Keep what you earn.
Two clear guides to paying less tax and protecting what you own with a trust — written for people who don't have a lawyer on speed dial.
Free weekly email · No spam, unsubscribe anytime · See the two guides
Everything you own has your name on it. That's the problem.
You worked for all of it.
The house, the accounts, the years of it. Every piece is held in your name — which is exactly what creates the mess later.
Then the court gets involved.
Without a trust, most estates go through probate: a public, court-supervised process to decide who gets what.
Everyone takes a cut first.
Attorney, executor, court, appraisers. They're paid from the estate — before your family sees a dollar.
Most of it is avoidable.
Not through anything clever. Through paperwork that thousands of ordinary families sign every week.
The fixes are mostly documents.
A trust, funded properly. Beneficiaries updated. Deeds re-titled. Boring, cheap, and decisive.
Now your family gets what you left them.
Privately, in weeks instead of months, without a courtroom or a public filing.
Learn it. Set it up. Sleep better.
That's the whole point of these guides.
- 1Estate filed publicly
- 2Executor appointed
- 3Creditors notified
- 1Attorney retained
- 2Executor commission
- 3Appraisals ordered
- 1Assets frozen
- 2Claims period runs
- 3Months pass
- 1Your assets listed
- 2Your heirs named
- 3Anyone can read it
Illustrative example on a $500,000 estate · not a prediction for yours
Illustrative figures based on commonly cited probate cost ranges. Costs vary widely by state and estate. Educational only — not legal or tax advice.
One teaches you to pay less. One teaches you to keep it.
Both are written the same way: plain English, real numbers, and a checklist at the end of every chapter so you always know what to actually do next.
- 01 What you're probably overpaying · and why
- 02 The deduction checklist · 40+ items
- 03 Timing: when income lands · matters
- 04 Accounts that shelter growth · legally
- 05 What to bring your CPA · so they can help
- 01 Will vs trust · decide honestly
- 02 Choosing the right type · plain English
- 03 Building it · step by step
- 04 Funding it · the step people skip
- 05 Keeping it valid · yearly review
If a sentence needs a law degree, it gets rewritten.
Every chapter ends with what to do this week.
Where you need a professional, it says so plainly.
Four parts. Same order every time.
Each guide follows the same shape: what's going wrong, what the rules actually say, what to do about it, and how to keep it working.
Illustrative breakdown of the four leaks the guide covers — not a statistic about your estate.
- Choosing the type of trustRevocable, irrevocable, joint — what each one gives up and gets back.
- Naming trustees and successorsWho runs it if you can't, and what to write so there's no argument.
- Funding it — the step people skipAn unfunded trust does nothing. This is how assets actually get moved in.
- Re-titling the house and accountsDeeds, bank forms, brokerage transfers — with the wording to use.
- Signing, witnessing, notarizingThe formalities that decide whether it holds up at all.
- Review
The once-a-year check: what changed, what needs re-signing, what to re-title.
- Update
Marriage, divorce, a new child, a new state, a sold house — what each one triggers.
- Store
Where documents live, who holds copies, and the letter that tells them what to do.
- Hand over
What your trustee actually has to do on day one, written for someone who's grieving.
There are four ways to handle this. Only one costs nothing — and it's the worst.
We're not going to pretend a guide replaces an attorney for everyone. Here's what each route actually gives you, so you can pick with your eyes open.
Typical US price ranges, illustrative · attorney fees vary widely by state and complexity
The strongest option if your situation is complicated. Also the one most people quietly put off for a decade because of the price.
Where this falls short
Most guides explain. These walk you through.
- Define.
- Explain.
- Overwhelm.
You finish it feeling smarter and do absolutely nothing differently.
- Explain.
- Show.
- Template.
- Checklist.
- Review.
Every chapter ends with the specific thing to do next — and the wording to use when you do it.
Understanding it changes nothing. Signing it changes everything.
Six things quietly take a share of what you built.
None of them are dramatic. They're forms, defaults and deadlines — which is exactly why they go unnoticed for years.
- 01Read part one.
An hour. You'll know if you need a trust at all.
- 02Write the inventory.
What you own and whose name is on it.
- 03Fix the free stuff first.
Beneficiary forms cost nothing and override a will.
- 04Build the documents.
Follow part three with the templates.
- 05Get it reviewed.
Now an attorney hour costs you far less, because the work is done.
- 06Review it yearly.
Fifteen minutes, once a year, forever.
Eight documents decide what happens to everything you own.
Most people have two or three of them, signed years ago, half out of date. The guide walks through each one — what it does, whether you need it, and how to get it right.
Last will and testament
The document everyone knows about — and the one that does the least work on its own.
You don't need a free weekend. You need eight short evenings.
The guide is built around a four-week plan. Nothing in it takes more than about an hour, and each week ends with something signed, filed or fixed — not just read.
If you stop after week one you'll still have fixed the things that cost nothing and matter most.
Same estate. Two very different outcomes.
The money doesn't change. What changes is how much of it survives the process, how long your family waits, and who gets to read about it.
On a $500,000 estate, before anything reaches your family
How long assets stay frozen while the process runs
Probate files are public. A trust generally isn't.
Illustrative example using commonly cited probate ranges — not a promise about your estate. Costs and timelines vary by state, estate size and whether anyone contests.
The paperwork is cheap. Not having it is expensive.
Nobody puts this off because it's hard. They put it off because it's uncomfortable and there's no deadline. Then one day there is one, and by then the cost is fixed and someone else is paying it.
Understand it once, set it up properly, and never have to think about it again — while it quietly protects everything you spent your life building.
The questions people actually search at 1am.
Not "what is estate planning". The real ones — the specific, slightly embarrassing questions you'd rather not pay $400 an hour to ask. Every one of these is answered in plain English, with what to do about it.
- Taxesdeductions, timing, accounts
- Truststypes, drafting, funding
- Probatewhat it is, what it costs
- Propertydeeds, titling, multi-state
- Familyheirs, guardians, trustees
- BusinessLLCs, succession, buy-sell
You don't need to be rich. You need to own something.
If everything you have would pass cleanly tomorrow, you don't need these. Most people find out — usually too late — that it wouldn't.
Homeowners
A house is usually the single asset that drags an entire estate into probate. It's also the one that's easiest to move out of it.
- What happens to the house if I die tomorrow?
- Can I re-title it without triggering the mortgage?
- Does adding my kid to the deed cause a tax problem?
Parents
Money is the second question. The first is who raises them, who controls what they inherit, and at what age they get it.
- Who gets my kids if something happens to both of us?
- Can I stop an 18-year-old inheriting a lump sum?
- How do I leave things evenly without causing a fight?
Business owners
Your LLC protects the business from you. It does almost nothing to protect your family from what happens to the business when you're gone.
- Is my LLC actually protecting anything personal?
- Who can sign for the business if I can't?
- How do I pass it on without forcing a sale?
Near retirement
The window where the tax decisions get big and mostly irreversible — withdrawal order, account types, and how it all passes on.
- Which accounts should I draw from first?
- What happens to my IRA when I'm gone?
- Are my beneficiary forms still right after the divorce?
Landlords
Property in more than one state means probate in more than one state. That's the expensive detail almost nobody plans for.
- Do I get probated in every state I own property?
- Should each rental sit in its own entity?
- What happens to the tenants and the rent meanwhile?
High earners
When your income is large, the difference between the default and a thought-through structure stops being small very quickly.
- What am I overpaying that my CPA hasn't mentioned?
- Am I anywhere near the estate tax threshold?
- What should I be doing before December 31?
Own land in four states? That can mean four probates.
It's called ancillary probate, and it's the detail that turns a manageable process into a year of separate court filings in places you've never lived. A trust is the usual way people avoid it entirely.
Typical settlement cost as a share of estate value · illustrative
What these guides are not.
There's a lot of confident nonsense sold in this corner of the internet. Here's exactly where we stand.
- We're not attorneys or CPAs.
These are educational guides, not legal or tax advice, and nothing in them creates a professional relationship. For your specific situation, use a licensed professional in your state.
- No guaranteed savings.
Anyone promising you a specific dollar figure hasn't seen your return. What the guides promise is that you'll understand your options and stop leaving the easy ones on the table.
- No secret loopholes.
Everything here is ordinary, legal and widely used. If a strategy only works when nobody looks closely, it isn't in the book.
- What you get is understanding, templates, and a checklist you'll actually finish.
That's it. It's also the thing that most people are genuinely missing — and it's the difference between meaning to sort it out and having sorted it out.
Sourced from the rules themselves, not from other people's blog posts.
Tax and trust rules change, and they change differently in every state. So the guides are built to be checkable — and updated when the rules move.
- Primary sources
IRS publications and instructions, state statutes and probate codes.
- State-flagged
Where your state decides the answer, the guide says so instead of guessing.
- Plain English
Rewritten until someone outside the field can follow it.
- Worked examples
Real numbers, so you can see the mechanics rather than the theory.
- Templates
Documents and letters you can adapt, with the wording explained.
- Updated
Reviewed annually and after major rule changes. Updates are free forever.
Buy once and you get every future revision of that guide at no extra cost — including the year the thresholds change and half the internet's advice goes stale.
Less than one hour of an attorney's time.
Instant PDF download, free updates for life, and a 30-day refund if it isn't what you expected. Start free if you'd rather see how we write first.
One short, useful money lesson each week. No pitch attached.
- A weekly plain-English lesson
- One tax or trust idea at a time
- Free starter checklist on signup
- Unsubscribe in one click
Stop overpaying what you're not required to pay.
- US Taxpayer Saving Protocols (PDF)
- The 40+ item deduction checklist
- Timing and account-structure chapters
- "What to bring your CPA" worksheet
- Free updates for life
Pay less, and protect what's left. The complete picture.
- Everything in both guides, plus
- All templates and checklists
- The four-week action plan
- The yearly review worksheet
- Free updates for life
Build it, fund it, and keep it valid.
- Building a Trust in America (PDF)
- Trust and deed templates
- The funding walkthrough
- Trustee handover letter
- Free updates for life
Prices in USD. Instant download after checkout. 30-day refund, no questions. Educational material only — not legal or tax advice.
One useful thing about your money, every week.
No hype, no urgency countdowns, no "wealth secrets". Just one clear idea at a time — a deduction worth checking, a form worth updating, a term worth understanding.
Sign up and the starter checklist comes straight away: the eight documents, and how to tell which ones you're missing.
- Adding you to the weekly list
- Attaching the starter checklist
- Flagging the rules for your state
- Sending it over
If it hasn't landed in a couple of minutes, check spam and drag it to your inbox — that way the weekly one won't get lost either.
You're on the list.
Is this legal or tax advice?
Do I actually need a trust?
Does this work in my state?
Can I really do this without an attorney?
What format are they, and how do I get them?
What if it's not what I expected?
Who writes these?
You'll sort this out eventually. It's cheaper to do it now.
Two guides, plain English, instant download, free updates for life. Or start with the free weekly email and decide later.