Deciding who you want to serve as your trustees is a decision that could have huge implications for your child’s financial security. It is a decision not to take lightly and for you to clearly match up with the right person
When the Trustees take up their role they will have to get to grips with what the best use of the money held in trust for your child. In most the families I work we they will have a minimum of €100,000 available for their child and the Trustees will have access to all this money when the trust is open after the parent’s passing.
Trustees will have to make a decision on:
- How best to pay the money out & not impact entitlements?
- How much to pay out each year so not to over or under spend the money?
- How to invest the money so inflation doesn’t eat away at the real value of the fund?
- How to invest the money wisely & minimise unnecessary risk with the capital?
- Priorities what the money is to be used for
- Maintain good bookkeeping records of all the expenditures
- Regular meeting with the Guardians to discuss financial needs
- Ensure the assets held in trust are safe and under the Trustee’s control
As you can see from my brief list above, this isn’t a role for everyone.
It is advisable your chosen Trustees get professional help to understand the tax and investment implication of having this large amount of money. It is unlikely they have all these professional skills necessary but again chosen the right professions won’t be easy.
I see it all too often in the Financial Service industry where the Advisor needs come first and the client’s needs are secondary.
Hope that helps you to think about suitable Trustees for your child.
Allan