Putting the right estate planning documents in place and correctly titling your assets is critical to preserving the health and lifestyle you've built for your family after you're gone.

In today's world, the most popular and well-known legacy planning tools are wills and trusts. However, many people confuse the differences between the two, the benefits they can and can't provide, and whether or not they even need them in the first place!

More specifically, I discuss:

• Why getting the appropriate estate planning documents in place is so important
• What is a Will? What can it do?
• What is a Trust? What can it do?
• What is the difference between a Revocable Living Trust and an Irrevocable Trust?
• Common uses for Revocable Living Trusts
• Common uses for Irrevocable Trusts
• What Revocable Living Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts don't do
• How the titling of assets can work in your estate plan
• The importance of naming beneficiaries

Key moments:

(00:00) Estate planning: wills, trusts, assets, and advice

(06:26) What does a will do?

(09:43) Title of property and beneficiary designations

(11:41) What can a trust do?

(15:33) Revocable trusts does not offer tax benefits

(21:37) Irrevocable trusts can have significant tax implications, good or bad

(23:35) The importance of naming beneficiaries and titling assets appropriately

(27:52) Estate planning can save your family money

Resources:

• Retired-ish Newsletter Sign-Up
• Get Show Notes Here
• Ask Cameron A Question!

If you're getting divorced in California and you think dividing a pension is just "give or take half, and we're done" — that mindset is what usually ends up costing you real money down the road.

Of course, the formulas for splitting retirement benefits matters, but it's not the biggest risk. The biggest risk is what happens to that pension the day the retiree dies, which isn't always top of mind in the divorce process.

In part 2 of our California Divorce mini-series, I'm walking you through generally how pensions are looked at in California divorces, how benefits are generally calculated and determined, what determines how long those payments actually last, and the survivor benefit traps that haunt people who thought they'd already handled everything correctly.

More specifically, Cameron discusses:

• Pensions and defining community property vs. separate property
• Length of marriage and Date of Separation
• The "Time Rule" / "Brown" formulas for dividing a pension stream in CA
• The 10-year myth
• Offsetting assets in divorce negotiations
• How long might you expect to receive pension payments?
• What can cause pension payments to cease?
• Pension survivor benefit pitfalls in common CA public pensions (SBCERA, CalPERS, CalSTRS)

Resources From The Episode:

• Retired-ish Newsletter Sign-Up
• Get a Complimentary Copy of Cameron's Book for Divorcées and Widows: Finding Financial Clarity and Confidence When Starting Over
• Ask a Question
• Get Show Notes Here

Key moments:

(00:00) Basics of Pension Division in California

(03:00) Community Property and Pension Complexity

(08:26) Calculating Benefits and the Time Rule/Brown Formula

(16:10) Duration of Benefits and Survivor Risks

(23:00) System-Specific Pitfalls: CalPERS, CalSTRS, SBCERA

(29:57) Strategic Planning and Final Thoughts

You can win the house. You can win the car. But if you walk away from your divorce without the right paperwork on a retirement pension, you can lose a seven-figure asset – that's right, 7-figure asset - without ever knowing it happened — sometimes not until decades later, when your ex-spouse retires, remarries, or passes away, and suddenly there's nothing left to claim.

In part one of this California divorce miniseries, we're breaking down exactly how pension division works in a divorce — the forms, the deadlines, the acronyms nobody explains to you, and the mistakes that quietly cost people their fair share.

More specifically, Cameron discusses:

• The ATRO – Automatic Temporary Restraining Order
• Joinders for some retirement pension systems
• The difference between a Domestic Relations Order (DRO) vs a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO)
• Key differences between public pensions (i.e., CalPERS/STRS, SBCERA, OCERA, LACERA, etc.), federal pensions (FERS/CSRS), and private sector pensions
• Costly mistakes made with pensions throughout the divorce process
• The various costs you may incur to split a retirement pension in divorce
• Who to talk to and when during the divorce process about your retirement pension

Key moments:

(03:25) Understanding ATROs and Filing
(08:22) Joinders and Differences in Pensions
(12:06) QDROs and DROs Explained
(16:16) Federal Plans and Common Errors
(22:46) Costs and Fees Involved With Pension Division
(26:07) Building Your Professional Divorce Team

Resources:

• Retired-ish Newsletter Sign-Up
• Ask a Question
• Get Show Notes Here