Get Shameless About Money

#231: Protecting your generational wealth in the time of Corona with Jala Eaton

June 30, 2020 Brunch & Budget
Get Shameless About Money
#231: Protecting your generational wealth in the time of Corona with Jala Eaton
Show Notes Transcript
Dyalekt :

Just like hot peppers and hot friends of friends, justice is gonna get you in the end. Welcome to Brunch and budget, the show about personal finance and racial economic inclusion with your host Pamela Capalad a Certified Financial Planner and Accredited Financial Counselor here to take a bite out of your budget. I'm your sound provider Dyalekt. And here's your host, Pamela Capalad.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Thank you Dyalekt.

Dyalekt :

And don't forget that your brunch & budget is part of Race & Weath podcast network.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Oh, yeah.Don't forget everybody. We got her first question from the goddess arts. Where can she get that shirt Jala?

Jala Eaton :

I actually had my mom make it for me.

Dyalekt :

Mom, mom.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Generational wealth right there.

Dyalekt :

Generational talent!

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Generational talent, so good. So good. Okay, so you always thank Jala here. We are so excited to have Jalen Eaton on. Jala has actually done a couple workshops in our See Change financial, it's our group. It central planning program for POC and truly floored truly like blown away and I'm so excited to be here to talk about estate planning and just the way you think about it the way you talk about it in the way that you think and talk about generational wealth is amazing. It is revolutionary and we are so here for it. So thank you and your

Dyalekt :

And your mom looks like she already got a sale.

Jala Eaton :

I'll have to send you to her Instagram, it's someonesGrandma 1009 so check her out.

Dyalekt :

So before we get started, I have to ask you, you know on my own financial which I think is a great firm the great name so this is really really important. I need to know before anything else. So are you talking Patty, Whitney, or Bobby? Who's "on who's on my own" are we are we talking about here?

Jala Eaton :

Questions from the musical genius that is Dyalekt. You know what, I've never considered it. I'm going to have to go back and listen to all three of those. You're good.

Dyalekt :

You're actually listening to it to get ready for today. So I got them right up here. So maybe maybe that's a good meditation for today.

Jala Eaton :

I like it. That's my homework for today. Because I feel like I hear Dionne Warwick in my head right now. But I want to give the others their due.

Dyalekt :

I'll say my choices Bobby because it's on our own. You know the Whitney one, is so good? It's my fourth favorite Whitney song.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Oh. Should we ask what the other two are?

Dyalekt :

Like, for context, I will always love you is six.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Holistic money is like Whitney Oh, six, six. Okay. We're gonna have that argument later. Have that offline. Jayla, thank you so much for joining us. I want to before we really dive into estate planning, I'd love to know more. And I love for your audience to know more about you your background, your childhood. Why Did you decide to become a lawyer and why estate planning?

Dyalekt :

Yeah, why this kind of lawyer?

Jala Eaton :

You know what life just kind of kicked me in that direction? Yes. I remember telling my dad when I was little that I wanted to be a judge. And then I learned about the system and I was like I want nothing to do with the court system. So what does that mean? What else do I love. And I found that I like reading contracts. So it really was reading the fine print of contracts that made me want to go to law school and continue the passion. I got there took trust in wills because it was a required class it was going to be on the bar and I just fell deeply in love with it did not expect that. So once I got out of that class found out okay, most estate planners work by themselves and I would not in any way shape or form prepared to do that at that time. I had a really great mentor and he told me go work for an institutional trustee, which is wealth management, as you know, you've experienced it. And it was there I got to see real trusts in action. With millions upon millions of dollars in them. And I was like, my community, our culture can do this. How do they do that? It's not going to start with me being here and wealth management because I don't get to help anybody that looks like me. I don't even get to talk to anybody that looks like me. So my solution to that was on my own financial, cuz that's the black woman's experience, most of the time, we have to do things on our own, figure it out, and I just wanted to help as many people as I could. So that's how I got here.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

That's so amazing. That's so amazing. I feel like that because I worked in wealth management too, as you know, and it was just all rich white people. And you're right, like no one looked like us. And it's so interesting to be in that world and see it firsthand and be like, so this is where all the money is. Everything that we thought was true is true. So how do we change that right? Yeah, yeah. And be I feel like um, cuz I was gonna ask what your personal mission is and as Attorney but I think that's clear. And I think breaking down estate planning and breaking down legal stuff is so important because there's so many misconceptions about it. And also just like a lot of fear around it, right? This idea of first of all, thinking about death in general is hard. But also thinking about how to pass down your money and thinking about getting it wrong is also super scary. So I'd love to start with just the basics. Like what is an estate? What does estate planning? Do we have an estate Does everyone have an estate?

Jala Eaton :

Everybody has an estate. When you pass away, you're gonna have an estate. Whether there's anything in it, whether there's millions in it, you have an estate, it's just everything, your Facebook, your Instagram as part of your estate. And tell me you don't have any assets. You don't have any possessions. Now you've got a lot more than you think. And it's just about shifting the narrative from we're going from what was valuable, what was wealth to white America to what is wealth for us. A lot of us are creating businesses on Instagram, a lot of us are just thinking outside the box and it's non traditional stuff. So Yes, you have an estate, you need to estate plan. We want to make sure that all of these businesses that you've created are carrying on and either being sold to somebody who wants to continue it or give in to your family so that they can decide what to do with it. But estate planning is just the plan. It's to me, it's an extension of financial planning, which I know you guys understand. You want everybody to have access to a financial planner, and I just want to continue that trend and allow everybody to have access to the attorneys. They need to complete their plan.

Dyalekt :

You blew me away with that, because I was about to make a joke. Oh, yeah. Can you put my lights in a trust or something like that, but then we were like, Nah, this is where people generate a lot of their intellectual property. And a lot of the stuff that they have that is the entity of their business lives there.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

So how do we start protecting that? Is there anything we can do now? Is that something you can put in a will like my facebook profile goes to Xyz or my intellectual property,

Dyalekt :

I think I heard about people at leap saying like what's supposed to happen to your page, like if it gets turned into a page and deleted? I know that people have talked about that.

Jala Eaton :

So many people are passing away and the companies don't know what to do with them. And the companies don't know whether we should allow the families to have access to these profiles and continue them on. So they just tried to figure out okay, what can we do to honor them but not get in the way of the probate proceedings? And yeah, it's a lot but what you can do to protect yourself and what I've been advising a lot of my clients to do right now is create a like a letter to your family or whoever you want or think is going to be in charge. Even if you're not gone do it. If you're out of the country, and you just can't handle something, do it to let everybody know, this is how to run my life. Like it's just the letter. These are all my password. This is the bills that I have because your family ends up becoming a private eye when you're not around like nobody knows my Netflix password...well, thats a lie. Nobody knows that I had my gas company bill number is and that's something you haven't turned off. If I'm not here passwords, the obscure things that your family really has to find out, you're not going to see on a credit report, write it all down, give them a list, let them know, this is my life. This is what it takes to run it. This is my bills, turn them off, keep them going. Just a letter. it's painless. It really is you don't even need an attorney for that. And it'll solve so many of your client problems, your family problems,

Dyalekt :

This is what it takes to run my life.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Wow. I love that. What it takes from my life letter and it's stuff that you mentioned that feels mundane, but when you're in the middle of like, like you said, trying to be a private eye for a family member, all of those things if it was just on a piece of paper, it would solve a lot of things. I think one of the things that Dyalekt always does about estate planning is it gives your family the time to grieve. Yeah, right.

Dyalekt :

Well, the other end the bandwidth degree is like the worst thing and a number of folks, y'all y'all know you've gone through it where someone dies, there isn't enough money to take care of it or there isn't a will or trust or anything to protect things. So you're fighting with probate court, you're writing with your siblings. There's all of this Oh, well, you know, she said 10 years ago that she was going to be this thing, and then all that stuff happens. And it's just it's draining. Even me talking back to you remembering when it's happened in my life. Yeah, exactly.

Jala Eaton :

Yeah, exactly. is people don't understand there are people in California probate court that have been there for 20 years. The beneficiaries are 80 years old, and they're still ongoing litigation and they have not gotten the property left to them by their great aunt. And it's like for what? Why? Why are we in probate court? Because we didn't do four simple documents that could have saved you this time, hassle and trouble. And we didn't get the education that we needed to avoid this to know you can avoid this situation. Like I actually have a client right now who's fighting in New York like she's in California, but her uncle died in New York and they're having to figure out his life from you know, states away like and just having a list. It's a lot of well, he said he was leaving me because we're not sure if he had a will. They had to hire an attorney exactly as their their private eye investigator. It's a mess to your family a favor, talk about money, talk about your life, talk about what you want planned, and then write it down.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

And then write down exactly, let's talk about that next step. Right, you've talked about it, you've all kind of gotten on the same page. So what are the legal documents that people need to because you mentioned these four legal documents that would have prevented that? What are they?

Jala Eaton :

So I always advise people to have a full estate plan and as you see it's it's growing. You know, the letter of instruction is now becoming one of mine that I'm adding. But essentially you want to have a financial power of attorney which I tell everybody that's good right now. And if you don't want to expose yourself to Rona and go to a bank or buy a house, you can send somebody else or have been act on your behalf. So a financial power of attorney is a great thing to have during life. It's only good while you're alive, so don't don't be trying to wait till you on your death bed. And then having your advanced directive or healthcare power of attorney which kind of works the same way as the financial power of attorney, you're giving somebody access to make decisions on your behalf. I have a lot of very sad cases where that would have saved them having this healthcare power of attorney would have saved them having to go to probate court or get an a conservator over the person who no longer can make their healthcare decisions, which takes time and courts and

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

While someone's in the hospital to have to like also go to the court to be like, hey, I want to be able to direct what's going on with them in the hospital.

Jala Eaton :

With a child, a child, and now their child is just kind of up in the air. The family doesn't know what to do. So we have an aunt running things and trying to do as much as she can with the hospital. But of course, they're like, well, to do anything further, we're going to be a conservatorship since you don't have a health care POA.

Dyalekt :

And you're saying that healthcare POA, power of attorney and you're also calling it an advanced directive, right.

Jala Eaton :

And they have so many terms, you know.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

In New York is a health care proxy.

Dyalekt :

So it's not brand new to you when you're hearing it,

Jala Eaton :

And it's done intentionally. Like this is just big words to say things that you could have done much simpler. Power of Attorney, Advanced Directive, Proxy, all of that would help you decide, do I even want to be in a coma? Like Is that something that I just want to have my family over here grieving day after day not knowing what's going to happen, or do I just want to go and donate my body to science? I've had a lot of my clients decided to do that. And it's been quite interesting that the places they find, very amazing.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

So real. So we have that financial Power of Attorney, which allows someone to handle financial matters on your behalf. And does that happen right away like as soon as you sign it, they can like go to your bank account, be like, Hey, I'm the POA.

Jala Eaton :

That's what's weird. Most people don't understand dealing with an attorney. You have all control, like when you're dealing with like the legal zooms and the forum places may not get to decide when it's active. With me, you can decide when my child turns 10, that's when my financial power of attorney activates for this person or is active the minute that you sign it so you have a lot of flexibility. It's all up to you. But yeah, I'm that personalizing attorney. I like for you to have control. To understand that you are in control, and this is about you and your wishes, so yeah.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

I love that. I love that. So financial Power of Attorney, you get to decide healthcare power of attorney or healthcare proxy or advanced directive is for making healthcare decisions on your behalf. I know that you can usually Google like the state and the healthcare proxy and just get a free form, right? Is that something you recommend? Is that something where it's better to go to an attorney for that?

Jala Eaton :

Most of the time, I recommend that if you're trying to do just one when you know you have Kaiser A lot of people have Kaiser. Kaiser has a form for that. Want to just fill that out? That is wonderful. Best thing you can do is get it looked at by an attorney. But as long as you end up in Kaiser, then you're good, but if an ambulance takes you somewhere else, then you might want a power of attorney and being a health care proxy. That's good anywhere that you can just get into your your proxy and then they can bring it and we're not going to have to fight this one says it's Kaiser and you're at Mount Saint Mary's. Look I have power anywhere I am.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Got you. Yeah, yeah. Cuz in New York State I know they have a blanket one for like every I guess every state is different to and every hospital is different. Yeah, yeah.

Jala Eaton :

Yeah. Just understand what they say. And if they don't find somebody who does Google it. Yeah,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

yeah, totally I love that. Okay, so then you have those two forms and then what are the other two documents they needed?

Jala Eaton :

Wills and trusts. Now we are the only document that only activate after you're gone and are wonderfully flexible and they activate now if you want them to and after you're gone for decades, decades after you're gone in some cases. I mean, that's where a lot of wealth management Yeah, I have trust from like the 60s, the 50s. Even even further than that. There's still here still going.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Wow. So you can really like live beyond your death in a way with the trust. Well, there's that thing about

Dyalekt :

Beastie Boys, MCA passed some years ago. And I know he had something in there saying that he couldn't have his music licensed. There was no permission. And that's something that's going to live in perpetuity. Yeah. It's like you can't make it commercial. You can put it in a movie maybe or things like that. He was like, I never want it to be used to sell a product ever. 1000 years now.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

That's amazing.

Jala Eaton :

Rolling your legacy that's was serious about it, and you put it

Dyalekt :

like that, that's real, like, control your legacy. And you know, it's one of those tough things like a lot of us don't have control of our legacy. And you see that, especially with black folks, when you look at like the famous, famous cats and when they're gone. The ways that people have been able to twist and turn.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Looking at that list. We had an IG post the other day about seven eight famous people who died without a will and it was like Prince, Aretha, Michael, right. Were the top three

Jala Eaton :

I get my feelings hurt every time I look at lists like that because just think of Martin Luther King. His legacy is still going you see books about him and it's like who was protecting this? You didn't have a Will you didn't have a choice. You have no control over this. Your family is fighting each other for control. They're having a fight everybody else for control. And it's just like they Yeah.

Dyalekt :

And how many days has it been since someone has used Martin Luther King quote out of context to justify systemic racism?

Jala Eaton :

Probably like every millisecond.

Dyalekt :

like the accident thing. It's like it's always

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Oh my god, well, let's go to a song.

Dyalekt :

Yeah, is you know, when you work with an attorney, you can put this together and have it done all at once. That's okay. You don't have to be. We're gonna play some indie music again. When the podcast comes out, you're gonna hear it, we're just gonna talk into a thing, but we're going to Los Angeles California for a dope song from actually nine years ago from an artist named Sound Effects it's called When I Die.

Song :

What if, What if What if, What if you got a de skate question I know a madness is to ask yourself you sit in on a Manson picks up you hanging your family member so we plan to help you walk through the door and that's why a lot of faces if I was the one responsible for the black side, I would hope God was gonna said about me let me know you'd like me to make those arrangements that I'm too young for still I'm curious. I'm a funeral who would say what for maybe the girl up and crushing us the sandbox? Are you for better the first slot They couldn't make it Can I see how it is about these girls are down I know they're not gonna lose their pogo sticks and women nigga said we all call each other brothers would you be in attendance to say you won't really see this is where my mind been lately topic a bit crazy so much for playing safely on top of that my little sister started now I gotta make sure hands stay in the appropriate places check me now I gotta see you see in some way and maybe one day so give me a niece and nephew so much is Brighton sua alas most of the plastic I'm a five year old cousin already knows what he likes playing. He got an iPod but I own this playlist. He goes up and he really famous for some Hollywood Walk of Fame star see he will be blinded because mudflow with the camera flashes pray and if you ain't a bad pitch then you'll need to see my eyes speaking the bat once I'm in a relationship because I'm a door saying being single is way more fun. Decisions decisions. I can't blow it. Gotta fuck with because later on probably being recorded for years and we're still going strong a girl wants to go to med school I'm looking like a push the system in the game I need my brain size because we don't do a lot of winning around here. Don't pick out my gravesite don't take the whole game. I still gotta let the world not an employee to my ex co workers How much are y'all making now? They probably don't compare to what I can do in a couple hours to two months I'll get manager who fired me from morning shift tell me how my face is looking next to new releases. See I gotta stick around so I can rub it in Justin shoplet class we see who they just graduated when when parents birth one of those I knew he was special kids don't take my life people just found out I was made for this to wear the crown at assessment size fit saw others appointed and like the career fellow. I'll never say enough so to say too long remembered me while I'm still here before long calm. I will never say enough so to think too long. Remember me while I'm still here before I'm long gone.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Okay, so let's talk about wills. Does everyone need a will? If not, when do you need a will?

Jala Eaton :

I actually say everybody needs a will. Even if you have a trust, I want you to have a will. And it's called something different. But it's really the same principle. When you have a trust and everything you own is in your trust, people think, okay, that's all I need, I need a will. And it's actually what Nipsey Hussle and the people around him must have thought because he had to trust all his masters are in trust. It's wonderful, but he didn't realize that if he owned anything outside that trust, then you're going to probate court and he had $2 million outside of a bank account, didn't have a will to tell the court, Hey, this is where I want this to million or whatever else I own to go to. So his family was back in probate court.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Wow, he thought he did it, right. I mean, he put most of his money in a trust.

Dyalekt :

Well, and the people that we're talking about aren't just famous. They're also famously philanthropists. And in their life, because this is a real thing about protecting your legacy. It's one thing but like, all my songs and stuff like that, and even my quotes, but like the thing that you were trying to build the thing that was important to you when you were alive, if you can't maintain that after you die, what's the point of all the stuff you've been doing?

Jala Eaton :

Yeah, and see their movies, because, you know, the state's gonna own everything that's done in his name, or that he was working on that he didn't finish and if he just had a will, that says everything that I own goes to my trust. So it's a full plan, which is why I like when I'm working with my clients, I want them to understand here's why you need the full plan? Don't one and two documents if you don't have to, let's get them all done. And just give you that peace of mind because you never never know what's gonna become something that you needed to protect.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah, totally

Jala Eaton :

The beneficiary designations, he could have solved that problem too. If it would have had another account owner or a beneficiary designation, wouldn't have been at probate.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Well, let's go into one of the questions that I have is what about if you're single, no dependents, the only asset you might have is like a 401k at work, or like an IRA or like your bank account that some savings in it, do you need to well then you need to trust?

Jala Eaton :

You do because life is unpredictable. Now, everybody always assumes this person that I'm putting on my beneficiary designation they are 1, going to want more money and 2, they're actually going to be alive. So If they're not alive if they decide I don't even want this money, pass it on to somebody else and you didn't designate them another person, you know use that segment. Yeah, then it's going back to probate. So you're this like estate planning is playing chess. You understand what financial plans you got to strategize. Yeah, estate planning is even worse, because you don't know what assets are gonna be there. You don't know who's gonna be alive who's gonna be there, like who's gonna decide, you know what, I'm rich enough already. I don't need your money. So yeah, everything.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Well, cuz it's, it's the tricky part aboutestate planning is you're planning for if you die tomorrow, but also planning for if you die in 40 years. It's like this whole, like delicate balance of like, I could go tomorrow, but I could also live for 40 years and the people that I name is my beneficiaries either don't need the money or they died before me. And if you don't check that, then there's just like it then it just goes into the ether.

Dyalekt :

Yeah, that's the chess part of all of it.

Jala Eaton :

Also, people don't realize that a lot of times with that that scenario you gave me where they're single don't have kids. Yeah, I talked to them long enough and they tell me I really like my niece to get my money or I'd really like this boyfriend and get my money. That's like, that's not gonna happen unless you write it down. Because the law is not gonna say, Oh, they were really like, close with their niece, there's an order and this is what they do. Either, they'll go to your parents, your siblings, your grandparents, your nieces way too far removed to get that. Everybody else has to either be gone or decide No, I don't want to deal with this for that niece to get there. Very removed.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Unless you just like actually and it's it's one of those things where I feel like it's like it sounds so simple, but also feel so emotional. You're like, I don't want to think about I'm gonna die and my niece maybe and then you're like, what about my nephew and there's all of these things. Like go into it like how do you...

Dyalekt :

Even fillimg out that day to day thing but what takes me into my day feels like this abstract feels like it'd be draining.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah. Like, how do you get that? How do you get the, I guess the energy or the willpower or the like, emotional resource for that? I don't know.

Jala Eaton :

You know what, I found that being able to have a group that you talk about money with having money friends like it's, it gets you in that frame of mind, like not that I have to do this, but I'm doing something that's going to help me in the long run. That's why I tell people when they're filling out my forms and the questionnaires, this isn't just for me. I'm going to give you this form back and then you're going to give it to your trustee or your children. So they are going to have a listing of this is what I had at this point. Hopefully they'll update it, you know, maybe make it a spreadsheet and just add to it so it becomes a no brainer. Get into one key.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Word. I love that. And I also like that you mentioned like, Oh, you have a formm. So like we're not guessing you're asking Asking specific questions. So we're like, Okay, this is what we have to think about. We don't have to think about, like, all these other things that may be popped into our head. Yeah, it's just like, this is it. I love that. Um, I want to go back to the beneficiaries because I think that listing beneficiaries on like retirement accounts or life insurance. It also feels like a simple thing that's often overlooked. Can you talk to us a little bit and we actually had an audience question. Is there another option for direct transfer to beneficiaries other than a trust and I wonder if those are related?

Jala Eaton :

Yeah, there's so many direct options. Like I said beneficiary designations are the biggest one there the best. I'm finding when it comes to life insurance, that those are really tough, like, you need to tell your family I have this policy, it's with this carrier, because the insurance company is not gonna try and come look for you. They're not. They're not going to tell you, your beneficiary of this, they're just gonna expect that you know, and you're submitted a death certificate and then get the money. But most of us don't know, some of it goes to unclaimed property. And that's how you find out and that just takes too long. So using your beneficiary designation is a great way to get the money to the parties that you want them to get to without quarter interference, but there are caveats. You still need to talk to me, you still need to help them out. So they don't have to be a private eye. Wills are technically a way to give money directly. You know, if it wasn't for the court interference, then and in California, they've tried to make it a little easier to get money. If you have less than $150,000 estate when you pass away in California, your executor can do a small estate affidavit, which means they kind of bypass the court and they handle everything. And by wills. It just means whoever you write down there getting that money directly. Now if that's a minor. I mean You're gonna have another impediment but that's gonna be the miners problem kinda.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Oh, okay. Wow that was okay so basically no secret life insurance policies anyone. Tell people when you have a life insurance police. Don't hide that shit. well no that's funny like I didn't even think about that. Like oh why would the insurance company look for the beneficiary?

Dyalekt :

Not only did you not think about it but like think about every movie that you've seen that talks about it at all it's always a surprise. It's everyone gather around this mansion while you see a video diary of the guy going, hahahah, I left stuff to you, you had no idea, did you?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Wow.

Jala Eaton :

Databases, potential beneficiary well potential policies but you still have to know the person who does this social and pray but yeah, it's not an easy process if you're not talking about it. And I think that's one of the downfalls of like my community. We don't like talking about money we really don't like it took me till I was almost 30 to have conversations about money with my parents, and now they're open. They understand, but that's probably because I've educated them on why they need to have these conversations and why it's okay. But yeah, we prior to that we had a generation that was like, you'll figure it out. Good luck.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah, no, totally same. I mean, I think the only reason that my parents started getting comfortable talking to me about it is because I'm a financial planner. Yeah. And I was like, This is my job, Mom, so you should talk to me about it. But I don't know if I would have been able to do that otherwise. It's funny. You mentioned that too. Because next week, our show is going to be about how to talk to your parents about money. And that is some hard shit.

Dyalekt :

We're going to be like, talk to your parents, talk to your friends, talk to your community about money. We say this explicitly enough. And we do it a lot when we talk to the youth but like, we really do need to talk about money in all of its aspects you need to talk about estate planning, you need to talk about our salaries, talk about our wealth, we need to talk about our spending and saving habits. And I know it's uncomfortable. And I know it's embarrassing and all that stuff. But we will be able to get through it if we start to know what we're talking about.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

And also who told us it was supposed to be we're supposed to feel embarrassed by it. Who told us that? It's supposed to be embarrassing, or we should feel shame about it?

Dyalekt :

People who want to keep it out of our hands.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Exactly.

Jala Eaton :

And that's what I spent a lot of time on my page telling people. Oh, you heard that estate planning for rich people? Where did that come from? Where did your What was your source Understand? What did they want us to grow and prosper or they just want us to stay out of the club.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah, for real, for real. That's the whole thing is like when we don't talk about it, then everything is a secret. We're all trying to just scramble, you know, and that doesn't have to be like that. I love that. Um, so going back to the beneficiaries, we have life in insurance you can list a beneficiary and a beneficiary. What does that mean exactly? Like what happens when you list a beneficiary? Does it go through the court system like do how do you get the money if you're a beneficiary?

Jala Eaton :

So I like to think of beneficiary designations as you're creating a trust with that bank, or insurance company because you're saying I'm leaving this money to you third party that well actually, I have an agreement with you insurance company that you're going to give this money to a third party and that's essentially what a trust is. I'm giving my money or assets to a trustee and then they're gonna give it out to another beneficiary to another person. Now sometimes that person is you, you know you may make you a beneficiary of your trust but for the most part with your insurance proceeds with your your bank accounts normally make that a friend, family member or whoever, and now they have to go up against the person who agreed with the banks are gonna know all about this, though he read all about it, walk into the bank, I'm the beneficiary and it's over, can't tell me or not tell me where I need to sign.

Dyalekt :

He's gonna be tired.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Well, I love that description too, because just thinking about So basically, if you list a beneficiary, that means it doesn't have to have the court system and automatically goes to whoever you list and they have the claim to it. And that's it. There's no argument. There's no judge to be like, I don't think that's right, or whatever it is. There's no executor trying to like move stuff around or shift stuff around. It's just like, you name that person. And that's it. Right. So what kinds of things can you name a beneficiary on directly?

Jala Eaton :

All your bank accounts, every one of them should have a beneficiary designation. And that's a lot of times where we start in the estate planning process. People finally get up the courage to talk to an attorney, they come to me and they're like, wait, you're not gonna charge me you're not just gonna instantly try and sell me. I'm like, No, I'm gonna give you what you can do by yourself right now to make sure that you are fully covered. And estate planning with me starts with beneficiary designations, because most people have bank accounts. Most people, for the most part had had an insurance policy, and it's all about updating those all about making sure the beneficiary, you can change your mind you're allowed to get mad. I mean, this is your property. You're trying to think of what else I'm drawing a blank on other things.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Life insurance bank accounts, I know I've been able to list on my 401k IRA. Yeah, any investment accounts of those who own so that means that like so I'm just trying to think about like logistically if I listed beneficiary and then that person says no, what does my will have to say?

Jala Eaton :

Most of the time your will have a it's called a residue section. Where if you're giving out specific gifts they'll get their money first but everybody who you list in this revenue section gets the remainder and so most of the time the courts will use that. And the sentence you normally see is the remainder goes to my spouse so do I have given away $50,000 above that but whatever comes into the will after that to my estate after that spouse automatically gets.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Got it. Okay, cool.

Jala Eaton :

Gotta have that catch all. I know it's hard to write your own will. I love it when people do but there's there's its nuances to it. You have to know, Look, I've given out here so given out my properties, but you want to have that catch all to make sure Hey, my, my Instagram quote has 10 billion views and now we're figuring out a way to monetize that and inspect it catch all.

Dyalekt :

Yeah, no, but that's really good that you mentioned about the like, you know, even writing your own will, you know, do it. If you haven't done anything, it's better than nothing. But that doesn't mean that you're good money, right? Like all good. All right, fine.

Jala Eaton :

My mom wrote her own will and, she hates when I tell this story. And handed it over once I became an attorney and certified and we had these financial conversation and she literally said, "my daughter gets everything" and then proceeded to give out gifts like this is this one gets this and I'm like, Mom, do you see that you would have me in probate court for years because it's inconsistent. What you wrote was either I get everything or they get something and legally you wrote that I get everything first. So I could fight them and say I dont have to give nothing which is how family squabbles fight like that's how it started. Yeah, he didn't mean it she didn't know but ah

Dyalekt :

Wow so feel free to write your own wills just don't be legally inconsistent.

Jala Eaton :

Give it a once over preferably an attorney even all the the form will places are gonna tell you have an attorney look at this.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Right no totally like if you're making your will on LegalZoom they're still going to be like review with an attorney. So I mean, you may as well start with an attorney right?

Dyalekt :

Yeah, we're gonna pause in the podcast but play a song.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah, let's do it. Let's talk about trusts.

Dyalekt :

Yeah, that was gonna get to the trust thing. Another great song trust by Prince um, but no, we're going to go into because I want you all to know that you're going to have to look at your own will but also you want to make sure it's professional looks over it says otherwise you will know where to broken hearts go my second paper. But the song that we're gonna play is from Killers Dale in the UK yeah from an artist named crop it with their song escape echoes featuring St.

Song :

A ballcock coach tears caught up in Scott come to the stage trust me get out the window please Scott I just want to wake up in the place where there's no harm a walk out cold stairs caught up in Scott come to the state like it's your snake it's been hard to say that knock the wind and go tonight and I just want to wake up in a place with there's no harm I see the pain through the window. I see through the pain like commando like heavy buggies here and it's the wound down and struggling in some sort of in books and cutting in the bed and raised by a single pin same excuses every time only get to pick the pace and same Scott tip for not the same thing. Get the bed and be good Saturday. But he claimed that the locomotor bandito which will be pulled those cold stays back close hard works and coordinate goes into Cooper. He scales the China make your booty we say the same things daily just to not get invaded on the same mistake strangely enough about the potter no we don't make enough money to be saving enough to even think about the council estate. A ball cart coach steers cars up in Scott come to the stage later trust me gets out the window not the 93 Scott I just want to make up into placement. There's no harm a ball card called stairs caught up in Scotland come to the state labor trust me it's been hot enough to win the Northern Lights. Please. I just want to wake up in a place with There's no harm raised up in the state I was quick to cast the first stone we encounter the state life was no windows me bring Tonto back then the appropriate place to break bones for Christmas and sell some legal never sleep at home The streets are formed until me hot and icy so back then I didn't give a fuck if you're like me because now with a boycott and got a cold stare stared at me dashDB past that it's still dead it's sitting there dormant consider this subordinate piece on the street so police and always swarming the shit that have been never was into Scott in this frame of mind but this is not the issue so the pain it reflects through the pain of the glasses he measured your people by the struggle on board ball cart coach steers cars up in Scotland come to the stage later, trust me It's been habitated and out the window note the 910 local police guy. I just wanted to wake up into place with a ballcock cold stairs caught up in Scotland come to the stage like excuse me, it's been hard to say that out the window tonight. I just want to wake up in the place where there's no harm.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Okay, so trust. This is like the big question. Let's talk about trusts and trust. I guess. Like what is the trust? When do you need a trust?

Jala Eaton :

Well, if you're trying to avoid the state court by any means you want to have a trust. You know, even having a bill means you're going to probate court. Will means you're definitely going to probate court or at least your family. But to try and avoid those fees, because I tell everybody who's shocked and appalled by California, we have statutory fees for attorneys in probate. So when people look at me and say, Oh my god, it's expensive to estate planning, like it's even more expensive to go to probate, because they're going to get 4% of your assets, no matter what, even if they only do one document and the attorney only does one document, which is why in the print situation, like only the attorneys and my consultants on the court are getting paid, they get statutory fees and extraordinary fees.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

And 4% of $200 million is a lot of money.

Dyalekt :

You had a song called trust a much more but

Jala Eaton :

yes, yes, yeah. 4% minimum, remember, now that it goes up

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

That is not. Okay. So definitely in California, you should have a trust. I mean, it sounds like too, because I know also that wills are public record, right. You know, anyone can read your will.

Dyalekt :

So yeah, so what does that mean? Like? So I'm gonna read your will unless

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

And why is that? Why can anyone read your will? That seems so private.

Jala Eaton :

I mean, court is a public domain, every goes into the court, they want you to have access transparency. There are very few cases where they have sealed the records and most of the time it has to do with minors, but yeah, everything else public. Wow. Okay. Yes, you don't have to file your trust. It allows for privacy one because you don't have to go to probate court. It's only if you end up fighting and submitting your document your trust to probate court that it'll ever be published, but for the most part, they don't publish them. You can see that with Kobe Bryant stress One small issue and had to go to probate court to get the court to decide on whether his newest daughter is going to be part of the trust because they did update their Oh. Which is why you got to be best friends with your estate planner. Like once we can do one modification and she wouldn't have had I think she's one now but it potentially cut her out of $200 million. And I think that was an audience question. Do you have to name your child specifically, you don't if you have like everything from my children, or my grandchildren, you can be rose girl to make sure that people that are born after the execution of your document are captured in that it's a little more dicey for people who are born after you pass away.

Dyalekt :

Right,

Jala Eaton :

Right, but they can still be taken care of if you have a good attorney and they know what they're doing, right?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah, the audience question was I just gave birth to my first child a few days ago. If I set up a trust for him, can I include a provision for future heirs to also be beneficiaries of the trust? or do any features have to be specifically named in the trust upon birth? So it sounds like yes, ish, but also you should update your will or update your trust every time you have a kid just do it.

Jala Eaton :

Right? We can start with yes to my children, but especially if you're not going to update which you should be updating at least once a year, two years Max, because what a lot of people don't understand is it's not just you changing your your mind to a tax issue, tax. Planning and estate taxes are a huge issue. Most, you know, people's minds when it comes to the candidate, and we have a lot of legislation that's been passed in the last few years that have changed trust taxation.

Dyalekt :

Well, he wanted to call out what sunflower curls will say and not say about it. Wait, is it public after I die? As soon as it's made

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Public after you die or as soon as it's made?

Jala Eaton :

Ah, it's public after it goes to probate court. Okay. Okay,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Gotcha. So once it goes through the court system, it's public record. Cool. So messy. So, so messy. Okay. So let's say you make this trash you're like, Okay, great. I have a trust. I'm good, right? What do you do with the trust? Just like you some direction, but I know that with trust, you have to take an extra step with all this stuff, because you were saying nipsey hussle. He had most of his stuff in a trust, but there was stuff not in a trust. You have to put stuff in a trust.

Jala Eaton :

Yes, you do. If he wanted that bank account, for example, in the trust and not to have to go through the will To get to the trust, he would have had to title it in the name of the trust, which means from nipsey hussle bank account a single man to nipsey hussle as trustee because we're assuming he was dressed he while he was alive of the marathon trust whenever he got his trust and that would be the name of the bank account so that you can match it and say this is controlled by the trust agreement already. Those for your house do you want your house to be in trust you end up having to change the deed A lot of people have to go through their their mortgage servicers or lenders to make sure that that's okay. Which it normally is because I think most states have passed a law that says you can't stop them from doing it. But they put their their house into their vocable trust my child used to call unicorn rainbow corns, and I kind of fell in love with that. then my, my house would technically be listed instead of Jayla eaten. It would say Jala Eaten as trustee of the rainbow trust. thats what with my deed to my house with it.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

That is, well, that's super cool because one, you're protecting your home at death. But also, mortgages are public record, like that kind of stuff. And people can just like look up deeds, and look up mortgages and find out who owns your home. And if you have it in a trust, then the trust owns your home. So someone looks it up. They're not gonna know it's you.

Jala Eaton :

Exactly. And I'm not having my name on the dress. It's an intentional thing. It's like yeah, who's gonna know who owns it. I might not be the trustee for forever.

Dyalekt :

So a lot of when people talk about like people with huge money, and how A lot of that stuff gets pushed around without anybody knowing even though it's all supposed to be public, this is how those things happen not to get jammed up to that. That's the whole next thing.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

No, for sure. I also want to go into this other audience question how do you know when you should use a trust instead of a will? Does it depend on the amount of assets and how is the will taxed in probate court? Okay,

Jala Eaton :

It depends on you. And it also depends on if you're willing to take the steps to create the trust funds versus I write and then it's over. I don't have to worry about it. Because trust are a lot of work they take you know, we got to do some the cabinet trustees duties, so you have to treat it like it's a business. But let me see what else with the trust. It gives you more control. So like I said, with a Will you normally give outright gifts, it's not I'm going to hold this for you until it's well, it's gonw. Yeah, as you can potentially make a trust within a will. That that's going to be governed by the probate court. So sometimes they have oversight and that keeps them getting their fees, their fees, versus separating them. And then you have a dress, you know, will whether the will needs to be used or not you because you've already funded the chest and yeah, it really is a personal decision whether you want to use a trust. They're very flexible. Like I said, there's something that you can use right now, depending on what you want to put into it. You can't put your personal property into it, which means, you know, for me, I tell everybody, I have a collection of Disney movies now to everybody that may not be worth very much or Pokemon cards.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

See, I wouldn't even thought to do that kind of stuff to be like, oh wait like this thing that I actually find valuable regardless of the monetary value, like I want it to go to a specific place and to a specific person, I want someone to take care of it in that way.

Dyalekt :

So it's your own personal curated time capsule.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

I love it. That's amazing. And I think one of the important distinctions that you made between a will and a trust is that a will is just like okay, this is what I'm giving the money to now and that's it and it's gone the will eventually like dies with you right? Once all the money is dispersed, it's done that legal instrument has done its job but the thing with the trust and you're talking about this earlier as a trusting live forever, right? And a trust can be something where like you dispersed money in different time periods at different intervals and it sounds like you'd be more specific about what happens that money too Can you talk a little bit about that and like what cuz I'm one of our posts on it was just like, oh, you can like have a trust like not allow your kids to touch it for certain reasons until they're a certain age they have to spend it on certain Things like how granular can you get with your trust?

Dyalekt :

Spend one night in the house?

Jala Eaton :

give life to their homes, you can do that.

Dyalekt :

Well, that one's not true?

Jala Eaton :

So, with your trust, you kind of got to think of it and yeah, you passed away. But you've left this entity that kind of runs like a business. It kind of runs like a second form of you, because it does exactly what you told it to do, what you wrote down that you want it to happen. And it kind of has your values, your vision, and how much information you put into the trust. So it continues to allow your legacy to go on if you were dead set on nobody using your money for college and instead using your money to create businesses and the legacy that you're getting He's gonna continue to push. Yeah, you have total control. And a lot of people don't know that they have that control. It's just, oh, well, I don't really care what happens to it after you die. Like I work too hard for it not to transfer to another generation to help. It's for me, it's truthfully about generational wealth in generational wealth is not going to happen with wills. Unless you've your family, you've made sure they're financially savvy, you've made sure that they can handle lump sum a little bit more like I work to write for this money and was a freelancer and this is this law degree and want a little bit more control to say I know at least I put my grandchildren or my great grandchildren. Then you want to use a trust.

Dyalekt :

That is all real like protect the littles right

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

We've ran across this stat recently that 70% of what was it like 70% of

Dyalekt :

family for generational wealth? Yes.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Significant Well, 70% of those families, that wealth has gone by the second generation,

Jala Eaton :

Yes. And that's one of the wills or not using wheels and they're losing a lot of money to the court or family that weren't ready for that money, where you've actually controlled and said, you know what this money is going to grow because trustees have to make the money grow your plan to just give it all away. That's why you see a lot of charts have marketable securities and then to have businesses in them the money has to grow in order to make it so yeah, there's a lot behind the scenes. I still trying to figure out how to get it all out because it's, it's so much it does so much. That's why I'm so passionate about spreading the word about them, but I end up getting caught in the Miss more than getting to talk about. I appreciate you guys for allowing me to get this out.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah. Oh my God, we appreciate you for getting it out because I'm like, it's so interesting because I know, I know some things about estate planning but like, seriously, I'm like, in my head I'm like, okay, we gotta get a trust tomorrow, because I was like, Oh, we don't need to try. It's like we're not there yet. I don't know. Like just hearing you talk about it. And the idea of like, the will does not create generational wealth. I saw um, yeah, I saw someone else in the comments, like repeat that. It's like, they do not create generational wealth, the wheels end with you too. And if you can create a trust that like lives forever, where you're like MCA and you're saying, like, No one is allowed to use my music or not for commercial purposes, right? If you're able to direct your life in that way after your death, then like, that's what actually creates that wealth that lasts throughout the generations. I think that's amazing.

Jala Eaton :

I don't want to do this, but I have to do this. I'm gonna drop another bomb on you because I just Watch this really great advice story about heirs property, and I want you to find it. But it might be Episode Five of this season. But heirs property is essentially when you either don't have a plan or you allow your property to just go to your kids over and over. So you end up with a property that's owned by like 200 people if it goes down enough generations or 10 people who can't decide and don't care and then maybe one person buys out a few of those those interests and forces everybody else to sell a lot in the south. It happens a lot with people who aren't doing their estate planning, which is normally people that look like me and we lose that generational wealth and that property that we had so yes, please check out Bice it's called in the middle of a we work which is a really good article. I mean story. And then I think there's another episode accurate. But yes, very good because we are losing money in so many ways that if you were to put those interests in a trust and allow everybody to be a beneficiary, they don't own it so nobody can come and take it from and get them to sell that interest because the trust owns it. So people use it.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

It's damn. Oh my god. Well, Instagrams gonna kick us off in a second. But yeah,

Dyalekt :

I mean, this is this was our this has been really good. I mean, thank you for sharing so many things. If you guys have been listened to this whole time, there's a lot of great information. This is not will and Jaden. It's learning about wills with Jayla so that you can preserve Jason's lyric in a trust and it doesn't end up in the matrix to

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

I love it. No Thank you so much. Where can people find you? Oh, and one final question because you're based in California. How do you find a good estate attorney?

Jala Eaton :

Oh goodness, I'm looking at, I'm sorry, I'm a unicorn.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Here in California very lucky work with Jala.

Jala Eaton :

I'm in California, for a year if I was, you know, I think New York change to the uniform bar, so y'all might get me okay. Other states but for right now in California, I am trying to create a network of attorneys that are like me have the same drives values right now. I've just got Georgia, Florida and made me a fan I think so I'm gonna expand to New York. I actually might have one in New York for you to her right now. But, uh, yeah, you can find me on on my own financial on Instagram. I love it here. This is my favorite place to be I can be me. I am on LinkedIn every now and then. Trying to be a little A bit more professional in Haiti. And Jayla Eaton. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Twitter now. I'm learning Twitter. I'm not gonna lie to you. But website on my own financial com so you can get me.

Dyalekt :

Yeah.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Kayla.

Dyalekt :

On my own financial calm.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC :

Yeah. And unmanned financial on Instagram, please follow her. She drops all the knowledge.

Dyalekt :

You know, we're gonna need your last song. It's called last rites by a cat named proxy out of Denver, Colorado. Please listen to everything that Jayla is saying so that you won't have to be asking my favorite Whitney song of all time. Didn't we almost have it all? Ah. the greatest love of all. And then I was like I'm saying, but thank you so much. This has been really awesome and powerful. Again, as usual. If you guys have Have any questions feel free to hit us up on DMS on emails any way that's necessary for you send us a text smoke signals just yell from outside your window. Here, get on all the socials, shout us retweet us, rate us, debate us hate us whatever is necessary. And thank you so much. This is a bunch of bunch of podcasts and we'll check out next time please.

Jala Eaton :

Thank you.

Song :

So as we set out this year, to defeat the divisive forces, take freedom away. I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heat from my cold dead hands. Now I'm laying down the sniff upgrade. Swear to god Way to be free to protect your family everyone else has a right to two types of people good and bad girls honestly no crime don't ask why. But it won't be denied. I God me as a ref protect and lay my head on his chest because to be honest, the lie is good Only fear this year the nation told me this story. And when they said yes, they can't help themselves, hey, we've had some break ins in my neighborhood and there's a real suspicious kind. This guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or some some wrong with him. Keep them in a place to get behind your white picket fence build it in if they ever want you to take money they'll never know To make great choices to assimilate, don't ask but it won't be done. Daddy