By Dave Allen, CFP® · Managing Partner, Security Financial Management · CRD #1210763
Reviewed by Mike Allen, CFP® · CRD #2587441 · June 30, 2026 · Last reviewed June 30, 2026
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC (Kestra IS). Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS). Security Financial Management, Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC, Kestra IS and Kestra AS are affiliated through common ownership by Kestra Holdings.
Four pieces. One thread. If you only had ten minutes for June, here is where the month landed and what to do before July.
What June Was About
June 2026 was the first mid-year mark inside the OBBBA exemption regime. The federal estate and gift exemption is permanently set at $15M per individual ($30M per married couple), and the TCJA sunset that was scheduled for the end of 2025 is gone. For most $1M–$3M households we serve, that headline removes federal estate tax exposure from the conversation entirely. What it does not remove is the question that runs underneath every estate plan we audit: are the documents still pointing at the same outcome the household actually wants? June’s content series sat on that question from four angles.
Four Reads · One Thread
Insight — The Coordination Pattern Most Estate Plans Miss. The pillar piece. Why estate plans fail not from complexity but from documents drifting out of alignment — wills, beneficiary forms, trusts, powers of attorney, and tax setups all updated in isolation, never re-checked against each other. Names the Complexity Illusion and the Coordination Failure. → Read the Insight
Resource — The Five Documents Every Investor 55–75 Needs to Coordinate. The practical companion. Walks each of the five legal instruments in order — Revocable Living Trust, Irrevocable Trust, Durable Power of Attorney, Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Will — with the specific coordination failure to look for on each. Includes the 5-step audit sequence and the FAQ. → Read the Resource
Conversation — Why Uncoordinated Estate Planning Strategies Quietly Fail. The Best Advice Podcast Guys monthly episode. Conversation with Austen Jacks, CFP® and trust-and-estate litigation attorney Olivia Share McClanahan on the Bridge to FAQs and the real-life consequences of poor planning. Full transcript on the page if you prefer to read. → Listen or read the Conversation
Market Commentary — What OBBBA’s $15M Exemption Change Means for $1M–3M Households. Mid-month commentary on the macro layer. The exemption is permanent. Step-up basis under IRC §1014 is unchanged. Portability requires Form 706. Florida residency does not insulate non-Florida beneficiaries in KY, MD, NE, NJ, or PA. With the post-FOMC Snapshot from June 17, 2026. → Read the Market Commentary
“Estate plans don’t fail from complexity. They fail from lack of coordination.”
What to Look At This Week
Before July, three things worth a quick read of the household’s existing documents. None require a meeting; all three can be answered by pulling the files and reading them side by side.
One — the beneficiary forms. Every 401(k), IRA, brokerage TOD, life insurance policy, and pension carries a beneficiary designation. Beneficiary forms override the will. If any one of them names a person who has passed, a rolled-over account that no longer exists, or an ex-spouse, the will does not fix it.
Two — the trust language vs. the OBBBA math. Any irrevocable trust drafted before July 2025 was likely designed around a $5M–$12M exemption window with a TCJA sunset. With the exemption permanent at $15M and the step-up in basis unchanged, that trust may now be optimizing for a tax exposure the household no longer has — at the cost of the step-up the heirs would otherwise receive.
Three — the beneficiary’s state of residence. Florida residency removes Florida estate and inheritance tax. It does not remove inheritance tax owed by a beneficiary who resides in Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania.
If any of these three pull a question, that question goes on the next review agenda.
Forward Tease (Bridge to July)
Next month — July 2026 — the pillar moves up one layer to the tax decisions that sit on top of estate coordination: Roth conversion timing, RMD windows, IRMAA tier interaction, and the basis step-up math that determines how much of the estate actually survives the transfer. The coordination work in June is the foundation. July is the layer that decides how efficiently the foundation gets used.
Schedule with Security Financial Management
A 15-minute call is the simplest way to confirm whether the household’s plan needs an alignment audit, a refresh of one or two documents, or whether the five still point the same direction.
Schedule a 15-minute call →
About the Author
Dave Allen, CFP® · Managing Partner, Security Financial Management. Dave is a founding partner of SFM. He holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation, served as a member on the Advisory Board of ProEquities Inc., is a past board member of the Y.M.C.A. of Central Florida, and is an active member of the Financial Services Institute (FSI) and the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. Contact: dave@sfmadvisorgroup.com · (407) 740-6553.
Disclosures
The information presented is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice. Security Financial Management, Inc. is a registered investment advisor under Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. Estate planning strategies should be coordinated with qualified legal counsel and tax professionals familiar with your specific situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC (Kestra IS). Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS). Security Financial Management, Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC, Kestra IS and Kestra AS are affiliated through common ownership by Kestra Holdings.
June 2026 Estate & Legacy Planning — Monthly Brief · SFM
By Dave Allen, CFP® · Managing Partner, Security Financial Management · CRD #1210763
Reviewed by Mike Allen, CFP® · CRD #2587441 · June 30, 2026 · Last reviewed June 30, 2026
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC (Kestra IS). Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS). Security Financial Management, Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC, Kestra IS and Kestra AS are affiliated through common ownership by Kestra Holdings.
Four pieces. One thread. If you only had ten minutes for June, here is where the month landed and what to do before July.
What June Was About
June 2026 was the first mid-year mark inside the OBBBA exemption regime. The federal estate and gift exemption is permanently set at $15M per individual ($30M per married couple), and the TCJA sunset that was scheduled for the end of 2025 is gone. For most $1M–$3M households we serve, that headline removes federal estate tax exposure from the conversation entirely. What it does not remove is the question that runs underneath every estate plan we audit: are the documents still pointing at the same outcome the household actually wants? June’s content series sat on that question from four angles.
Four Reads · One Thread
“Estate plans don’t fail from complexity. They fail from lack of coordination.”
What to Look At This Week
Before July, three things worth a quick read of the household’s existing documents. None require a meeting; all three can be answered by pulling the files and reading them side by side.
One — the beneficiary forms. Every 401(k), IRA, brokerage TOD, life insurance policy, and pension carries a beneficiary designation. Beneficiary forms override the will. If any one of them names a person who has passed, a rolled-over account that no longer exists, or an ex-spouse, the will does not fix it.
Two — the trust language vs. the OBBBA math. Any irrevocable trust drafted before July 2025 was likely designed around a $5M–$12M exemption window with a TCJA sunset. With the exemption permanent at $15M and the step-up in basis unchanged, that trust may now be optimizing for a tax exposure the household no longer has — at the cost of the step-up the heirs would otherwise receive.
Three — the beneficiary’s state of residence. Florida residency removes Florida estate and inheritance tax. It does not remove inheritance tax owed by a beneficiary who resides in Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania.
If any of these three pull a question, that question goes on the next review agenda.
Forward Tease (Bridge to July)
Next month — July 2026 — the pillar moves up one layer to the tax decisions that sit on top of estate coordination: Roth conversion timing, RMD windows, IRMAA tier interaction, and the basis step-up math that determines how much of the estate actually survives the transfer. The coordination work in June is the foundation. July is the layer that decides how efficiently the foundation gets used.
Schedule with Security Financial Management
A 15-minute call is the simplest way to confirm whether the household’s plan needs an alignment audit, a refresh of one or two documents, or whether the five still point the same direction.
Schedule a 15-minute call →
About the Author
Dave Allen, CFP® · Managing Partner, Security Financial Management. Dave is a founding partner of SFM. He holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation, served as a member on the Advisory Board of ProEquities Inc., is a past board member of the Y.M.C.A. of Central Florida, and is an active member of the Financial Services Institute (FSI) and the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. Contact: dave@sfmadvisorgroup.com · (407) 740-6553.
Disclosures
The information presented is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice. Security Financial Management, Inc. is a registered investment advisor under Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. Estate planning strategies should be coordinated with qualified legal counsel and tax professionals familiar with your specific situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC (Kestra IS). Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS). Security Financial Management, Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC, Kestra IS and Kestra AS are affiliated through common ownership by Kestra Holdings.