If you are 60 or over and are worth over two million dollars, you will probably get ideas for estate tax planning from this book that your estate planning lawyer will not think of. If you are not that old or not that wealthy, the book will probably not be as useful for you. However, if you plan to be worth over two million by the time you are 60, you will find some ideas to help you get there.One word of caution is appropriate for you here that the book does not discuss. Congress is trying to pass revisions in estate taxes that would eliminate most of the problems for which solutions are described in the book. President Clinton has vetoed that legislation recently. Keep tracking what is going on with estate taxes in Congress. Otherwise, you may be working on solving some problems that you don't have.
As a CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) with 38 years of experience, Mr. Kaye knows all of the tricks -- certainly he knows more than any life insurance agent who has ever called on me. He also describes strategies that I have not heard from estate planners, as well. They seem sound, based on the data presented here. But you may get different numbers when you check into it for yourself, so caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).
Most of the concepts are built around the tax advantages of life insurance. It accumulates tax free and you can use it to pay your estate taxes. Unless you are wealthy, you won't have estate taxes.
Mr. Kaye wrote this book, in part, as a response to the book, Die Broke. He counters that "He who lives rich, dies rich."
If you belong to the school that you want to pile up wealth, Mr. Kaye can help you. If you belong to the school of enjoying all the wealth for yourself while your're alive, his help will be less beneficial.
People have historically used life insurance as income protection for a family. This book balances that perspective with ideas for how life insurance can help with wealth creation, estate planning, charitable giving, diversification, and risk reduction.
If you get tired of hearing a constant pitch for life insurance as the answer to all of your problems, you probably won't finish the book. But, be sure to look at the 10 case histories near the end for the case with a person whose situation is most like your own. You will probably get a useful idea or two. I suggest that you do check these ideas out with your financial advisor and tax attorney, given the changing estate tax environment, before doing anything.
Good luck with pursuing your financial goals, whatever they are!
