Liquidity of estate
- Under most countries’ jurisdictions, when a person dies, someone has to deal with their money, property and possessions– their estate.
- Then the deceased’s assets may be frozen until the court issues a probate, which gives a specified person the right to administer the estate.
- Only then can the deceased’s frozen assets be touched and any money withdrawn or transferred from his/her bank accounts.
- Probate applications can take a long time, and this may cause additional burden to families who are going through emotional distress.
- To avoid the unnecessary hassle and ensure your wealth is distributed according to your wish, it is prudent to have a proper wealth transfer to give you control over your hard-earned money.
Separate your wealth transfer funds from retirement funds
Many people may think that evenly distributing all your remaining wealth is already a good plan to transfer wealth. There may in individual circumstances be merits to separating your wealth transfer funds from your retirement funds.
- Ensure sufficient retirement savings
- Ease your worries in consuming wealth you wish to pass on
- Boost your estate benefits with insurance solutions2
Wealth transfer of family business and assets
- An important and strong tradition within the Asian culture is passing on legacy and wealth to younger generation.
- Assets may cover a variety of categories, some of which cannot be easily divided among your heirs.
- When faced with a business and assets that cannot be divided, estate may not be fairly distributed to the successors.
- There are circumstances when life insurance can help create more liquid assets at the point of distribution of your wealth.
An estate inventory
- Real estate
- Securities (Stocks, Bonds and Unit Trusts)
- Bank accounts
- Collectibles
- Life insurance policies
- Business
- All tangible personal property (e.g. cars, boats)
- MPF accounts
Your asset may cover a variety of categories, some of which cannot be easily divided among your heritance.
1Source: 2013 HSBC “Future of Retirement – Life after works?” Survey
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