBF provides $300,000 annually from the MASF to 91 Kentucky recipients.

You can participate in this important “relief” ministry by sending a designated gift directly to GuideStone and/or the KBF. Your gift can be a check, appreciated assets like stock or real estate, a beneficiary designation of life insurance or retirement account and/or a bequest in your will. For more information about how you can support this ministry, click on www.missiondignitysbc.org, call toll free 1.888.984.8433 or call me toll free (KY only) at 1.866.49.3421.

What an opportunity to assist a generation of God-called servants, who loved their churches, and their churches loved them, but for whom planning for the future was not emphasized when they began serving. They trusted the Lord to provide, and they put the needs of their churches first. Now they need and deserve help. Let Mission:Dignity Sunday, June 22 be the day you decide to help.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.