Insurance & Estate Planning

Insurance

Hudson Financial Services represents more than a dozen of America's top-rated insurance companies, and we rely on names like MetLife and John Hancock when implementing our clients' diversified financial plans.  You can count on us to know which carriers offer the strongest insurance products for wealth protection.  Of course, you can also rely on us to shop for the most competitive pricing and medical underwriting when looking for the policy that best fits your needs. 

Life Insurance:

Whether you're looking for pure family protection or a tax-advantaged method of creating wealth, life insurance is one of the most versatile and most economical financial vehicles available today.  At Hudson Financial Services, we can help you find the right policy for your unique needs, including:

Term Life Insurance  This "pure insurance" allows you to purchase low-cost protection for 10, 20 and even 30 years.

Universal Life Insurance This is a permanent type of insurance that offers guaranteed death benefits as well as the opportunity to build long-term savings.

Variable Life Insurance

Your life insurance needs change frequently for countless reasons.  You get older; your health changes; your family grows; you change jobs; or you retire.  At these and many other key points along the way, you can trust Hudson Financial Services to anticipate your needs and identify the right life insurance strategy for your financial situation.

Long Term Care Insurance:

Annual nursing home costs can easily reach $100,000 in the Northeast, and the costs keep rising at an alarming rate.  In fact, covering the cost of nursing home care can wipe out your entire savings pool.  And if you believe that nursing home expenses affect only people who are 80 or 90, it's time to adjust your thinking.  Illness and injury don't discriminate by age, and it's possible that you or someone you love will need nursing home care unrelated to advancing age.  Of course, you should also think about long term care insurance if your parents will one day rely on you to manage their medical and financial affairs.

A long term care insurance policy can take fear out of the nursing home equation and safeguard the wealth that you've spent a lifetime accumulating.  At Hudson Financial Services, we'll work closely with you to assess whether an LTC policy makes sense in your situation.  If so, we can introduce you to tax-qualified LTC policies that meet your needs.  When appropriate, we can also introduce you to the New York State Partnership Program, an innovative program that combines private LTC insurance and Medicaid to help New Yorkers gain the protection they need without impoverishing themselves.

 

Estate Planning

You've worked hard to accumulate wealth and preserve it over the years.  The last thing you want to do is leave those assets to the government after you die!  With proper estate planning, you can ensure your accumulated assets are distributed to your heirs as intended.     

Without advance planning, there will be a price for the success you have  enjoyed.  It's called "federal estate tax."  The estate tax rate can be as high as 55%, which could make the IRS your largest beneficiary.

Some people hear the phrase estate planning and think to themselves, "Sure, I'll get around to that when I'm 85 or 90."  But that's a huge mistake.

A comprehensive estate plan isn't something that you "get around to" toward the end of a long and successful life.  On the contrary, a properly constructed estate plan is a vehicle that can pay a huge dividend today, by providing you with the peace of mind that comes from having your financial affairs completely under control.  In addition, the right estate plan can be a medium for assuring that your life's work and your values will continue to exert a positive influence on others long after you're gone.

This is the right time of your life to create an estate plan that makes sure your wealth, your goals, and your ideals are carefully knitted together.  Here are just a few of the many issues that deserve your attention:

  • Have you and your spouse divided your assets in such a way as to provide adequate shelter from estate taxes?
  • Have you and your spouse each established marital trusts that will provide maximum support to the survivor while minmizing estate taxes?
  • Have you created a life insurance trust, funded with survivorship life insurance, that will pay estate taxes for your beneficiaries?
  • Have you carefully spelled out which family members, friends, or charities will benefit from wealth you have created . . . and under what circumstances?

It's your wealth, you get to decide how it will be applied to the people and institutions you care about.  Remember, though, that your desires may be completely ignored unless you've structured the plan properly.