Give Your Wealth a Thoughtful Way Forward
You've built something meaningful. We help you plan how it can support your family and the causes you care about, while keeping your own future in view.
Give Your Wealth a Thoughtful Way Forward
You've built something meaningful. We help you plan how it can support your family and the causes you care about, while keeping your own future in view.
Give Your Wealth a Thoughtful Way Forward
You've built something meaningful. We help you plan how it can support your family and the causes you care about, while keeping your own future in view.
Your Wishes Deserve More Than Good Intentions
You may know who you want to help without knowing the best way to do it. A family home, retirement accounts, investments, and business interests can each raise different questions about ownership, taxes, and timing.
We help connect those financial details with your wishes, working alongside your estate attorney and tax professional. The goal is a plan your family can understand and the people involved can put into action.
Your Wishes Deserve More Than Good Intentions
You may know who you want to help without knowing the best way to do it. A family home, retirement accounts, investments, and business interests can each raise different questions about ownership, taxes, and timing.
We help connect those financial details with your wishes, working alongside your estate attorney and tax professional. The goal is a plan your family can understand and the people involved can put into action.
Your Wishes Deserve More Than Good Intentions
You may know who you want to help without knowing the best way to do it. A family home, retirement accounts, investments, and business interests can each raise different questions about ownership, taxes, and timing.
We help connect those financial details with your wishes, working alongside your estate attorney and tax professional. The goal is a plan your family can understand and the people involved can put into action.
Connect Your Intentions With the Details
Legacy planning works best when the financial decisions and legal work support the same goals. We help keep those conversations connected.
Clarify What You Want Your Wealth to Do
We start with the people and priorities that matter to you. That may mean supporting a spouse, helping children sooner, preserving a family asset, or making a lasting contribution to a cause.
Coordinate Accounts and Beneficiaries
We help review account ownership and beneficiary designations in the context of your wishes. Where changes involve legal questions, we work with your attorney to connect the accounts with your estate documents.
Consider Estate-Tax Exposure
Plan Gifts During Your Lifetime
Helping family now can be rewarding, but the amount, assets, and timing deserve thought. We help assess what you can give while maintaining your own financial flexibility and coordinating the tax details.
Make Giving Part of Your Legacy
We help you consider charitable gifts alongside your other goals. That includes evaluating which assets to give and coordinating with your tax and legal professionals on the approach.
Prepare Your Family for What Comes Next
We help make room for conversations about inherited wealth, financial responsibilities, and your intentions. Clearer expectations can help family members understand the purpose behind your decisions.
Connect Your Intentions With the Details
Legacy planning works best when the financial decisions and legal work support the same goals. We help keep those conversations connected.
Clarify What You Want Your Wealth to Do
We start with the people and priorities that matter to you. That may mean supporting a spouse, helping children sooner, preserving a family asset, or making a lasting contribution to a cause.
Coordinate Accounts and Beneficiaries
We help review account ownership and beneficiary designations in the context of your wishes. Where changes involve legal questions, we work with your attorney to connect the accounts with your estate documents.
Consider Estate-Tax Exposure
Plan Gifts During Your Lifetime
Helping family now can be rewarding, but the amount, assets, and timing deserve thought. We help assess what you can give while maintaining your own financial flexibility and coordinating the tax details.
Make Giving Part of Your Legacy
We help you consider charitable gifts alongside your other goals. That includes evaluating which assets to give and coordinating with your tax and legal professionals on the approach.
Prepare Your Family for What Comes Next
We help make room for conversations about inherited wealth, financial responsibilities, and your intentions. Clearer expectations can help family members understand the purpose behind your decisions.
Connect Your Intentions With the Details
Legacy planning works best when the financial decisions and legal work support the same goals. We help keep those conversations connected.
Clarify What You Want Your Wealth to Do
We start with the people and priorities that matter to you. That may mean supporting a spouse, helping children sooner, preserving a family asset, or making a lasting contribution to a cause.
Coordinate Accounts and Beneficiaries
We help review account ownership and beneficiary designations in the context of your wishes. Where changes involve legal questions, we work with your attorney to connect the accounts with your estate documents.
Consider Estate-Tax Exposure
Plan Gifts During Your Lifetime
Helping family now can be rewarding, but the amount, assets, and timing deserve thought. We help assess what you can give while maintaining your own financial flexibility and coordinating the tax details.
Make Giving Part of Your Legacy
We help you consider charitable gifts alongside your other goals. That includes evaluating which assets to give and coordinating with your tax and legal professionals on the approach.
Prepare Your Family for What Comes Next
We help make room for conversations about inherited wealth, financial responsibilities, and your intentions. Clearer expectations can help family members understand the purpose behind your decisions.
An illustrative planning situation
A Family Cabin Can Raise More Than One Question
You'd like your children to keep the cabin where your family has spent summers for years. One lives nearby and uses it often. Another lives across the country. You want the arrangement to feel fair to both.
Before deciding how to pass it on, there are a few things to consider:
Do your children want to share ownership and its ongoing costs?
How would the cabin fit with the other assets each child might receive?
What tax, ownership, and legal questions need to be addressed?
We help you explore the financial tradeoffs and bring the right questions to your attorney. Your plan can account for both the meaning of the cabin and the practical responsibilities that come with it.
Hypothetical example for illustration only. The appropriate approach depends on individual circumstances.
An illustrative planning situation
A Family Cabin Can Raise More Than One Question
You'd like your children to keep the cabin where your family has spent summers for years. One lives nearby and uses it often. Another lives across the country. You want the arrangement to feel fair to both.
Before deciding how to pass it on, there are a few things to consider:
Do your children want to share ownership and its ongoing costs?
How would the cabin fit with the other assets each child might receive?
What tax, ownership, and legal questions need to be addressed?
We help you explore the financial tradeoffs and bring the right questions to your attorney. Your plan can account for both the meaning of the cabin and the practical responsibilities that come with it.
Hypothetical example for illustration only. The appropriate approach depends on individual circumstances.
An illustrative planning situation
A Family Cabin Can Raise More Than One Question
You'd like your children to keep the cabin where your family has spent summers for years. One lives nearby and uses it often. Another lives across the country. You want the arrangement to feel fair to both.
Before deciding how to pass it on, there are a few things to consider:
Do your children want to share ownership and its ongoing costs?
How would the cabin fit with the other assets each child might receive?
What tax, ownership, and legal questions need to be addressed?
We help you explore the financial tradeoffs and bring the right questions to your attorney. Your plan can account for both the meaning of the cabin and the practical responsibilities that come with it.
Hypothetical example for illustration only. The appropriate approach depends on individual circumstances.
Different Families. Personal Definitions of Legacy.
Your plan should reflect the people who depend on you, the assets you own, and what you hope to pass on.
Retirees
You want to enjoy what you've earned and make thoughtful provisions for others. We help consider lifetime gifts, future inheritances, and care needs alongside the income that supports your retirement.
Legacy-Focused Families
Whether you've built your wealth or inherited it, you want to handle it with care. We help connect financial decisions across generations and make room for conversations about responsibility, expectations, and family priorities.
Business Owners
Your business may represent much of your family's wealth. We help you consider how ownership, a future transition, and the needs of family members fit into your broader estate and financial plans.
Different Families. Personal Definitions of Legacy.
Your plan should reflect the people who depend on you, the assets you own, and what you hope to pass on.
Retirees
You want to enjoy what you've earned and make thoughtful provisions for others. We help consider lifetime gifts, future inheritances, and care needs alongside the income that supports your retirement.
Legacy-Focused Families
Whether you've built your wealth or inherited it, you want to handle it with care. We help connect financial decisions across generations and make room for conversations about responsibility, expectations, and family priorities.
Business Owners
Your business may represent much of your family's wealth. We help you consider how ownership, a future transition, and the needs of family members fit into your broader estate and financial plans.
Different Families. Personal Definitions of Legacy.
Your plan should reflect the people who depend on you, the assets you own, and what you hope to pass on.
Retirees
You want to enjoy what you've earned and make thoughtful provisions for others. We help consider lifetime gifts, future inheritances, and care needs alongside the income that supports your retirement.
Legacy-Focused Families
Whether you've built your wealth or inherited it, you want to handle it with care. We help connect financial decisions across generations and make room for conversations about responsibility, expectations, and family priorities.
Business Owners
Your business may represent much of your family's wealth. We help you consider how ownership, a future transition, and the needs of family members fit into your broader estate and financial plans.
Keep Your Family and Your Advisors Connected
Estate decisions often involve several people, each looking after a different part of the picture. Trailhead helps connect your financial plan with the work of your attorney and tax professional.
Our role is to help you understand how your investments, income needs, giving, and family priorities fit together. Your attorney handles the legal documents and advice; we help coordinate the financial decisions around them.
Through the relationship, we keep coming back to the people behind the plan and what you want your wealth to do for them.
Keep Your Family and Your Advisors Connected
Estate decisions often involve several people, each looking after a different part of the picture. Trailhead helps connect your financial plan with the work of your attorney and tax professional.
Our role is to help you understand how your investments, income needs, giving, and family priorities fit together. Your attorney handles the legal documents and advice; we help coordinate the financial decisions around them.
Through the relationship, we keep coming back to the people behind the plan and what you want your wealth to do for them.
Keep Your Family and Your Advisors Connected
Estate decisions often involve several people, each looking after a different part of the picture. Trailhead helps connect your financial plan with the work of your attorney and tax professional.
Our role is to help you understand how your investments, income needs, giving, and family priorities fit together. Your attorney handles the legal documents and advice; we help coordinate the financial decisions around them.
Through the relationship, we keep coming back to the people behind the plan and what you want your wealth to do for them.
Make Your Intentions Easier to Act On
Your legacy plan should stay connected to your life today and the changes ahead.
Start With Your Wishes
We get to know your family, your assets, and what you hope to accomplish. We also look at the arrangements you already have and where questions remain.
Coordinate the Next Steps
We help identify financial priorities and work with your tax and legal professionals on the decisions needed to support your intentions.
Revisit as Life Changes
Family circumstances, assets, and priorities evolve. We help revisit the financial plan and identify when related estate arrangements may need another look with your attorney.
Make Your Intentions Easier to Act On
Your legacy plan should stay connected to your life today and the changes ahead.
Start With Your Wishes
We get to know your family, your assets, and what you hope to accomplish. We also look at the arrangements you already have and where questions remain.
Coordinate the Next Steps
We help identify financial priorities and work with your tax and legal professionals on the decisions needed to support your intentions.
Revisit as Life Changes
Family circumstances, assets, and priorities evolve. We help revisit the financial plan and identify when related estate arrangements may need another look with your attorney.
Make Your Intentions Easier to Act On
Your legacy plan should stay connected to your life today and the changes ahead.
Start With Your Wishes
We get to know your family, your assets, and what you hope to accomplish. We also look at the arrangements you already have and where questions remain.
Coordinate the Next Steps
We help identify financial priorities and work with your tax and legal professionals on the decisions needed to support your intentions.
Revisit as Life Changes
Family circumstances, assets, and priorities evolve. We help revisit the financial plan and identify when related estate arrangements may need another look with your attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about estate and legacy planning.
Do you write wills and trusts?
An estate attorney prepares legal documents and provides legal advice. Trailhead helps with the financial planning around those documents, including investments, giving, account ownership, and your family's financial needs.
If I already have an estate attorney, how would you work together?
We help connect your financial information and goals with your attorney's work. That may include discussing proposed gifts, how assets are held, and the financial implications of different arrangements.
Do I need this if my estate is below the federal estate-tax threshold?
Estate planning also addresses who receives your assets and how your wishes will be carried out. State tax considerations may differ from the federal picture. We help identify the financial questions relevant to your situation.
Can you help me decide what to give my children now?
Yes. We look at your own spending, future needs, and available assets before exploring a gift. We also help consider timing, taxes, and how the gift fits with your broader intentions for your family.
Can you help our family talk about an inheritance?
Yes. We help facilitate financial conversations about intentions, responsibilities, and the decisions ahead. Together, we can consider who should participate and what would be useful to discuss.
How does Trailhead charge for estate and legacy planning?
Our wealth management fees are based on assets we manage. We also offer flat-fee engagements for complex family or business situations. We'll explain the proposed scope and fees, including coordination with your other professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about estate and legacy planning.
Do you write wills and trusts?
An estate attorney prepares legal documents and provides legal advice. Trailhead helps with the financial planning around those documents, including investments, giving, account ownership, and your family's financial needs.
If I already have an estate attorney, how would you work together?
We help connect your financial information and goals with your attorney's work. That may include discussing proposed gifts, how assets are held, and the financial implications of different arrangements.
Do I need this if my estate is below the federal estate-tax threshold?
Estate planning also addresses who receives your assets and how your wishes will be carried out. State tax considerations may differ from the federal picture. We help identify the financial questions relevant to your situation.
Can you help me decide what to give my children now?
Yes. We look at your own spending, future needs, and available assets before exploring a gift. We also help consider timing, taxes, and how the gift fits with your broader intentions for your family.
Can you help our family talk about an inheritance?
Yes. We help facilitate financial conversations about intentions, responsibilities, and the decisions ahead. Together, we can consider who should participate and what would be useful to discuss.
How does Trailhead charge for estate and legacy planning?
Our wealth management fees are based on assets we manage. We also offer flat-fee engagements for complex family or business situations. We'll explain the proposed scope and fees, including coordination with your other professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about estate and legacy planning.
Do you write wills and trusts?
An estate attorney prepares legal documents and provides legal advice. Trailhead helps with the financial planning around those documents, including investments, giving, account ownership, and your family's financial needs.
If I already have an estate attorney, how would you work together?
We help connect your financial information and goals with your attorney's work. That may include discussing proposed gifts, how assets are held, and the financial implications of different arrangements.
Do I need this if my estate is below the federal estate-tax threshold?
Estate planning also addresses who receives your assets and how your wishes will be carried out. State tax considerations may differ from the federal picture. We help identify the financial questions relevant to your situation.
Can you help me decide what to give my children now?
Yes. We look at your own spending, future needs, and available assets before exploring a gift. We also help consider timing, taxes, and how the gift fits with your broader intentions for your family.
Can you help our family talk about an inheritance?
Yes. We help facilitate financial conversations about intentions, responsibilities, and the decisions ahead. Together, we can consider who should participate and what would be useful to discuss.
How does Trailhead charge for estate and legacy planning?
Our wealth management fees are based on assets we manage. We also offer flat-fee engagements for complex family or business situations. We'll explain the proposed scope and fees, including coordination with your other professionals.
Keep Exploring
Navigating Minnesota Estate Tax: A Comprehensive Guide for Retirees
A $3 million exemption that hasn't moved since 2020 and doesn't transfer between spouses. What it costs, and how to plan around it.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Navigating Oregon Estate Tax: Strategies for Retirees and Business Owners
Oregon starts taxing estates at $1 million, and a paid-off house gets you most of the way there. How to plan before it applies to you.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Strategic Charitable Giving: How to Make Your Generosity Count
Appreciated securities, donor-advised funds, and QCDs. How the 2025 tax law changed giving, and how to keep yours tax-efficient.
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Keep Exploring
Navigating Minnesota Estate Tax: A Comprehensive Guide for Retirees
A $3 million exemption that hasn't moved since 2020 and doesn't transfer between spouses. What it costs, and how to plan around it.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Navigating Oregon Estate Tax: Strategies for Retirees and Business Owners
Oregon starts taxing estates at $1 million, and a paid-off house gets you most of the way there. How to plan before it applies to you.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Strategic Charitable Giving: How to Make Your Generosity Count
Appreciated securities, donor-advised funds, and QCDs. How the 2025 tax law changed giving, and how to keep yours tax-efficient.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Keep Exploring
Navigating Minnesota Estate Tax: A Comprehensive Guide for Retirees
A $3 million exemption that hasn't moved since 2020 and doesn't transfer between spouses. What it costs, and how to plan around it.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Navigating Oregon Estate Tax: Strategies for Retirees and Business Owners
Oregon starts taxing estates at $1 million, and a paid-off house gets you most of the way there. How to plan before it applies to you.
Morgan Ranstrom, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®
Let's Talk About What's Ahead
Whether you're thinking about a gift today or the legacy you'll leave, let's start with your family, your priorities, and the questions you'd like to work through.
Let's Talk About What's Ahead
Whether you're thinking about a gift today or the legacy you'll leave, let's start with your family, your priorities, and the questions you'd like to work through.
Let's Talk About What's Ahead
Whether you're thinking about a gift today or the legacy you'll leave, let's start with your family, your priorities, and the questions you'd like to work through.