Do I really need life insurance?

While this question is better answered by your financial advisor - the short answer is generally yes, if you have others who are financially dependent upon you. In other words, if you died and your spouse and/or kids were relying on your income to stay afloat, then you would need life insurance to cover the shortfall until they can reach financial independence. That is why many people get life insurance policies with a death benefit to replace years of income (and maybe pay off all existing debts plus estimated college/education costs). Once again, this is a question best answered by your financial advisor, but that is the common practice (especially among my younger clients). Of course, if you already have millions in the bank, don’t need the liquidity, and/or have no one financially dependent upon you, then that answer will change.

What is a trustee?

A trustee is a person or entity (such as a bank) that is put in charge of certain responsibilities such as: securing the assets of the trust, engaging with a financial advisor or investment firm (or making investment decisions themselves depending on the complexity of the trust assets and the trustee’s personal experience), hiring an attorney to navigate trust compliance, hiring an accountant to prepare state and federal income tax returns for the trust, make distributions from the trust for the payments of bills and expenses, and make a final division of trust and distributions to children once they reach a given age (as instructed in the trust document).