National Advisors Trust: Optimize Readiness by Integrating Financial & Estate Planning

When it comes to protecting your assets, minimizing your tax liabilities, and securing your family’s legacy, financial and estate planning should always be a joint consideration. 

An integrated approach ensures you have a plan to preserve and grow your wealth while providing peace of mind that your affairs will be managed according to your wishes.

This guide outlines the fundamentals of financial and estate planning, offers integrated strategies, and highlights common mistakes to avoid.

Start with the Basics

Financial planning covers all aspects of your life, including budgeting, saving, investing, risk management, tax strategies, and retirement planning. It involves assessing your family’s finances, defining your short- and long-term goals, and creating a roadmap to achieve them. 

Estate planning involves arranging for the transfer and management of your assets in the event of your death or incapaciy. It includes creating legal documents and entities—such as wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives—to protect your family and ensure that your wishes are honored.

Integrating financial and estate planning can help:

• Ensure your financial and legacy goals (and strategies) align
• Protect your assets and facilitate a smooth transfer upon death or incapacity
• Minimize your tax liabilities in life and after death
• Maintain your privacy and avoid legal complications
• Shield your loved ones from unnecessary stress or conflict
• Preserve and grow generational wealth

Don’t Procrastinate

Aligning your financial plan and estate plan from day one—and evaluating them together through life’s stages—is critical for ensuring long-term security and peace of mind. Coordinated planning helps protect your assets, prepare your loved ones, and ensure your wishes for your affairs are clearly defined and executable, especially in unforeseen circumstances. 

If your planning is isolated or delayed, you risk leaving your family unprepared during times of crisis, facing legal complications, financial inefficiencies, or even losing control over important healthcare and other decisions.  Procrastinating until a significant health issue or life event arises can limit your options or make it too late to adopt effective strategies, turning what could have been a proactive legacy into a reactive burden for your loved ones. 

Implement the Right Strategies

A key consideration when integrating financial and estate planning is the potential tax implications. For 2025, the lifetime estate and gift exemption is $13.99 million for individuals and $27.98 million perr married couple, with the  annual gift tax exclusion currently at  $19,000 per person or $38,000 per married couple who elect to gift split.¹ 

Your financial advisor and the rest of your estate planning team can evaluate your unique financial situation and legacy goals and suggest suitable strategies to help you achieve them. With that in mind, here are three key tactics to consider in your integrated planning:

1. Charitable giving allows you to establish a philanthropic legacy while potentially reaping certain tax benefits. Various options include:

• Creating a nonprofit family foundation can enable you to receive an income tax deduction for cash contributions, donate appreciated stock to benefit from capital gains savings, and lessen the estate tax burden on your heirs.²
• Contributing to a donor-advised fund (DAF) allows you to support a 501(c)(3) public charity, receive an immediate tax deduction, and recommend grants to your favorite philanthropic organizations over time.³
• Establishing a charitable remainder trust provides an income stream to your designated beneficiaries for a specified term and then allocates the remaining funds to one or more charities. Potential benefits include deferring capital gains tax until income is distributed to your beneficiaries, removing assets from your taxable estate, and receiving a tax deduction of up to 60% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) if your trust is funded with cash.⁴

1. Gifting assets directly to beneficiaries during your lifetime can lower the value (and potential future appreciation) of your taxable estate. It also provides the opportunity to witness how passing on these assets benefits your loved ones. If you have significant wealth, consider “superfunding” a 529 college savings plan for your child or grandchild. Contributing five years’ worth of annual exclusions ($95,000 in 2025) at once will remove that value from your estate without incurring gift taxes .⁵

1. Establishing irrevocable trusts can help reduce estate taxes, protect your estate from creditors and lawsuits, shield your heirs from probate, and provide greater control over how your assets are distributed. There are a variety of trusts to consider depending on your family’s needs, including asset protection trusts and special needs trusts to provide for a child or dependent without compromising their eligibility for government benefits.

Avoid Common Mistakes

When integrating financial and estate planning, it’s crucial to recognize common pitfalls that could jeopardize your efforts:

• Failing to update your estate plan regularly. It’s critical to update your plan to reflect major life events (births, marriage, divorce, or retirement) or changes  to the law. 
• Overlooking the tax impacts of your decisions. Gift and estate tax laws are subject to change and vary by state, so it’s important to stay informed. Your location, the type of assets you own, how they’re held, and how you transfer them can all influence your estate tax liability. 
• Neglecting your digital legacy. Digital assets include everything from social media profiles and online banking accounts to digital photos, online subscriptions, and cloud storage. Incorporating these assets in your estate plan can help deter cybercriminals and ensure they are managed according to your intentions.
• Going it alone. Don’t attempt to navigate the challenges of financial and estate planning without guidance from experienced professionals. Collaborating with your financial advisor, estate planning attorney, and tax experts can help ensure that your plan is legally and financially sound.
• Selecting the wrong trustee. A qualified trustee must be knowledgeable, objective, and equipped to take on complex fiduciary, legal, and administrative duties. Instead of placing this burden on a loved one, consider selecting an experienced corporate trustee with a proven track record, such as National Advisors Trust.

Ask for Advice

Ready to implement a powerful strategy for managing wealth, protecting your loved ones, and leaving a meaningful legacy?

Speak with your financial advisor today about taking an integrated approach to your financial, estate, and trust planning. 

If you don’t have an advisor, connect with one of the 6,000+ professionals across our expanding national network.

Sources

¹https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/estate-tax-and-lifetime-gifting

² https://foundationsource.com/resources/white-papers/tax-benefits-of-a-private-foundation/

³ https://www.nptrust.org/what-is-a-donor-advised-fund/

⁴ https://www.dafgiving360.org/charitable-remainder-trust

⁵ https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/10-rules-for-superfunding-a-529-plan