Today’s turbulent times have created unprecedented opportunities that, in the long run, can preserve and create significant family wealth. The tsunami that has hit the financial markets has resulted in unprecedented values and yields that can be taken advantage of to protect, for generations to come, the wealth created by your hard work and sacrifices.

Below is a summary of areas that should be considered when planning and reviewing your financial situation. Telemus believes that wealth planning should be approached holistically and include the expertise of all of your legal, tax and wealth advisors.

• With asset values near historic lows now is the time to consider intra-family wealth transfer techniques with little or no tax transfer cost. This can be accomplished with many structures including low interest rate intra-family loans, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, installment sales, and related ideas where significant wealth transfer at no cost can be accomplished. Recently released Federal Applicable Loan rates are as low as .60% allowing significant arbitrage and asset transfer potential.

• Estate and Tax law changes include effective January 1, 2009, the estate and generation skipping tax exemption increasing to $3,500,000 from $2,000,000 which President Obama has been said he favors as the permanent exemption amount. In addition he has said that he intends to block the planned repeal of the estate tax scheduled to take place in 2010.

• The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion has also increased from $12,000 to $13,000 in 2009.

• Low asset values have created the opportunity to transfer assets outright utiliz- ing gifting and other valuation discount strategies. Such strategies should be implemented quickly to take advantage of existing laws which may change and to capture the inherent appreciation potential in the assets that have been dis- proportionally impacted by the economic storm.

Every person’s estate plan should be reviewed to determine, among other things:

• Whether the existing marital deduction formula is appropriate in light of the increase in the estate tax exemption and decrease in asset values;

• Whether the generation skipping exemption is being maximized in order to avoid the imposition of the estate tax upon wealth transferred to succeeding generations;

• Whether gifting, sale or split-interest opportunities can reduce estate taxes;

• Whether life insurance values are being maximized and whether life insurance should be gifted or sold to a new irrevocable life insurance trust to obtain estate and generation skipping tax reduction and creditor protection; and

• Whether asset protection strategies should be implemented.