Wills, Life Insurance, Investments

[Clecky]

Hi all, dont know if this is in the right section..... Please move it if its not ....

Has anyone written a will since being here in US. ? I heard your suppose to put all your assets in a trust is this right.....?

Has anyone got life insurance, we have life insurance but in England, is it worth paying for it here too.....??

Investments, has anyone done anything about investing for the future, are we allowed a 401k (or equivalent) here on E2, or what other kinds of stuff do you do....?

Thanks for your help, I am crap with money, investments etc etc, time is ticking away I need to do something, but not sure of the systems here so dont know what to do....

Clecky

[peter gold]

You are paying US taxes so you get get the write offs e.g pensions etc
There are plenty of commission hungry advisers out there waiting for your $$$$
If I was here short term on an E2 I would invest in the UK

[Clecky]

Thanks Peter

mmmm, yer your right, I was thinking about, about doing something in England, but now I have left am I allowed to do that.....

Do you know anyone here who I can trust not to sell me some crazy plan that I dont need.....

What about a will.....?

Clecky

[floridapete]

Thanks Peter

mmmm, yer your right, I was thinking about, about doing something in England, but now I have left am I allowed to do that.....

Do you know anyone here who I can trust not to sell me some crazy plan that I dont need.....

What about a will.....?

Clecky

First things first - do you own a Florida property ? Do you own a Florida business ? Do you have any US bank accounts with deposit balances ?

If so they all represent your US Estate - and as such you SHOULD get a will written in the US (state of Florida) which reflects those elements of your worldwide personal estate which are located in the US.

This should then be noted on any other UK will that you may have that there exists a Florida will dealing with your US estate.

I will leave the question of investments and trusts to other people to answer.

[Susie]

Hi all, dont know if this is in the right section..... Please move it if its not ....

Has anyone written a will since being here in US. ? I heard your suppose to put all your assets in a trust is this right.....?

Has anyone got life insurance, we have life insurance but in England, is it worth paying for it here too.....??

Investments, has anyone done anything about investing for the future, are we allowed a 401k (or equivalent) here on E2, or what other kinds of stuff do you do....?

Thanks for your help, I am crap with money, investments etc etc, time is ticking away I need to do something, but not sure of the systems here so dont know what to do....

Clecky


Hi

Yes, I have written a will since living in the USA, something that I should have done years ago ,but like many others never really got round to doing it

I was forced to write a will and also my husband at very short notice. My husband was told to get his affairs in order, when he was diagnosed terminal. So we both did our wills the day after so we could move on and enjoy what time we had left together, definatley would not recommend waiting till you or anyone else is in a simular position

Within 24hrs we each had, A USA for US assets and a UK will for UK assets. In each will we referred to the fact there was another will covering assets in a differnet country

We also had durable power of aatorney over health care, durable power of attorney over financial affairs , a do not resusitate document and a living will


I urge anyone who does not have a will to get their affairs sorted NOW, while you are fit and healthy and not do what we did, by force.


I will need to revise my will and will be loking into trusts in the not too distant future


Please bear in mind that, any assest that is registered to an individual is subject to tax when the asset holder passes. Put all bank accounts in joint names, cars , boats, trailers, in fact anything of value

[punky]

As this is for US residents, I have moved it into the US residents section.

[Clecky]

Hi, I bet most of us dont have a will here in the US.... Its something you always say you will do but never seem to get round to it. Its most important its just understanding it that is the hard part....

Whats the difference between a will and a trust....?

Thanks
Clecky

PS, Sue who did you use to draw it up for you.....

[Susie]

Hi

Thought it would be interesting to see how many of those living in the USA have a us will, so posted a poll

This is for people who spend more than 183 days per year in the usa

[kirtida8]

Hi Clecky, you need to check your UK life insurance policy to make sure they will pay out if you are living abroad - even temporarily as is supposed to be with an E-2. Although I am still paying into my UK life insurance policy, I know that they will not pay out if I am still living abroad when I die - so have been looking into getting a US policy as well. Same goes for the pension funds. I did purchase a do it yourself will - but as yet have not had a chance to fill it in and get it notarised. Luckily my home is in joint names with my eldest son who is back in the UK, as is the business.

[peter gold]

Clecky
There are many tax problems if you are not a USC and one of two joint owners dies without a will.
Firstly their is no exemption on Florida from death tax if you are not a USC and thay can be expensive.
Yes you can get a home will from Home Depot adn do it your self (must be witnessed and notarized to be valid), but not expensive to see an estate planning attorney , and if you are pretty wealthy you ought alos to see an accountant who specialzes.
I know of attornies here in Sarasota but nowhere else

[byjove]

Hubby has life insurance. He has what it would cost to be able to "buy" into USA if I need too. Good plan but I am sure there will be faults!!! As always, not being a USC and only on E2.

Will???? We need to do one. We have friends that will adopt kids if something happens to us, Should get it on paper really! :)

[InnVic]

you should also consider voluntary payments into UK national Insurance - this means that when you do go back ;) (as on E2 you have to show ties to UK!) you will have full pension entitlement...its something stupid like GBP8 a month and may be worth considering if you have no other pension cover.

[floridapete]

you should also consider voluntary payments into UK national Insurance - this means that when you do go back ;) (as on E2 you have to show ties to UK!) you will have full pension entitlement...its something stupid like GBP8 a month and may be worth considering if you have no other pension cover.


Which raises another question !

Being in the USA on E2 (non-immigrant, temporary worker) visas do you pay into the US federal pension scheme and will you benefit from it upon reaching retirement age (even though your E2 visa will lapse if you ever do 'retire') ?

Or do you not pay into it and will receive nothing in the US when you retire ?

I know someone who has been in the USA nine years now, as an L1 first and then LPR, who is waiting until they have been there ten years of paying credits into the US pension system so that they can then qualify for a US pension even after they return to the UK. They would rather wait there the extra year or so to benefit than to leave now and lose that valuable benefit altogether.

[byjove]

Hubby has pensions in UK.

Has started getting 1 of them!!!!

[JanetTom]

Hi, here is something we found out recently about investments... whilst resident in US we are not allowed to hold premium bonds or tax free savings bonds ie ISA`a and TESSA`s in UK. Premium bonds are tax free if you win, and the other investments are not taxed when cashing in. US government don`t like this and we have had to "move " all our investments.
Some life insurance is not vaild outside of UK. We are with Liverpool and Victoria, who cover us overseas.

We have made a UK will listing the exsitence of US owned property and assetts. More importantly we have left specific instructions regarding our children`s well being if we both die together. Not a happy thought, but a necessary one to be prepared for.

What makes me laugh is that on an E2 we are not classed as a "permanant resident" for the likes of Homestead, but for tax purposes we are as permanant as it gets....... good luck

[anniefromessex]

Only in the USA!!! Their thinking appals me - how can they dictate what we can and cannot have - can we dictate to them, I think not!!! It seems there is one rule for them and one for us.

Love Anniexxx

[floridapete]

Hi

Thought it would be interesting to see how many of those living in the USA have a us will, so posted a poll

This is for people who spend more than 183 days per year in the usa

At the present time 60% of the 10 people who have so far had the interest to vote in this poll have NO US. will written !

Isn't that amazing considering all the legal and tax complications that this implies for the surviving partner or family in the event of a fatal accident or illness. Even worse if both partners are involved !

Is it that you just don't have the time to fix it - or you don't have the money to do so ?

I wonder why more people have not voted in this poll yet ?

Maybe a similar % of people (maybe even the same people ) would not have medical insurance in place either ?