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5 Steps to Start Planning Your Estate

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(Family Features) Regardless of your age, it’s never too early to plan your estate and ensure last wishes are met. Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy – it’s a process that allows you to determine how your assets are bequeathed and managed upon incapacitation or death.

Aiming to promote cultural preservation and secure funds for Jewish institutions, the Jewish Future Pledge is a global initiative empowering families to discuss the importance of estate planning, including why patriarchs and matriarchs should ensure charitable giving continues after their passing. The organization estimates $68 trillion will be transferred to the next generation over the next 25 years with around 20% of this wealth coming from Jewish donors.

Discuss these basic estate planning steps with your loved ones and consider consulting an attorney for individual guidance.

Document Wishes
Although not typically legally binding, preparing a letter of final wishes allows you to share information and requests, like funeral arrangements, which often fall outside of the will. It may also include an explanation of will provisions or suggestions for how funds you’ll leave behind should be used.

Prepare a Will
A legally binding last will and testament is often considered the most important aspect of estate planning. This involves naming guardians for minor children and pets, listing all property, designating people and organizations that should receive assets, directing funds to charities and naming an executor.

Consider Causes Important to You
As part of will creation and estate planning, consider charitable causes you’d like to support after passing. Talking with loved ones can be a way to gather input on important causes, and those conversations can act as a springboard for generations to support a particular cause or organization, based on their shared values.

The Jewish Future Pledge asks Jews and their allies to prioritize these intergenerational conversations as they can be catalysts for families to include Jewish causes and Israel in their estate planning to ensure the future of Jewish people. By signing the pledge, individuals promise that 50% or more of the funds intended for charity will be earmarked for Jewish charities or Israel.

Taking the pledge means individuals can ensure their legacy aligns with their values and clarifies their intentions after passing. For those who already donate to Jewish causes, the pledge acts as a beacon to others to make the same commitment.

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“Signing the Jewish Future Pledge is more than just an act – it’s a deeply rooted, emotional declaration of my unwavering dedication to my cherished community,” said Jewish social media influencer and entrepreneur Elizabeth “Lizzy” Savetsky, who became the 15,000th person to commit to the initiative. “In taking this step, I’m fiercely determined to safeguard the rich values and time-honored traditions that have shaped my identity and the lives of countless others.”

Find more information by visiting JewishFuturePledge.org.

Assign Beneficiaries
Naming people who should inherit assets like life insurance policies or retirement accounts is something you may have completed long ago when creating those assets. However, it’s important to ensure the beneficiaries named align with your will to avoid conflict as designated beneficiaries often take precedence over a will, which could create confusion and legal headaches.

Regularly Review Your Plan

Establishing your estate plan is important for ensuring last wishes are met, but it’s also beneficial to revisit the plan regularly to update when necessary. For example, many people review their plans every couple of years or at major life events, such as the birth of a child or grandchild, marriage or divorce, purchasing a large asset, changing life insurance coverage and career changes.

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Jewish Future Pledge

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Community

The Hidden Harm of Civil Legal Issues: A path to help Americans in need

Many Americans face unresolved civil legal issues, often unaware of available assistance, leading to disadvantages in legal systems despite the existence of free help from legal aid organizations.

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Civil Legal Issues

(Family Features) Your landlord is threatening to evict you, while maintenance issues in your apartment complex have been ignored, making it difficult to get to work and pay the bills. That’s a civil legal issue.

You know you’re qualified for Veterans or Social Security benefits, but you can’t seem to get through the red tape. That’s a civil legal issue.

The mobile home park where you lease a space for your manufactured home is kicking you out, and you may lose your investment in the home as well as a place to live. That’s a civil legal issue.

A survey from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) found many Americans who experienced a civil legal matter within the past three years (59%) didn’t seek legal help from an attorney who could have been pivotal in getting their issues resolved.

A misunderstanding found in the survey is that more than half of American adults (56%) wrongly believe they have a right to a lawyer in a civil case. In fact, Americans only have a right to a lawyer when they have been accused of a crime. This misperception means some people may end up in civil court at a big disadvantage in a complex legal system because they don’t have legal representation.

Civil legal issues can be life-changing. Even though people do not have a right to a lawyer in these cases, free help is available for many low-income people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, LSC supports 130 independent, nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia and the territories. It launched the Protecting the Promise outreach campaign, aimed at ensuring legal aid is available to low-income Americans who need it.

Legal aid attorneys help with the most common civil legal issues people in the national survey said they faced in the last three years, even if they didn’t recognize them as legal issues. Those were debt collection (63%), job loss (56%) and issues surrounding natural disasters (52%).

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In addition to these issues, legal aid organizations supported by LSC also help with family law issues like divorce, child custody and domestic violence.

Many Americans don’t realize when they could benefit from legal assistance. A significant portion of Americans (1 in 3) who didn’t seek legal help for civil matters in the past three years said they thought they could deal with the problem on their own or didn’t think the problem was serious enough for legal help. Additionally, almost one-quarter didn’t reach out for legal assistance because they didn’t think an attorney could help with their problems.

More than three-quarters of women didn’t seek legal help when contacted by creditors or collection agencies compared to fewer than half of men who didn’t seek help.

Money is a big barrier. Among those who did not seek legal assistance, nearly one-third did not do so because they were worried about the cost.

Unresolved civil legal issues can pile up, hurting individuals, families and even entire communities. For people with low incomes, getting help can be difficult. Hiring a lawyer can be expensive, and most people don’t know where to start.

To see if you’re eligible for civil legal aid or to find a legal aid organization in your area, visit lsc.gov.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock

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SOURCE:
Legal Services Corporation

The Bridge is a section of the STM Daily News Blog meant for diversity, offering real news stories about bona fide community efforts to perpetuate a greater good. The purpose of The Bridge is to connect the divides that separate us, fostering understanding and empathy among different groups. By highlighting positive initiatives and inspirational actions, The Bridge aims to create a sense of unity and shared purpose. This section brings to light stories of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to promote inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect. Through these narratives, readers are encouraged to appreciate the richness of diverse perspectives and to participate actively in building stronger, more cohesive communities.

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Lifestyle

How to Plan for Retirement

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(Family Features) Being financially secure in retirement starts while you’re still working. Because you likely don’t want to remain in the workforce forever, creating a plan can help ensure you’re confident in living comfortably in retirement when the time comes.

Retirement plans and financial aspirations are deeply personal and often tied to family life, ambitions and values, meaning it’s entirely up to you when to start planning and saving for your post-work years. However, the worrying reality is that many households across the U.S. don’t feel in control of their finances. According to a study from World Financial Group, 11% of households have “forfeited contributions to their retirement accounts,” a decision that will have an impact later in life.

To ensure you’re prepared, consider these steps to plan for retirement.

Understand When You Can Retire and How Much Money You Will Need

Because nearly everyone has different goals for retirement, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to when and how much money you’ll need to stop working. Assess your unique situation – including all your forms of income, assets and savings – and calculate what you’ll need to maintain your standard of living and cover expenses, including any discretionary spending, in retirement.

Choose an Appropriate Retirement Plan for Your Needs

In addition to figuring out how much you should save, having the right savings vehicle is an important consideration. A good place to start is an employer-sponsored retirement plan with fund-matching, such as a 401(k). If a workplace retirement plan is not available, consider setting aside money for retirement through an IRA that provides access to a range of investments, including stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Some insurance products may also provide benefits during retirement, such as life insurance coverage, supplemental income and tax advantages.

Take Stock of Your Current Assets
Your current assets include more than just what’s in your bank account. Beyond your paycheck, factor in real estate, investment accounts and any insurance policies you may have. If you need help understanding your finances, take a financial literacy quiz to test your knowledge and then consider meeting with a financial services expert.

Create a Retirement Budget and Look at Ways to Reduce Expenses
Your retirement budget should look similar to yours while still part of the workforce. Start by accounting for how much money is coming in and how much is going out toward fixed expenses like utilities, cellphone bills, insurance premiums, rent or mortgage and vehicle payments then track other expenses like groceries, gasoline and other spending toward non-essentials like entertainment and clothing. From there, look for ways to cut expenses to stretch your funds further, such as canceling a streaming service, dining out less or skipping a new movie release.

Account for Unexpected Expenses
Before retirement, consider how you’d handle unexpected expenses such as a medical emergency, home or vehicle repair or moving into an assisted living facility. Suppose you don’t have the appropriate health and homeowner’s insurance coverage. In that case, you may be covering those costs out-of-pocket, which could limit or hinder your financial flexibility on a fixed income.

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Test your literacy and find additional resources to plan for retirement at WorldFinancialGroup.com.

Photo courtesy of iStock

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SOURCE:
World Financial Group

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.


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College Life

Campus diversity is becoming difficult to measure as students keep their race and ethnicity hidden on college applications

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More students are listing ‘race unknown’ on their college applications. Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Karly Sarita Ford, Penn State

When the Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions at American colleges and universities just over a year ago, many predicted U.S. campuses would become much less diverse. But in part due to students who decide not to disclose their race or ethnicity, coupled with universities’ selective use of statistics, it is not clear how much the decision has affected diversity on campus.

As higher education institutions begin reporting the racial makeup of the class of 2028 – the first to be affected by the 2023 decision – the data is hard to interpret, confusing and inconclusive.

As a sociologist who has studied how institutions of higher education collect and report data on race and ethnicity, I have identified some factors that contribute to this lack of clarity.

Students don’t identify with choices given

Some students may not select a racial or ethnic category because they don’t believe any of the categories really fit. For example, before multiracial students could select “one or more,” an option that became widely available in 2010, they were more likely to decline to identify their race or ethnicity. Some even boycotted checkboxes entirely.

Other students don’t view their race as important: 67% of the students who choose “race and ethnicity unknown” are white. Of these students, 33% say race and ethnicity are not a relevant part of their identity, a researcher found in 2008.

The number of students who don’t respond to questions about race or ethnicity – and are listed in the “race unknown” category – is increasing. At Harvard University, for example, the percentage of “race-unknown” undergrad students doubled from 2023 to 2024.

As the number of “race unknown” students grows, it not only becomes harder to determine a student body’s ethnic and racial diversity but also the impact of the ban on race-conscious admissions.

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Five college students in blue caps and gowns sit on a bench on campus.
Some students may not view race as an important part of their identity. John Giustina/The Image Bank via Getty Images

Fearing discrimination, students don’t disclose race

Some students believe their race or ethnicity will harm their chances of admission.

This is particularly true at many selective institutions, which have higher nonresponse rates than less selective institutions, about 4% compared with 1% to 2%.

My research shows that students are even more likely to pass on identifying race or ethnicity at selective law schools, where race and ethnicity could be used among a variety of criteria for admissions before the Supreme Court ruled against that practice. An average of 8% of students at those schools chose not to identify, compared with 4% at less selective law schools.

‘We’re very diverse’: University decisions distort statistics

What a university chooses to report will also affect the student body demographic data the public sees. Harvard, for example, does not report its proportion of white students.

Some institutions use statistics strategically to appear more diverse than they are. These strategies include counting multiracial students multiple times – once for each race selected – or including international students as a separate category in demographic pie charts. The greater the number of different-colored slices on the chart, the more demographically “diverse” an institution appears to be.

Impact of Supreme Court ruling: Clearer picture coming soon

While universities may not all report their student demographics the same way in their own materials, they all have to report it the same way to the federal government – namely, to its Integrated Post Secondary Education Data System, better known as IPEDS. The next IPEDS report on characteristics for the 2024 enrollment class is expected to be released in spring 2025. Once that data is available, a better picture of how the Supreme Court’s decision has affected diversity in college enrollment should emerge.

That clearer picture might not last long. In 2027, the federal government will require colleges and universities to make changes to how they report student race and ethnicity. Among the changes is the addition of a Middle Eastern and North African category. Under the current standard, Middle Eastern and North African students are counted as white. As a result, white enrollment at some colleges and universities will appear to decline after 2027.

The new standards will also change the way universities treat Hispanic or Latino ethnicity on enrollment forms. Today, if students self-identify as Hispanic and white, they will be categorized as Hispanic. If students select Hispanic and white in 2027, they will be categorized as multiracial. The revised categories will muddy the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision. A drop in the number of Hispanic students reported could be due to the court’s ruling. Or it may result from the new way students will be counted.

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Until universities and colleges adjust to the new guidelines about collecting and reporting race – and as long as students decline to provide their racial identities – the full effect of banning consideration of race in college admissions will remain a cloudy picture at best.

Karly Sarita Ford, Associate Professor of Education and Sociology, Penn State

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Bridge is a section of the STM Daily News Blog meant for diversity, offering real news stories about bona fide community efforts to perpetuate a greater good. The purpose of The Bridge is to connect the divides that separate us, fostering understanding and empathy among different groups. By highlighting positive initiatives and inspirational actions, The Bridge aims to create a sense of unity and shared purpose. This section brings to light stories of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to promote inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect. Through these narratives, readers are encouraged to appreciate the richness of diverse perspectives and to participate actively in building stronger, more cohesive communities.

https://stmdailynews.com/the-bridge

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