Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders, MBA - Interview with Bill Wilson President of Wilson Financial Group Discussing Estate Planning

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Wilson Financial Group focuses on helping people keep what they work hard for when it comes to their retirement. It’s about how you get from where you are right now to where you want to be. It is about achieving your personal financial goals and enabling you to enjoy the fruits of your labors without having to worry if tomorrow will be a good or bad day in the markets. It is important to plot your path, have a plan for how to get there and get the right advice along the way. “We Help Clients Get to Retirement and Through Retirement.”Learn more: https://wilsonfinancialgrp.com/No Rendering of Advice. The information contained is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining accounting, tax, or financial advice from a professional accountant.Presentation of the information via the Internet is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an accountant-client relationship. Internet subscribers, users and online readers are advised not to act upon this information without seeking the service of a professional accountant. Any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this website is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under U.S. federal tax law.While we use reasonable efforts to furnish accurate and up-to-date information, we do not warrant that any information contained in or made available through this website is accurate, complete, reliable, current or error-free. We assume no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of this website or such other materials or communications.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-bill-wilson-president-of-wilson-financial-group-discussing-estate-planning

Welcome to Influential Entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us Bill Wilson, who's the president and CEO of Wilson Financial Group, and we'll be talking about estate planning. Bill, welcome back to you the program. Well, hi, Mike. Thanks for having me. Hey, I'm sure that estate planning is a topic we can get done in about a four-day seminar and still have many, many more hours to go.

So I know we want to hit this from a 30,000-foot view. And I know that there's probably some legal aspects that you will be saying, I'm not an attorney and I don't play one on TV, but here are some things we need to keep in mind and work with attorneys. So get us started with where do you begin the conversation with your clients about estate planning? When should they be start thinking about putting some of the estate planning tactics in place? Well, I'll give you a good example. I sat down with a couple in my office out here in Scottsdale, and I was a couple out in Tucson. So it was, he reached out to my website, and we met at my office at Scottsdale. And I always go through my normal fact finder, normal questions and add, and I asked, well, do you have a will?

And he kind of looked down and said, no. So he had no will, no trust, no powers of attorney, nothing. I said to him, I said, well, you realize you're playing Russian roulette. He said, what did he mean? I said, well, I mean, you have a crystal ball? How long you're going to live? Do you know if something was to happen? What if you become incapacitated?

You have no documents. And even though you're married, you know, you're going to have to go to court. So what I find with people is that, you know, we should do planning when it comes to retirement. Well, you've got to do some planning when it comes to estate planning. And so I really, I'm a firm believer. If I'm sitting down with somebody the very first time that they don't have a trust, I stopped the presses right there. And most likely this guy, all his life, raising children, three girls, no will, nothing.

Okay. And as I sat down eventually, met him for the first time, just him and I. But then my second opinion was his wife. And his wife was relieved in the fact that our first part of our conversation wasn't his investments. It was about trust work. You know, getting a trust done for. He has a home. You know, when we have, you know, as we grow up as kids, we have toys everywhere.

And our parents say, put your toys back in the box. Well, all a living trust is, very simply, is a separate entity. Life still goes on as you know it, but you're going to take your assets and put in this box called a living trust. And you are the grantor. You are the trustee of that trust. You'll have successor trustees to step in when something happens to you. you have five documents, you have a trust document, you'll have a poor over will, you'll have powers of attorney for both property and health care, and you have a living

one. I'm not an attorney, but I facilitate getting with an attorney to pull those documents together, and I like to keep it as simple as I can for people and not be inconvenience. They can stay at home, and everybody comes to them. I do an application, goes to this company out of California. they sent it to the attorney that's locally in that state that attorney then would call that particular client of mine go over everything on the application

and then develops the documents and the notary shows up at their door and so everything is done they don't have to it's not inconvenience they don't have to worry about the meter running on attorney the attorney has a set price and those documents are there and gives peace of mind the family members

that hey something good that happens, that trust is there to protect probate, you know, to avoid, I should say, and to, if you're becoming incapacitated, that, you know, you've got people that could step in. You don't have to have the court assigning a conservator. So it's just, it's just, again, like, you know, long-term care is important when it comes to your health. Well, proper estate plan is important to avoid probate and avoid some problems that could come up by not just doing proper estate planning. Yeah. You know, it's just really neat to hear how you lay that out and the importance of doing what you said about stopping the presses.

If you don't have this in place, it's not a matter of inconveniencing your client. You know, it's a matter of caring for your client and realizing that that is such a huge step there. From what you have put together in working with clients, I know you've seen this over the years. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people make? well you know when you have an IRA account you certainly want to have a beneficiary and so I make sure if I'm sitting down with somebody I'm just kind of looking at existing assets what kind of beneficiary designations have they set up on that very important you know our tax laws have somewhat changed a little bit now where you know the RMD now is gone from 70 and a half

to 73 we have to start taking money out whether you like it or not unfortunately the stretch is certainly taken away. So children have to literally deal with having to pay the taxes on that stuff. But I make sure to get the proper beneficiaries, normally be the wife first, and of course the children. Second is a contingent. You know, if they have annuities, annuities are non-probatable. But again, you know, beneficiary information, whether it's an individual or it could be a trust to be the beneficiary.

So the key thing I find, you know, life insurance, policies, annuities, brokerage accounts. You know, what do you have for beneficiaries? You know, bank accounts you might have paid on death or transferred on death. But again, if we're sitting up a trust, it would be the trust that would own that CD. It would be the trust that would own that, you know, that a non-qualified brokerage account. It would be the trust that would be maybe the contingent beneficiary. They didn't want a children be the contingent.

The wife would be the primary, but the trust then would distribute those assets to, to, to their loved ones. So it's just proper designations and if the trust is going to be involved we make sure that everything that they want done is handled in a very short term, very private manner.

You know, you bring up an interesting point that made me think of something because, you know, I've heard out there, you know, a horror story is oh, this person passed away and intended their, you know, fortune to go to this person, but all of a sudden that was their, you know, ex-wife. So how often do you recommend reviewing your beneficiaries and

trustees? Because what if all of a sudden you just don't review that? And now all of the things are going to the wrong person. Well, that has happened. People get disinherited, sometimes not even intentionally. Just because of they get, life gets busy. Let's be honest, we get busy and we have all the intentions of the world changing things, but nobody sits down and gives you a proper roadmap. So yeah, absolutely. If you, you know, I mean, if you've got divorced and you haven't taken a change beneficiary, that can certainly be a wake-up call. And unfortunately, it's not good news when you're finally settling the state and all of a sudden things are not going the way you want to. You know, as we take different generations, you know, our parents would probably have a will.

But, you know, trust today, living trust, are not just for the rich and famous. You know, I think today as I sit down with people, most people now, if nothing else, they know what a living trust is all about. And, you know, it's like the old oil filter commercial, Fram, pay me now or pay me later. You know, attorneys that believe in probate, well, yeah, a couple hundred dollars, here's a will, and you think, well, I've done my estate planning, but not really. because that attorney knows sooner or later, even if that attorney retires maybe has a family member step in, there's a whole just file cab that's full of wills that are going to get probated.

And now you're going to find yourself spending far more money on a probate process anywhere from what, 5 to 8% of the entire value of the estate compared to spending a little bit to set up a trust. That's the pay me now or pay me later routine. Yep, 100%. You know, and I know that you say that, you know, all of this is for anybody, really. But I know that some of these estate planning things come into more play when it's an affluent family.

What are some of the things and maybe some of the wealth amounts that would trigger, you know, okay, you're over this much in your estate. Here's now some extra things since you're considered an affluent family that you should be considering that go beyond just the basic, you know, maybe living trust, that kind of thing. Well, you might have some AB language. You know, there's the unified credit exemptions. I mean, today it's like $13,610,000. Well, you take a husband and wife, that's, you know, it's $26 million, right? So back in the Reagan days, it was maybe $600,000. I mean, you know, people's estates and properties have gone up.

I mean, a sizable rate where the value of an estate, you would set up a living trust, certainly for probate issues, but you also have some other documents. in there to pass on, you know, to reduce state taxes. You could certainly set up even life insurance to, because again, taxes are definitely an issue. You know, I really believe when it comes to financial planning, you've got to focus on doing proper strategy for health challenges. You also need to be doing some proper planning when it comes to taxes, because taxes

can change, administrations change, and tax brackets can change. having an estate you've worked hard for, and maybe especially when it comes to real estate property or even different stock accounts, but going to pass that on, proper estate planning can certainly help reduce the taxes that would be due upon death. You know, and I think that that is a loaded question or a deep question like, you know, reducing taxes. Is there some, without getting into the weeds, is there a specific type of strategy that you could give us an example of that would, you know, illustrate, you know, passing some of that wealth onto your heirs with tax benefit. I mean, we can never,

ever eliminate taxes, but what are some of those things to keep in mind? Maybe, you know, charitable, you know, remainder trust, things like that. Well, you certainly can. If you have a certain charity that you want to get involved with, you certainly can do that. And there's some good tax deductions there. You know, just tax planning. I, you know, I, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, can sometimes be all things to all people. So if I have somebody who's got a tax issue, I'm going to lean on people. That's what they do for a living. Not just pairing tax returns, but I'm talking about proper tax planning. You know, it's like the old saying, it's not what you make that counts. It's what you keep. And so, you know, proper planning, like understanding,

you know, the Augusta rule. You know, when you think about Augusta, if you're a golfer, you know, it's the masters, right? But there's an IRS ruling. just when it comes to planning in that where you can actually take advantage of the gusto rule and as you're, because the homes that are around that golf course, you know, there are certainly pros and people renting, you know, from those people, right? And there's certain deductions with that.

And especially some of the deductions that can certainly be taking advantage of our current administration right now and solar type deductions that the administration had to give up a little bit on for the tax bill that they passed. And so if people, the key thing is having somebody that understands taxes and can sharpen the pencil and think outside the box legally, ethically, but get it done properly where people can reduce it. Because again, it's not what you make the accounts.

It's what you keep. So as I sit down with people, if it's somebody who's very affluent, has done very, very well, then I'm going to certainly be looking at tax strategies and hope that the people, they are surrounding themselves with, are thinking outside the box. And if they're not, we're going to be introducing some strategies that can. Yep. You know, we've talked about before about, you know, how often to review your retirement plan.

It should be consistent because there could be tweaks. What about the estate plan? When you put some things into place, how often should some of those things be reviewed as well as when, what are some of the triggers that would make you think maybe we need to tweak it? Like, what if there was a marriage or a divorce or if you owned a business, you changed ownership or there could be a lot of things that go into updating or tweaking your state plan. Well, when I sit down with couples and we're setting up a trust, again, you know, Mike Crystal Ball's

no better than theirs of 10 years from now, 20 years from now. You know, you might have, you're happy having your children get married and grandchildren, but, you know, marriages can also change, right? All of a sudden you have an in-law and now becomes an outlaw. We kind of joke around with that but that can happen so you've got to make some adjustments with that and and this is where you know uh if it's having a planner who's worth their salt to to you know sit down with that client uh yearly or you certainly are preparing clients that things change in the family um that you know you certainly connects or you do your own due diligence as a planner you're just looking at for your clients and you would be sending out some kind of a document whatever that if there

are some adjustments in the family a marriage is coming in place or you know sometimes uh you have children some are good savers some are not and uh you have some spendthrift uh language in there and so um sometimes you you know if you have children uh sometimes i'll ask the parents you know of the three kids who is the best when it comes to handling money and And in some cases, could be the youngest, could be the oldest. I've had situations where it's not the kids at all. It's going to be an institution called the bank, which will outlive them all, right? And let the bank handle that.

So, you know, it's just proper planning of that and staying in tune with your clients. I think one of my pet peeves is that I am not a person that once we sit down, you're not going to hear from me anymore. You're going to hear from me if nothing else, depending on the investments, at least twice a year. of nothing else at least once of you. I'm reaching out. And that's one of my strengths. I make sure I'm connecting with people, and whether I met them through doing a trust, whether I met them to doing a retirement plan, I'll make sure that the entire circle, when it comes to tax planning, estate planning, investment planning, all of that is all important to get people through retirement.

You know, I know that you mentioned legal documents and different things like that, and attorneys and things like that. And you've got recommendations. Do you ever have a client that comes to you that says, look, I've got my own attorney and I just want them to get, you know, updated on what we're doing here. Do you work with other, with your clients' attorneys and make sure that they can get folded in or is it something that you have to work a special program through your, your contacts?

Well, I don't have any particular attorney I'm working with. I work through a company out of California that has a battery of attorneys. And the reason why they do that is because, They don't want people to be taking advantage of. There are some attorneys that would charge a ridiculous amount of money to set up a trust. If I have people that already have a trust, but how long has that trust been around? I have laws changed in that particular state. Every state has its own laws when it comes to probate.

And so there might be some amendments taking place. Is that attorney who drafted the document initially still around with the attorneys that I deal with that are here? They're certainly going to look at that document. So there's no cost for a review. but some attorneys putting their name on an amendment, they might want to make an adjustment on everything. So it all comes back down to how long has that trust been around, have laws changed, you know, what can be done with the existing trust

without costing a whole lot of money to make some amendments, or do we have to make some adjustments where we have to do the trust all over again because now family situations have changed. Maybe husband or wife want certain distribution to go to a charitable organization, or maybe to put it into a trust account because maybe one child is just a spender and they want to make sure there's money or you have a child that's got some special needs.

You know, you want to be able to have language in that. So there's a lot of factors that can take place when it comes to state planning. And as I sit down with people, those are questions I ask from the get-go as I'm taking sort of an inventory of what they've done before that met me and where they want to go now.

Yeah, I love it. Well, Bill, once again, it's been really enlightening to hear your perspectives on this topic of estate planning. If someone is interested in reaching out and connecting with you, what's the best way that they can do that? They can reach out on my website. Just go to Wilson Financial, grp.com. I have a library of videos for education, especially on Living Trust and state planning. And they're free, and they're short, and they get to the point. They talk about a problem and a solution.

or they could give me an office call at 480-220-349. That's 480-220-2-20-3-449. Excellent. Well, Bill, thank you so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure chatting with you. Thanks, Mike. You have a great day. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders.

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